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.
No comments:
Post a Comment