Inside Korea

Korean Adventure (November 1, 2002 Chautauqua)

I subscribe to an English-language newspaper called the Korea Herald. It gives mostly political and economic news, and a view of what some aspects of Korean life is like. There are profiles of Korean public figures, discussions of artistic endeavours, and bits of traditional lore/folkways.

In the political arena, one of the main points of interest for the past year has been the presidential election, due in December. There are two main parties, the Grand National Party, and the Millennium Democratic Party, which was created about six years ago by the sitting President, Kim Dae-jung.

President Kim received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his "Sunshine Policy" of reconciliation with North Korea. This process was stalled for a time after the election of George W. Bush, who included North Korea in his so-called "Axis of Evil." It is only recently that things have gotten back on track (pun intended). The two Koreas are building a rail link through the de-militarized zone, and working on a permanent re-unification village, where long-separated families can meet.

President Kim has had a very bad year. His administration is under investigation for corrupt practices, and two of his sons are now in jail for profiteering. The president is not eligible to run for re-election, but the voters are turning away from his party in droves. The present candidate has spent more time fighting off challenges from within his party than campaigning. Whether the party will survive to the election is still up in the air.

The candidate from the Grand National Party hasn't had an easy time, either. His son has been accused of draft-dodging, and there have been acrimonious exchanges when the law-makers meet in session. At one time, there were so many charges and counter-charges flying around, the Herald had a "Scandal Round-Up" section in the paper.

News from the north is scanty. There are tales of millions of people starving to death, which makes the need for reconciliation that much more acute. One story said that people were foraging in the hills for anything edible, and others were attempting to cultivate seaweed. The same day that story appeared, another one was printed that said the south's First Lady had sent up a shipment of soccer balls. The thought of starving people being given sporting equipment...

A recent article outlined South Korea's high costs and low quality of life. It is the eighth most expensive place to rent an apartment (three bedrooms): 1,580USD/month, as compared to: Taiwan 1,440USD; China 1,460USD; America 1,675USD; and Japan 2,160USD. Office space runs 523USD/year for one square meter (ninth highest), compared with 245USD in China, 452USD in America, and 486USD in Taiwan.

Korea ranks 22nd out of 131 countries in terms of living expenses, while Korean households earmark 4.9% of their budget for education of children, the highest ratio in the world, followed by the U.S., 2.4%; Japan, 2.1%; and Britain, 1.4%. Despite the high cost of living, the 2002 quality of life index for Korea stood at 5.64, ranking 32nd out of 49 countries and trailing Austria (9.77), the U.S. (8.92), and Japan (6.15). The hourly wage of Korea's manufacturing sector workers averaged 8.13USD as of 2000, ranking 21st of 29 countries and trailing Germany (22.29USD), Japan (22USD), and the U.S. (19.86USD).

A lot of Koreans drive their own cars, and they spend a lot of money customizing them to the particular owner's taste. They also have very good, and cheap, transit systems. I do not have a car, but I can get around the country very well for very little cost. It comes in handy when the freeways are jammed to zip past in comfort on the train.

Mostly everybody has a cell phone. It is not unusual to see a couple walking down the street, both of them talking away, but not to each other. The phones are cunning little items, and some of them have special headsets that make it look like wires are trailing out of someone's ears. A lot of people tap away at their hand sets, sending text messages. The rings are modern pop tunes/classical pieces that almost make up for it when they ring in the middle of a crowded movie theatre. Sometimes I think I'm the only person in Korea who doesn't own one. Even my kids have them!

I don't want this to be taken the wrong way, but sometimes Koreans remind me of big, happy children - easily mollified by bright, shiny objects - but with a capacity to work harder than we are used to in the west. They work hard, and they play even harder. They have the confidence that will surely be rewarded, and it will be more than deserved.
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I remember the GNP leader Lee Hoi-chang once being quoted that he was shocked, shocked, at the opposing parties' corrupt practices. The very next week he was under investigation, and he eventually retired from politics.
Despite it's very high standard of living, it was fairly economical to live in South Korea. Mostly because the school paying for your living expenses and health care.
I sometimes wish I was back there earning a living instead of begging for a job, any job back here in the world.
I didn't get a cell phone until my third year there. I probably should have gotten one earlier. I resisited as long as I could, but it just became too impractible not to have one.

