Seoul Man

Last weekend, Leona, Helen and I visited the great city of Seoul.

We went up by bus on Saturday afternoon, getting there about 5. We visitedItaewon, which is the most foreign area in Seoul, and home to a great all-English used bookstore called "What the book". After spending some time (and money) in the bookstore, we found a new and fairly good Mexican restaurant called "Los Amigos." The bean burrito was excellent, and Helen enjoyed hers as well, so I suppose we'll go back there next time we're in Seoul. Something I particuarly liked was that every item on the menu had a vegetarian option.

My mother asked me to find some little pill containers while I was in Itaewon, but the store was closed when we were there. I have another source in Cheongju, though, so I'll check there.

We spent the night in Insadong, which is the traditional artist area in Seoul. This is an interesting street with dozens of tea shops. Lots of little shops for shopping, but it's mostly touristy stuff. Fine if you're only here for a week or so, but after 12 years, it's fairly old hat. We normally stay at a hotel by a temple (I like to listen to the bells, gongs, and drums at 4:00 a.m), but we wanted to stay somewhere else this time. We ended up this little closet of a room (although with a big screen screen!), and that was okay. This time. (Unlike the Mexican restaurant, we won't be back. On the way down in the 1940s elevator, I drew an X on the wall with my finger (from a habit by my mother).

On Sunday we went to a famous temple called Bong-eun-sa (sa meaning temple). This is a largish historical temple smack downtown Seoul. It's surrounded by modern skyscrapers, and it's a bit jarring to see the skyscrapers looming over the tiles roofs. We went in and listened to the monks chanting with their mok-tak drums for a while. I would have liked to spend more time there, temple junkie that I am, but Helen isn't that interested in temples.

Finally we did some shopping in the massive and maze-like underground shopping mall called COAX. We just kinda wandered around looking at this and that and getting lost. This is one of those areas you have to see to believe. We finished the shopping with the bookstore (of course, this is me) in the middle (well stocked with new English books). Taxi to the bus station, and then back home.

I love Seoul... when can I go back???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongeunsa
http://ko.whatthebook.com/ (Free shipping inside Korea!)