More photos

Bijapur

Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh

Seoul

Again, just from the greatest hits collection. My homework for myself is to write narrative, because that I will not be able to do as well later when I forget stuff. By contrast, if I dally a long time before going to pick out some good Seoul photos, I'll enjoy going back over the photos more later.

Well, so anyway...

More narrative

Now we begin with December 12. There was one more palace to visit, so I did that first. Now, let's contrast the ambient populations of the three palaces. Did I do this already? I think I mentioned that the second palace I visited was a very popular spot for Seoul's seniors to putter away their twilight years. Actually, it's extremely good puttering ground. In the future, Seoul may become a popular destination for foreign retirees because of the quality of the puttering available there. (And also across the street at the royal shrine.) The first palace was a younger crowd, but not a markedly young crowd. The final palace was all school tour groups. The kids that day were even more outgoing than the ones in KyeongJu. Almost up to the level of, say, Aurangabad. One boy even hugged me. I did observe, though, that mostly the little boys hung back, while the little girls tried their English, whereas in India it's the reverse.

One thing that worked out well was that I arrived just as they were doing some sort of procession. Maybe it was a changing of the guard ceremony. Anyway, their were guys with thrichurs (or what do you call Shiva's spear-- anyway a three pointed spear) and various exciting-shaped shiny blades on the end of sticks, and guys with banners and drums and horns, and someone dressed like a monk who went out and beat on the big drum (probably you've seen the big traditional Korean drums) for a while. So that was fun.

Off to one side there was some neat stuff. Pieces of an old water clock, a big bell, and also a pretty old rocket launcher. The rocket launcher was made of wood, and structured as follows. It had two wagon wheels and a flat part which looks a bit like a workbench. On the end of the workbench is what looks like a wooden orange crate. Now I said the workbench was flat, but of course it's not horizontal, because one end's on the wheels and the other's on the ground. So, it's angled up at one end for rocket launchin', and the upturned face of the orange crate's got a bunch of holes in it for rockets, and I guess that'll do it for description.

Now, another thing that was kind of interesting about this particular palace was that it was the one that was in use up until the end, and so it has one building which looks like the Capitol. Which is to say, it's whatever that Western style of architecture is. There was a second building which was somewhat Western-style but a better style and a little more of a hybrid maybe. What it reminded me of was a school of art, which existed, I think in Vienna, that Klimt was a member of. Is there an artist named Klimt? Is there a building in Vienna where he did a frieze all the way around the top? Well, anyway, I think I have pictures.

The final thing which was neat about that particular palace was that the gate of it (the palace) went directly out onto a very busy street in the a part of the city that feels like Wall Street.

That's it for the stuff that's been languishing on my desktop since the last time I felt like I had time... so I'll take it as a friendly nudge that my memory gets staler by the day and I'll thank myself if I write something now...

Names of places...

So, I wrote all of this narrative the other day when I wasn't connected to the internet and able to look things up... So I looked a few things up now. The first palace I visited was Gyeongbokgung the second, which was closed, was Changdeokgung, I think, while the second one I actually got to go into ws Changyeongung, although I confess I'm not really sure. I don't think I posted the narrative from Deoksugung yet. That's coming. That would be the place where the photo of the changing-of-theguard ceremony or whatever it was, was taken. Some photos of the National Folk Museum with the structure which I've decided can be called a "pagoda." Anywaythis is the tourist site I was mostly working from, so it has a little something about every place I went. I see the shrine was called Jongmyo, and the folk village was called Namsangol Hanok Village.

Enough for now...

