Korea

June 3, 2007
The adventure has begun. We arrived in Seoul, South Korea last night around 5. We flew with the sun so my body has absolutely no idea what time it is. Surprisingly, I am not at all jet lagged; I slept for the last four hours of my flight and then went out into Seoul. This morning I went running and now I feel like I have adjusted to the time change.

Seoul looks like a lot of other cities in the world, bright lights, traffic, clubs, bars, restaurants, shops etc. One difference: everything is brand new. Nothing looks older than thirty years. All of the cars are brand new as are all the bridges, buildings, shops, bars, clubs…etc. It is as if someone willed a city into existence.

We wandered around Seoul last night. I stumbled onto a dance competition in the middle of the street. A stage was set up and everyone was dancing to a fusion of American-Asian hip hop. Picture a hundred boy band wannabees dancing with everything they’ve got. Some of them were actually pretty good, others were not so great. We wandered around for a while, grabbed a drink in this cool little jazz bar and then headed home. Seoul at night is spectacular. The bridges are all lit up and the colors change. Going into the city is like transporting into a neon story book. It really is incredible.

I have a long day ahead of me so I am spending the day relaxing. I had some breakfast this morning and ordered “shaved ice”. I thought I was ordering some sort of slushy magic. Actually I was ordering some kind of ice, sweet bean, whipped cream, fruit, condensed milk, concoction. It was pretty tasty. When you mixed it up it tasted a lot like iced coco pebbles. It sounds gross but I am telling you…sweet beans and marshmallows are one hell of mixture.
I am off to Mongolia tonight.

Cheers,

Staszthemongol.