BodyWorlds

Korean Adventure (September 6, 2002 Chautauqua)

On August 2nd, I made a trip to Seoul. My main object was to do some shopping for books. Reading material (in English) is a little hard to come by, and I was gratified to find not one, but two bookstores that sold second-hand English language books. Both were in Itaewon, a district of Seoul that caters to international travellers, as well as soldiers from the adjacent American base.

The "69" Building in Seoul.

I bought 5 hardcovers and 7 paperbacks, which should keep me busy until next week. I was on my way to dinner when Whoops! Hey, there's a woman on my arm! How did that happen? Of course, I had seen her, eating noodles at a street kiosk. She must've thought I looked like a good mark, and she wanted to show me a place where the beer is cheap. I knew, however, that the drinks I would have to buy her would not be cheap, so I disentangled myself and went on my way. There is a "Hooker Hill" nearby, where the soldiers seem to go for that kind of "entertainment."

Seoul Tower. There is a smaller replica in Daegu. My first roommate went on and on about how much smaller it was, and then he would talk about how Texas had built a replica of the Washington Monument, except one foot taller. I think he had some sort of fixation with long, hard objects.

The other object of my visit to Seoul was to see the "Body World" exhibit at the Science Museum. This exhibit originated in Germany, and has begun its world tour here in the Far East. It features real bodies that have been donated to science and then specially treated with plastic so that they can be dissected, examined, and posed for research purposes. Somewhere along the line, it was decided to share them with the world.

The lineup for Bodyworlds...

There are bodies without skin, and some without muscles. There are some with only the organs, and some with just the blood vessels. The variety is almost endless, and they all offer a close up look at the inner workings of the body with real-life examples. There has been some controversy in Europe about this exhibit, and debate about whether someone's remains should be viewed in this manner.

... went down the block.

I myself was fascinated, but I did get some funny looks from some people when I tried to explain what I was going to see. It was quite a sight to see a person's muscles posed next to his bones, and to try and see in the mind how they would fit together. A few of the exhibits showed lungs that had come from smokers. The damage should be seen by all who smoke, and contemplate smoking.
Some of the bodies had been frozen, and then sliced thinly, both lengthwise and through the middle. The hanging pieces reminded me of what you might see in a slaughterhouse, except that these are people. I got a different perspective than I was used to, and it made me appreciate some things just a little bit more.

I was able to take one picture before being wrestled to the ground and beaten senseless. The figure in the foreground is of a chess player. The other figures are just garden variety gawkers. It's eerie how lifelike they are, isn't it?

The last part of the exhibit showed examples of the growth of the fetus. All stages of development were on display, from the almost microscopic one month fetus, to a fully developed nine month baby. There was even a fetus shown inside its mother's womb, inside the mother's body. A truly unique sight. I am not sure when this exhibit will be in North America, but I think everyone should be prepared to think about going to see it if it does.
An amusing aspect of my visit to the museum was that I felt sometimes that I was on display just as much as the bodies. It is a little funny to see some Koreans' reaction to the sight of a foreigner, especially the kids. Jaws dropping to the floor, eyes bugging out of the head, it just goes on and on. Sigh. Sometimes it’s tough to be a star. One thing that bothers me is being labelled "mi gook" (American). I always try to correct this misconception by saying "Anni-yo! Cho Canada saram!" (No! I am Canadian!). Koreans are impressed when you try to use their language, and are ready with pointers to help your pronunciation and comprehension improve.
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On my first trip to Itaewon, I was not too impressed after all I heard, and I didn't go back unless absolutely necessary. I had a hard time finding bookstores those first few years. My first roommate knew where they were, but he couldn't give you directions out of a paper bag.
You can see I was getting a bit tired of constantly being stared at when I was out in public. Even in Seoul. And it just went on all the time I was in Korea. You'd have thought they'd get used to foreigners at some point...

2002 World Cup

Korean Adventure (July 5, 2002 Chautauqua)

World Cup Fever
I have never been a real big soccer fan, but it is hard to ignore over 5 million people in the streets. The Korean people are going mad for their team in this round of the World Cup. Korea is hosting the games, along with Japan, where the final will be played June 30th. Unfortunately, the Korean team lost to the Germans, and will not play for the top spot.


That does not matter too much to their fans, who, in the beginning, would have been content just to see them enter the second round. Korea and Japan were entered into competition because they were the hosts, otherwise they would not have qualified. I remember in my first year here, another teacher was trying to get tickets. He was hoping to get into the Korea-U.S.A. match. He did not hold out much hope for the Korean team to do well.
At that time, they were in disarray and not ranked any more than 40th in the world. They have improved greatly since then, and the credit is given to their Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink. This man is now worshipped in this country. There has been talk of erecting statues to him, and awarding him honourary citizenship.