More Seoul

We pick up with me getting into the subway, still on December 11. By this time it was late afternoon. The next thing I wanted to check out was called something like "Hanok Village." It looked from the literature like it might be a sort of Colonial Williamsburg deal, with reenactors, and it also looked like it might be closed in December, but I was willing to give it a try. So, I took the train to the appropriate stop, took the appropriate exit from the subway station, and looked around. All I saw was a gas station and no sign, so I looked at the map to try to figure out where it would be from where I was and set off walking in, as it turned out, completely the wrong direction. The intersection I'd just departed from was a Y and at the first alley, I glanced right and saw a traditional- looking roof, and figured that was it, so I darted through the alley. It wasn't it. It was something called "Korea House," which was in a similar vein maybe. Traditional meal and some cultural programme. And it looked like you could also stay there. Anyway, it was for the big fish, not for me. So I doubled back. It looked to me, from the map, like the Craft Village (or whatever it was called ) ought to be roughly behind Korea House ( or whatever it was called ) so after scanning quickly to see whether there was a way through (it didn't seem inconceivable that they'd be affiliated) I tried to find a way around. It took me far too long, walking on a narrow sidestreet through a neighborhood that seemed to be a mixture of working class dwellings and printshops to admit that this plan was not working and turn back. Maybe 10 steps past the subway station in the direction I had not previously tried, I could see that there was a gate with tour busses coming out of it. But I wasn't back at the subway station to see that for maybe 40 minutes.

So, by the time I found the place the sun was, if not already below the mountains, getting pretty close, and my camera was assuring me that I needed a flash on every picture. Frustrating when one is taking pictures of buildings and ponds and the sort of things that a flash will be no help with. I wandered around a bit but there were no reenactors. Possibly gone for the day. Possibly not there in December. Possibly there aren't any. What there was was a place to eat so I figured "why not." I figured since I hadn't eaten all day I ought to have a big meal, and ordered a bibimbab and one of these omeletty things. They call them "Korean pizza." Maybe that means the part I think is egg is really a kind of cheese. But anyway, I still think they are more reminiscent of omelettes. They're flat, and made mostly of green onions and egg, or maybe it's cheese, which a bit of this or that (onions, mushrooms, tentacles, god-knows-what) here and there. I first had one in Pohang with the lads, at which time J assured me that these omelette things (which he called "Korean Pizza". He being part of the "they" above) were good with Dongdongju. This would be the traditional rice wine which I had not tried in Pohang, but had tried a couple nights before with SH. I think this occasion in Seoul may have been the second time I had one, but I think actually there was one more time in Pohang. Ah yes, shortly before I left Pohang I went out to dinner with the lads and Prof C and we had one. On that occasion Korea was playing Japan at soccer on the TV in the next room and SH kept jumping up to go check the score.

I have digressed. To pick up the thread, I ordered an omelette thing in addition to my bibimbab, and then said "what the hey" and ordered the "traditional wine" which I reckoned might be makkoli, which I had assured SH I would try.

Did I mention that? Well, the internet will tell you that dongdongju and makkoli are basically the same thing. And so will I. But there was a distinction which was important to SH which he put roughly thus: "In old times, when a man wanted to drink something he would go get dongdongju or makkoli. Rich people would get dongdongju and not-rich people would get makkoli." And then, like I said, he wanted me to assure him I would try makkoli as well. So, I guess it was a populist thing. But, yeah, to be honest I don't think I could tell the difference. And therefore, could not tell you what the thing that I had on the evening of the 11th was.

Ok. Now, about this restaurant: it was in a tent, and, in keeping with the "traditional" theme instead of chairs it just had sections of log. About the time I had ordered two dishes and some wine I began to realize that I was cold and my back hurt, and that I was not really hungry, but actually a little bit sick to my stomach. So, that was not good. The waitress came and offered to give me only half a serving of the wine, because I was only one person, but I think I did not effectively convey that that was what I wanted. Either that or I'd hate to see the size of a full serving. Although, it should be pointed out that part of the issue here is that in Korea you always drink in groups, generally of at least four by my observation, so the point is that there was not a serving intended for one person. Being aware of this, but still interested in trying something new, I'd resolved to waste most of it at the outset, and was glad when offered the opportunity to only waste about half as much, but, like I said, I don't think she understood me.

It was also pretty clear I was going to have to waste some of that food, which I was a bit less happy about. So I choked down absolutely as much as I could manage which is a terrible thing to do to oneself or the food, which was supposed to be getting enjoyed.

Then I went home. It was still pretty early. My back hurt fairly badly. So I threw the ice pack in the fridge and lay down on the couch. There was a basketball game on. Korean basketball is pretty fun to watch. It's a bit madcap. That is, the style of play is very aggressive (in the sense of pushing the pace and trying wild shots, not particularly physical) and a bit sloppy. Each team has about two foreign ringers, and plays one at a time through the first three quarters and then both together down the stretch.

