Day 9: First Visit To Seoul

Today was an awesome day! It was my first time visiting central Seoul, and actually was a day full of 'firsts.' I had made plans with my new friend Michael to hang out in the city, but in order to meet up with him, I had to take my first subway ride. I rode the 015 bus to Bucheon Station (where I had partied the other night) and before catching the bus attempted to make a phone call to Michael to let him know I was getting on the train... It proved to be much more difficult than I had thought it would be! I've never made a local phone call before, and was under the impression that all one had to do was drop in a 100 coin and dial.... Well I tried this, but instead had some pre-recorded Korean man sing me a song, three times, then a long pause, then some other pre-recorded message by an operator lady, and then a horrible screeching sound! What the fuck? I thought maybe it didn't work because I was so far out in the burbs, and decided to try again later once I got in the city.

I had to take two trains to get to where Michael lives, and it turned out to be really easy! Seoul's subway system is not only colour-coded, but also has all its signs in English as well as Korean, so navigating it is a breeze. Riding a giant underground subway has as a very 'metropolitan feel' to it...much different than riding Vancouver's SkyTrain, which feels more like a Disney ride to me. Michael lives on the other side of Seoul from me, so it took almost a full hour on the train just to get to his part of town!! When I got off the train I attempted to phone him again, and had the same problems!!! What was I doing wrong? Eventually I had to ask some Korean guy, using only gestures, to show me how to work the damn phone. And what did he do? Just dropped in the coin and dialed...and it actually worked!!! I really don't know what I was doing earlier that messed things up so much...haha!

Michael met me a few minutes later outside the station, and we decided to head on down to Itaewon, which is the foreigners' neighbourhood in Seoul. Because it was a rather rainy and cold day, he offered to drive - so nice of him! Michael is a super cool guy - he's 25 and from Minneapolis, and has been in Korea almost a year and a half travelling and teaching English. He's totally a pro at life in Seoul, and was the best tour guide a guy could ask for. He not only knew his way around this crazy city, but was full of interesting facts about the different neighbourhoods that we passed through. We arrived in Itaewon and it was totally weird being there! It's an equal mix of Korean and English signs, and the streets were crawling with foreigners!!! Between the mix of Asian and Western people and signs, and the dreary weather, it was just like being back in Vancouver! Well, not exactly - but awfully close! We walked around and he showed me tons of cool stuff - where the cool clubs are, what restaurants are good, and also a few stores that sell Western products that you just can't find anywhere else in Seoul! SO IMFORMATIVE!! :-)

We had lunch at this restaurant popular with foreigners called Geckos. Its menu was full of Western food, and the place was packed with American military! (Yongsan Base, which is a huge American military base, is just nearby.) We ordered lunch and chatted away, and then realized that we have mutual friends!!! I was shocked to find out that Michael used to date someone that my ol' Thunder Bay buddy Craig used to date (back when he lived in Minneapolis), and has even been to Craig's house!!! WOW!!! What a small world I tell ya! That whole six degrees of separation thing is so true!!! Amazing! :-)

After Itaewon Michael took me to Namdaemun Market - one of Seoul's largest and most popular outdoor markets. Turns out that this particular Sunday was sort of an 'off day' at the market, as things were much quieter than usual there. Still, it was great to wander through the many streets and alleys, checking out all the stawls selling anything and everything imaginable. The market is so big that it was take a whole day to really explore it fully, but it was cool just to have a sample!

After Namdaemun Market, Michael drove us over to COEX Mall - one of, if not the, largest shopping complex in Korea. The drive there was awesome as it took us right through the heart of Seoul and past many landmarks - museums, memorials, parks, soaring skyscrapers, and busy diverse neighbourhoods. Seoul is an incredible city - there's so much to explore that it just blows my mind away. We also went past Seoul Tower which is in Namsan Park - a big mountain right in the middle of the city! And then across the Han River - the wide, slow-moving river that bisects Seoul. Highrises filled the horizon no matter where you looked, and crazy-huge super-freeways lined the banks of the river. Wow!

COEX Mall is massive and extremely busy, and besides containing hundreds of stores, also has 3 food courts, two luxury hotels, a huge conference centre, an aquarium, a nightclub, and a giant movie theatre called MegaBox that holds 17 screens. And did I mention that it was BUSY!!!??? :-) We spent a good hour plus just wandering around checking out different stores and the various food courts. It was a bit overwhelming to be in there, but I guess I better start getting used to all the crowds here in Seoul!!

After that it was some dinner at the food court (chicken curry for me, which also included kimchee, 2 kinds pickled radishes, a bowl of seaweed, and a small serving of tiny baby silver fish!) Quite the combo! And all for only 5000 won! (about $6 CDN.) After dinner it was time for me to head back to the burbs. I said my goodbyes to Michael, who seems really sincere and genuine, and also has a lot of common interests as me. I think that we will become really good friends and I look forward to hanging out with him again sometime soon.

The subway home was long but relaxing, except for the part where this disabled guy entered our car... I have no idea where he came from, but this guy was probably about middle age or so, and didn't have any use of his legs, so he just shuffled along the floor, dragging himself to move from one end to the next. His legs kept twitching and he smelled absolutely terrible. He was going from subway car to subway car (including dragging himself inbetween cars while the train was in motion!) to beg for money from other passengers. It was the saddest sight I've seen yet here in Korea. He looked so sad and pathetic and near helpless, as he was struggling to move along. I'm assuming this is what he does all day to make ends meet? I really don't know... I was really impressed with the number of passengers, young and old, who gave him money. I think if I had seen this guy back home the vast majority of people would have just walked over him, or tried to pretend like he wasn't there, but the Koreans around me seemed to be really generous towards the poor man. A sobering experience nonetheless, and a good reminder of how blessed I am (not only am I lucky enough to be able to experience life in a foreign country, but I have full use of my legs! Both things that I should never take for granted...)