The hostel I'm staying at is pretty funky. Every wall has a different color, true to its online description, and they play a crazy mix of hipster-esque/Asian-asthetic music in the downstairs lobby/sitting room. It is located downtown near several "hip" neighborhoods, and several palaces and temples. Last night, I met my friend and her sisters for Japanese food and then walked around one area that is FILLED with coffee shops. Literally nearly every building had a coffee shop. And they were all filled with people at 9pm.

Stylistically, Seoul so far seems very similar to a lot of Chinese cities, especially Qingdao (due to the natural geography of sea and mountains, as well as similar archetectural styles). There are the bumpy yellow paths for the blind on the sidewalk, among other similar kinds of streetsigns and what-not. The buildings are half ugly like Chinese buildings tend to be, but then the other half are lower to the ground, some more traditional wood, some brick. There are big main streets, but then narrow winding streets surrounding them, with low buildings and cars that actually slow down as they pass you (I've been in shock, I don't fear for my life in traffic so far).

Today I went and got a lunch set that included about a thousand little bowls, including a fish soup, kimchee (a spicy pickled cabbage, for those who don't know), pickled onion greens of some kind, maionaise-covered cabbage, pickled zucchini with little dried shrimp, diced sausage of the plastic-y variety, some scallions in a sesame sauce, and rice. There was a box of dried seaweed squares on the table into which you could fold up the various food items. It was pretty good. I am a big fan of pickled vegetables here, as well as dried seaweed. I'll see how it compares to the next meals I have...

written by  agentsarainkunming on July 15, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea
from the travel blog: Korea
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Yesterday, I went to dinner with my friend and we got delicious seafood hotpot. Beforehand, though, we saw a photo exhibit that kind of discussed the interaction with nature in the Korean landscape. It was kind of boring, though. So then we went to the history museum. There, they have an interesting exhibit on remembering the war in the 1950's. Coming from recently having been in several socialist/post-socialist countries, it was interesting to see again the more American/democratic perspective of that era. It was basically what you would expect, so I won't go into a lot of detail. Lot's of propoganda posters and articles used by all sides during the war. There was video of what seemed like very moving accounts of family reunifications, but unfortunately I don't understand any Korean. The other exhibit we saw in the museum was a large model of the city that lit up to show what was being built, what the city plans to build, etc. It was all very modern-looking and impressive and scarilly tall and then you think about all the relocation and destruction that will have to happen for all of these plans to come about.

Today, I went to one of the palaces in the city, Gyeongbokgung. Behind it is the presidential palace, in front of which a group of Chinese tourists was taking pictures while guards looked on, bored. Next to it is the National Folk Museum, which has a good overview of Korean history and culture. Gyeongbokgung looks pretty similar to the Chinese style of palaces. But it is a lot smaller than the forbidden city. It seems more spread out, almost, not so cramped. And stylistically it doesn't seem Chinese. While most of the archetecture is very similar to that in China, the details are, well, Korean.

Now, I have been struggling with trying not to compare everything here to China. It is hard not to do, even though I am trying to look at everything freshly. But the problem is it is a traditionally Confucian society that follows the basic principles of fengshui. There are some obvious similarities to be found. And as I've mentioned in my last post, there are a lot of stylistic similarities, the simple things like how the sidewalks are paved. This is decidedly similar to China, while being decidedly different from any sidewalk in the U.S. But beyond these basic things, the main section of downtown looks more like Washington D.C. than anywhere I've seen in China, and the meandering neighborhoods surrounding it have a character completely of their own. People don't wear crazy flamboyant outfits like the Chinese, they don't stare at me as I pass them on the street, the drivers seem like they actually had to take a test to get a licence, and things mostly seem to cost around American prices. But after having said all of this, my task for tomorrow, which I will work really hard at, will be to try to stop making so many comparisons. We'll see if I succeed. I guess that overall I am just in shock at no longer being in China.

written by  agentsarainkunming on July 17, 2010 from Seoul, South Korea
from the travel blog: Korea
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