Anyway, once I'd iced and rested my back, and done a few of the exercises I'd been neglecting, puttered around a little, planned the next day, what have you, I felt like having another go at the eat and drink thing. And the neighborhood just beyond the KIAS back gate seems like a reasonable one for that so I headed out and found a place I liked the look of and sat down. I ordered a beer this time, and after flipping around a little bit picked something that looked like one of those omeletty things again and picked that. It had only been a few hours since I'd found the other one so unappetizing, but I tend to always pick the thing I'm familiar with, even if I don't like it. Anyway, I wasn't sure what I had ordered, but learned a few seconds later that apparently something I had said meant, "I want you to bring a fajita plate and two raw eggs and fry the eggs on the fajita plate on the table right in front of me."

"Fajita plate" perhaps requires explanation. I call these things that because as far as I know the only place you will see them in the US is in a mexican restaurant under some fajitas. (I don't think I have seen one in India.) What it is is a cast iron plate with a wood backing, which is brought to the table hot enough so that your fajitas keep sizzling for a while after the waitress brings them. Or, if you like, hot enough so that your eggs fry properly. Anyway, they are used for a lot of things in Korea, along with all of the various other means of insuring that your food is hot enough to burn you right up until the second you are ready to eat it.

Later, I got an omeletty thing as well. So it may be that the fried egg trick is this place's answer to the bowl of complimentary chips.

Thane

Four more photos which are not of Korea, and two that are. I found the three of Thane while going through my old photos to pick the ones for my mom and grandma, and think they are nicely composed images in spite of the subject's gruesome appearance and moral terpitude. Thane kindly agreed to be a blogstar.

Thane on a train in Kerala.

A building in Chicago, near the building which houses the Indian and Korean consulates. I took this the morning I went to get my Korean visa. Someone remind me: is this the Wrigley building?

This I will explain later.

That face looks familiar but I didn't expect to see it in Seoul. Evidently there are Korean boys envying Abishek Bachchan as well.


Thane in action: cricket on Juhu beach...

This is going to drive Mobile up a wall... ha ha ha .

Pictures

I need to go through my Seoul photos and pick out which ones to upload. But in the meantime, here are some other pictures to keep you amused. For Christmas, I made greeting cards for my mom and grandma featuring the 60 best photos from my journeys to date. The precise definition of "best" is somewhat affected by the fact that we had greeting cards in mind.
Anyway, here are the first five from that folder. I'm not sure the labels will come out in the right places, unfortunately...

Gir forest, in Gujarat, if I'm not mistaken. Last stronghold of the Asiatic lion.






Kerala. From the train. Maybe Thane remembers?







Same trip.





















Destination of that train ride: Kannyakumari. The southern tip of India.

Bijapur, Karnataka, at sunrise.

Additional Seoul Narrative

There is a post a few down that has been languishing as a draft for ages. So, maybe scroll down for that.

And then

We pick up the day after the day I went to the tower with my advisor. I believe this would have been December 11. This is the day on which there is the least to say and the most pictures to look at, because this day I mostly want to palaces from the Cheosun dynasty. As I write this I do
not have the Seoul map with me or access to the internet. Perhaps I will come back and update later with names.

Anyway, the first thing I did that morning was go to a big palace. There are three large palaces in Seoul. I had been looking around a Korea tourism website and decided to go first to the one it billed as the most unmissable.

Looking at my notes, I see I didn't have too much to mention about that one. It was a huge complex with separate subcomplexes for the residencies of the king, queen, crown prince, crown princess, and queen dowager (king's mom). The buildings were all traditional style but many of them were quite young. Most of them had something about having been burned to the ground and then restored. Some of them as recently as 2000. And, it looked like there was more under construction.

