In Between

Written 4pm, Oct 19, 2010

I’m sitting in seat 31A on Air India flight 311 right now, with “The Backup Plan” on my tv screen. The flight is only about half full, I have a window seat and an empty seat next to me, and the skies are blue outside. I’m on my way to Hong Kong!

Yesterday I slept in a bit and then Carolyn and I headed out for Dangdemun, a shopping district in Seoul. Two hours after we’d started, we arrived. There were warehouse style buildings and Carolyn led me directly into one of them, one she has frequented as a knitter: textiles and notions. We walked through really narrow aisles and took in the multitude of booths, all crammed together, selling threads and buttons and needles and crotchet hooks and knitting needles and … well, you name it and I promise you, there were several hundred, maybe several thousand, for sale.

Carolyn took me directly to a booth she frequents for the yarn and we admired the colors and feel of many skeins. As we wandered the building, I considered buying a crotchet hook (double ended, no less!) to keep myself craftily occupied during my travels. I decided that it was more of a “gee I’ll make so many great things!” feeling and not really a reality, so I resisted the impulse.

After about thirty or forty minutes inside the warehouse booths, we needed some fresh air, so we wandered on the sidewalk for a bit, admiring the spoons and shoes and trinkets and statues and brass sculptures and… well, anything and everything. Carolyn told me that there were several buildings, all with similarly stuff booths. I liked the textiles and notions building because inside many of the booths you could see women knitting or crocheting like mad. Their products were also on display in many areas, with a variety of skill levels, garments and styles.  Occasionally, a man carrying a huge roll of fabric or carpet or whatever, either in his arms, over his shoulder or strapped to his back, would come bustling down the aisle, coming close to knocking over or decapitating the shoppers in the area. Hell, even the Korean ladies were pushy, several times brushing me or Carolyn out of the way as they headed… somewhere. It made the whole thing breathtaking, irritating and overwhelming, all at once.

We ventured to a few different floors of the textile building, viewing the assortment of wares. The thing I can’t figure out is this: there were ten, twenty, thirty booths selling almost exactly the same things, crammed right next to each other and across from each other. How do they stay in business?! It’s the same with shops on the streets, not just in Dangdemun but all over the place in Seoul. I just don’t understand it, because the Koreans on the streets aren’t exactly carrying lots of shopping bags or anything, and the shops aren’t full or even busy. It’s perplexing!

Anyway, after taking in all the varieties of fabrics and buttons and yarns and threads, we walked around the neighborhood a bit. We came upon a little shop run by a woman, that sold wooden stamps. The part you hold is wooden and intricately carved into various creature shapes, like phoenixes or tigers. You could have the stamp part carved into any shape or letters you wanted. Pretty neat! There was a little computer and a laser etcher set up inside and everything! I just found it pretty neat. As we continued down the street, I kept my eye out for likely trinkets and baubles, both for myself and for friends and family back home. I managed to find a few things, even!

After we’d been walking around for a couple hours, we both decided it was time to head back to Songtan and the apartment. Originally, I had thought I might go to Seoul Tower on my own before heading back, but I decided that with the two hour commute, it would just be too stressful. You see, I wanted to go to Osan Air Base and send off some mail: postcards, packages, etc. It’s cheaper to send it from base than from the economy and I figure from now on, I’ll have to figure out foreign post offices, so I may as well avail myself of the resources while I can!

We went directly from the bus station to the Air Base, where we did the post office thing and met up with Ashley, one of the knitters from Carolyn’s group and a friend of the Neimans. The three of us decided to take Stuart’s car and drive around the flight line, ostensibly to give me a tour but mostly just to hang out and make the time pass. The flight line was actually pretty cool, surrounded by various arms and with the dusty, hazy  smog of Seoul in the background. Then we drove by the 200 year old tree on the golf course, which was pretty cool. Finally, we went and picked up Stuart from work and headed for Suwon for a shabu-shabu place, a dinner that Carolyn described to me which sounded pretty good.

Long story short, however, the traffic combined with construction made the drive a long and frustrating one. Eventually when we couldn’t find the shabu-shabu place, we decided to head back to Songtan. We ended up going to a place called – I’m not kidding – the Meat Restaurant. The basic premises is that each person can pile up as much stuff from the buffet as they want, and there’s a grill at each table. The buffet includes meat of all kinds and cuts. You can’t leave any meat on your plate, though, or it costs 1,000 won per plate extra. We ate, and we ate, and we ate! It was pretty good, although I admit that I overate by a plate or two of pure meat.

After that it was time to head back to the apartment. First we stopped by Baskin Robbins for an ice cream, though.

I have to extend a really sincere and special thank you to Carolyn and Stuart, who throughout my two weeks in South Korea have been patient and helpful and wonderful. They’ve helped me to figure out costs and exchange rates and plans, bought things for me and loaned me guide books and maps. They’ve been terrific hosts and guides and friends. My trip to Korea certainly wouldn’t have been the same without them. Stuart and his jokes and history explanations, and Carolyn with her recommendations and cheerfulness and willingness to walk around with me, even to the extent of walking me to the bus station this morning when she wasn’t feeling all that well, all combined to make my first foray on this world trip an absolute success. So thank you, Carolyn and Stuart! Good friends and good hosts are invaluable and I can’t wait to come visit you again – either in Korea or wherever you guys end up next!

--Z