Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Seoul

We made our second trip to Seoul two weekends ago. It was an exceptional trip, we had a best friend and a brother with us so it was that much more enjoyable. The weather was ridiculous, one night was 5ºf. Because of this awful weather we had little to no crowds at everything we went to see. Here are some highlights.

Seoul Folk Flea Market

This was one of my favorite spots in Seoul, one I hope to visit again. It was two floors of a bunch of junk. Electronics, prints, Michael Jackson busts, and other unnecessary items. This guy had a really organized stand:

This machine was amazing, it supposedly tests your stress level or something...it reminded me of Ron Hubbard's E-meter.


Gyeongbokgung Palace

This palace is very much in the center of Seoul. Most of the palaces here are really reconstructions of what once was...the Japanese and Chinese decimated most of their palaces over the centuries. This is the biggest one in Seoul, and is truly amazing.











Singing Room

After a long day of walking around in freezing temperatures and being cultured, it was nice to relax and kick it in a Norebang. The singing rooms here are so infectious...you pay about $15 for a room to sing karaoke in and you get your pick of the songs, two microphones and hilarity. The one we found wasn't particularly nice, but it did the trick. We even got a bonus half hour for free!






The 63 Building

We went to one of the tallest buildings in Seoul, the 63 Building. It was a bit of a let down really, it was a bit expensive. The building boasts "the highest art gallery in the world," and to be fair they had a decent picasso exhibit there, but most people that want a nice view don't want to contemplate fine art at the same time. It was a strange mix. Complete with cheesy tourist photo opportunities.




The size of Seoul guarantees that we'll never see everything, the city has 10 million people. Hopefully you'll come to visit so we can explore it again together!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

More Market Madness



There are two main markets here in Daegu, Chilseong Market and Seomun Market. Seoumun is bigger, and more polished. Chilseong is a bit smaller, and has a lot more of a raw vibe to it. For instance:



Below is some Sashimi, or Korean sushi. As I noted earlier, they don't roll the fish up with veggies and rice, they just cut it up and serve it.


I don't know why they hang the fish, but it sure is pretty that way.


Whistle Blower



One of my favorite characters here is the popcorn man. On my walk to the subway I always get to see the popcorn man. He has stacks and stacks of various popped foods: puffed rice, popcorn, assorted rice wafers, etc. They are all packaged in ridiculously large bags.


This in itself isn't that impressive, and you can see bags like this all over the place. The fun part is to watch this guy use his little pressure cooker, which looks like a cannon off of Super Mario Bros., to pop this stuff. He blows a whistle as a warning just before he opens it because of the blast.






If you look closely at that feedbag on the second picture, you can see debris blasting out of the back of the bag. The popcorn shoots into this bag at full force. It's a lot of fun to watch. As you can imagine, this is a favorite spot for pigeons.