My Saturday In Korea

So, here I am in Korea. I'm taking this opportunity while my fiancee is working to describe my past couple of days.

So, I landed in Korea and after standing in customs for a while, I was let in. I met my fiancee at arrivals, which was awesome! 2 months is too long. We got on the subway, and one hour later, got to her apartment. I wasn't too tired at the time, but after some supper, I crashed.

Saturday, we were planning to head out with a group of English teachers to Seoraksan (Seorak Mountain, san means mountain) but, the bus tickets were sold out until later in the day, so we decided to stay in Seoul for the day, which in hindsight was a decent idea considering the amount of rain that hit in the afternoon. So, we went home and got ready to set out again. Up first was Gyeongbokgung (Gyeongbok palace, as gung is palace). This was the primary palace for a time during the Joseon dynasty, but was burnt down during a Japanese invasion. It was rebuilt during the 1860s and later partially demolished again. Here are a few choice pictures, for more, check out flickr.

The Main Gate


The Throne Hall


Throne Hall Roof and Interior

Rear Garden

There were an extraordinary number of cops milling around in the area. I saw roughly 12 police buses in the area. No idea really what was going on. My fiancee suggests police training. They were all very young, but she says that she has yet to see an old police officer, and suspects this is a feature of the compulsory military service. Research will be done.

After that, we had lunch at Mulan - Casual Chinese Restaurant, near Anguk station for some Jajangmyun (really long noodles with black bean sauce, delicious) and then wandered into Mary's Alley in Insadong, a touristy shopping area. All forms of souvenirs can be found here. There were awesome shirts saying "The DNA of Victory - strong", clearly proclaiming the power of Korean genes. There's also this "museum" of pop culture and toys called Toto. It's 1000 won ($1) to get in, and really, it's just some guys collection of toys and models haphazardly displayed in a room. I really don't know how it got into the tourist guide book as it was pretty lame. All except for these awesome post cards and stickers. Oh man, these are pure gold.

Come on! The gun? The random animal eying of each other? Awesome!

We then wandered off to the Korean War museum and memorial. They have an impressive collection of hardware out front. Much more than the Canadian National War Museum at least, since last time I was there, but they've moved since). There was also a traditional wedding going on outside, so we grabbed a few photos. The bulk of the displays are understandably about the Korean war. It was very good, though we were getting tired, so we blew through the post war stuff (Vietnam, etc.). Also, it started to pour outside, so we kept looking for an opportunity to bolt while it was relatively light rain. We found a good window, and left.

The War Museum and Memorial

The Ceremony

For supper we went to Pizza Hut and had a very tasty Crispy Potato pizza. They put seasoned potato slices on top. It's quite good.

No real plans for the evening, most people had left for Seoraksan. I crashed again (the jet lag helps me wake up early, but fall asleep by 9). Very nice first full day.

Korea Here I Come

Posted from the Vancouver airport upon my arrival.

So, here I am on my flight to Korea. In flight for ~20 minutes now. I won't be posting this until sometime after my arrival, as I have no internet at the moment. The detected "Free Public WiFi Wireless Connection" is somewhat deceptive, as I can in no way connect to it, making it somewhat less than a public connection. It is however free, I suppose.

Anyway, here I sit listening to the new Alanis Morissette album, which the entertainment system offers and I decided to give a try. It was listed at the top, I'll descend into the list shortly and see what they offer.

The family just the the right of me has a portable DVD player showing The Fox And The Hound, baby seems content.

I'm quite excited by this trip, and plan to take many a picture. Can't wait to see my fiancee, who continues to remain nameless in the blog world at her wishes. So, only another 17 plus a bit hours until I see her. Awesome!