Next door on one side was the Korean Folk Museum which had a very impressive tower-y structure I'm tempted to call a pagoda on top. But I don't really know what a pagoda is. There were steps all the way to the top but one isn't allowed to climb any of them. (Well, actually, the
chain is about 10 steps up, so in principle one could climb 9, but....) Next door on the other side is the Blue House, which is Korea's equivalent of the White House. I don't know whether the similarity of the names is coincidence. Really, it's one big complex. I think I read somewhere-- but I'm not sure where-- that the use of blue tiles on the roof of the Blue House (which is why it's called that) is because in an earlier era they were reserved for royal palaces. Not sure how I feel about that. But then, none of the palaces had blue tile roofs, while the pagoda or whatever on the Folk Museum did.

Ok. About the time I was done at the first palace, my batteries ran out. One of my first thoughts when I woke up that morning was what an idiot I was for not having put my rechargeables in to charge overnight. Incidentally, I think I had made it to that point in my Korean sojourn on the batteries I had charged up in Illinois (which are different batteries than the ones I had neglected to charge the night before-- different voltages). I went to a place across the street and got some disposable batteries. I also got a disposable camera, because my recollection was that a digital camera will eat through a pair of disposables in just a couple of snaps. If it was as few as I remembered, it might be less frustrating to just go with the disposable camera. I don't know where it was that I formed that impression. It may be that it was in India and someone sold me a bad set. Anyway, the guy gave me my banana milk on the house, which was nice. When I came back out there were some guards in white suits and funny hats setting up in front of the gate, and I took a picture of them, I think with the disposable camera. Then I took a picture of a tower, I think also with the disposable camera. This tower was, actually one of the older things around. Originally part of the temple complex, it's now in the middle of the intersection at one corner of what's there now.

I checked the map and it didn't look like it was worth taking the subway one stop to go to the next palace, so I set off walking. On the way I passed a building called something like Hyundai Cultural Center. But I think it was something a little more amusing.

Anyway, the next palace was guided tours only. The sign said that the grounds were being degraded by people's feet before they made that rule. And, it also said that there were no tours in December. So, I was out of luck, and headed on to palace number three, which was just around the corner. But, as you can imagine, those are big blocks, when every house is a palace. Still, it was a nice walk. Busy street, but tall stone walls on both sides, and the light hitting the one on my side of the street nicely.

Ok, so next palace was a nice one. Well, they were all nice. (There's still one more coming...) This one was a bit smaller, but had nice grounds. Big, with a lot of stuff on them. One thing that was weird was the royal placenta burial site. Then there was this thing that looked a bit like a beach lifeguard chair, made of stone, and, called an observatory, I guess like the one in KyeongJu. Also there was a greenhouse. This was called a botanical garden. Well, or rather, what's inside it was. I say this because I thought at first that they would be two different things while looking at the sign, and I generally think of botanical gardens as being large outdoor things you walk around in. Also, there was a nice big pond that I walked around.

Now, one thing from a sign I read which I probably won't get quite right. Like the other place, this place had separate buildings for the kings and queens residence. And, on the queen's building, there was no beam across the top, and that was explained, roughly thus. The beam represents a dragon. The dragon is a messenger from heaven, and the queen is sort of a conduit for heavenly power. A beam on the top of her house would block the power of heaven.

Now, in the back left corner of the grounds were some steps going up. At the top was a gate to the palace next door-- the one which I had been not to be able to visit. It was one of many. Anyway, it was locked. And there was also a gate to a small overpass. This was over the road I had just walked along, spanning the gap between those high stone walls. I'd seen it while walking along the road. Anyway, it was nice, and a little incongruous, this little bridge between these two quiet, timeless, contemplative spaces, with the heavy traffic of the street below.

Anyway, when I first found the footbridge, I wasn't quite ready to move on from the palace, so I went back and walked around there a little more before heading across.

Now, what was on the other side was the royal shrine of the Choseon dynasty and its grounds. The shrine itself was probably the largest individual building of any of them. It reminded me of a barn. Inside are "spirit tablets." It didn't really say what those were. Now, as I got closer to the front gate (having arrived at the back of the grounds) there was a building which had something to do with the rituals that the new king has to perform for his father when he dies. As I strolled by... oh, damnit. Al Jazeera informs me Ash and Abishek are engaged... well, anyway, as I strolled by I looked inside and saw a raccoon, or some very similar creature. I tried to take a picture but the move for my camera led it to dive through a hole into the crawlspace below the room next door. I gasped and kind of looked around to see if anyone else had seen it. No one had. A Korean woman guessed roughly correctly what was up, and said "Cat?" But, for some reason I just assumed she wouldn't know "raccoon" and so was speechless.

