The Poetist

Day 1: (September 10) The Arrival
I arrived at my hostel in Hyehwa around mid-afternoon… and no one was there. I thought this was fair because I told the hostel owner I wouldn’t arrive until 5, so I just waited outside. And waited. Luckily for me two young people walked up and opened the door for me. Apparently it wasn’t locked – it never was – but it was a push door and I tried pulling it. Even after 5pm the hostel owner hadn’t shown up, but I was fine hanging out inside, intermittently chatting with the young people and looking around small interior. The two people I met were Chinese-Italians, and it was quite pleasant listening to them speak in Italian while throwing in some Chinese here and there; but of course, they spoke English with me. I didn’t have any plans so they invited me to go out with them for the evening. We met up with a new friend of theirs – a Korean whom they had met in China earlier in the summer. We somewhere and had a moderately spicy but incredibly tasty dinner. I thought it wasbibimbap but that’s actually a rice dish. What we had came in two separate hot skillets on the table, and it was kind of a stew made mostly of vegetables but a little meat as well.

After dinner we hit up the Dongdaemun area to see the famous night-markets. It was Monday so one of them was closed, but there was still a lot to see. Even before we entered the official ‘night market’ we passed hordes of street vendors who set up shop after dark. Once inside the night market I was floored – by the absolute ugliness of everything I saw. Really! You’ve heard of the ‘ugly store’ right? Many of us know people who occasionally shop there. Well, this is the place where the ugly store buys wholesale. Walking through was like looking at a fashion train wreck – I was horrified! But I couldn’t stop staring. The prints were hideous, the embellishments garish and elementary, and there was no shape to anything! Another interesting thing – all the merchants seemed to be sleeping in the backs of their stalls; I wondered if they had day jobs as well.

Day 2: Getting to Know Hyehwa
I’m not an aggressive tourist. I don’t like to plan out massive iteniraries and I don’t obsess over seeing every minor – or major – cultural landmark. On this day, however, I felt like I should probably make an effort to do something cultural because I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time in Seoul. I wanted to visit a castle, a park with traditional Korean houses and the Seoul Fashion Center.  It proved too much for me to handle, as I spent a good deal of the morning wandering around Hyehwa trying to figure out if the Fashion Center was within walking distance, and then wondering which place I should go to first.  I finally gave up and decided to just check out the area I was in.  It turned out to be quite a cool area!

In a last-ditch effort to get directions to the fashion center I entered a jewelry design center/art school building, and discovered an exhibit of a Japanese poster artist.  I got the directions and stayed to check out the exhibit. After exiting I looked down the street and felt pulled to explore it.  There were so many interesting looking shops and side streets to be looked at!  I dimissed my earlier plans and set off on a self-guided walking tour of Hyehwa.  I saw lots of interesting shops, great looking restaurants and lots of small and medium sized theaters.  I also saw a Krispy Kreme – with no line whatsoever!  I felt compelled to walk in, and at that point I wrote the following:

I’m writing at Krispy Kreme because I needed a place to sit down and write.  Also, because I can.  No line!  I’m so thirsty!  Vending machines aren’t everywhere here like they are in Tokyo.  For some reason they gave me a free donut.  That’s awesome cuz I could eat the free one now and save the next for tomorrow morning.  Anyhoo.
Korea.  3.5/5 cars are Hyundai – I haven’t seen any European, American, or Japanese cars.  I’m staying in a really interesting artsy area.  I went to one shop, Rainbow Hall 3, that had some amazing dresses and some interesting jackets.  It looked like a sample sale space and I didn’t see a conventional fitting room.  There wasn’t a fitting room!  And I couldn’t try on the dresses, only the jackets.  After a few wistful glances I left.  I didn’t want to try on the jackets if I couldn’t try on a dress – they would only be a consolation prize and that’s not the kind of tone I like to set for shopping.

At another store – Martha’s Grotto – I bought a blue and silver glitter striped cardigan.  The shop owner discounted it by 10,000 krw (about $10) plus she gave me a free pair of really cool earrings.  A gift!  I should mention that she made up the price of the sweater, I mean, it wasn’t printed on the price tag.  None of the prices were.  We spoke a little Japanese together.  She’s been to Tokyo and likes Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Jiyugaoka and Shimokitazawa.  She also offered me a cookie that her parents brought back from Africa the day before.  She put a sticker to close my bag like in Japan, and even walked me to the door and bowed a few times as I left.

Man I’m thirsty.  Forgot why I felt compelled to sit and write.  On my way!

I made three more notes:
metal chopsticks – restaurants in Korea supply you with reusable metal chopsticks, unlike the disposable wooden chopsticks you often get in Japan.  The wooden ones are much easier to use though, especially when eating noodles.
BK uses real cups! – both Burger King and McDonalds in Korea use real, reusable cups with disposable plastic tops.
can’t buy shoes here either – enough said.

Later on that night my two new friends (the Chinese-Italians) and I met up with a college friend of mine who had recently decided to remain in Seoul for a while.  I didn’t want to stay out late because I had to wake up early for my tour of the DMZ… and when I got back to the hostel there was quite a gathering in my room.  They were nice people so I didn’t mind; they invited me out with them and I declined.  I didn’t want a battle with my alarm in the morning!