Asia Trip 2012 - Day 1 in Seoul

An inside-out kim bahp.

Our comfy room at the W in Walkerhill, Seoul, forced us to sleep in.  It was amazing to greet the day with a glorious view of the meandering Kangnam River, which splits the city of Seoul.  We lunched at Kim Bahp Chang Guk (yes, call us Korean fast food junkies), then checked out the future site of the Dongdaemun history and cultural center and the Dongdaemun district itself.  Both areas were getting facelifts (i.e., under construction), so we used our imagination to envision what might be behind all that tarp and scaffolding.  We’ll find out if we were right, on our next visit.

Sam gye tang, served in a boiling dol sot (stone pot).

Abe's actor nephew, Kim Jisuk, took a break from filming to meet us.  He brought us for an awesome Chinese massage, during which I became putty in the hands of my masseuse who contorted me into positions I never knew I could achieve.  We were walking on air the rest of the evening, stopping by the train station to grab Mabel (who spent the weekend with us), then tucked in a sam gye tang (ginseng chicken soup) feast at an apparently famous place frequented by the Korean President.  Good stuff!

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Photo credit: Abe

Asia Trip 2012 - 24 hours in Daejeon

Mabel met us at Daejeon Station an hour and a half after we left Busan, enthusiastically greeting us with the Korean two-handed wave.  She guided us effortlessly through this central Korean city’s subway system to her apartment in a bustling part of town.  After dumping our packs, we stuffed our faces at Kim Bahp Nara (or Kim Bahp Land), one of her favorite dinner spots just across the street.  We stretched out our full bellies on a cool evening stroll around the neighborhood before returning home.  It was a school night after all.

Kim bahp (seaweed-wrapped rice stuffed with fun stuff).

We headed out 7am the next morning, munched on a breakfast kim bahp from G25 (equivalent to a 7-11), and caught a bus with Mabel to the girls' school where she teaches.  We joined the sea of students marching from the bus stop or their parents' cars up the long driveway to school.  Teacher monitors stood at the entrance to greet the incoming high schoolers and, their main focus, to check that everyone was abiding by the dress code, including:

• No permed hair.
• No makeup.
• No jewelry.
• No shortened skirts (or otherwise altered uniforms).

School dog that howls at suspicious characters.

As we entered the school building, students replaced their "outside shoes" with slippers, which they wore throughout campus the rest of the school day.  It was test day, so Mabel’s English classroom was quieter than usual.  We hung out there most of the day, stepping out for a Mabel-led campus tour; a visit to the school mascot, a Jindo-ke (Korean’s national dog breed) who growled suspiciously at sketchy-looking Abe, with his bald head and goatee; and a tasty lunch in the faculty wing of the cafeteria.  Braver ones among Mabel’s students came up to us and confidently blurted out English phrases, while others covered their mouths and giggled as they passed.  

After school, we feasted on a shabu shabu dinner with Mabel and her friend before heading to the train station and were soon on our way to Seoul, the nation's capital.

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Photo credit: Abe