In World Cup play before this tournament, Korea had yet to post a victory. The greatest success was achieved by a North Korean team, which reached the semi-finals in 1966. During the first round of 2002, Korea won twice, and tied one game (with the U.S.). They were the leaders in their division, and advanced to the next round.
This is when the fan support really took off. There were huge-screen TVs set up in front of city halls and in local parks. Hundreds of thousands of fans gathered to cheer the team on. They chose red as their team colour, which is kind of ironic in an anti-communist country like this one. I have become accustomed to seeing a "sea of red" overflowing the streets of major South Korean cities. The games (edited) have even been replayed in the North.

The scene in front of Seoul City Hall.

Korea's second round opponents were the Portuguese, and most of the Korean people I talked to did not give them much chance. When they won, it unleashed celebrations of the type I have not seen outside of the times a Calgary team has won a national championship, or the times an Edmonton team has won anything.
There were parades of fans down the streets, racing around in cars, flag waving, and constant chants of "Daehan Mingguk!" (Republic of Korea) or "Oh Pilseung Korea!" (Korea Is Sure To Win!). The celebrations have escalated each time Korea has won, building to ever greater heights of joyous expectations that are more than adequately fulfilled.

I really like the way she wears that shirt.

One thing that has not been present is the "hooliganism" that has accompanied most of the celebrations I have heard about. The Koreans have been remarkably restrained in this area. I was in downtown Taegu on June 22nd, after they defeated Spain. There were crowds celebrating everywhere, and they were more than happy to have us join in.

Daegu Stadium.

It has been a real Cinderella story, and the people here are not even too disappointed now that the coach has turned back into a pumpkin. They are just real happy that their team has done so well, coming up from obscurity to challenge and defeat some of the top teams in the world. Their enthusiasm and support of the sport has eclipsed that of Japan somewhat. Whether they win or lose in the third place game, they will never forget the wild ride of 2002.
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The games were replayed endlessly on some Korean sports channels. The part I liked best showed two of the Korean commentaters calling the game in the stands among the audience. When the Koreans scored the game-winning goal, they both broke down crying.
One of my students gave me a 10,000won bill with Hiddink's face superimposed over that of King Sejong. I liked the idea so much I copied my own face onto a bill, made many copies, and used that funny money whenever we played games.

Year 1 - Yellow Dust Plus

Howdy

Yellow Dust. It kind of sounds like some quasi-racist name given to something in the west. Like Chinaman Mountain, or the Washington Redskins. However, it isn't. It is the name given to a phenomenon that hits parts of asia every spring. Unfortunately it is now springtime and the dust is rolling in. The problem begins in parts of China, around the Gobi desert. The winds there get very fierce and blow dust and sand around. It gets so windy that it carries the dust across China and into other countries, such as Korea. The dust is very hard on the young, old, and those with breathing problems. Much like the smog problem in many western cities. As with smog alerts, schools sometimes close because of Yellow Dust.

Today we are being hit by it again. It is hard to describe. Right now I am sitting in my apartment with the window shut. Outside it looks hazy because of the dust in the air. In doors I can smell the dust, taste it even. There is no escaping from it. It is cloying in the air, and gets into everything. Schools will probably close for kids today, and our attendance will be lower, because of the dust. People on the street either wear a surgical mask to try not to breath any dust in, or try not to go out. According to the media today is suppoed to be one of the worst incidents of Yellow Dust ever. I believe it, it has never been this bad before.

Other than that, things are going well. While we didn't have a long weekend because of Saturday classes, we did have a holiday weekend.

Friday I went into Seoul for the day. I did some shopping, there is a nice deli to get cheeses at. Also, I found a bookstore that sells used English books. They have quite a selection so I bought enough books to keep me going for a week, seven. It was an adventure getting from the bus station to the deli. Luckily I had clipped their ad out of the paper and had the phone number. My driver called them for directions. We ended up at the wrong end of a very long street, around embassies. A passerby helped give us proper directions. When I was leaving the store I had planned on walking to the bookstore but wasn't sure of the direction. When I showed the ad to the clerk he said it would be too far a walk so he got me a taxi.

