3/29/08 Seoul, Land of Markets

Our first order of business on the third day was the huge Chungbu market, mostly because it was about a block away from the hotel. This market was unique from the others because it mainly offered food. While I found it very interesting to look at everything being offered, my good sense prevented me from buying any of it. The thought of a fish sitting out in the open air for who knows how long didn't seem very sanitary.

Here is a large pile of dried fish, mouths all agape.

Could someone kindly direct me to the frozen food aisle?


Here is some ginseng on display. Korea is crazy about ginseng. I've seen the little roots advertised in medicine, drinks, and even cosmetics around town. It apparently has the power to cure every illness except extreme gullibility.


This little area was much more to my liking. Everything was covered in an impervious layer of life giving plastic.



We saw these uncomplicated looking animals sitting in a tank in front of a restaurant, presumably waiting for their chance to be eaten. I'll say I've never eaten one of these, but nowadays I can never be sure.


We spotted this place on the way to Dongdaemun. All this guy was selling were little patches with random designs on them. Not a huge business, I wouldn't imagine. He was surprisingly high tech, though. We could see his computerized machine relentlessly sewing the patches four at a time in the back of his shop.

We traveled straight from Chungbu to the Dongdaemun market where we had scouted a bit on our first night in the country. In the center of the Dongdaemun area are two sports stadiums. A happy secret is that one of the stadiums is filled with the giant Pungmul flea market (lots of markets around these parts, I know).

Some hardcore flea marketing going on here.

Unfortunately when the Koreans say that something is "used" they really mean it. Most of the stuff being offered was so used that I didn't want to touch it with my bare hands. There was plenty of good stuff that didn't come from someone's garage, though. I was pretty successful in my hunting. I found a nice new South Korean flag which will be gracing my apartment's walls soon.

My favorite purchase of the day was a little 2007 coin set issued by the Bank of Korea. Oooh, shiny!

After all the shopping, we all wanted a change of pace. Our next stop was Seodaemun Prison. The prison was built in 1908 and was used by the Japanese to house those who fought against Japanese colonial rule. The story turned out to be much more gruesome than what I had expected. Special attention was given to portraying the atrocities committed by the Japanese within the prison.

Several of the original buildings were preserved for future study.


I liked the metal work on the fences that dotted the park.






My trial at the hands of the "Japanese aggressors".



Patriotic Tung getting the noose.

According to the sign that stood at the entrance of the mock trial room:

At the early stage of righteous army struggle, the Japanese aggressors tried to suppress it by committing such atrocities as immediate execution of captured righteous fighters on site, but under a severe criticism from the international community and mounting anti-Japanese sentiment by the Korean public, it reluctantly adopted a formal trial for punishment later.
A drastic surge in the number of prisoners from 1908 to 1910 was resulted directly from the increasingly intensified independence movement by the righteous fighters and a full-scale crack down against them.
You will have an opportunity to share the experience of the patriotic ancestors who were standing at the trial board for a summary execution.

Entrance to the building where the executions took place.

The Japanese built this tunnel leading out of the prison in order to secretly dispose of the bodies.


I think this is a list of names of people who were confirmed to have died at the prison.

I found the prison to be interesting and definitely worth the quick stop that we made. I was less than impressed with some of the signs, however. The explanations provided often had a propagandistic feel to them, incessantly using phrases like "the patriotic fighters" and "the Japanese aggressors". I think that that the story this place tells is powerful enough that it deserves to be told with a more historic, neutral point of view.


We explored around town quite a bit more until we arrived at the Seven Luck Casino. The Casino itself wasn't much, it was clean and classy, but super small inside.




The part that I found interesting was that only foreigners were allowed to enter. It must be that gambling is illegal in Korea, but that us heathen foreigners are allowed to do it just to inject some cash into the local economy. Tung made the mistake of leaving his passport at home on this particular day, so we had a long conversation with the staff guarding the door about where he was from. Even with his Japanese foreigner card, we had to wait for a manager to stroll over and approve us.

A bit from the sign outside.


Clarence and I felt that Tung was missing out on a large part of his Australian heritage, so after days of his begging we finally took him to Outback Steakhouse.

3/22/08 First Hours in Korea

Tung, Clarence, and I stepped off the bus from the airport around 7pm on Thursday. Thus starts my time in Seoul, the capital city of Korea.

While I didn't get a good look at the airport due to all the rushing around, I had read earlier that it was pretty futuristic, and I managed to get a quick shot of a nice looking part.

Ooh, spaceshippy

Of course, going to a new country, we had to exchange our currency into Korean won. One dollar equals about 1,000 won, and the highest bill's denomination is 10,000 won. So when the three of us exchanged our money together, we got a couple fat stacks of cash, some of them still bearing the official wrap thing from the bank. I was having fun with the weight of all the paper in my pocket, and I played around with it a bit once we found the hotel.






By the time we found our hotel and got settled, it was pretty late in the night, so we had a limited number of entertainment options for our first night in Korea. We wandered a bit with the help of a map and some half-baked directions from the hotel's front desk.

One of the best parts of being someplace new is that you can be completely lost in the middle of nowhere and its still tons of fun. The newness of everything is awesome.

Eventually we found the Dongdaemun gate, with the huge Dongdaemun market close by. Despite probably being at least 10 o'clock already, it was still well populated with buyers and sellers alike. It was an interesting clash of cultures. There were four or five tall malls, decked out in flashing lights and filled to the brim with clothing of all types. Between the malls on both sides of the streets, then, was packed with little tables and tents offering the usual street market stuff. There was lots of clothes of questionable quality sporting counterfeit labels, interesting little food stalls, and piles of copied CDs and DVDs. I don't think I bought anything, but the time was definitely worth it.

Dongdaemun Gate


Clarence and Tung examining the merchandise


A small but well decorated storefront.

Along the way we had our first meal. Despite our total lack of language ability and complete lostness, we did pretty well. We picked a place that was well populated and stepped in.

Mmm, fried chicken


The meal started how they since often have, with a bowl or two of free little snacks. This time we got some kind of crunchy and light-tasting pickled vegetable and a bowl of crispy rice puffs. They are superior to the Japanese variety in three ways. They always taste good, they are free, and if we finish a bowl another quickly replaces it.


The chicken was sweet and spicy. It was a refreshing change, as there doesn't seem to be much spicy food available where I live.


The beer was way cheaper than in Japan and came in comically large amounts.

Online gaming is huge in Korea, and its presence is obvious. Internet cafes advertising games are a common sight from the street.



As further evidence of the massive popularity of online gaming, at multiple points throughout the day we have been able to view a TV channel that follows competitive Starcraft(a PC game released in 1998) games play by play. A shout out to my friend Sam, who somehow already new that this channel was available.