My mother has arrived...
& I've taken more photos with my iPhone than with the 'real' camera.
My eyes have seen so much...surely I've been here for more than just three full days?
It is getting late, too late to write a lot, so this will be more of a photo-essay. (Incidentally, I was browsing through a Korean magazine while on the bus from the airport into the city, and I learned how to say 'photo-essay' in Korean--phonetically: poh-toh-eh-seh-ee. Seriously. So many loan-words from English have entered the language here...the equivalent in America might be the use of French here and there--you know, it's chic, it has that certain je ne sais quoi, it just sounds so, well, cool, to use the mélange of languages, no?)
So, Mom flew in last night. I left my hanok lodgings in Bukchon...made my way out to Incheon, and welcomed my mother at one of the International Arrival 'welcoming areas...' So surreal to be welcoming her to her own country...Just as surreal was my own arrival a few days ago--some childhood friends of mine from back in Georgia (who've been married for over a dozen years!) WELCOMED ME AT THE AIRPORT!! They live in South Carolina, but happened to be visiting Korea, and the last day of their long-planned-for trip coincided with the arrival-date of my kind-of-last-minute-planned-for trip...And so they welcomed me, and we sat and ate together and hung out for about an hour-and-a-half before they had to board their own flight back to the States. Fun and weird.
But, back to Bukchon. Before heading to the airport, I spent the morning wandering the neighborhood--up to the hilly streets with views over the city...
Schoolkids on an architectural field trip--just so cute!!
Lovely traditional details on these hanok--gives you the feel of what the entire city was like during the Yi Dynasty (Joseon) period...
...and looking back down the street, a classic view of Seoul--upswept tile roofs framing the skyscrapers of the old center. The 'mountain' is Namsan--the hill that used to define the southern boundary ('nam' means 'south') of the Royal Capital--it's now the center of the megalopolis, and the tower on the peak gives you a 1500'-high revolving observation deck...But check out the 'hollow' building in the middle distance...
It's a pretty audacious building, no?
Here's another view, from closer in--I haven't made it to the building yet, but I've gotten close. It was designed by an Argentinian-educated Uruguayan architect.
and the view from them--this is toward the mountains that 'guard' the NW of Seoul--wealthy leafy enclaves that include the rear grounds of another of Seoul's Palaces as well as the present-day Presidential Palace--also called 'the Blue House,' due to its blue-tiled roof--a reference back to the Royal Period, when only the palace could have blue-tiled roofs; commoners would have thatched roofs and the nobility used black tiles...
...from vistas to the charming little details on the hanok houses--check out this turtle-knocker:
...the residential rooftops--upswept eaves and black tiles--no longer common in most of Seoul...
Before heading to the airport to meet my mother, I stopped at a street stall for some traditional street-food:
...ah, the Seoul of old...but also new Seoul--check out this façade, immediately across from the traditional food-stall where I ate:
Indeed--that's a Starbucks. There are SO many coffee-shops in Seoul--both local and, yes, Starbucks. This city might even make Seattle look non-caffeinated in comparison! Incidentally, I believe South Korea is the only place in the world where the Starbucks signage is not required to be in the Roman Alphabet--it's been Han-geul-ized...
(I haven't been to one yet, though.)
...and on to the airport.
It's an amazing airport. Architecture. Amenities. User-friendliness.
Consistently ranked, since its opening a few years ago, as the 'best airport in the world.'
...after I met my mother, we went to a nearby hotel--I wanted her to not be too exhausted on her first night, so I found a place in a 'new town' near the airport...at any rate, in the room, on the 6th floor, I saw this:
I've never stayed in a hotel room with an escape rope.
I get how to use it...but, what in the world is a "CENDING life line?"
I've submitted this photo to Engrish.com, incidentally.
(If you don't know what 'Engrish' is, GO to the website--it's been a source of laughter-therapy for us for years...)
And the view out that rope-escape-route--typical for a provincial Korean 'new-town:'
They do love their neon...
Before going to sleep, we went for a walk to the nearby supermarket...You won't see this in Tucson, I bet:
So. Food.
Today, then...
We slept in, then mid-day made our way into Seoul...Found our quiet alley-way hotel in the middle of everything, then went to "GwangJang Market," which has been around for decades--a maze of arcades and alleys, including little traditional food-stalls where there's just enough room for maybe 6 or 7 customers at a time to crowd around the griddle/pot/pan where the food is being cooked, and to commune with each other and the cook while eating and imbibing...Think of each stall as an Asian miniaturized version of Waffle House, and then multiply that by hundreds and you'd better not be claustrophobic! AND you'd better love garlic. And red pepper. And be an OMNIvore...
I love the juxtaposition of fine traditional tailoring (custom-made silk hanbok-boutique) and hearty, staining, 'peasant-food'...
