Korea in My Mind

I may be the worst blogger ever. Because sometimes, when I finally write about an experience, it's already history or a special food I had, the restaurant that served it either relocated or closed shop... you get the picture.

So I was trying to clear my desktop and found a note of what I was supposed to blog after my trip to Korea. From my first trip to Korea. And I've been there thrice already.  So yes, below is something that I wrote when I first visited Korea and which I wrote even before I submitted that book that some of you might have read - Seoul Searching.

KOREA IN MY MIND

Six-hour bus ride from Incheon Airport to Busan with two stops in bus stopovers that were bigger than some of our domestic airports. Tasting my very first fish cake.

Meeting one of college bestfriends after 18 years in her Busan home and  realizing how happy I was to be proven wrong. See, I was the biggest ‘kontrabida’ to her desire 18 years ago to fly to Korea to marry her Korean boyfriend. They looked so happy and their son so handsome that I know she couldn’t have made a better choice.

Picture taking in Hyeundae Beach.

Food: In Busan, we had Korean buffet on our first night and Korean Traditional lunch the second day. The table was filled with the most colorful, most interesting assortments of side dishes, including three kinds of kimchi. In Seoul, my favorite was the twice fried chicken in chili sauce and the bibimbap, especially mixed by the waiter who kinda reminded me of Franco (the rockstar). But we also tried street food like Kimbap and Chinese food and lots and the free spicy cup noodles and peanut butter

Culture: Museum in Busan with life-sized dioramas. Mountain Temple. Memorial park for heroes of the Korean War. Two palaces. Changing of the guards. Fashion show rehearsal in catwalk as wide as the Quiapo bridge.

Subway. Subway. Subway.  Must be led Navigator Miguel though who is lawyer, bar exams top 6, new –found friend and the latest must-have in our travel must-haves.

Shopping in Nandaemun (their version of Divisoria). Getting lost in rows and rows of fabrics in Dondaemun. Walking the colorful streets of Myeungdong for trinkets, beauty products and people-seeing.

Watching K-Pop in World Cup Stadium, the L2RH – us, wearing matching hoodies (supposedly couple hoodies) – Gay, Pam, Phil, Miguel, Em and me.

Namsan Tower. Hundreds of couples. Proposals in bent benches. Love notes and promises padlocked in fences and trees. Cable car a la MRT during rush hour.

Watching Korean reality tv in the morning, rolling on the floor laughing with Gay and Pam.

Warm Welcome at the Seoul Insitute of the Arts (where the Korean Drama, Heartstrings was supposedly shot and Boys Over Flowers’ Jandi  graduated) and a courtesy call to its president, Duk Yung  Yu (okay,  I probably misspelled the name). Lovely love campus.  Definitely going back there next year for their 50^th anniversary. Campus tour. Classroom observation of  acting class (Dream High, it is) and scene analysis.

Nice people everywhere, teaching us where to go despite language limitations. Chats with ajussis and ahjummas in subway station benches.

Too little time. Haven’t drank soju in roadside restaurant. Haven’t had pictures taken with falling leaves. Haven’t slept in a sauna. Haven’t  been to videoke. Definitely going back. Soon.

And yes, I went back. Twice. I've experience Fall, Summer and Spring in that order. See you in Winter next.