Arriving in Seoul
July 12, 2010 (Monday)
Grace and I departed for Korea at 1:30 PM. I could barely contain my excitement! After a generally uneventful flight, we arrived at Incheon International Airport, a really impressively modern building. Grace’s friend had given us explicit instructions to arrive at Lexington Hotel, so we caught the bus with ease. As one of the premier hotels in Seoul with five stars, the Hotel Lexington typically charges a really high rate, but we got a discount thanks to Susan! The room were really comfortable and the building luxurious. Conveniently located to the National Assembly, the Hotel is really close to one of the newest metro lines. Dropping off our bags, we gathered our belongings to walk around the neighborhood and take the metro to Myeong-dong, a popular commercial district and one of Seoul’s main shopping and tourism districts. Myeong-dong is absolutely amazing – streets filled with shopping of every kind, the young and fashionable crowd prowling the streets in search of the latest trend. In general, shopping in Korea is a great pleasure – Grace and I bought some pretty earrings from a street seller. As Grace actively participates in the Soompi online forum, she knew exactly which cosmetic stores to go to and the famous products to buy. We tested out the exotic-looking products at Etude House and Missha, and ended up buying gifts to bring back. Trinket and cosmetic shopping turned out to be even more fun than I anticipated (this is not a typical pursuit of mine!), especially in the right environment. Surprisingly, the shop attendants speak Japanese and Chinese, though limited English – a fact resulting from the predominantly regional tourism. Astonishingly, so many people were out on the streets, even at 11 PM on Monday night! Grace and I had a simple dinner at a local restaurant in the area, tofu stew and hot-stone bibimbap (one of my favorites!). I really like Korean food, but rarely had a chance to enjoy it over the last two years, as no Korean restaurants exist in Oxford. Alas, I intend to sample as many traditional delicacies as possible! We arrived back at the hotel quite late, and feel asleep quickly given the excitement of the day. Grace got in touch with Susan, her friend from language camp at Montreal. Hence, tomorrow, we’ll get a local’s perspective as we follow Susan around town.
August 1st, 2010 at 2:20 am
A foreign country, there people may look like us but different – actually, quite different; comparing to Japanese, I’d say Koreans may be a notch closer to us: by the fact you can find Chinese last names used in Korean names after two thousand years. Of course, visitors from other Asia countries are drawn to Korean pop culture – even I know something about it, and can enjoy some from you two
. Clothing, dressing style, fashion, and their singing and dancing, emotive (tearful and explosive) dramas are the norm 
constitute what a pop culture is. I get a glimpse of the fan culture too through US sports fan and pop concert gatherings; however, in US, there are many fan clubs, different sports, many diverse pop culture groups to choose.In Far East, it seems that everyone , more or less, follows the same pop group, drama or similar fashion statement. That famous appearance of ‘Asian uniformity’, lack of individuality, comes alive again. I have nothing against pop culture indulgence; but, I would think following pop culture like dressing in different fashions, when it comes to time to get naked (figuratively speaking, or you can think of bathing time), to see ourselves raw, we take off all clothing – there goes our pop culture pile on the floor. Am I wrong here about pop culture? Would something just stick on you that you cannot take it off ? Tattoos come to mind; even that, I am sure it can be rubbed off, painfully. I know, following a pop culture, even superficially, gives, mostly younger generation, a faint imprint of self-identity, like hippies in the 60′s, as revolting against the old and greet the new diversion, new direction but transient fads, still. World population increases dramatically and this is what feeds the masses. For under developed countries, oh, these may be high cultute to them, sigh. I know I am be a biased Greek; let me just be old.