Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Seoul of Asia

Hey! Brett here, remember me?!

Last weekend we were lucky enough to have our second Saturday off in as many weeks. We made the most of this opportunity and took the 1 and a half hour train ride to the Korean capital. Seoul is a vibrant city of over 10 million people, It is bustling with cars, buses, motorbikes and people. The lights are bright and and the food is plentiful and delicious.

We stayed in a traditional Korean house in an area just north of Insadong. The room was small, and apart from a thick blanket, we slept on the floor. It even came with a wake-up service in the form of old Korean ladies dragging boxes along the pavement outside our window.

This trip to Seoul also coincided with a gathering that had been organized by our recruiters and friends, Dan and Aggie. Around 50 English teachers that had been placed in Korea by Teach ESL Korea came together to share stories over galbi, maekju, soju and dancing.

As a city, Seoul always seems to have something going on! Festivals, concerts, parades.... you can always find something interesting to see and do. We were fortunate enough to arrive on Buddha's birthday and were able to witness the celebrations at one of Korea's most historic sites, Jogyesa temple. Even though Seoul has more foreigners in it than other cities, we still attracted some attention and were interviewed by a tv station and were also filmed walking about and taking photos two other times.

Two days and about 1000 photos later (please look at the Seoul in May photo album), we boarded the train bound for Daegu. Our city of 3 million people doesn't seem so big anymore. We had a wonderful weekend in the true heart of Korea, but we were still happy to be back in our little old Siji.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Brett, love the moustache (and beard)!!! Have you checked out moustachemay.com? Also, love the photo of Cindy in her red sweater against the red wall. Must have been inspired by another great photo! :)
Leanne