Seoul Trippin 3

Sunday in Seoul began fairly early (at least for someone who is used to starting work at 1p.m.). Sleeping in the bathhouse was an interesting endeavor as there were roughly 80 basic 'boxes' set up on the top floor in a kind of bunk style, some with 'pillow' type cushions and a mat, while many others contained nothing in terms of comfort. I was fortunate enough to occupy one w/this slight level of comfort. Considering the whole building was quite a few degrees warmer than the air temperature outside, it made for a rather hot & sticky nights sleep but, in the end, it wound up being a fairly restful night.

6:30-ish is prime time to avoid the mass of humanity in a Jjimjilbang, I pretty much had the showers & hot/cold tubs to myself so I was able to take my time, enjoy some privacy & cleanse my exterior w/very little sense of hurry. By the time I was finished loading up my pack & making my way downstairs, Koreans in all shapes, sizes & ages were stirring about, preparing to begin their day on the tails of the peculiar white man....so far, so good!


I ventured out the main entrance, formulated a plan & made my way back down Hooker Hill, stopping at a Family Mart (convenience store) to pick up some yogurt & a couple Gatorade's - can never be too hydrated over here, the humidity reminds me of both IA & FL. After grabbing what I needed & wandering back out into the early morning summer warmth, the scene of late night revelers making their way home offered some great amusement & as I stood there in somewhat of a trance just taking it all in, a guy came up to me & snapped me back to reality by mentioning he saw the backpack & thought he would do the proper thing & say hey to a fellow backpacker. Winds up, the guy talked my ear off for about 30 minutes....so much for just saying hey. He's originally from near Chicago & been teaching over here for a couple years but spent about five years working as some sort of production minion on the Jerry Springer Show. Admittedly, I only caught about 20% of what he was saying but I do recall him mentioning he hated working there & having to do so many terrible things in an effort to ruin someone else's life for ratings & money; ah, television, how I haven't missed you!

Art Museum I couldn't visit as it's closed on Sundays.

Looking North at part of the US Military Base

By the time I took my leave of 'Chicago,' nearly an hour had passed & I was wasting valuable time in the city. It took a couple minutes to get to the bike we'd stashed the night before, saddle up & make my way south to the Han River. 

Really not a whole lot to tell about the next few hours, basically rode up & down the river on a fairly busy bike path, envied a speed boat on the Han river pulling the one & only water-skier I've seen in my eight months here, chomped on a few snacks, watched a little league baseball practice, sucked down a Gatorade, enjoyed a crappy Korean beer, snapped a handful of pictures, 'conversed' w/a few groups of Korean schoolkids hanging out along the riverfront & finally decided to make my way back to Itaewon so I could meet up w/Tonya & Mark after their race. It was mid afternoon by this point & they were likely going to be finishing the race & heading back by about 4, then the plan was to hit up the Aussie BBQ.

I had worked up a pretty good funk from all bike riding & wandering around, so I was pretty anxious to get a cool shower & some tasty BBQ in my stomach - and of course, wash it down w/multiple beers that hopefully wouldn't be Korean made.

63 Building overlooking the Han

Interesting metalwork along the bike path

 After waiting a couple of hours & not hearing anything from Tonya & Mark, I made my way down to the strip, grabbed a bite to eat at a Mexican restaurant (it was awesome!) & decided to do a little window shopping as well as hit up an English Bookstore. As I left the bookstore, returned to the sun-drenched strip, set my pack down & perused one of the new books I'd picked up I was approached by a couple Korean women. They proceeded to ask me if I was familiar w/God the Mother. Assuming they simply confused mother w/father, I said sure, of course. Big mistakes....as I've learned, when any Korean approaches you carrying a backpack or shoulder bag, pretend you speak Spanish & high tail it in the opposite direction, wildly
yammering on in Spanish, otherwise they'll likely rope you into a 'God is great' session you probably don't want any part of.

I remained cordial enough to the ladies & listened to what they had to say, many times refuting their claims, even as they attempted showing me 'proof' about 'God the Mother' in the Bible. Surprisingly, there is an huge group of followers/believers around the world who travel to Korea on a pilgrimage of sorts to meet & shake hands w/the living, breathing 'God the Mother.' Somehow, the mother of Jesus is alive & well (although she's nearing geriatric status) in South Korea - and people really believe this, so much so that they devote their lives & money to her spiritual leadership. The whole time (probably two hours) they were witnessing to me, I was thinking this would be the perfect time for my phone to ring, so as to have a legitimate reason for leaving.

Water skier on the Han

Church w/a view overlooking the Han

Even though the ladies felt as though they'd failed to persuade me in joining their cult (even after bringing in a couple Jerry Falwell heavy hitters), I told them they did a wonderful job in 'explaining' the information & it was certainly something to think about but I really had to get going, even though the phone had yet to ring.  As I strode down the sidewalk, they followed a little ways back w/a determined, yet slightly dejected look on their faces but quickly jumped into their pitch w/another unsuspecting foreigner. I've come to realize, many Koreans are interested in saying hello to foreigners & finding out a little information about where they are from & what they're doing in Korea, so when the two ladies originally approached me, I thought nothing of it....lesson learned.

I pretty much spent the next few hours wandering up & down the strip, stopped for more grub & a beer & finally decided that if I didn't hear anything from Tonya & Mark by 10, I'd head for the train station & back to Gumi rather than spending another night in the Jimjilbang. I was slightly worried something might have happened to Tonya & Mark during the race, as it was a pretty grueling endeavor & the weather was just hot enough to make it that much more difficult.

By 10, I'd successfully quelled the advances of what I can only assume was a hooker, enjoyed an entertaining street musician, made my way to the subway station (successfully quelled the same hookers advances again, pretty sure she was following me) & finally found myself back at Seoul Station. I got my ticket, killed the next 70 minutes reading & people watching & finally boarded the 11:30 train bound for Busan, meaning I'd be back home in Gumi in a few short hours.

Apparently Norway has a big tourist presence in Korea!

All the exercise & time in the sun had tuckered this kid out, which meant I was fast asleep by the time the train pulled out of the station. When I woke up about 90 minutes later to relieve my bladder of the Gatorade I'd been consuming all day, I checked my phone & noticed a missed call & text message from Tonya. Long story short, the race lasted quite a bit longer than they'd anticipated, by the time they got home, they were running late for the BBQ but needed to freshen up & charge their phones. In the rush back out the door, they'd apparently left the phones plugged into the chargers back at Mark's apartment & had no other way to get a hold of me. They planned on calling me, giving me directions, then having me catch a cab or the subway up to the BBQ but w/out the phones, it was all a no-go.

Regardless of the Sunday snafu & time spent learning about another in the long line of religious oddities, it was a pretty good first experience in Seoul, even if I didn't get to see & do everything I'd hoped. It's definitely a city that needs to be experienced a few times anyway, so I have a good excuse to make my way north again soon (I actually buzzed up there late one Saturday night & spent Sunday playing tourist but I've still got lots more to see).