I met a friend and his coworkers for lunch at a place called Panchoes. It was mentioned in a previous update. The food was good, the tequila better. :) We hung around for a while then met some friends from my work (Hilda and Matt) for supper at the Thai restaurant I had been to before. That left time for some more shopping before coming home. I bought a nice tie that looks like the Canadian flag. The shopkeeper was a bit perplexed when I started laughing at him though. He asked if I didn't want the US FLag tie to go with it. I laughed for a while. :) THen it was a lengthy subway trip, a bus ride, and back to Chongju.

Sunday, yesterday, I went out with a student. We went to DaeCheong Dam to see the cherry blossoms, and the dam. It was very nice. I hope the pictures turn out. Then we went out for lunch, Taek Bek Suk, a type of chicken and rice soup. We had some fresh strawberrys for dessert and went back into Chongju.

Last night I decided to go to the movies and saw Blade 2. It was as good as the first one. Since I liked the first one a lot that means I thought it was very good. ;) On my way home I ran into a friend (Dong Ae). We went out for a couple of cocktails. Then we walked around drinking coffee and talking for a while. It was a good time.

School is going to be busy this month. Next week one of the teachers goes home for 10 days. I will be picking up 3 of his classes. It will give some nice overtime. :) Friday is his birthday, so taht should be a good time too.

We scouted out some nice bars this weekend. Thursday night we went to our Soju Bar. Unfortunately, it has changed hands. It sucks now. :( I doubt any of us will go back there. From there we went to a new place called "Avec" above the movie theater. Actually the same floor as 1 of their theaters. NICE place! You don't get glasses, you get pewter glasses. They don't bring you a pitcher of beer, it is like a huge goblet with a cover, and a spigot to pour your beer. Sort of like having a lidded keg at you table keeping things cold. Very nice. Good music. Good staff. We will be back there.

We found a couple of other nice places Saturday night. One we had been to before, so we didn't really find it saturday, is called the O Bar. They have a balcony, and the counters are fish tanks. Very cool. Good service. They play jazz and old rock, with a little pop mixed in. Another bar we did find that night is called Cube. EVERYTHING is a cube in there. Seats, tables, menu, balcony, everything. Very cool motif, good side dishes, service, and booze. Another place we will be returning to.

Overall it was a good week. Hopefully this week will be the same or better. Dunno with that dust though. It is pretty bad right now. I can taste it with my window shut. Hope you had a good week.

Take care,

Flint

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My first encounter with Yellow Dust but not the worst.

I actually don't like going to Seoul. Too many people for my taste. Luckily there are places like NiceDeli.com to get deli stuff from. :)

Year 1 - Seoul

Howdy

Seoul is quite a city.

This weekend I decided I had to get away from Chongju for a while. So, I finally ventured to Seoul. I was supposed to go in with a friend, which would make the first experience a little easier. Unfortunately, as with the best laid plans of mice and men, it went astray.

Patrick had to go in earlier than he had planned. So, he went ahead and I said I would meet up with him. Luckily, it is VERY easy to get to Seoul. There are 2 types of buses to take. Economy and Excellent. Economy only costs 3000 WON, while express costs a whopping 7500 WON. ;) Needless to say I took the Excellent bus.

It was quite excellent. If our buses were this comfortable and fast in getting to a destination people would use them more often. The seats are pretty much the size and shape of 1st class seats on a plane. You have ample leg room. The only thing missing was a stewardess and snack cart. Of course there are enough food stalls at the bus station that you have no excuse for not having something to snack on, or drink. They play music, and have a large screen tv at the front. On the night runs they tend to show western movies, with Korean subtitles. It was a very comfortable and quick trip.

When I got to Seoul the first thing that struck me was the sheer size of the city and volume of people. The large apartment buildings all look pretty much the same. Like everyone uses Mr. Kim's Apartment Design 613 when building.

Seoul is one of the 5 largest cities in the world, with a population of around 11 million people. That is something you never forget when travelling within the city. ESPECIALLY on the subway! It is a good thing I am not claustraphobic or agoraphobic or I would have been screwed. As it was, I was roasting and praying to be back up in the "fresh" polluted air.

Taxis cost more than in Chongju, much more if you get stuck in Rush Hour traffic, but they are still infinitely cheaper than in Canada or the US. So, after riding the subways a bit we cabbed everywhere that was too far to walk to. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I spent some time in the underground arcades while I waited for Patrick and his girlfriend, Chon Soon, to show up. You can get around most business districts underground, and there are usually several sub levels, all connected with subway stops. This is really handy on rainy days. I browsed through an a book store that had an English section, and bought a couple of books. A novel (by John Grisham) and a Korean Cookbook. I was going to buy some of magazines until I saw the prices. Maxim and Stuff cost around 15,000 Won EACH! Needless to say, I quickly walked away from the magazine section.

