An afternoon in Insadong

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What I really needed was a little traditional Korean spontenaity. That is exactly what I got. My role that day was to be tour guide...bring the new guys to the oh-so-wonderful Emart for a shopping spree. But I really wanted to wander around Seoul, really really badly, that afternoon. Afterall, Emart isn't going anywhere. And it is local, only a short jaunt down the road...that can be accomplished anytime. Anyway, I knew the boys would be in for a little sightseeing. Who wouldn't be, it's Insadong...and it was an amazingly beautiful day. No day to be fighting the bargainhunter crowds, no sir.

So we hopped on a bus and meandered our way down Jogno to the far end of Insadong strip. There was absolutely no expectations, no plans, just an afternoon of freedom. So we did a little temple veiwing, a little gallery rendezvous, and found ourselves down a quaint little sidestreet dining cramped on the floor in a traditional Korean food house. We ordered the "cheap" set menu. Thank god I was with two hungry men, or I would have been in big trouble. We were all in big trouble as it was. I have never seen any place try to put more food on one table then this little hole in the wall did. I am not exaggerating, the food literally kept coming a plate every 30 seconds for a good hour. There were at least 60 dishes on the table, many of them on the questionable side in regards to their edibility, but I did try everything on the table...except for the raw crab (something about a gray mass of raw meat under a stinky grey carcass that really doesn't press any buttones, you know?). Nevertheless, seeing Kovats try to scrunch his giant legs under that little table made the whole afternoon worthwhile.

After leaving the restaurant we walked into some kind of festival...yes, it is true that there is always some kind of festival in Insadong...this time I believe it had something to do with rice wine. We did get the opportunity to watch a traditional women's dance, then a rice wine chugging competition (because we all know that goes hand in hand). Then, before moving on, we encountered a martial arts demonstration- Hapkido I believe, though it was difficult to follow the Korean commentator. Nevertheless it was awesome watching these giant Koreans dance around eachother and kick eachother in the head. Good times.

Then, as is always the case with those two, we went for "one drink" ("one bottle of wine" Jen said, I should have known), which turn into a total Itaewon debotchery. We began at Geckos for a sensible dinner, and ended up wandering aimlessly and awkwardly downt he street after a short but dangerous few hours at a bar called "B One" for Jen's friend Jen's birthday. It was rough. Jen broke her foot (what? gasp? come on, what did you expect? someone always breaks a foot). But we did arrive home safe, even if some of us forgot how we got there. I love being the "controlled" one...lol. I think it's time to hop on that wagon pretty soon. It is calling me name. Afterall, this really isn't a vacation, is it?

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Photos

Charlie and Kovats take out the sailor
Time for a photo op with the sign on the men's washroom at the Jogno tower building. It was a very "korean" sign

Jogyesa Temple, Jogno
My temple tree

Pimpin
Cruisin down Jogno, ready for the Insadong magic to begin

Artsy store
I pretty much wanted every single thing in this store...it was big trouble

Photos off the roof of the gallery
Downtown Seoul

Soul in Seoul
This man is the epitome of Insadong authenticity

Kovats and a tiny table
Aaron looked unimaginably uncomfortable...but he kept on smiling the whole damn time...might have had something to do with the ungodly amounts of food they put in front of him

Kovats and a tiny table
the food begins

Checking out the jewelry
No doubt they heard Korean girls love jewels

Rice wine chugging competition
The little old man on the end won hands down...no sweat off his brow, just finished and cruised back to his seat