Seoul - The Soul of Asia

Today was a whirlwind tour of Seoul. The weather finally decided to cooperate. After a humid and cloudy start, the day turned sunny and mild. Today Tom, Christina and I put on our walking boots and managed to visit Gyeongbokgung, the Korean Folk Museum, Insadong, North Seoul Tower and Hongdae. All while managing three square meals.

After yet another breakfast at the Korean Bakery Paris Baguette (hotdogs cooked into a bread/bun with mayonnaise...when in Rome!) we headed to our first stop Gyeongbokgung!

Gwanghwamun Gate

Gyeongbokgung Guards

Christina's jumping photography skills leave something to be desired...

King'sThrone-room

Palace Grounds

Bridge on Palace Grounds

Year of the Tiger! ROAR!! At the Folk Museum. 

Hanbok Drummer at the Folk Museum

Korean Funerary Box (It has some real name, of course...but I forgot!)

After the museum it was way past lunch time. We decided to head to a restaurant in Insadong. We had kalguksu, mandu, pajeon and tonkatsu. No light eating this trip, that's for sure! After lunch, we wandered around Insadong for an hour and a half. Insadong is a great spot to look for Korean craft goods. Christina bought a lamp and some small souvenirs.

Afterwards, we went back to our hotel to head to North Seoul Tower on top of 남산 (Namsan - South Mountain). First off, to any Koreans reading this, I'd like to point out how ridiculous it is to have a "North" Seoul tower on top of "South" mountain.

Furthermore, Koreans, I'd also like to point out that when someone asks you where something is located, if it is closed, please point that out! On two separate occasions I got directions to something that was closed...once in a taxi and once from a bellhop, people who should know better! We were on our way up the hill to the cable car to the tower only to find out after 15 minutes of uphill walking that it was closed. Never fear! Taxi cab to the rescue followed by a bus ride to the top. 

North Seoul Tower is a really cool spot. I was skeptical about visiting due to the poor air quality in Seoul in summer, but today was pretty clear and Christina really wanted to go.

The Geographic Center of Seoul on Namsan

It's Haechi! Seoul's Mascot! I love this guy!

Seoul is Huge...and a bit dirty air quality-wise

Dear You, Tone it Down. 

This place was kind of like a giant Korean love motel...but still cool

The tower had a really strong love motif going on. There were benches that slant together to force you to sit on top of each other, a place to put locks that you write your lover's name on, and lots of stuffed animal bears with hearts. Blarg! Still worth the visit, but I'd only go again in the fall of winter when the air is cleaner, I doubt we could see more than 5-10km. 

After the tower we went back to the hotel for a short break. For dinner we hopped a cab out to Hongdae for some dakgalbi at a restaurant named 춘천집 (Chuncheon house). Dakgalbi is chicken with gochujang sauce, cabbage, rice tubes, and noodles. I had it the last time I was here with Paul and Megan. You can't find this dish in Atlanta. A bonus ingredient this time around was cheese, which believe it or not, made this dish awesome! At the end, we got bonus rice to fry in our leftover gochujang/chicken grease. Tom promised to send me an email with how many pounds he gained this trip. My mission here is done. ;)

Working hard for the chicken...

...and the rice!

Tomorrow, Christina and I are checking out and heading to Busan via KTX. We'll be in Busan until Saturday when we'll return to Seoul with a hotel in Hongdae. Today was Tom's last day in Korea. From here on out, it'll just be me and my sister. Hopefully, we don't drive each other insane... ;)

In other news, I've been craving patbingsu all day (see yesterday's post). It's gotten to the point that I created a song about it to the tune of Darkwing Duck. Luckily, there will be more opportunities for this frozen treat in Busan.

I got Seoul but I'm not a Soldier

After leaving Gyeongju we arrived in Seoul on Sunday evening. First thing's first, it's time for dinner! Enter Korean snack chain 김밥천국 (kimbap cheonguk)! Kimbap, ramyeon, teokkbokki, manduguk and some kimchi. Yum!

Doug has mastered the art of chopsticks!

Yum!

The next day, we attended the Seoul University Forum. I don't have pictures yet from the forum. When I get them, I'll make a special post just for it. But not to leave you on a cliffhanger, it went really well!

The day was completely different for Christina. She wandered around Namdaemun Market and found her way to the Godabang Cat Cafe! This place lets you sit and have a drink in a cafe filled with cats. You can feed and play with them. Yep, whatever you want to do, you can do it in Asia!

Cat Cafe

After the event ended, we returned to the hotel and me and my sister went for a walk in Myeongdong and up to Cheongyecheon Stream. Seoul is so lively! 