Next door was a very small building which I think was supposed to be a place either where a certain member of the Choseon royal family painted, or maybe had some of his paintings? I forget. Anyway there were a couple of paintings hung in there which were clearly reproductions, and one which looked like it might be an original. I should perhaps mention, this wasn't the only building where they had sandals out front so you could take off your shoes, put those on, and putter about inside a little.

Oh, one other thing I meant to mention before moving on from the palace, was that it seemed to be a favorite puttering-around spot for the older set, whereas the first palace seemed to be a younger crowd, and the one from the 12th was all schoolchildren. As for the shrine, most of the people I saw there were one big tour being conducted in a tonal language. Maybe cantonese?

Ok. In front of the gate of the shrine there was a giant square with maybe 50 games of something going on. I don't think it was Go/Paduk. It looked like the pieces were little hexagons of varying size, with characters on them. And each game had maybe 20 onlookers. So it was quite a sight. I think I got a photo, but I don't think it will do it justice. I looked for a little bit at these paintings some guy was selling, but decided that they said "Hey, fellow Westerners, I am a souvenir from the mystic East" in a rather loud voice and moved on. To be fair, I am not sure that these don't have some other meaning in Korea. I would guess they are produced for tourists to buy as souvenirs. But maybe if I'd gone to a Korean person's home, I would have seen one hanging there saying something else. And if purchased by a member of the tour I will continue guessing was Hongkies, it has another meaning. But all of this is beside the point in regards to my decision to pass...

Past the guys playing Paduk or whatever were some benches that were not full, and I sat on one and rested. Some guy came up to me and started talking to me in Korean. I think I mumbled out my Hanguk bal beo te yo
or whatever, which didn't work. It reminded me of when I asked people in Japanese if they spoke English. It would completely backfire because by asking them in Japanese I'd given them the go ahead for a soliloquoy about god knows what in Japanese. Telling people in Korean that you don't speak Korean doesn't seem to work much. After all, you've just spoken Korean. So... Anyway he prattled on a little bit and said "American" a few times. I tried to nod politely for a little while, and then said "well I'm going to head off now." He said something I will assume meant something like, "oh come now stay and chat a while" and actually pulled me back down by the hem of my jacket. I was prepared to be a little indulgent and after wrapping up his point, he let me go. I headed to the subway, and just before getting on saw a building that looked like a 70s retro sweater. It what just a big rectangular office tower, but it was colored in bands of green-grey-brown in a certain way...

Hmm

Interesting.

Yes, I still need to finish blogging the Seoul trip... I'm too distractable, alas.

My To Blog list leftover from Pohang

is as follows:
ttok: ttok I think is generally referred to as "rice cake" but is completely unlike the dry wafers which are called rice cakes in the west. It's kind of gooey stuff. Sometimes filled with something. SH was a big ttok enthusiast. He was in particular a fan of ttok mandu soup which is soup with bits of ttok and dumplings which are called mandu in it. I was also a fan of this soup and of ttok. SH was very pleased to see I liked ttok and kept giving me more of it. I wanted to be polite and would sometimes have to eat myself sick. But it's good stuff. That said, I do wonder whether I was eating raw dough which I was supposed to cook. At one point SH had some special ttok made by his girlfriend's mother and gave me that. I said "no no no your girlfriend's mother made it you can't give it to me" and he said "it is for you." Which I hope meant "no, you don't understand: i mentioned to my girlfriend's mother that i have a foreigner friend who likes ttok and she wanted me to give you this" as opposed to merely "i insist" (which is possible: keep in mind one can't do to careful a reading of the exact words used in this context...).

