Ben's Excellent Korean Adventure: August 2004

The weekend

Well, I had a really great time this weekend. On Friday night, I went to Hongdae and had fun dancing up a storm. Hongdae is the place to go to dance, as there are tons of dance clubs. Then, my friend Jay came into Seoul from Kwang-ju (a city about 4 hours south of Seoul). We went to a hash, which is a strange hybrid of a scavenger hunt, a drinking game, a pep rally, and a marathon. It's really fun. The basic idea is follow a trail of "hashes" on the ground - small chalk arrows, pitstops, checkpoints, and what not. One person (the "rabbit") lays a trail and tries to make you run through all of Seoul while trying to get you lost by laying down false trails and what not. To make it even more fun, everyone starts with a few drinks (ok, ok, many drinks)... and they end up finishing with a few more (ok, ok, many more) drinks. It is a complete and utter blast. When I get back to Saskatoon, I want to try to get a hash or two started. If you're in Saskatoon, look it up on the internet - maybe there's already a group somewhere around there.

After the hash on Saturday, we went to the fish market. There's a really cool restaurant there that will cook up whatever you buy right there at the market. The seafood market is about the size of a football field filled with aquariums and lots of ice. You can buy any one of a number of seafood delicacies there. We bought two Huge crabs and a bunch of king prawns which turned out to be the best shrimp I've eaten in my entire life. (And I don't really like shrimp all that much).

On Sunday, Jay and I hung out in Itaewon and Dongdaemun - both great places for shopping. Ahem... to go on again about delicious food - there is a super mexican food shop in Itaewon off the beaten trail where I had the best burrito I've eaten in my life (yes, this was the weekend of bests) and it only cost me 4,000 won (about 4 bucks)! It was great. While in Dongdaemun, I also tried a breaded hotdog on a stick - deep fried with french fries embedded in the batter covering the hotdog. It was a full unhealthy meal wrapped into one convenient snack....... *On a steeeeck, man!*

Last night (Monday that is), I joined a gym near the school. I hope to head there on a regular basis (I say this despite the fact that I've been sitting here all night trying to get all my new posts up online)... after that, I suppose I'll go...

Finally, today we went to the COEX Aquarium in Seoul with the kids as a fieldtrip. It was a lot of fun and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. Well, I know *I* did... What follows are a bunch of the photos from the past week or so. Enjoy!

One more picture of the giant caterpillar. Look! There's Seoul in its shadow!

Korean dry chilies in the parks. They will come out with tarps, spread out the red chilies and come back later. The dried chilies are used to make kimchi and other spicy dishes. I find it strange that in a country so technologically advanced, some things are still done the old fashioned way. I guess they taste better that way!

See next picture for explanation.

On my way home from school one day, I saw the largest caterpillar I have ever seen. It was so big, it had a wicked looking spike on its butt. It is next to a 100 won piece - the exact same size as a Canadian quarter.

This is the so-called 63-Tower. It is the tallest building in Korea, measuring in at... you guessed it - 63 floors. The base of it is sloped outwards... I assume to keep it from toppling.

On Sunday, Jay and I went to Itaewon. This is a picture of Seoul Tower. I will get there one of these days to have a close-up tour. I hear the rotating restaurant at the top is very posh.

On Saturday, myself and Jay had a blast. While Jay was out running and errand, I was running in a hash (a drinking/running/ scavenger hunt race thingy). Here, we had just got down from the mountain and this is a picture of some greenhouses in the middle of the city.

Saturday night after the hash, we went to a fish market where you go and buy your live seafood, take it to the restaurant and they cook it up there for you. It was an amazing experience. We got 2 giant crabs and a bunch of king prawns.

Octopus legs at the fish market where we ate.

These were the best prawns that I have ever eaten in my life. WOW. If any of you decide to come visit me in Korea, I will take you there and treat you to a prawn dinner. It was so good.

Near Itaewon, the american sector. Most of Seoul is relatively flat (aside from the buildings), so this was kind of a unique shot.

The moon, over the construction outside my apartment (as taken from the roof). Hmmm... I wonder if I could have packed any more location specifiers in that sentence...