Myeongdong shopping/nightlife area

Cheongyecheon

Our night was cut short by rain. The rain stuck around all day Tuesday as well, but we didn't let that stop us. First thing Tuesday morning, Tom, Doug and I met with some transportation officials with the Seoul City Government in the new city hall building. The meeting was very interesting and the building itself was amazing. It generates 30% of its own electricity using solar and geothermal energy. It has a huge community center with a museum in the lower level. 

Seoul City Hall green wall

Seoul City Hall Community Center

Old and new City Hall

After the meeting, Doug, Tom, Christina and I visited some of the main sights of Seoul. Before that, we had some lunch of Korean BBQ and ribs! After lunch, first up was Changdeokgung. We toured the grounds and the secret gardens. We also stopped by the Buddhist temple Jogyesa and Insadong Street. 

Today's sightseeing brought to you by the adorable Jongno bell-monster thingy. Go home Asia, you're drunk!

Changdeokgung Throne Room

Secret Gardens

This group of Japanese tourists never got the timing right...but look at their faces! :)

Seoul is so lush!

Jogyesa

Happy Buddha

Insadong Shopping Area

After the whirlwind tour, we went back to the hotel for some R&R before dinner. I got to sample some 팥빙수 (patbingsu). It's shaved ice with condensed milk and toppings. It comes in many varieties. Mine had red beans and 떡 (tteok - rice cake/tubes). Delicious! I'm going to get fat here...I do like how different foods are in Korea based on the time of year. Many things I've seen this trip are different than in the fall. 

팥빙수 (patbingsu) - Don't judge...it's 90% water! I swear!

안녕하세요 Korea v2.0!

Ahh, Korea. I'm so happy and grateful to have been given the opportunity to return to this beautiful country. I've been a huge fan of this place since my last visit! This time, however, I'm not just here for fun. I'm here for work, to help teach people at the University of Seoul how we plan for improved air quality in the United States, something I'm sad to say they seriously need to address. The picture below is, unfortunately, not due to morning haze.

Smog in Daegu

Presentation in hand, and weeks of planning complete, let's start with a little fun! For the first part of this trip, I'm being accompanied by Christina (my sister), Tom Weyandt (with the city of Atlanta), and Doug Hooker (my boss's, boss's, boss's boss!). We arrived in Seoul and hopped the first train down to Gyeongju for the weekend for some sightseeing before the conference on Monday. We're traveling via KTX high speed train, something I didn't experience on my last visit. There is no security and no one collecting tickets. When you walk into the boarding area, there is a line on the ground that says "we trust you, ticketed passengers only." Could you imagine a system like that in the United States? The train ride was very smooth. It reached a max speed of around 300 km/hr and the trip to Gyeongju took about 2 hours. 

Vrooooom! KTX high-speed train

I was here in Gyeongju in fall 2011 and it's a somewhat different experience in the summer. First off, it's hot! Koreans gingerly air condition. Just enough so you don't die, but not enough to keep spoiled Americans happy! It's also pretty humid, but not Atlanta humid. I wonder how much of the humidity is due to the millions of acres of rice paddies? Second, it's a different kind of beautiful. My last visit was in autumn and many leaves were gone or were bright colors. Now it's verdant and lush. It really reminds me of the north Georgia mountains. Third, there is so much rice here! Every spare square inch of flat land is occupied by a rice paddy. In fall, I noticed lots of farmland but didn't realize how much of it was dedicated to rice. 

On our first day in Gyeongju we visited Tumuli Park and saw the Shilla Kings' burial mounds and made a trip to the Gyeongju National Museum. Unfortunately, the main archaeology hall was closed due to earthquake-proofing.  Afterwards we visited Anapji Pond and then headed to the hotel for a break.

Anapji Pond

Later in the evening we had some Gyeongju Ssambap for dinner! Last time when I visited Korea, it took several days to adjust to the time. This time, with the help of Tylenol PM (thanks Emily for the suggestion!) I slept straight through the night and was bright-eyed and bushy tailed for an 8AM trip to Paris Baguette for breakfast Korean pizzas (yep! as odd as it sounds) and then off to Bulguksa and Seokguram! 

Bulguksa grounds

Bulguksa Temple

Stately!

Seokguram Lanterns

Lunch was at a restaurant near Bulguksa. An Ajumma (older Korean lady) restaurant barker flagged us down to eat at her restaurant. We agreed and she ran into the road, stopping traffic to lead the way. We had beef bulgogi with mountain vegetables, some pork bulgogi and bibimbap. There was tons of panchan (side dishes). You can get excellent Korean food in Atlanta, but the panchan is just not the same! 

