Way-gook-in' it up in Korea!: Mom & Dad's visit -- Part 2

After settling into the hotel we headed back out into the dreary day to the Vietnam Consulate for me to get my visa taken care of for Vietnam. I feel really bad about how much time it took. It was supposedly near our hotel, so I figured it wouldn't take too long and then we could get on to bigger and better things. Well, first off, the Yim (the hotel guy) told us it was probably about a 20 minute walk. I'm thinking it would have been like twice that long possibly. Anyway, to make a long story short, we couldn't really find it, so finally I just hailed a cab. They are cheap here anyway, and I knew we were relatively close. Well, we got there and it was a mad house! I'm glad we took a taxi because even if we had found the right location, I would never have guessed this place was a consulate by the way it looked. It was pretty much a trailer behind a gate. When I got my China visa the building was huge and immaculate, and that was just the one in Gwangju, not even the one in Seoul, so I was expecting somewhat of the same here. Instead it was utter chaos. I walk in and there are about 25 people crammed into this trailer. There's a tiny bookshelf with crappy-quality copies of visa applications and a waiting room to fill it out in and then a small office. After I filled out my form I entered the office of doom. Well, the guy wanted to take 4 days for my visa. I said I wouldn't be in Seoul anymore, so then he wanted to mail it to me. After much arguing, I agreed. Then immediately after I walked outside I realized that wouldn't work because I needed my passport for the DMZ tour we'd be taking on Thursday. So I told him I just needed it by Wednesday. Well, apparently he's an all or nothing kind of guy, because he told me to come back between 4:30 and 5pm that night. So, we left, feeling a little disgruntled.

We headed over to Insadong, a nearby shopping street that sells all kinds of traditional Korean crafts and wares. It's the best place in the whole country to buy these things. We were just trying to waste some time before we could check into our room at 1pm. Well, it was cold and dreary and actually raining lightly, so Dad got pretty cold fast just window shopping. I was planning on coming back here with Mom, but I just wanted her to get an idea of the different things they sell here so she could think what gifts she wanted to get for everyone. We found a restaurant on a small side street that had cheap bibimbap so I thought that would make a good first Korean meal for mom and dad. Well, unfortunately the bibimbap was only mediochre. And it quickly got cold, when it would have been so much better warm on a cold and dreary day like it was outside. Anyway, dad tried kimchi and hated it! :-P But he ate all his bibimbap. After lunch we found this small little plaza right off Insadong street that I had never seen before. It had some nice artisan work in there. Mom and Dad tried some free samples of traditional Korean candies. And mom got a beautiful mother of pearl necklace made by a school teacher. After a little more browsing around we headed back to the hotel and checked in.

Mom and Dad immediately pointed out how hard the beds were. I guess when I slept at Yim's on Friday and Saturday nights I thought the beds did seem pretty hard, but I guess I'm used to sleeping on a hard bed so it didn't make much difference to me. Koreans traditionally slept (and some still sleep) on thin matts on the floor. (Not nice cushy futons like in Japan) And my host parents' bed doesn't even have a mattress. It's just a solid wood bottom that they sleep on. Pretty much Koreans don't know the joys of soft comfy mattresses and memory foam! Anyway, I hoped the matress would be OK for the 4 nights there. They laid down and took a nap while I started setting up my new computer (yay!). By the time we got up and checked email and headed out it was starting to get dark. I took them on the subway to Namdaemun Market, a large outdoor market jammed with tiny stalls everywhere. I think it was pretty neat for them to see on their first night. Lots of different Korean food for sale and Korean people doing their crazy Korean things. Dad didn't have much of an appetite. I wanted to do samgyepsal (Korean style bacon) with them, but couldn't find a restaurant so decided to wait until another time when we were all hungry. Instead we stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant and I ordered 2 bowls of jajangmyeon (Chinese style noodles) for us. Mom liked them while dad just had a few bites. I'm really impressed with their chopstick skills! They are no where near experts, but they can at least use them. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I would venture to say that dad had never tried using chopsticks before coming to Korea today! I had them be sure to pack forks, but they never ended up using them the whole trip!

Anyway, after wandering around the market some more we caught a taxi to the downtown area and walked along the stream that was just turned into a recreation area about 5 years ago or so. It was beautiful with the Christmas lights, but the water made the cool air feel even colder, so we kept it short, taxied back to the hotel, and called it a night. Mom ended up sleeping on top of the comforter for extra padding. Poor thing!!

