Sherpa, Part 2

When we left our hero, he had failed on Tuesday...

The very next Monday, we set out again. Amanda was too tired to join us, but JoAnnie grabbed her spot on the roster. Again, I asked lots of people, but we hit the by now obligatory 3-person set: Dana, JoAnnie, and me. We hit the subway and ride it up to Seoul and to the Namsan Traditional Village. We wander around looking at all the traditional stuff, try out traditional outfits, cut-out-head style. We see some lucky posts and a princess's palanquin (really small...imagine "the box" in a rural prison on sticks so two people can carry you around in it). We marvel at the swing - not because it swings, but because it was used so that girls could see outside the village every now and then. JoAnnie manages to make the Traditional Korean top (or dredel) spin with its little launcher thing.

We make our way over to the National Palace. Not surprisingly, it is several times bigger than the village. But it is laid out in a similar fashion. Sprawled out over the countryside - building in courtyard which abuts another courtyard that holds another building. Each building holds one to three rooms, usually. That construction style intrigues me. Why so spread out? I mean, yeah, it's grand and impressive, but you can't go from room to room without going outside. If it's cold and rainy, do you just stay in your bedroom? I loved this pagoda (or whatever they call it here) out in the middle of the pond. It looks so peaceful, I just want to go out there and meditate for a while. Unfortunately, we are not allowed out there. I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of this shot of the ancient gate (from inside) placed next to the modern city outside. Ancient, colorful wood and new, grey cement and steel.

After our visit to the palace, we are getting hungry, so we head out the gate, turn left, and wander. This takes us into a neighborhood I can only describe as Korean Soho. All the storefronts are arty, trendy, kitschy, and expensive. We eventually decide on a place (mostly on the basis of "I'm not walking anymore.") We get a very traditional-style dinner, and JoAnnie enjoys much more of it than Dana does. After dinner, we go two doors down to a coffee/dessert shop, they get some of the most scrumptious desserts I've ever seen, and I get a 5500 Won can of Coke (yeah, that's like $4.50 - like I said: Soho). After we finish there, we find our way back to the subway and back to Songtan. We get out of the station about 25-30 minutes before curfew and there are NO cabs. Uh-oh. Dana lives right around the corner, so she meanders in that direction. JoAnnie and I strap the backpacks on properly and proceed to run about 1/2 the way, where we find a cab to take us to the gate.

All in all, a fine day.