My traveling companions have been excellent sports. Willing to hike in the sun, take bus A to location B followed by steep steps to see temple C. Hopefully, I didn't drive them too hard! Gyeongju is a big a place with lots to see and do, I couldn't let them miss out.

Of course, there was Gyeongju Bread as well

Next stop, Seoul!

Whirlwind Texas Weekend

My friend (and former roommate from Emory) Doan has been living in Houston for the past several years, but I haven't yet had the chance to visit her. She's moving to Portland Oregon soon, and I found a really good flight deal to San Antonio, so I went to visit her and combined it with some roller coasters and a visit with my friend Chandra in Austin. Covering 650 miles of asphalt and three major cities in just three days wasn't the best idea - I wish I had more time to visit with my friends - but I still had a great time.

I started at the San Antonio airport and immediately drove to Houston. Doan lives near the Texas Medical Center, which is a massive area with hospitals, a lot of cancer research organizations, medical schools, nursing schools, public health schools - it's the largest medical center in the entire world. It's really a bizarre area, like its own little city (except nobody lives there). Nearby is Rice University and Hermann Park. Houston has some of the bad aspects of Atlanta (sprawl, air pollution, massive highways and traffic), but it has a few neat neighborhoods and a high-class arts scene. I wish it had more trees and wasn't so hot!

Statue of Sam Houston near Hermann Park

Skyscrapers in downtown Houston

Japanese Gardens in Hermann Park

Rice University

Houston's light rail system

Doan in Discovery Green, downtown Houston

We took a quick roadtrip down to Kemah and Galveston, two coastal cities that each have a seaside amusement area. I rode two roller coasters, and we got to check out the Gulf of Mexico. Galveston was recently devastated by a hurricane, but it seemed to be recovering. The whole amusement pier area was brand new.

About to ride the Boardwalk Bullet! It's actually one of only two wooden coasters in Texas. Very fun ride!

The Pleasure Pier in Galveston

Beyond 90 degrees on Iron Shark

Doan made a new friend

Major thunderstorm on the way back to Houston

BBQ from Goode Company. The meat was decent, the bun was great, but I didn't like the sauce very much.

After dinner I drove back to San Antonio, and went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas the next morning. Fiesta Texas is a neat amusement park that is built into a former rock quarry, so 100-ft tall rock cliffs surround much of the park. Several of the rides go up on top of the quarry wall. The new coaster is Iron Rattler, which is actually a wooden coaster built in 1992 that has been redesigned with steel I-beam track and an inversion. It's a fantastic ride - smooth and fast and with some good airtime and a tunnel finale. It probably ranks in my top 15 or so steel coasters. Unfortunately it was already insanely hot and humid, so I left the park shortly after noon to drive up to Austin.

Goliath swoops over the entrance

Iron Rattler time!

The first drop over the side of the quarry wall

Iron Rattler doing its thing

The Superman coaster also interacts with the quarry wall

Goliath's first loop

After getting the three new credits I didn't have at Fiesta Texas, I drove up to Austin to visit Chandra. Austin is a really neat city. It seems like everywhere you look there is a bar, a food truck, or a cute little local shop. The lack of chain stores and restaurants was refreshing. It's really a fascinating city of contradictions and idiosyncrasies - the liberal heart of a conservative state, the home of Rick Perry and hipsters, high-rise condos and bike lanes, cowboys and tourists and Yankee transplants. It seems that even with all of its rapid growth, Austin has kept weird (and South Austin has kept even weirder). There are definitely challenges ahead for the city. What happens when glass-covered 30 story condos raise property values and push out the restaurants and bars that made Austin unique in the first place? How will the city maintain its progressive mindset when the Texas legislature tries to reign it in? Can a bus system and one small light rail line with only 9 stops (and no concrete plans for future rail expansion) support all of the growth, or will the roads and highways just become more crowded? Despite these issues, Austin remains a vibrant and attractive city with a strong heartbeat of BBQ and PBR.

Simón Bolívar takes a catnap

View of the Capitol from the car

Austin does have one light rail line - but it doesn't run on Sundays!

101 beers on tap at Bangers. Drool...

Interesting! Lots of off-beat stuff like this around Austin.

At The Liberty Bar

Waiting for the bats at the Congress Ave bridge - over a million bats live here!

Downtown Austin

This was the best shot I could get of the bats

This was my second trip to Texas this year. My friends in Dallas and Houston will soon be moving out of the state, but I'm already thinking about another trip back to Austin to do some more exploring.