I don't know what you find more of underground, retail shops or food shops. They are both all over the place. Since I hadn't eated yet that day (it was around 3PM Saturday) we all went out for supper once we met up. The restaurant was a Japanese style one, although I never knew pork cutlets (what Patrick had) in curry were a Japanese thing. (Actually the restaurant would be classed as a fusion restaurant, one which serves some traditional dishes and others that are a mix of cultures.) Chon Soon and I had the Udong soup, a type of seafood and vegetable (more of the latter) soup, made with udong noodles. It was delicious.

From there we started our subway sojourn. We ended up at the Korean Exhibition Plaza. There are a LOT of shops there, and an aquaruium which I will probably see on my next visit, it is a tad expensive to get in and wasn't calculated into my budget. One of the stores is a HUGE bookstore with a LOT of English books. Nothing that struck my fancy though. After spending a while there we went for a walk and got a cab to the hotel I picked.

Unfortunately, no one I talked to about hotels told me to book them in advance. Unless it is a holiday or there is a convention we just don't think of all hotels being full on a regular weekend. In Seoul they are. Without a reservation, no hotel. Luckily there are things called Yeogwhans. They are more like the old Motels, or rattier. There are some that are as good as a regular hotel, and some that are pretty disgusting. A one star hotel will run you around 40,000+ a night, which is where I wanted to stay. Yeogwhans run anywhere from 15,000 to 40,000 a night. We found one nearby that cost 35,000 and was pretty good. I FINALLY had a bath tub, and a bath! I even brought my eucalyptus oil with me. :) Next time I will reserve a room at the Kaya hotel though. For 40,000 a night you get a regular hotel room, with bath, plus the hotel has a sauna and restaurant. Mind you, where we stayed was good enough.

After freshening up, and after being in the hot crowded subway you NEED to freshen up, it was around 6:30 and we decided to go for supper. We went into Itaewon, a place beside the U.S. Army base, and where most Westerners go. There are lots of restaurants, bars, shops, and hookers. So many hookers that they have a hill where most hang out waiting for G.I.'s named after them. There are a lot of shops there, especially one selling illegal knock offs of brand names products. As quickly as their goods are confiscated they have more. I didn't really like Itaewon. My initial reaction would be to say there are too many Westerners. That wouldn't be the complete reason, there are too many weird and scarey Westerners there. It is where the dregs of all socieities seem to gravitate, Western, Korean, whatever. There are some nice places, but most you don't feel comfortable or safe in. You definitely do NOT take your kids there after dark.

For example, Patrick was talking about some of the skankier whores while we were walking to the restaurant. (He had our cab drop us of a few blocks from it for some stupid reason.) There is a spot on the other side of hooker hill where they all exhibit their "wares" and have little rooms to take you too. I don't know if I would talk about it in such a knowledgeable fashion with my girlfriend there, but he did. ;) We were on the wrong side of the street, and waiting to cross. I asked Patrick which way we were going. From behind this gravely voice (female) said: Across the street stupid. Both Patrick and I were about to turn around and say: Who the fuck asked you bitch? when we saw her. We both bit our tongue, she looked like one of the skanks he was talking about. A woman aged beyond her years, who looked like she would knife you if you looked too long and didn't pay. In a surprising fit of self-preservation we both actually kept our comment to ourselves.

We went to a great restaurant named the Thai Orchid. It serves, you will never guess, Thai food. It was fantastic. We all ordered an individual dish. (It sort of reminded me of going out for Chinese food in Dartmouth and people each picking a dish, like Ginger Beef, braised bean curd, yadda yadda yadda.) I picked a chicken and potato done in yellow curry; Chon soon ordered a beef dish; while Patrick got a chicken and cashew dish; plus we started with a mix of appetizers (some satay's, spring rolls, and shrimp). It comes with a huge dish of rice, and we got some wine to go with it. The service was very good too. We always had someone filling our water glasses, and they even have a wine steward who makes sure your glasses are full. Mind you next time I will NOT let Patrick do the wine testing. Drinking it like a shot isn't considered tasting. ;)

We were done dinner by 9:00, and it was time to sample the nightlife. Patrick had a hankering for some Guiness on tap, so we headed for the Seoul Pub. It was loud, and packed with mainly westerners. Yes, there were several there which we classified as scary. It was too noisy and too hot. We had a Guiness and then went looking for a better place. The next one we went into was a place called Queens. It wasn't a gay bar, but it was a hooker bar.