mother's hand "omma son": (sounds rather a lot like "Amazon".) this is a restaurant I went to twice in the last couple of weeks in Pohang, once with SH and once with all three of the guys. "omma son" is the name of the restaurant (roughly) and "mother's hand" is the literal translation. the food there was pretty good. the first time we were there the TV was on to something a bit like American Idol except that the performances by competitors were mixed in with performances by famous singers. I discussed with SH which of the pompadoured crooners was most reminiscent Elvis, which Tom Jones, which Sinatra, etc. But maybe they were all Tom Jones. This was also the first setting in which I saw someone make a heart shape by putting their arms over their head with both sets of fingertips on the crown of their head. This seems to be sort of standard gesture in Korea. I even saw Hines Ward (Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver, superbowl MVP, born in Korea, all the rage) in a TV ad or maybe on a billboard. Actually, in the American Idol-esque show it was being done with only one arm because the other was holding the mic so it was indecipherable unless one was already familiar with the complete version.
the second time we went to omma son there was a big barrel with cabbage in it nearly blocking the door. i guess the owner was making kimchi.
returning to the first one, after we were done eating, SH and i stopped by a stall in the street nearby and had fresh made pastries. the style of making was similar to donuts, but the construction was more similar to cinnamon rolls. they were very good.

eating in the bar: this was the one night that i decided i would try to eat out on my own. it was not very successful. i tried a jumping restaurant on the corner of the small business district near campus (which everyone called the "local market") but it was a little too jumping: there wasn't a seat to be had. so i wandered around a bit and picked another place which turned out to be more of a bar with food than a restaurant that served beer. what i got was a big plate of chunks of pan-fried chicken which seemed like it was meant to be shared among four friends over beer, or maybe soju. the guys at the next table were having plenty of both. they took their shots of soju as J had: with a noisy slurp. i might have been tipped off by the decor if I'd looked more carefully through the window. it was pretending to be an outdoor yard, with fake trees and little fake roofs over some of the tables. on the tops of the roofs were piles of clay jars. one sees this sometimes on actual roofs of drinking establishment. i will guess that in the old days the booze came in the jars...

dormitory for our globalization: many times, while i was at POSTECH i would see that this or that event, usually a party, was organized by D.O.G. I kind of assumed it was some sort of hip-hop crew (since when parties were organized by someone other than a string of initials it was "DJ So and So). Turns out it's the Dormitory for Our Globalization. Which is a dorm in which the students are supposed to speak to one another exclusively in English. I found this out because the Party for Foreigner at which I won my POSTECH coffee mug was organized by D.O.G. and Festival (Chinese Character Which I Think Means Committee).

troubles with Wooribank: a lot of time was spent in the last couple of days fretting over money. for example, i had to go somewhere and apply for my Korean government pension. That I get a Korean government pension for working there for three months strikes me as a little absurd, and I can't imagine the dollar value was worth the trouble for anyone, but various people would not have fulfilled their duties if I didn't get it so I didn't try to fuss. then, there was the matter of how to get the money from Wooribank, which is my Korean bank, to PNC Bank, my US bank. In retrospect, it's not at all clear to me why I bothered: PNC Bank has almost no branches outside of Pennsylvania and I don't live in Pennsylvania anymore. Still, from the trouble I had had getting money into Wooribank at the beginning of my sojourn in Korea, I figured it was probably not going to be a picnic to get money out of Wooribank if I was not in Pohang anymore. That seems to have been confirmed. Anyway, in the end I got a check. Maybe there was no story there. On the morning that I was set to leave, I had to go to Wooribank and open a second account, this time as a Korean resident, so that my government pension could be deposited into it. So I ended up leaving not one, but two Wooribank accounts open as I left Korea. I will almost certainly have to go back at some point to complete some work that Prof C and I have going so I can deal with it then.

coffee: i'm not sure what this is doing on the list. perhaps it's just that at the time that i was making the list i was looking forward to getting back to the US and having a good cup of coffee for the first time in 3 months. but if there's one thing which is a good story about coffee which maybe i didn't mention, it's that when the weather got cold, the vending machine on the first floor of our building started providing cans of coffee which were hot, rather than iced. same coffee, same cans; now heated instead of refrigerated. probably not hot enough to literally burn your hand, but pretty uncomfortable to hold. nice, though.

and that's the list. next, i'll pick up with seoul.

Blah

Sorry I have been negligent in getting the rest of the days in Seoul blogged. I will try to get on that soon. But not right now.