We picked this one for our lunch:
The owner/chef gladly posed for a photo with my mother--especially since she's mildly famous here--a few months ago, an English-language weekly photographed her for their cover; she epitomizes 'market ajumahs' and their delicious offerings...("ajumah" literally means 'auntie,' but it's a respectful term that is used to refer to all married women 'of a certain age' in public situations...)
It ended up being quite poignant, eating at her stall; something in her voice, as she said to us to 'come sit here and eat' while handing us a sample, just made us stop and sit with her instead of continuing to wander...
...she and Mom 'hit it off,' and the conversation as we ate (we were her only customers while we were there) was short but eye-opening; quick encounters can sometimes open up a surprisingly meaningful glimpse into someone's life...
...Mom complimented 'ajumah' on how beautiful her skin was--and then asked how old she was (not necessarily a rude question in Korea)--she's in her late 60's! But mom also said to me--all these years spending everyday working in the food-market, sheltered from the sun--that's also why she has such good skin...Thirty-five years--that's how long she's had this food-stall! Put her kids through school selling fritters and makkoli (the milky rice-wine that you usually drink with such food; I had a bowl of it, yes, a bowl)...Also, she and mom talked about how hard life was right after the war, when they were both still kids...how little there was to eat, and how tired they got of eating 'jook'--porridge--because there was NOTHING else to eat, and grandmothers had to find ways of turning one serving of rice into something that can feed an entire family...How much the country has changed...Family and raising children--how she raised hers, how my mother lost a baby daughter...raised me in a foreign (for her) country...how willing you have to be to work at ANYthing when you have a family...
...before we left, she wanted to give us extra food to take with us--she took my mother's hand and said something to the effect of 'we're of the same age, we understand each other, it's been so nice to meet you--please let me offer this food to you!' She took my hand as well as I told her that in a week and a half or so, I'll plan on returning with my wife (who arrives here a week next weekend) to eat again at her stall. So...stall # 38 in Gwangjang market, down the street from the ancient East Gate of the city--we have a lunch date in mid-June..with this lady who personifies the hardworking, friendly spirit of so many of Seoul's working-class...
After lunch, we walked a block to Chong-gye-cheon--a relatively new green space in the middle of the city.
The last time I was in Seoul, Chong-gye-cheon was a noisy traffic corridor--an elevated expressway charging through the city over a paved-over streambed...The current president of South Korea, when he used to be Mayor of Seoul, had an audacious idea--get rid of the expressway (what? where will the traffic go?), and 'daylight' the stream to provide the citizens of Seoul with some much needed ecologically-friendly open space...And it's been a spectacular success:
mulberry trees--used to feed silkworms in sericulture...
...and speaking of silkworms, behold:
...on one of the bridges crossing the stream--a snack-cart...do you want ice-cream cones?...or, maybe...some silkworm pupae?! "Beon-te-gi."
I have had it in the past...but not today...nothing but pure clean protein, when you think about it...
Tastes like boiled peanuts. Really!
I mean, the silkworms are clean and hard-working--they only eat mulberry leaves, and what they produce is one of the strongest natural substances on earth....and when you boil them to get the silk threads off, why should the self-sacrificing creatures be thrown away?
Tastes can be arbitrary.
If you have a silk scarf or a tie--remember--the threads came off these little guys...and some Koreans may have eaten them afterwards!
Back down to the stream...
and here are the models getting their faces on...
(more about the fashion show further down...)
The city spilled beyond the gates and walls long ago, but this is still major landmark, and marks the boundary of the ancient city...and it's still a shopping area...and even in this WIFI-crazy country, produce-vendors still use time-tested wooden carts, darting between motorcycles and hybrid cars...
Some of the city walls remain...
Mom stopped for a few minutes to cool off and have a drink inside a fast-food joint facing the gate;
after I walked around photographing the gate, I joined her inside--fun to look out at a merchant and his customer, with a medieval rampart as their background!
...the last time I saw this gate was when I was fourteen years old; see the horrible elevated-expressway?
Good riddance to all that elevated pavement--and a lovely early summer evening all these years later to enjoy the historic waterway:
to Now--back to the fashion show on that waterway--a brief clip:
Seoul.
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As I mentioned, I've taken more pictures with my iPhone than
with the 'real' camera...such a convenient, travel-friendly 'toy!!!'
Can you tell which?
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We'll be here until Tuesday, when we go to my Uncle's in Sokcho, on the opposite coast from here.
Then, next Saturday I'll make my way back to this city to welcome my wife to her first visit to "The Land of the Morning Calm"...we'll have a few days together here, then back to Sokcho...a few family days all together, then my mother, my wife and I will leave cool Sokcho to go down to the volcanic subtropical island of Jeju-do, just off the SW tip of the peninsula...then Mom leaves for the East Coast (of the U.S.)...then my wife flies home a couple of days later...and finally, at month's end, I'll be back in the Sonoran Desert...
Love the pics! Love the street stall ajumah story. That is such a good summation of how I think many Koreans feel. Such a shared hard history. Keep having fun with your mom!
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