The next morning when we woke up we knew we'd have to change something. They were both achey from the hard mattresses. Unfortunately they just got a nice, new, super-comfy mattress about 2 months ago, so they are spoiled babies! :-) But these mattresses were extra firm. Anyway, I got out my guidebook and after searching for awhile we found a new place that we could stay and hoped would have better mattresses. I called and made reservations and then had to go tell Mr. Yim that we would be changing hotels because the mattresses were too hard for my parents. We all felt really bad because Mr. Yim is such a kind and hardworking man. Anyway, he told us that he understood, although I could see he was sad to lose 3 more nights of business. We packed up our suitcases and headed out for the morning, leaving our suitcases in the lobby. There was an English tour of the palace across the street from our hotel, but it didn't start until 11:30. We decided it was the best time for mom to shop Insadong since we were so close to it. We spent our time before the tour getting most of her shopping done.

Then it was time for the tour. I didn't know that you needed guided tours to enter this palace, but it turned out to be cheap and definitely worth it. Dad really liked our guide's voice and accent. :-) The palace name is Changdeokgung and we also got to see the secret garden in the back of the complex. "Originally constructed between 1405 and 1412, it was Korea's centre of power from 1618 to 1896." --Lonely Planet guidebook. It was a good chance for them to see the architecture of palaces from the Josen dynasty of Korea. I think they really enjoyed the tour!! But not what followed....

We collected our suitcases from the hotel and decided to catch a cab to the new hotel, which was just south of the Han River, which divides Seoul in half. Immediately we were in stop and go traffic, and Seoul traffic drivers aren't exactly graceful. To make a long story short, the 25 minute cab ride made Dad get motion sickness. Luckily mom got a plastic bag out in time! Anyway, I felt pretty horrible for him, because I know that's not fun (happened to me a lot on my trip to Turkey a year ago). We got to the hotel and it was pretty nice. There was even a bellhop, which wasn't such a great thing because then I felt like I should tip him, even though people don't tip in Korea. So I was really uncertain about what to do, and ended up awkwardly giving him some (I think he expected it anyway). The beds were better, but still not super cushy. Anyway, we laid down for about an hour and dad got some rest and started to feel a little better. Then it was time to get back on the subway and head to the traditional dance and music concert that I had gotten us tickets for.

The show was at the Chongdong Theater, which is right behind the palace at the City Hall metro stop. (Near the US Ambassador's residence where I've now gone for 2 parties!) We picked up our tickets at the box office and took our seats. The theater was boiling hot when we got there, and I was worried if dad could stand it since his stomache was already a little nautious from earlier. Well, it did cool down after the show got started. Our seats were probably some of the best in the whole house! We were in the center section and right at eye level with the performers. Not too close that we couldn't see the whole picture, but close enough that we could still easily see all the expressions on the performers' faces. I was really hoping it would be a good show, since I felt like the first 2 days in Korea hadn't been anything spectacular and I was worried I was making a bad impression of Korea for my parents. Anyway, it turned out the show was AWESOME! And mom and dad both thought so as well (what a relief!). There were 4 main aspects: pansori (trad'l korean singing), dancing, samulnori (trad'l drumming... that I took 2 lessons on during orientation), and the other traditional instruments. The 4 samulnori drummers clearly stole the show, but I enjoyed all the aspects. I even finally got to see the Korean fan dance, which I've been hoping to see for awhile now. The sets and costumes and lighting were all great, and the concert wasn't even that expensive. If I have any other visitors (which I should since Ike will be visiting me) I will definitely do this with them again! I could have sat through the show again that night. The energy level was so intense and was non-stop for the full 90 minutes of the performance. One of our favorite parts was the feather hat worn by one of the samulnori drummers. They all wear these hats that they can manipulate with the tiniest movements of their heads. It really adds to the performance. Anyway, this feather hat was hillarious to watch and I kept wanting to reach out like a little baby and just grab it! It was calling me to it! :-P After the show there was a small afterparty performance above in the courtyard. We got pictures with some of the drummers and dancers. Thankfully mom and dad were in such a great mood after the show! Dad didn't want to ruin it with "weird" Korean food, so we headed to Pizza Hut near our hotel. :-) It did hit the spot! :-) We headed back to the hotel and turned it in early (that was a theme throughout the whole week. We'd head back to the hotel around 9 or so and they would both crash right away whereas I wanted to play a game of cards or something!).

Anyway, more later.... here are some pics below from the first two days.

Mom's going to kill me for putting this picture up. Trying kimchi and bibimbap the first day for lunch, near Insadong.

Large jars of ginseng in the Namdaemun outdoor market.

More of Namdaemun outdoor market.

Dad marvelling at a persimmon for the first time. No, it's not an orange tomato. It's a common fruit in Korea that we don't have in the US (that I know of).