Suwon (수원시) and Hwaseong Fortress (화성)

Went to visit my good pal Sean over the remainder of my 3-day weekend after a stint with Basement Jaxx Saturday night (sorry, no photos of that one).

Suwon is the fourth largest city in Korea with UNESCO World Heritage Site: Hwaseong Fortress (literally "Beautiful Castle/Fortress"). The fortress surrounds the center of Suwon and was built in the late 1700s by King Jeongjo for his late father. Story has it, Hwaseong was built to honor and house the remains of his father Prince Sado, who had been murdered by being locked alive inside a rice chest by his own father King Yeongjo after having failed to obey his command to commit suicide. Yikes.

Pirates of the Han River

We ventured on a "Han River Cruise" on Saturday. I think we were anticipating something a bit more exciting but hey, I guess we shouldn't have expected much more to look at than apartment buildings and bridges. But we DID get to go on a Pirates of the Caribbean boat...ha.



So many hilarious things I could say about this. Guess I'll have to keep it PG and not aRRRRRRRR.

Seanalicious came to haang.

Culture Exchange & Late Night Football

This Saturday we went back to the Culture Exchange party in Sinchon...a fun way to meet foreigners and Koreans who want to learn/know some English, get drunk and make new friends. This time we had a crew of about 20 people so I didn't meet as many Koreans as the last time. After the party, a few of us brave/die-hard college football fans ventured to a bar I coerced into playing the UT/OU game at 1am. The game wasn't the greatest - it lasted forever, we barely won but it was 5am in Seoul and OU still sucked.


I didn't feel like talking to this guy about my camera so Dave pretended it was his....gave him a bunch of fake model numbers and tried to sound like he knew about lenses/focal lengths/ISO, etc. He didn't but this guy totally bought it.

Rosly.

Dave was pissing me off all night, rooting for OU even though he wants to go to UT law school. Just wants Virginia Tech to advance, he says.


My homegirl, Jasmine.

Sad Hello Kitty. meow. James.

Dave. That guy in the background is Steve Buscemi's doppelganger from Oklahoma.

동대문시장 (Dongdaemun Market)

Sean, Scott and I went to Dongdaemun (neighborhood of Seoul) on Sunday not knowing what to expect. What we found were more bargains than you could imagine and more useless crap than anyone would ever know what to do with. (I talked a woman down from $7 for a pair of amazing kelly green velcro sneaks to $4.) We were the only foreigners. Needless to say, I was in heaven.




"Caca jusayo?" (Sean's a haggling wizard)


Becky this sooooo reminded me of you :)




so not organic don't panic...I almost bought it, rationalizing that though its fur, it's second hand so the animals weren't killed for ME. ha. yeah right.






I liked how Barack Obama, Black and White Michael Jackson, a gorilla and some Chinese dictator were sold next to each other.






(Sean made this guy sooooooo angry because he touched his stuff without asking and didn't put it back in the right place... hahahah.)

exploring

korean/chinese fusion, yum

hunting for lunch

composer/subway antics

Initial Seoul

one of these things is not like the other..

the crew

my girl Tina, and boys Dave & Scott

super asian hotey mates (Scott, Bob, Megan, Sean)

first kim bap shop, "Food 2,900" (basically any meal less than $4 US)

food search

Josh, Scott and Bob in the wan

my most thorough medical exam to date.