Serve me up some SEOUL, baby!

Yesterday I returned from a 5 day trip to Seoul, South Korea. It was my final trip with my friend Theresa, who went on to Hong Kong before returning to the US as I headed back to Japan for another year of playing with children teaching. We'd been planning this trip for months, although it's only been in recent weeks that it really started to shape up. In fact, most of what made our trip so fantastic actually came about in just the past couple of weeks.

So a girl Theresa had known something like a decade ago came to visit Takayama. I got to meet her for all of like, a day, but it turns out that her brother lives in Seoul and she suggested we meet him for dinner while we were there. So we did. He, in turn, brought along a friend who has just graduated after studying abroad in the US and is home on vacation while awaiting the results of a big test he just took. We met up with them for dinner the first night and had such a fantastic time with them that we ended up meeting up with them every day of our trip v^_^v Had we been left to our own devices, our tour of Seoul derived from the guidebook, we would have most likely enjoyed ourselves. But we would have missed out on a lot of those things that you only get to experience when you spend time with people who live there. Like their favorite restaurants that they've been going to for 13 years. Or getting a tour of the largest women's university in the world (Ehwa). Or where to get the best deals on socks.

Yes, meeting up with Jasper and Romeo (yes, Romeo, hee hee) really made that trip. I've uploaded photos to my picassa album, you can find them by clicking on the slide show in the upper right hand corner, or for the very lazy amongst you by clicking here. Some of my favorites:

At Jongmyo Shrine





Insadong, the antiques market


Dinner, our first night

Video of Jasper, explaining the steps of eating "sam"

Gyeongbokgung, the Palace of Shining Happiness




Changdeokgung, the Palace of Illustrious Virtue

The "secret garden" at Changdeokgung



Bibimbap

With Romeo (on the left) and Jasper (on the right) at Ewha Women's University (where Jasper teaches)

In Myeondong market

Eating the spiciest kimchi I've ever had at Romeo's favorite (and wonderfully inexpensive) restaurant

Stewed silkworms. No, I didn't try them :P

At the DMZ

Our last dinner in Seoul



I am continually impressed by the caliber of people I keep meeting in Asia. Jasper and Romeo both gave up their valuable time and energy (and paid more than their fair share of restaurant bills) with little more than a couple of souvenirs and the pleasure of our company in return. Granted, our company is worth a lot... but still.

I can't wait to go back ^_^

Matsuri

Summertime in Japan means one thing: Matsuri Season! You can find one just about every weekend, and many weekdays, in almost any town, large or small.

Yep, summer is all about festivals in Japan. And nothing say "festival" in Japanese quite like fireworks. Sunday I went to the last day of the Gero Matsuri, located conveniently enough, in Gero. Which is just under an hour south of Takayama. Since I still can't drive, I took the train. The same train, it seems, that everyone else was taking. It was so packed that my friends Gavin and Theresa were unable to get on it in Hagiwara and had to drive ^o^ *shock* You would not believe how hot it was on that train. Then again, maybe you would.

Anyway, like I said, festivals in Japan are all about the fireworks. And Gero didn't disappoint.



What I especially enjoyed about the fireworks in Gero is how they paired them with music. Nothing says Japan like Indiana Jones!


The other feature of Japanese festivals are the prevalence of yukata (summer kimono) and jimbe (a traditional summer clothing for men, resembling pajamas in the west). This summer I decided that I too, would jump on the yukata bandwagon, and I bought myself one. And believe it or not, I was actually able to dress myself in it on only my 3rd time ever wearing one!

Dressing oneself in a yukata may not sound like that great of an accomplishment, but it's considerably more difficult than the everyday skill of donning, say, a pair of pants. Not only do you have to measure out the proper length of fabric to fold over at the waist, you also have at least 2 ties under the obi (belt), a clip thing to keep it shut, a board to shove under the front of the obi to keep it looking nice and flat, and then there's the art of tying the obi itself. Which is no easy task, especially when you're doing it on yourself. And you've got 10 minutes until the train arrives. I'd say I still have a long way to go before I've mastered the art of obi tying (if that's even possible), but I think I did a decent enough job for my first try ^_^

Lucky for me, there are still plenty of festivals left before the end of summer, so I've got ample opportunity to practice!