Seoul Seoul Seoul

So I am currently in Seoul. It's a wonderful place, beautiful city and everything is great except I can't understand anything. Why can't they just use Chinese? Gosh darn it that would make everything easier. They even have their own alphabet! A phonetic alphabet, not a character based one. There's no logic to it, I tell you.

Bah. Otherwise, however, Seoul is great. Good food, very clean, modern city, and lots of interesting architecture. I'm particularly tired right now and don't feel like presenting any type of narrative, so I present, for your enjoyment, some photos:

 Bibimbap, bulgogi, and chapchae, accompanied by various side dishes, including two types of kimchi: one white (not spicy) and one red (spicy). Bibimbap is the one in the black pot there, which is basically rice with a lot of toppings and then you mix it all up and it's delicious. Bulgogi is a wonderful beef dish. Chapchae is a type of sweet potato noodle that is delicious. Kimchi is basically Korean sauerkraut, similar style of preparation and is, again, delicious.

 The above photos are all from Gyeongbok-gung palace, which is was originally a Joseon era palace, built in the late 1300s, and then burnt down twice by the Japanese, once in 1592 and once in 1910, because the Japanese are like hey screw you guys. So these are mostly reconstructions, done since the end of the Korean War. Another thought, the architecture looks very Chinese, down to the same decorative motifs, roofs, pagodas, and so forth.

 These are all from Cheonggye stream, which used to be a stream and then was an old thoroughfare and is now an old stream that people can walk down. It's really really cool. Literally and figuratively. And is a great way to stroll through the city.

 And this is agujjim, a Korean dish composed mainly of monkfish, bean sprouts, and sauce. It was a decent level of spice, and delicious. Ben and I had no idea what we were ordering, because we don't speak Korean. We wandered into a random restaurant, saw things that looked tasty and decided to try and order it. Thankfully we sat next to a table of Chinese tourists, and they and their friend who spoke Korean were able to assist us. Hurray globalization! Where a couple of American tourists can get around in Seoul by speaking Chinese to some people in the import/export business from Shanghai. So that was fun.

Other thoughts: It is humbling to again be unable to express myself or understand even the littlest thing. I was all thinking I'm hot shit in China: look at this foreigner, he can speak Chinese. That's right I can, because I'm awesome. And then I come to Korea and it's like, well, now I'm just about as communicative as a 1-year-old. Damn. Ah well. Really cool alphabet though, wish I had the time to study it more than just glancing at the cheat sheet I printed out.

I'm thinking of starting two new photo series, using the photos from this trip and some that I believe I have from Beijing: Luce Scholars Walking Through Doors and Asian People Taking Photos of Themselves. Because those would be riveting looks into my life in Asia.

That's all for now.