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Published: September 13th 2009
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Today was quite an adventure. We were getting ready to go to Seoul Grand Park, which is about 80 minutes away by subway. Well… I decided to be smart. Looking at the subway map I noticed that we would have had to take the Bundang line all the way to the end, only to hop on the green line to the light blue line. But, the map shows the blue line right next to the Bundang line so I suggested that we take a taxi from our stop to Oido station, which appeared to be right next to the Bundang line. Well…after 30 minutes of driving we all began to realize that something wasn’t right. Alison whips out her paper map of Seoul and sees that Oido is on the total opposite of where we need to be, in fact we were driving right by where we wanted to be on our way there. So, in the best way we knew how, we said “Not Oido” and started naming off subway stops that were before then. The cab driver conveniently did not understand a word we said even though I thought we did a pretty good job explaining what we wanted.
Some more driving… 30,000 won on the taxi meter (just under $30)… In the meantime things are becoming increasingly more rural. Farms, shacks and the like. We thought we got our point across when he makes his way over to the Ansan exit on the freeway. But no. We exit the freeway, drive, drive some more, then turn onto a tiny dirt road surrounded by potato and grape plots. Jessica and I start laughing until tears come down from our faces. We could not stop. We drive a little longer on the dirt road, at the end of which is Oido station. Ta Da! 37,000 Won later we STILL had to take the subway for about 40 minutes to get to the park. In conclusion, I do not blame myself, I blame the horribly evil person who put the map together in such a way that things look connected when they’re really on opposite sides of Seoul. I wish I could convey the emotions we had. We had been in this taxi for 50 minutes or so, not sure of where we were going, and partly thinking that the cab driver pulled into a dirt road to kick us out
and be rid of us. This was literally a subway stop in the middle of a field. I’m dying of laughter now just thinking about it. It was definitely a moment to remember. Tears of frustration, fear, and uncontrollable laughter were pouring down my face.
At some point (2.5 hours later) we finally arrive at Seoul Grand Park, and it is grand indeed. The park holds rose gardens, the Seoul zoo, and the museum of contemporary art (MOCA), as well as other things. We came knowing that we would visit MOCA and wander around the park, but leave the zoo for another day because that requires an entire day on its own. We spent some time in the rose gardens, which would have been beautiful several months ago but because rose season is ending it wasn’t terribly impressive. We then slowly make our way to MOCA, which is free for the permanent exhibition (good luck finding a free museum in L.A.). I really enjoyed the museum even though it was much smaller than I was originally told. There was an outside sculpture garden which was very innovative and minimalist in style. The 2 out of the 4 permanent collection
rooms were under renovation, so we didn’t get to see much. The art we did see was definitely impressive. It was also good to see Korean artists’ takes on contemporary and modern styles. I wish I could have taken pictures of my 2 favorite pieces. One was a painting of trees and a lake, with opaque plexiglass over the canvas, which made the scene look as if it was covered by heavy fog. The other was an installation of kidney-shaped wire sculptures in different colors hanging from the ceiling.
And then we left…
We decided to take the ski lift thing back down to the parking lot because the walk would have been too grueling and we had already endured a pretty long day. Let me just say that this thing was pretty rickety. It wobbled and made noises, but we did survive. It allowed us to have a nice aerial view of Seoul Land, a theme park on the premises. We also passed over the lake, which was quite nice.
After we made our way back to Bundang we went to a Korean BBQ place for some grill-it-yourself pork. it comes with lots of little side
dishes like 2 kinds of kim chi (did you know there are like 2,000 types of kim chi??), macaroni salad, onions in a sweet sauce, garlic (which we grilled to perfection), sprouts and green onions. Yum. So many things you could do! I wrapped strips of pork into a lettuce leaf with onions, grilled garlic, green onions, and some kind of sauce. So good.
And now I’m home. Tired beyond comprehension and going to sleep.
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Jim Blanchard
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Camara
Hi, Your garden pics are nice. Not so sure you need a new camera. Maby just experment more with what you have.