Archive for November, 2007

So like Dean, this is my first solo post. There will be less pictures than usual here due to the fact that my photos are from a throwaway camera and I have not developed them properly. I have however nicked some of Rodds. I stayed in Seoul with my friend Lena who I used to go to University with in Guildford. She teaches English there and lives with her husband, Rodd, who is a professional Skateboarder.

Seoul and South Korea in general is a funny old place. It’s very modern and wealthy, and the girls don’t wear much, yet it is palpably sexist in many ways and Confucian orders reign supreme (listen to your bosses/elders/husbands folks). Also it’s oddly homophobic, Korean for AIDS translates as “Gay Plague”, yet at the same time I saw two riot police holding hands. Lukily for me I’m straight and a man so I had a great time.

While in Seoul I played Baseball, went cycling and played glow in the dark nighttime bowling. The baseball left me sore all over for 4 days and the cycling for 2. The bowling however was loads of fun, even if myself and Lena both really suck skills wise.

Check out the action photo, look at the streamlined perfection in the bodyline, the grace and beauty. I’m sure that was a strike, well maybe it was a spare, look I at least got one pin down, OKAY.

I also went out partying on several different nights in very different surroundings, sometimes with Dean too. At one point I drank rum with a massive Iraqi, at another I discussed Shakespeare with a Jordanian-American actress.

We also met up again with Jeremy, the Canadian member of Team Trailblazers from our Mongolian Leg. We stayed at his pad and went out with him in Itaewan. We went to a few clubs which was fun. At one club we found several attractive young ladies who were really friendly with us. It took us 20 minutes to realise we were in a brothel and they were ladies of the night.

Kids; a brothel is a type of Cheese sandwich and a Lady of the Night is kind of like a toothfairy but you keep the tooth and lose the 50p.

All in all I had a thoroughly ace time in Seoul, totally different to the rest of my trip. I also did Noraebang karaoke with a Korean Italian American Squaddie;

and best of all Lena lent me her Scooter so I got to drive!

Seoul was great, and Lena and Rodd were fantastic hosts. But I had another friend in the south of the country in a town called Busan, so myself and Dean decided to team up again to go and visit her.

This I feel has to be a different type of blog post, I’ve been wondering about what to post for the past few days. South Korea was very different from the previous countries: for a start, Tom and I stayed in separate places (There were tears* as we parted at the Metro station), we didn’t have any plans to visit any of the sights, and finally we went to visit friends, which led to a much more ‘social’ few weeks.

I visited the rather incredible human being that goes by the name of Jamie Carter; although like most Super Heroes, he uses that title to fit in with the surrounding public. Least we not forget his man-at-arms, and fellow house mate, Kim-Lee; who has shot many a gun as well as teaching female models the fine art of the English language.

See how Jamie takes on the role of a small child, such wonderful powers.

The first week in Seoul was basically a test of social endurance, fueled by South Korea’s wonderful cuisine and selection of drinks, mainly the potent Soju. The food, and the ritual that surrounds it is fantastic; it’s so easy to see why the people in China always gave it praise whenever we told them that Korea was our next destination.

The basic set up of the table as can be seen above is the central grill, where the meat (Beef or Pork) or other foodstuffs such as garlic cloves or even Kimchi can be cooked. The whole thing is very hands-on, as the food is cooked by the people round the table, each looking after the meat as it’s cooked (or as sometimes happens, burns). The eating is the next fun part as you don’t have a plate. Instead you take a leaf from the basket (Lettuce or Sesame) and place it in your hand. You then use chopsticks to take a piece of freshly cooked meat from the grill, before dipping it into one of the sauces and finally placing it into the cupped leaf. You then add some extra bits to garnish before wrapping the leaf up into a pocket like shape and eating it whole.

It’s a very healthy meal (I’m sure you’ll all be so glad to hear), and along with a few drinking games (Titanic!) makes for a really fun social event.

So the food and the Soju played a large part in our Korean experience, as did the people. We met back up with fellow Trail Blazer Jeremy, who’d previously returned to Seoul to find more teaching work. It was great meeting up again, as we have found so often on this trip, friendships are so quickly forged, and meeting up with someone that you may have only spent a day or even a few hours with before, can feel like a reunion of Cilla Black proportions. So meeting back up with Jeremy, whom we’d Blazed through Mongolia and in to Beijing with was fantastic.

We took a trip out for the day to pick up some needed supplies for our onward journey. Tom wanted to find out about getting a new passport as his now has less than a year left, we also needed to find out about obtaining an Australian working visa, and most importantly we were desperately in need of some new Warcraft books.

Like Beijing, Seoul has a fantastic public transport system, with a very regular bus and metro service- Take note UK.

As you can see from the books in my hand, and the spring in my stride as I walk over the arch, Seoul came good with the Warcraft books; our geekhood was saved for the onward journey.

Technically taken in Britain, we visited the bar inside the embassy, again important things to note here are the selection of Warcraft books and also the poppy, which we managed to find in the embassy lobby area.

I’m going to have to mention one more social night before trying to redeem myself and show that this isn’t all just a louts holiday in the guise of world culture hunting. This night was the evening of the Noraebang a Karaoke sing-a-thon in a private room, well sort of private, apart from the giant window on to the street outside.

Fuelled by our old friends Vodka and Tequilla, I partook in an event that I’d so far in my 29 years managed to avoid, despite me going to Karaoke bars all the time back home. I bellowed out track after track, egged on by the Rock God (Another Super Hero identity from the man known to the people as Jamie Carter) and his Mercury like performance.

After the event was over, throats were dry, eyes were tired, most of the crew left for home. But it was only 4:30am, the night had more to offer, so I met up with Tom and his party and went found another Noraebang to perform in. I got back to Jamie’s pad at about 7am, only a few minutes before the very tired Kim-Lee (Who had also shown off his great singing skills that evening) had to get up for work.

Now let me quickly move on and attempt to make you forget about all the drinking and show you that I did see some of what Seoul had to offer.

This is King Sejong, during his reign in 1443 invented the Korean alphabet Hangeul, which has been praised round the world for being a perfect and simple system that contains only 24 characters. It’s claimed that anyone can learn the alphabet in a day, although I can’t prove the claim correct as I didn’t have a straight day to try, I was, erm, far too busy sight seeing.

It was also autumn time in Korea, which proved to be a fantastic season for taking photos (something that I’m enjoying more and more now) as the leaves were falling from the trees and the browns and red hues dominated the landscape.

I’ll leave it at that, for Seoul. I’d just like to thank Jamie and Kim-Lee for letting me stay at their place. I’d also like to thank their friends for showing me what a good night out (or 5) is like in Seoul, you’ve all left your mark.

*added for effect