Thursday, August 6, 2015

9/21/11. The Sea, the River, and the Sky.

We headed out to Sinchon in the morning for breakfast at the Hyundai Department Store. Conglomerates in Korea are interesting. Hyundai, for instance, has a motor group, which most people in the U.S. are aware of. What most don’t know, however, is that Hyundai also has a department store group, a heavy industries group that includes heavy equipment and shipping businesses, and a development company that has subsidiaries in construction, petrochemicals, retail, property management, healthcare, musical instrument production, and sports. A lot of the conglomerates are family-owned, meaning that there are top families in Korea that have a buttload of money. If you watch any Korean soaps (e.g., Boys Before Flowers), you might already be aware of this and its effects on socioeconomic structure in South Korea.

The bottom level of the department store had groceries and sweets, so we picked up some more Hot Deokk, along with some mocha and Jeju tangerines. Jejudo, an island off of the coast, is known for its sweet tangerines and is a World Heritage Site. We won’t have enough time to visit on this trip, but it’d be nice to come back another time. According to the interwebs, it seems pretty interesting – it’s a volcanic island with lava tubes, and also features an erotic sculpture park called Jeju Loveland. Don’t Google Search that at work.



After breakfast, we hopped back on the subway to Electronics City, which features bootleg/knockoff consumer electronics. Think fake iPhone 5’s, pre-release date in the U.S.:


There wasn’t really much to see there, so we left to meet Andy at the Noryinjin Fish Market. The fish market was laid out as one would expect, but in addition to the typical fish you’d see at a Japanese fish market, you can also get sashimi from “lower tier” fish. Still ocean-caught and fresh, but nothing you’d find on menus in the States. Andy and Ghyrn didn’t want to try any, so we left to grab lunch at a Kimchee Chiggae (Kimchee soup) place. In retrospect, I’m kind of regretting not experiencing some of the foods here, so I need to be a little bit more aggressive on that front.





After lunch, we said our goodbyes and parted ways with Andy. It’s been really nice getting to know him and hang with him here. Next time we see him will probably be back in the U.S.

Next on the itinerary was the Cheonggyecheon Stream near Gwanghwamun Square. If you’re a civil engineer, you might find this interesting. After the Korean War, immigrants to Seoul trashed the stream, so the government decided to cover it up with concrete over a period of 20 years. Some political figure in the early 2000’s pushed for restoration of the stream to promote eco-friendly urban design in Seoul. This is what it looks like now:



We got some funny pictures of tourists and tried to take some cool shots of the stream.





The plan for the evening was to meet Phil, one of my childhood friends from church for dinner, but we had a little time to kill so we headed to Bukchon Hanok Village. The village is a traditional Korean village that was preserved from its state 600-some years ago. Everything was closed by the time we got there, but it was still cool to see and watch the sunset from.



Dinner was back at Sinchon because Phil wanted to us to check out a Korean fried chicken place (HECK YEAH!). It was really good to see him after 7+ years and catch up over fried foods at Frying Pan Chicken. Even though I’m not as good of a church-going Christian as I used to be, it’s still nice to have “familial” connections whenever I travel. Actually, I’m not sure if quotes are appropriate. Some of the bonds I formed when I was a kid really do feel like familial bonds.




After dinner we left for Namsan Tower, another popular landmark in Korean pop culture due to the fact that it marks the highest point in Seoul. The cable car ride to the top was fun and a nice preview of the views we’d have at the observation deck, which offers 360 degree views of the city.

These are some pictures of the tower and observation deck. I’m really appreciating the ability of this Sony point-and-shoot’s handheld night mode, which I’m using to capture the “bright lights in the big cities”.




Also, this is one of the coolest places I’ve ever peed at:



Felt a little creepy taking a picture in the bathroom, but worth it!

We headed down from the tower, said bye to Phil, and went to Dondemun for some more last minute souvenir shopping. I touched a beanie and got yelled at by the vendor. Definitely didn’t buy anything from that guy. Also, puppies!



Even though we were full, I had to get one last fix of Deokk Boki for good measure. I’m really going to miss how good, available, and cheap it is here.

At home, packed, and fading now, but excited to head back out to Hong Kong tomorrow. Seoul's been good to us.

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