Day 78: The Asian Experience

I slept in today (my is it nice to just be able to wake up when you want and then just lie in bed doing absolutely nothing until getting up only when you damn well feel like it - paradise!) I was meeting up with Michael today and some of his friends to 'do something cultural' in the city today. I got dressed, packed up my usual 'weekend bag' and headed into the city.

It was really hot outside today and I was sweating buckets in the long-sleeved shirt I was wearing. Not a wise outfit choice this morning, Mr.Erdman! I changed into a t-shirt when I got to Michael's place in Itaewon. His friend Maeve and some friend of hers were supposed to meet up with us today but the girls were too hung over from a night of partying the night before so they bailed. Michael and I decided to grab some lunch at Subway and sort out plans for the day.

A 9-day city-wide festival just began today called 'Hi Seoul!' and so we thought we'd go and check out and see what was going on down a City Hall today which is where most of the events were supposed to start. We ended up getting on the wrong bus so we were taken a bit far from City Hall, but since it was such a beautiful day we decided just to walk the distance anyways.
We passed through this really cool area of the city called Yongdong (sp?) which is a shopping mecca in the city. The streets were absolutely packed with people - SUPER CROWDED - and every second person had these giant 32 cm. ice cream cones - (yes, they are actually 32 cm. tall - they measure them for you when you buy them from these stands - it's a lot of ice cream, believe you me!) It's street scenes like this that epitomize, to me, The Asian Experience' - narrow streets and alleys, thousands of people, lots of stores and colourful signage, hot temperatures, and just a general electricity in the air that I've just never felt on any other continent. Exotic and pulsating. I wish I could capture random moments like this and somehow mail that experience to all my friends and family back home.

When we got to City Hall, the Hi Seoul activities of the day were a bit of a letdown. They had just unveiled a new plaza in front of City Hall that was opened that morning and *everybody* had crammed into it to claim a piece of grass for their own. Open sections of green grass are *extremely rare* to find in the city so all the Koreans just seemed mesmerized with this new island of green lusciousness in the middle of the hustle and bustle of downtown Seoul. There was a free public concert going to be happening in the plaza that evening, but that was still several hours off and we didn't feel like hanging out in the crowded plaza. (I guess we're spoiled, us North Americans, as an open patch of green grass doesn't seem to excite us the way it does the Koreans - lol!) It seems that most of the real big events for Hi Seoul actually take place *next* weekend....

Michael and I decided instead just to walk up the street to fetch a coffee and hang out somewhere less crowded. We went to the Starbucks near Kyobo Bookshop and Sejong Centre (a giant concert hall) and were pleased to discover an outdoor photography exhibit put on display by the National Geographic Society. It was entitled Around The World In 80 Days and it featured dozens and dozens of *spectacular* photographs of landscapes and people from all over the world. So beautiful! We took our time enjoying the outdoor exhibit and then parked ourselves on the giant steps of Sejong Centre to just sit and enjoy the lively street scenes.

Michael's friends Eric, Austin, and Tim (all guys I've met before at the clubs I've gone to with Michael) showed up and so all 5 of us went and saw another free art exhibit just inside the Centre. Browsing thru art displays with a giant caramel frappuccino on a hot humid day is a great way to spend a Saturday!

It was evening by then so I said my goodbyes to the boys and went and met up with Brad, Andrea, Steve, and Kelsey. We took the bus back to Ilsan and went and had a fabulous dinner at this French restaurant called Hippo. (a weird name, if you ask me!) It's a restaurant chain from Paris and had quite a unique menu with North American and (French?) menu items. We all spent a good 2.5 hours just enjoying our dinner and having great philosophical conversations. A really relaxing, enjoyable meal. I was excited to see creme brulee on the dessert menu (something I thought I'd NEVER see in Korea) and so I ordered that for dessert. It was alright I guess - nowhere near as good as the culinary orgasm of a creme brulee that my friend Benoit can cook up. *sigh* You've spoiled me Ben - will any other creme brulee ever compare to yours? (I think not!)

After dinner we went back to Brad's, watched Monty Python & The Quest For the Holy Grail (absolutely hilarious!!! I've never seen any Monty Python films before!) and then went to sleep.