Seoul - Part 2

Thursday

It wasn’t easy getting up this morning but with a whole day of urban trekking ahead of me, I dragged myself from my mattress (on the floor) and into the bathroom which can be used as a shower thanks to a large drain in the floor – Korean living quarters can be quite compact. It wouldn’t be until lunch, when I felt like I had somewhat recovered from the debauchery of the previous night. Hot Korean soup is excellent for hangovers. I would also like to note that at traditional Korean restaurants, it is customary to take off your shoes before entering the dining area. Because of my inability to sit Indian-style and even untie my shoes without sitting down, I have always been hesitant of such places – but when in Rome...

After my friend went to work, my girlfriend and I went site seeing (English teachers at academies must wait for students to get out of regular school thus their workday often starts around 4pm). Before reaching our first destination, I was already taking pictures. Seoul’s subway system is like nothing I had every seen. The subway cars are wide enough to drive a minivan through, long enough to make most Amtrak trains blush, and clean and high-tech enough that you thought you were in the future. Efficient…there are hundreds of stations scattered throughout city each with multiple (sometimes a dozen) exits, English signs are placed everywhere, and people use their cell phones as metro cards. I would soon learn that Seoul’s public transportation and infrastructure is simply flawless. In a city of 20 million, this is imperative and if I was a Beijing urban planner, I would be taking scrupulous notes – Beijing subways are narrow enough that when standing in the same place I can touch the windows on both sides of the car, and I often hit my head on the bars!

I firstly visited Seoul’s largest palace called Gyeongbukgong. Although it is minuscule compared to Beijing’s Forbidden City, I found it more enjoyable and it to be more in harmony with nature, mainly because of its large pond and the surrounding mountains – the Forbidden City is so vast and cold, certainly not a place to go picnicking.

From the palace, we made our way to a very cultural and artsy area called Insadong. Along the main pedestrian street you will find scores of art galleries, cafes, quaint restaurants, and many small shops and antique parlors. However, the secrets of Insadong are all hidden in the many alleyways that sprout out from the main drag. Also, a handful of men dressed in traditional Korean garment march up and down the street periodically – a nice touch.

From Insadong we walked south through the heart of downtown – actually just one of Seoul’s many downtowns – passing City Hall, Myeongdong (a popular shopping street), and numerous aesthetically pleasing skyscrapers. Eventually we arrived at Namdaenum, a traditional Korean street market that reminded me of markets along the slopping streets on Hong Kong Island. The Namdaenum Gate, one of Korea’s most valued cultural monuments, was recently burnt down by a drunken discontent arsonist – a loss the Korean people are extremely upset about.

From the market, we began the long climb up Namsam Mountain, and every step I took I could feel soju seeping out of my pores. I was in poor shape and after living in Beijing for nearly two years, my lungs weren’t exactly working properly. After an hour or so, we reached the peak, bought a ticket up the Seoul Tower, and took in the splendor of a 360 panorama view of the city as the sun set in the horizon. Pollution in Seoul is nothing compared to the levels we experience here in Beijing and so with my forehead pressed against the glass I could gaze out at Seoul’s endless marks of humanity. I truly love cities, the balance between chaos and harmony, the height of civilization from a birds eye – standing at Griffith Observatory, on top of the Empire State Building, looking down from Victoria Peak, from the observation desk of the Jinmao Tower – I could always look for hours. But after spending ample time relaxing our beaten bodies and admiring the city as it begun to light-up, we made our descent to find some food.

We decided to take a bus to Itaewon, a neighborhood just south of the mountain and north of the river and best known for being the home of tens of thousands of US soldiers. This “America in Seoul” was very unique in the sense that many of the businesses here, unlike the rest of Seoul, catered to foreigners. Waitresses spoke English, Western bars and restaurants covered the area, and men with shaved heads roamed the streets. Although many Koreans look down on Itaewon, I find the dynamics at play here extremely fascinating. In Beijing most foreigners are either students or professionals who either were sent over because they have studied Chinese before or are high managers in multi-national corporations. In Itaewon, foreigners and the majority of them being Americans, are not exactly intellectuals or Korean-speakers but just Average Joes. The juxtaposition of small town America superimposed on an Asian megatropolis is anything but natural. In Itaewon, you see many soldiers who have businesses on the streets, their own clubs, their own meat vending trucks, their own prostitution rings. My girlfriend hates the alleys of Itaewon because sometimes you cross a joint with a group of Russians that reek of vodka or a party of large African-Americans hanging out on the steps and in Korea, that's not commonplace – if I forgot to mention, Korea has no minorities, so anyone that looks different will be looked at as different.

In other words, Seoul seems to have all the modern characteristics of an international city, but in fact looks can be deceiving. Besides being located next to North Korea and having an army of children who want to learn English, there is very little reason why foreigners would live here. The real estate market, the retail market, the food and entertainment markets are coincidentally very Western in ways, but that is because the Koreans are very Western in ways. Nobody in the general population really speaks English because they don’t need too. Unlike most Beijingers, people in Seoul have fat paychecks, they embrace a lavish drinking, eating, and shopping culture, they have fashion and follow a thriving pop culture - they are collectively a consuming nation. In Beijing, expats are prime patrons of most high-end establishments and we can live like kings for very little. In Seoul, I am nobody. In New York, I am also nobody, but at least I can use my social linguistic graces and boyishly good looks and charm to move up in the ranks of society. In Seoul, if you don’t drive a BMW, drink bottles of Jack Daniels ($125 a bottle), look like Rain, or most importantly speak Korean, you are a phantom. A sad truth.

Anyway, to wrap up, I spent the rest of my night in Itaewon eating Italian food and drinking wine at a wine bar (a new fad in Seoul). I took the subway home before they stopped running at midnight and called it an early night – I knew a weekend of havoc was ahead of me.