Sometimes after a night of darts and drinking at Dolce Vita we’d have a late night dinner at Don Valley and then head on over to the norebang for some music making.  I must be good because my singing never fails to bring tears to my listeners eyes.  Even when I sing a happy song!

I started a joke…

Riding the cable car from the top of Namsan to Myeongdong (Seoul).

At the bus stop in Itaewon

Down on Main Street, er, Itaewonno Blvd.

Ok, where’s the damn bus…

…ah, here it comes

Woo hoo!  A seat for everyone!

My tour guide (girl friend) suggested we switch to the subway…

Alright, this is where we are, now to get to where we are going

Maybe we CAN get there from here!

Here come da train!

Restless riders

After another short bus ride we reach Uidong…

The temple is up the mountain and we are going to join the hikers…

But first we’ll have some lunch at an outdoor cafe and enjoy the springtime flowers…

…and the view from our table

Meat on the grill…

…sides on the table.

We enjoyed this gurgling stream on the way up Bukhansan…

…and the blossoms just past their peak

Eventually we made it to the temple gate…

Even statues love flowers I suppose

Regurgitation?

A better photographer would have found a more pleasing way to capture what was really a very nice view…

The lanterns were nice too

Colorful architecture

Didn’t want to stand to close to this one for fear that I’d get my belly rubbed too…

I think this is kinda like a wheel of fortune, but what do I know…

Anyway, my girlfriend was there to worship and I’m also uncomfortable taking photos of the Buddha while folks are being reverent, so this is all she wrote.

Hiked back down the mountain (much easier that way!), lined up for the bus in Uido and reversed our trek.

And so ends today’s journey down memory lane.

Seoul Tower awaits after a pleasant hike…

Clearing the streets in Itaewon…

Technically, this was taken in Itaewon so the bus may have been arriving at it’s final destination…

This was always one of my least favorite dart venues.  Crappy service and usually filled with people looking to hook up.  Back in 2005 there was a more or less credible terrorist threat against this place because it was usually filled with foreigners.  Coincidentally, it is in close proximity to the large Muslim Mosque.

One of the original dart bars in Itaewon.  Lots of mostly good memories here.

On Seoraksan, one of the most beautiful places I visited in Korea.

I offer my all time favorite store name from Itaewon in Korea.  Here’s hoping everyone finds exactly what they are looking for…

When making a subway connection at Samgakji station, we’d pause for these hot out of the cooker cream filled cakes and enjoy them on the platform and in the train.

Yummy!

I had at first titled the post “Among the..” but changed it to “Amongst”.  Now I’m not sure that’s right either…

I spent the summer in Gireum-dong (Seoul) and this was the view.

…to the East Sea

Everything you don’t need, when you don’t need it.  In Seoul.

As served at the West Sea at Korea’s  Daecheun beach.

Had a bit of a Twilight Zone experience on the way to East Sea. The plan was to take Highway 6 all the way, but somehow I missed a turn and wound up on a different road. The signage indicated it would lead to Gangneum (my destination) so I wasn’t too worried.

And then suddenly I was in a parking lot. Seriously, one minute I driving two lane blacktop and then I’m not. Well, at the far end of the lot was a sign with an arrow that said “Gangneum” that led up a one lane alley. When I got to the top I drove into fog. Thickest fog I ever did see. I continued to creep forward barely seeing past the hood and damned if I didn’t find myself in ANOTHER parking lot. And I couldn’t find a way out.

I’ve never been lost in a parking lot before and it was more than a little disconcerting. I must have driven in circles for 10 minutes before I found a narrow outlet which fortunately eventually led to the bottom of the mountain and out of the fog. I’m sure there were quicker ways down, but the one I found included pavement, so I guess I got lucky…

Some photos from the trip:

Instapundit links to this article about the burgeoning interest in the study of Judaism apparently taking place in Korea.   Fascinating stuff and something I never really noticed during my time there.   I was more than aware of the seemingly ever expanding Christian influence as evidenced by a skyline filled with neon crosses, numerous mega-churches, and street missionaries with loud speakers.  Anyway, given the thousands of years that Korea has been locked in the vice between Japan and China and subject to frequent invasions and dominance from one of the other it’s perhaps understandable that they can relate to the historic plight of the Jews.

When I first saw the article I was reminded of a scene from the Showtime series Shameless.  One of the characters had written a term paper for a Korean-American high school student.  When the Korean kid attempted to negotiate a “discount” from the previously agreed upon price,  the frustrated American said “no wonder Koreans are called the Jews of Asia” to which the Korean indignantly replied “that’s racist!”.

Which in turn reminds me of the struggle I have had these past few months breaking Jee Yeun’s habit of always trying to negotiate a reduction on fixed prices here in the states.  She usually gets a blank stare when she makes that uniquely Korean hand gesture and says “price down–give me discount”.   Although to be fair, she did secure a reduced price on a new mattress set.  Maybe I should just shut up and let her utilize her all those Jewish Korean skills!

101 of them to be exact.

Well, I guess technically the boxes don’t contain my life.  Just the stuff I acquired during my life in Korea.