You are expected to buy drinks for the girls, and later for a fee they will do something for you. (Yes, sex is extremely easy to get here if you want to pay for it. Everything from home delivery (pussy on the hoof?) to whore houses, to bar girls. Prostitution is not illegal in Korea. It can be harder to get the legitimate way, but it isn't impossible. ;) ) We left there in search of more liquid pastures.

I am going to digress for a moment. There are a LOT of Christers to be found in Itaewon. For that matter, in Korea. On the highway outside Chongju you will find the large Jesus Saves signs you see in places in the U.S. In Itaewon, at night, they go looking for souls to save on the street corners. We passed a large group of Baptists with megaphones and a sound system singing psalms in Korean. Mind you they were singing psalms in Korean to passing Westerners, the majority of which don't speak ANY Korean. No one said they were smart. Just religious. I guess the Simpson's were right. In North America we get the Hari Krishna's recruiting and handing out pamphlets at some placews in Asia they have the Christians doing it.

Our next stop was going to be a popular place called Gecko's. On the way there we saw Pancho's, a Mexican place and decided to pop in. It was a good idea, because we spent the rest of the night there. The crowd was great, the music good, they had pool tables, darts, western style bathrooms, and GREAT margarita's by the pitcher. :) Overall a good night.

Today I was going to do all the tourist stuff. Hit the War Museum, Insadong, which is a LARGE outdoor art area. Any type of art or nick nack you want can be found there. I was up early, and decided to soak in the tub and watch some TV, since I have neither. At 9 I decided to wake Patrick up and called him to let him know I was going to the museum. He isn't much of a museum person. He asked me to wait 30 min and he would come. 40 min later I called and he had gone back to sleep. I told him to call me when he is up, I would be at the museum.

The War Museum is HUGE. It contains artificats and exhibits going back to before the Three Kingdom era of Korea. They even have replica's of some of the ships they used to defeat the Japanese centuries ago., the turtle ships. Most exhibits are in English and Korean. Except those where the Koreans lost. They are only in Korean. You can also get a device that gives you english aduio of what is in the exhibit. There is a HUGE area devoted to the Korean war.

Most westerners don't realize how close the North came to winning the war. The South was driven FAR south initially, to a small area around the port of Pusan. It wasn't until the amphibious landing at Inchon that the tide started to turn. Most westerners also don't realize just how close they came to winning. Pyongyang was captured and the North Korean Army all but defeated when the Chinese entered the fray.

Outside there are two displays that were interesting. One is a mix of statues and actual planes and tanks used during the war. While you can't go into them you can climb a walkway and look into them. The other display is more solemn. It is a roll of every soldier killed during the Korean war, whether they are Korean or from another U.N. nation. 17 countries, including Canada answered the call to help. Troops from Ethiopa and Columbia, as well as others fought and died to help South Korea.

Unfortunately, by the time I reached the outside exhibits, and Patrick joined me, it was raining heavily. This meant Insadong was out. :(

Since it was around 1PM we decided to get some lunch. Chon Soon was meeting us at a theater around 3 so we could see a movie. We ended up going to a food court and getting some western food. I had Popeye's chicken. Love those buttermilk biscuits. While we waited for her to show we had coffee, browsed the bookstore (Oh, this is all in one of those underground areas, near the bus terminal.), and played video games. We decided to see The One with Jet Li at 4. It wasn't bad, the fight scenes were good.

At 6 I wasn't hungry, but it was time to think about heading back to Chongju. So I left Patrick and Chon Soon so they could spend some time together and got the Excellent bus back home. Which is where I am now.

It was a good weekend. I wish it hadn't rained, but I will be going back to Seoul soon. I could never live there, too many people, but visiting is ok. Next time I will book a room at the hotel in advance, and spend less time in Itaewon. There are several other museums I want to see, as well as some old palaces. If I can find a scanner I will send copies of the pics out when I get them developed.

Take care

Flint

******

You can probably notice a bit of an anti-Westerner/foreigner tinge to my comments. Some of it is because I was drinking the kool-aid then, some of it was and is justified.