Dispatch from South Korea

Greetings from sunny Seoul, home of 10 million or so Koreans. We have been spending the last day or so eating kimchi and walking around exploring Seoul. Yesterday we took a leisurely 2 hour bus ride from the airport, which promptly zoomed about a mile and a half past our stop. Made our way back through a pretty intense market full of all kinds of stuff you don't want to buy. Our hostel is cheap and almost tolerable, but is very close to a subway stop so we are happy. Last night we went out and had our first Korean meal, which was very cute because the old woman running the restaurant had to mix up our rice bowls for us, since we didn't know to do it. It was adorable. After that, we decided to have the most authentic Korean experience possible, and headed to Starbucks as the sun was setting. After that, we decided to delve a little deeper into the culture, and so went to go see The Good Shepard starring Matt Damon. Then it was pretty much bedtime.

This morning, we woke up at the crack of 7. Actually, it was just me, since the hostel people kindly came into Hong's room at 12:30 am and informed her they had assigned her to the wrong room and could she move please. Why, sure, no problem! So she made it up by 7:45, groggily. We jumped on the subway to head to a station where we could locate the start of the "Shaman Hill Climb" or something like that. It was a hike up a big mountain in the middle of Seoul.

Coming out of the subway stop, we followed the directions in Lonely Planet and walked into an alley, eventually ending up in a construction site, and then a path up the hill. We faced numerous confusing turns, and after a while came upon a party of older men and women just sitting around resting and chilling out. After that, needless to say, we took a wrong turn and the next thing I knew there was a barbed wire fence, a siren blaring out, and a guy with a green helmet and gun staring at me. OK, I guess that's not the trail.

After narrowly escaping our harrowing brush with the Cold War, we stumbled across a party of friendly and also lost Koreans who happened to know English. They inquired with the aforementioned loafers, who pointed us to the proper trail. We had to scale part of the old city wall to get on the trail, but finally we joined the masses in their ascent of the mountain. From the trail, we could see central Seoul and some of the other parts of the city, and only one word comes to mind to describe it: BIG! This place is big looking in ways that other cities I've seen just aren't. It doesn't just go out, it goes up, in big-ass apartment buildings that make your standard U.S. apartment complex look like so many helpless blonde girls in the clutches of Godzilla (or King Kong).

Our newfound friends were climbing the mountain with other members of their church, many of whom were carrying flags and passing out cards at the top where you could write a letter to yourself, which the church would then mail to you in 1 year. Hong wanted to do it, but they sadly informed her it was domestic addresses only. She's recovering slowly.

After that, we scouted out one of the better dining deals I have ever found in my life. We walked down a quiet but not too-dirty looking alley looking for food, and finally decided on a place. We pointed to a delicious-looking photo at the wall, and the lady, who was running the place alone that day, groaned and rolled her eyes not quite, but nearly, to the back of her head. She gave no indication as to whether or not she actually would indeed cook it, but kept us in a worried suspense for a few minutes until she asked us if we wanted it for 2 people. Finally, many heaping plates of side dishes arrived, then rice, then 2 huge black pots filled with delicious looking soup, spices, veggies, and gigantic pieces of pork on the bone. It was good, and it was a feast. And when the time came to pay, it tasted even better when the total came to $10 for the both of us. I mean this isn't in a third world country where $1.50 can buy you a majority stake in the state telecommunications network, this was Korea, one of the biggest economies in the world. Great success! Go us.

We followed this with a visit to a truly huge, quite beautiful palace used by the Joseon kings back in the old days of Korea. Hong decided that telling me she was going to wander off to some other part of this Milwaukee-sized complex was completely unnecessary, so I enjoyed much of the palace in search mode, looking in vane for my lost mate while Korean people stared at me walking around with an inquisitive, squinting look. But the palace was just breathtaking. It was destroyed many times by the Koreans' good friends, the Japanese, and so all the buildings are reconstructions dating from 1990 onwards. Let me say that they did a phenomenal job. Never have I seen historical reconstructions of such beauty and carefulness. I think it is easily one of the most impressive sights I've seen in Asia.

After that, it was time for another traditional Korean meal, this one at a local Korean specialty shop that the locals call Pizza Hut. We ordered the large pizza ("3-4 Persons") and finished it with a bit of difficulty and 2 very large Pepsis. I think it's safe to say we earned the respect and fear of the whole restaurant.

And that's all I've got to say about that. Goodnight to everyone in America!