I decided to go to two places: the business district of Yeouido and Seodaemun Prison just outside of downtown. I started with the latter. The place has a pretty violent history. Patriots of Korean Independence during the Japanese Occupation were tortured and killed here in extremely painful ways (chained up and beaten to death with a lead pipe, anyone?). Apparently, there are mechanical figure depictions of such brutality inside the prison. Quite a different way of presenting colonial history than in Japan. It's more in tune with what you'd see in China, Philippines...other parts of Asia for sure...
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| Seodaemun Prison entrance |
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| A view of the prison from a distance. Closed on Mondays. |
...Alas, I only know of this place through internet searches. Unfortunately for me, it was a Monday. As I should have suspected, the prison was closed (where in the Old World are museums an monuments not closed on Mondays?). I guess I'll have to come back one day. Instead, I just walked around the area to take a look at what Seoul was like outside the city core. The area around the prison was pretty nice, despite a large viaduct cutting through it. There were various hills surrounding the neighborhood, and a jjimjibang across the street. I wanted to go in, but realized that I should have my martial art lesson first.
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| Seoul has done pretty well for itself. From having patriots imprisoned 70 years ago, a bloody war 60 years ago to glistening high-rises overlooking a nice park? |
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| The National Assembly...or is it the SK gladiator stadium? |
Taking a right turn, I went to the Han River and walked around a really nice riverfront park. It was deserted. However, Sue told me that many people pile into that area during summer and have fried chicken and beer delivered to their location in the park. Sounds like a good time to me. I decided to take a stroll up to a Seoul landmark: The 63 story tower, which, by the way, is a beautiful building.
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| Practiced some manual exposure shots on this Seoul landmark. |
I went back to get prepared for my hapkido lesson and left for Itaewon early to get some dinner. And then I saw it...Taco Bell. Earlier, Sue mentioned that there was Taco Bell in Seoul, but we never bothered going there.
You people back in North America might be saying, "What's so special about Taco Bell?" Well, if you say that to someone who doesn't have the vast choices of fast food as you do (ie: the bulk of people in Asia), you're rubbing in the fact that you are a spoiled and privileged elite. Insensitive jerk! Be more appreciative of what you have!
Anyways, I haven't seen one in years! I totally ate there and it was delicious. To most expats and Seoul Koreans, it's probably nothing. But to me, it was a treat equal to having a Tim Hortons coffee outside of Canada (which BTW is extremely difficult to find).
Next up was my hapkido lesson. Walking in, I met some of the black belts practicing on the mat. They pointed me to Master Kim - a really serious and well mannered guy. After a short talk, I think he was a bit disappointed that I could only train for 2 days. He told me to get in a uniform and stretch.
I had nice conversations with Master Kim's students. All of them were English speaking expats: Brits, Americans, and an English speaking Thai gentleman. I chose to come here over a Korean-heavy hapkido school for 3 reasons. First, I wanted to understand the instruction. Okay, Master Kim' English wasn't perfect, but it was understandable. Second, I wanted to talk and get help from the students and master. Third, I read online that going to a Korean-heavy martial arts dojang was only beneficial if you stayed in Seoul for a prolonged period of time.
This is because dojang don't initially accept you until you prove your worth and commit to their program. I would go to such schools in a hurry if I had months of time in Seoul (which I plan to have one day). But, lots of expats that go to these dojang just stay on the sidelines and mimic Korean students' movements for the first few days, if not weeks. Wouldn't that be sooooo educational? Would I have to pay for that fang pi too?
It started off real easy. To be honest, I've forgotten some of the stuff. But over time, I remembered my basics. I think after they realized I had some latent skill, the students and even Master Kim went harder on me. Maybe they wanted to beat me up and get me out of there? I'd like to think it was their form of accommodating me.
Master Kim grabbed my hand and wanted resistance.
"Okay Paul. Strength."
I gave some arm strength.
I remember that my old instructor Dallas told me that he once trained with Grandmaster Ji Han Jae, the founder of Hapkido. Grandmaster Ji threw foreign students around like sticks while assuming no consequence for the result. He almost broke Dallas' wrist or arm. He just smiled at Dallas and continued with the lesson. I suppose he assumed those foreigners were well-trained, which is a bit of a leap. Luckily, Dallas was well trained.
I see now that this sort of instruction is a quintessentially Korean thing. At first I just thought Master Kim was just going to demonstrate to the other students, but then he threw me full speed, without warning, assuming I knew my break falls. Luckily, my gong fu instructor Carol back in Wuhan made us do some rolling and falling. I rolled out of it without getting hurt. I did, however, receive a minor wrist injury later in the lesson. Mama slapped a healing poultice on it when I got back to my home stay.
Anyways, I had such a fun and educational experience at the dojang, I decided to pay for a lesson in advance for the next day to force myself back. Unfortunately, that meant I could not visit the Toastmasters club that would take place the next evening. Whatever. You do what you want to do and enjoy with what time you have on vaycay.
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