The Korean Series - Day 2 Seoul by the moonlight

Acting much like a sloth on my first day in Korea, meant that I saw Seoul by the evening lights. I was on vacation after all. I lazily crawled out of bed to fumble around Corey's apartment. I ended up back in bed until he returned from work. Corey broke out his few Korea traveling guides and we decided on what we would do for the evening.

It was decided that we would see a palace in the moonlight followed by checking out many of the markets that Korea is a bit famous for. We hopped onto a train and were scheduled first to check out a palace by night. After a roundabout walk of the city – we arrived there. Since it was nightfall, I think only one person had walked past us while observing. I went up close to check out the colors a bit more. This palace was quite large. The architecture and colors reminded me a lot of Japan; which makes sense since it is an Asian country. According to one of my adult students, these architectural similarities are seen all over Asia. He told me it first started in China, then moved to Korea and lastly to Japan.

It makes sense for ideas to travel that way. As Korea is next to China, it only seems sensible that they would have the next dibs on the ideas. According to one of my college professors, Japan has a knack for stealing ideas and customs from other countries. This can be seen in such cultural ideas such as the Chinese writing system, at one point having strong Confucius beliefs taken from China, moving onto Buddhism, and now many Western ways of life being integrated into the culture.

Back to Korea. It is always nice seeing things by the moonlight because you don't have crowds of people. I am one of the people in that crowd, so I can't be cynical. Yet, that many people in such a historical spot often takes away from the reason you are there. After seeing the palace, we took a stroll along the streets of Korea to reach the markets. We passed “the secret garden” which Corey has yet to find a way in.

To cross the street in Seoul, frequently,you are required to walk under the street via a tunnel

provided. I haven't been to a city where I have needed to do this yet. As Corey and I discussed, there probably aren't too many cities in America where we would feel safe walking through a tunnel at night. Tunneling underground in Seoul wasn't something I thought twice about.

I suppose if someone from space was watching us through glass, the city of Seoul might represent something like an ant farm. All these underground routes to get us from A to B. Did you ever have an ant farm? I did and I remember my mom made me keep my ants in our garage. Imagine two thin pieces of glass pushing together sand. At first the sand is all in tact. After a few days, weeks, the ants have created a masterpiece of subterranean mazes. That's Seoul walking in a nutshell. We were all just a bunch of ants – Corey and I – two ants trying to get from a palace to the markets.

The Christmas lights in Seoul were still illuminating throughout the city. These lights decorated the city nicely and made it seem even more alive. The weather was wonderful, unlike all the rumors I had heard from my Japanese counterparts. Every person I told that I was headed to Seoul for the new years immediately followed up with ahhh totemo samui desu! Ippai yuki! Which basically is Seoul is very cold and there is lots of snow there! They were quite wrong – Seoul was a lot warmer than where I am living in Japan and there was no snow (but, it seems this happens to be a worldwide phenomenon).

The first market we went to was quite crowded with people – for the time to be so late in the evening – it was quite shocking that there were this many people moving around. Many of the vendors in this market were selling food, souvenirs, clothes, etc. The road was made of brick and all the different kiosks and stores were hugging both sides of the street. It was at the first market that I picked up the extent of the souvenirs I would purchase on this trip. I didn't have a lot of bag space for anything to come back to Japan with me. Unless one is out to shop – the experience of seeing the markets is still memorable. The hustling people, the different and new foods, Korean goods. This market is also where we purchased the bulk of our street food. (see my Korean food blog)

The second market we hit up was a bit different. This market had many, larger stores you could also enter. Imagine on the streets, towering buildings with small kiosks down below. Imagine the bully at recess threatening the little guy to give up their lunch money. The stores all looked expensive, while the family run stands provided goods for cheap. This market offered a lot of gloves, hats, outdoor stuff, as well as bootlegged DVDs, food, a vast array of items. Corey and I bought our skiing gear from this market. The vendors are all really friendly and I never felt they were too pushy to purchase anything. I ended up with a really cute hat that you will see in a lot of my Korea pictures. I wanted something practical but cute. The man that sold me my hat (and Corey's too) was memorable. Making small conversation with us – like where we are from and moving on to tell me I could be a model.

There was a boy standing around in this market as well. He was holding up a cardboard sign that said free hugs. People were gathered around him, but no one was hugging him. I felt, the only thing to do – was to give him a hug. I went and hugged him, a big hug since I never receive or distribute this in Japan. During our hug, he told me I love you. A lot of people laughed and I probably did look a bit like an idiot – but how can you pass up a free hug?

Our last market for the evening which Corey prepared me for was named Namdaemum Market. He warned me that if I thought the other two markets were swarming full of people – wait till I see this one! We weaved our way through the conglomeration of streets, underground tunnels, construction, people, all the mess of a city. Passing by all the Christmas lights again, the imposing buildings to reach what seemed to me a quieter part of the city. And that it was – the market was closed! Bummer – but I still got a feel for what it would have been like. It was very different from the first two we visited. These stands were all one right next to each other – little holes in the wall with much of their products on display outside. Many of the shops had awnings which peppered the street. Prices were not marked indicating there could be some bartering with the owner. The market was within narrow alleyways; I can imagine that if it were only semi- busy it would be brimming. It would be a sardine situation – with little walking space and lots of consumer-hungry tourists. It reminded me of older Asia, not that I really know older Asia; but the feel to it wasn't that of a newer market place like the first two we had visited. I purchased some omiyage. Which in Japanese – is basically like a souvenir but there is a small difference in meaning. I purchased nori or seaweed for Yumie and Yasko since they helped me get some of my trip situated.

Between the markets walk – we also crossed over a bridge that was keeping our feet dry from a river down below. Down by the river, there were heaps of people walking along the edge on a nicely paved sidewalk. I tried to take a photo – but again, we were night viewing which didn't allow for a good shot. I like cities that incorporate nature into them.

After finishing up with the last market, we found our way back to Corey's part of town. We took a train and Corey told me to keep an eye out for red crosses. I don't know what it is in Korea; but literally every two seconds you see a big, red illuminated cross hovering over everything around it. Sometimes, they switched it up and you would see a green one. I understand that there has been a lot of unrest over Catholicism in Korean history. According to Wikipedia.com, Catholicism first came to Korea in the first years of the 17^th century. In the years 1839, 1846 and 1866 at least 8,000 people were persecuted for practicing. Maybe this is their way of saying “we won the right to practice and we will let you know by having crosses litter the view of Seoul.” According to the CIA world fact book, 26% of Korean people today are Christians. If you were to stare straight out the train window and not move your head or peripherals – you would see a red cross nearly every five seconds. As soon as one leaves your view, a new one comes flashing at you reminding you of Jesus Christ. I wish I knew the real meaning behind it since it was so peculiar.

Tonight was the night that we would do our beer taste test, learn Korean drinking games and go to the biggest night club. You can read about it in my first post of Korea.

My next blog: my first time skiing and New Year's Eve! (if I get to it before leaving for America! So much to blog, so little time!)