All You Need To Know About Korea

So in celebration of my trip to Korea in 3 days to visit my fiancee (who's teaching there for a year), I've stopped procrastinating long enough to post these somewhat amusing clips from the "All You Need To Know About Korea" document her agency gave her before her trip:

On Beer:

Bring a couple bottles of your favorite brand for a special occasion. All the main Korean brands- Hite (aka Shite), OB Lager (aka OB Slobber), Cass (aka Ass), are light lagers (think Coors and lots of trips to the bathroom). Recently, Cass has come out with an evil creation. They call it Cass Red and its alcohol content is just under 7%. I’m fairly certain that it is normal Cass with a little bit of pure ethanol added to it, for I have woken up on numerous mornings unable to see, with a thunder storm pounding in my head. Avoid Cass Red – a more apt moniker ought to be Cass Black-out. Trust me.

On Items for Female Teachers:

• Bras: If your bra size is larger than size AA, bring a year’s supply with you.
  
• Shoes: If you wear shoes larger than size 8, bring several pairs with you.
• Condoms: These are a good thing to have whether active or not. Asian condoms tend to break easily and do not cater to larger sizes.

More On Condoms:

Condoms: There is a reason why there are 46 million people in a country the size of Indiana or Vancouver Island. Korean condoms are small and notoriously unreliable. Bring a few boxes of condoms with you when you go.

A digression from the topic pf pets:

Koreans only eat a specific type of dog....only eaten on rare occasions- particularly as a male aphrodisiac in the summer....and when the dog is ultimately made into soup, this is what supposedly adds to one’s sexual prowess. Methinks Korean men would have better luck if they worked less than 80 hours a week, didn’t smoke like chimneys, drink like fish, learned their children's names and didn’t spend Saturday nights in hostess bars, but that is a story for another day.

On deodorant:

Deodorant doesn’t come cheap so be prepared to shell out for your Gillette Smooth Glide Gel, but can anyone really put a price on that fresh Gillette feeling? Costco offers discounts on multiple sticks, but selection is limited, so if you are particular about what goes on your pits, bring a year’s supply with you.

On Private lessions:

"Private classes are usually taught at a low Korean style table where you have to sit crosslegged for an hour at a time. For westerners not used to sitting in this position, it can be as fun as sticking coat hangers through your thigh. Don’t worry, after a few months you will be amazed at how much your quadriceps will have stretched, or you will become extremely adept at pain management."

Zombie Walk

Now I understand why I saw so many people in zombie makeup today. It was the 6th Annual Toronto Zombie Walk. I saw evidence of this last year and looked into it, but completely forgot it's existence. There were a lot of zombies on the subway and street cars today (I travelled all around downtown picking stuff up and NOT watching House today). Now I understand

House May Be Ruining My Life

I've be procrastinating over a few things lately. Blogging for one. Part of this is the marathon of colds I've had lately. Part is my preparation for my trip to Korea. However, a large part I think is also the awesomeness of House, M.D.. I've been watching the early season lately, since I missed a good portion of them first run. It's really hard to stop. I could easily watch 5 episodes in a night and not get anything done. It's especially bad because there's so much going on in an episode that it's easy to miss the twists and turn if you aren't paying attention. This makes it hard to multi-task and do other things at the same time.

I didn't really consider all of this about my House habit until my I offered the 2nd season to my friend Daniel and he quickly turned me down saying that the first season almost ruined his life by how good it was. It may be ruining mine as I type. I should go to sleep (as I'm sick again), but feel compelled to go watch just one more.

New Subway Cars

I was supposed to post these pictures a month ago when I took them at The Ex. Last year the TTC showcased two of the competing street car designs they were considering (one from Bombardier the other from Siemens) . Turns out that neither made it through, and the TTC has reopened bidding, but regardless, this year they were showing a sample of the new subway cars they're planning to purchase.

The interior, at least of this sample, wasn't too different than what's currently in use, with the seats looking pretty much the same. The new seems more spacious though, feeling wider on the inside. It featured hand grips running down the center of the car which will be useful. There were also signs to point out the next station, and the subway system map on the side was lit up with LEDs (not sure exactly what for). It looked good.

Oh yes, and the new map featured the new stations planned for the University/Spadina line.