Chuseok

This weekend was Chuseok, or Thanksgiving in Korea. I haven't been told much about it, but as with many other Korean holidays, it involves honoring the ol' ancestors in the graveyard. I'm sure there's a lot of bowing.

I got Monday off. Public school teachers got Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off. A pox on the private school system and it's not-day-taking-off. This always happens. I decided that since I hadn't made any plans to go out of the country, and I don't have anyone to go backpacking with anymore, I'd better go to Seoul and get some of my souvenir and gift shopping done, since there's not much in the way of traditional Korean gifts in Ulsan.

In retrospect, that was a stupid idea. I did get some shopping done, but this particular weekend wasn't a great time to be a tourist in Korea. Chuseok is one of the biggest holidays of the year, and it occurred to me after I got there that everything I might want to do would probably be closed. I had wanted to go the the famous DLI 63 building, the tallest building in Seoul, because they have an aquarium and an IMAX theatre in there, plus other stuff, but no.

I decided to stay at the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon, the tourist district. I wasn't too keen on staying there, but I was trying to stay in a hotel with a pool, preferably near to some shopping. Finding a hotel in a pool is very difficult in Korea, unless it's a first class, deluxe, or super deluxe hotel, due to Korean skin exposure inhibitions. The Hamilton has a pool, and Itaewon is pretty much only shopping, bars, and restaurants, so I guess it'd do.

What the hotel's stupid website didn't say was that the pool was closed for the season. I woke up early on Sunday, went looking for the pool, and found it empty and abandoned. I was pretty pissed. I could have stayed in a $20 yeogwon (inn), closer to better shopping, but paid $80 a night for an empty pool. They had a sauna at the hotel that I thought about going to, but I didn't feel like paying for it. I didn't know how much it would cost. Actually, you had to pay to use the pool, too, and for towels, and for patio chairs, but I was going to pay the six bucks to use the pool, and use the ground and a room towel, because I just don't get to swim enough.

I'm not going to stay in that hotel again. The rooms and the service were nice enough I guess, but you didn't get anything with it. Not only did you have to pay an arm and a leg for the pool and sauna, but internet access in the rooms and computer room was exorbitant, and you even had to pay for shampoo and conditioner. Good thing I brought my own.

My room faced away from the main strip of Itaewon. I thought this view was of Seoul tower, but then I realized I was facing north, away from Seoul Tower. I was looking at a big map on the strip, and it seems like this is actually Itaewon Tower. They look the same.



On Saturday I had a bus ride that is normally four and a half hours, but due to holiday traffic, took almost six hours this time. I have been corresponding with my first Korean friend, and he was able to meet me and hang out for a couple hours before having to return to do family stuff for the rest of the weekend. That left me on my own for Saturday night, all day Sunday, and Monday morning. I just found out that another friend of mine was also in Itaewon for the weekend, in a hotel right next to mine, at a time we both could have used a friend. Oh, well.

Saturday night I just walked around, nothing special. Sunday I walked around some more and got some gifts. I tried to walk to this park I saw on a map for lunch, but it ended up being too far away. I did find this random Greek theatre kind of thing on the way, though:








After eating my sandwich there, I walked back to the Itaewon strip and took some pictures of this miniature Korean farm village that they have sitting on an island in the intersection at the entrance of the strip. How odd.












Then as I was walking around looking for more shops that didn't have clothing, accessories, or shoes, all of which were just American or European labels (or knockoffs), I started getting bothered by strangers. This first guy started walking with me, introduced himself, said he was from Nigeria, and when could we take some time to have a little chat. He dogged me for about five minutes or so before I was finally able to get rid of him. Then three minutes later another Nigerian came up to me and said he said hello to me a minute ago, but I didn't hear him, so he followed me up the hill I was climbing to talk to me, and pulled the same stunt as the other guy. I asked him if we were in Little Nigeria or something, but he said no and kept trying to get me to talk to him.

Now I was getting tired of this, so I started walking back to the hotel, and once we got to the hotel, I told him one last time that I didn't want to talk to him and went inside. I was glad he didn't follow me, and glad it was daytime. I didn't go out alone at night.

Later in the afternoon, I tried to go to Dongdaemun market, a few subway stops from Itaewon, but was disappointed. As soon as I stepped off the subway, it was nothing but outdoor stands selling stuff, but that stuff was mostly clothing, which I didn't. If they didn't sell clothing, accessories, or food, they sold junk. I did manage to find a trench coat for only about $35, so it wasn't a total waste, but I wasn't going for me.

Actually, most of the interesting stuff I experienced this weekend were just random moments in the subway station. I saw this idiot father walk his tiny toddler daughter onto the subway, but she was too small to realize there was a two inch difference between the platform and the train floor, so she tripped and I watched her tiny pink sneaker come off and tumble into the black abyss.

On the escalators in the stations, you're supposed to stand on the right, and walk on the left. I saw this old guy yell at some girls clogging the entrance to the escalator this morning, presumably because they were in his way, on the walking side. But no, he pushed them all the right and stood on the left himself, without walking, blocking others. Before I knew about this, on Saturday, I blocked the left side myself for a moment before my friend moved me over to the right and explained things. As he moved me, this man who had been standing beside me started walking, and I got mad at the culture and talked to my friend about how this whole culture suffers silently instead of simply saying "excuse me." Then he explained that they don't have an equivalent phrase in Korean. I asked about this expression "sillyehamnida" which is supposed to mean that. He said it's not the same. It's not a way of getting someone's attention or making them do something, it's more like a premature "I'm sorry." It doesn't work the same way.

Another escalator moment that occurred on Sunday was a man called "No walking" a couple times to me as I walked down the escalator. I turned around and gave him a scathing confused look and realized he was just kidding, so I laughed at him.

Anyway, aside from meeting a new friend and buying some gifts and a couple things for myself, the weekend was a waste. I really don't like Seoul very much. It's too much of a city.