the hottest summer in 8 years in seoul with temperatures in
the mid-thirties and high humidity. and fortuitously, i finally connected with
a couchsurfing host: matt, an english teacher from the states. i lumbered over
to his flat in hoegi from base camp hostel that first sweltering sunday and
planted myself in his small living room/office. he showed me around his
neighbourhood and took me for some korean food: barbequed beef with omlette-ed
egg around the grill, and stir-fried pork and vegetables with rice. of course,
the obligatory kimchi. he was very knowledgeable over a wide spectrum of topics,
especially his major of economics and his faith: he was a seventh-day
adventist, those who believe in the keeping of the commandment about the
sabbath. thus we were never at a loss for something to talk about. he was also
a gamer, and he used to effectively tackle ‘assassins’ whilst ‘watching’ old episodes
of doctor who on his computer. he was also very overweight, some might even say
obese. he had no qualms in describing himself as fat. we were taking the metro that
day we met and a korean guy, upon noticing him, turned and faced him. the guy
was kitted out in casual hiker’s gear with dark shades. he was also a little
intoxicated. he looked matt up and down and with his arms outstretched, just
said to him: “why?” he repeated it a couple of times, but matt, to his credit,
took it in his stride and just very coolly just ignored the guy. the latter
turned to me and said “american....
american, right?” i didn’t say anything, but said: “wow, it really is bright
in here, isn’t it? wish i had some shades too.” unfortunately, the sarcasm was
lost on him, or maybe he also coolly ignored it. the guy noticed that the
t-shirts we were wearing were the same shade of faded-out red, and looking at
us, said “twins”. again he repeated it, and i saw the funny side too. matt was
not amused and got defensive: “it’s just a coincidence”. there wasn’t anything
menacing about the guy at all, and maybe because he was drunk he was
articulating something that everyone else was thinking... but i admired the way
matt was just calm and stoic about it all. he’s probably had to deal with a lot
of shit in his time.
the next day, i borrowed matt’s mountain bike and went for a
spin along the river. it was another ridiculously hot day... and really too hot for biking. i was gushing sweat and
the t-shirt pulled over my head to protect it from the heat saved my eyes being
stung with the flood of sweat. i must have drunk 6-7 litres of water in 5
hours.
i biked to seonyudo park and took a walk around there...very peaceful... and then biked it through the centre of town to city hall and cheong ye chong waterway. i had to tackle an uphill stretch on the way which nearly wasted me... had to get off the bike and sit down on the pavement and get my breath back. the passer-bys just stared at me as if i was an alien from a different planet. at the man-made waterway, the jobsworth security guy whistled me off from there even though i was pushing the bike along, not riding it.
by the time i got to hoegi, the muscles were already starting to seriously cramp up, and i still had to carry this heavy bike to the 5th floor. i just managed to get it through the door before the legs seized up. but first i had to stand under the cold shower for a full 15minutes or so just to cool down. then i collapsed on the sofa. must’ve done over 50kms in 35c heat. it’s been an age since i last cycled that sort of distance... not since i was commuting back and forth to central london from hayes in the west every weekday for months when i worked at the post office.
luckily, the muscles weren’t sore the next day, but i was already tired when i finally connected with eunsil, one of two korean girls who had stayed in the same dorm as me in qingdao. we met at konkik university where she was studying, and she took me for lunch: cold noodle soup with egg and grilled pork. then we took the metro to bokshan? and found a tea shop to while away the afternoon out of the torrid heat. after, we wandered around the traditional korean houses (hanok) area and found a place for dinner: rice with mixed vegetables and kimchi. yum yum. she was working part-time at a cinema and offered me a free ticket for a movie.
the next day, i met up with hyejin, the second of the korean pair. she had just got back from a holiday with her parents and sister. we met at gyeongbokgung palace... buying two tickets, we followed the free tour in english around the palace. it was another very hot day, and i was already feeling exhausted. the heat and humidity, coupled with the stomach bug which refused to go away ever since i left china, maybe even before, were draining me of all my strength.
we found a place to eat lunch, but i insisted on just eating rice. then at a coffee place, i was falling asleep. we met up with eunsil and decided to use my free cinema pass. the girls got tickets too and we went to see the new batman flick, the dark knight rises. it was a while also since i saw a film in a cinema, and so i was grateful.... but the storyline was typically hollywood. straight home but not straight to bed as matt was up till 2am playing assassins. no worries: that day, yesterday, i took real easy, cooked some food for myself and matt and his mongolian friends, watched another film on his super-big screen, and prepared for the trip out of seoul. i decided to give hitching a try in korea. and even thought the girls showed me some places to go on mainland korea, i decided to opt for jeju, the island off the south-west corner of the peninsula.
i biked to seonyudo park and took a walk around there...very peaceful... and then biked it through the centre of town to city hall and cheong ye chong waterway. i had to tackle an uphill stretch on the way which nearly wasted me... had to get off the bike and sit down on the pavement and get my breath back. the passer-bys just stared at me as if i was an alien from a different planet. at the man-made waterway, the jobsworth security guy whistled me off from there even though i was pushing the bike along, not riding it.
by the time i got to hoegi, the muscles were already starting to seriously cramp up, and i still had to carry this heavy bike to the 5th floor. i just managed to get it through the door before the legs seized up. but first i had to stand under the cold shower for a full 15minutes or so just to cool down. then i collapsed on the sofa. must’ve done over 50kms in 35c heat. it’s been an age since i last cycled that sort of distance... not since i was commuting back and forth to central london from hayes in the west every weekday for months when i worked at the post office.
luckily, the muscles weren’t sore the next day, but i was already tired when i finally connected with eunsil, one of two korean girls who had stayed in the same dorm as me in qingdao. we met at konkik university where she was studying, and she took me for lunch: cold noodle soup with egg and grilled pork. then we took the metro to bokshan? and found a tea shop to while away the afternoon out of the torrid heat. after, we wandered around the traditional korean houses (hanok) area and found a place for dinner: rice with mixed vegetables and kimchi. yum yum. she was working part-time at a cinema and offered me a free ticket for a movie.
the next day, i met up with hyejin, the second of the korean pair. she had just got back from a holiday with her parents and sister. we met at gyeongbokgung palace... buying two tickets, we followed the free tour in english around the palace. it was another very hot day, and i was already feeling exhausted. the heat and humidity, coupled with the stomach bug which refused to go away ever since i left china, maybe even before, were draining me of all my strength.
we found a place to eat lunch, but i insisted on just eating rice. then at a coffee place, i was falling asleep. we met up with eunsil and decided to use my free cinema pass. the girls got tickets too and we went to see the new batman flick, the dark knight rises. it was a while also since i saw a film in a cinema, and so i was grateful.... but the storyline was typically hollywood. straight home but not straight to bed as matt was up till 2am playing assassins. no worries: that day, yesterday, i took real easy, cooked some food for myself and matt and his mongolian friends, watched another film on his super-big screen, and prepared for the trip out of seoul. i decided to give hitching a try in korea. and even thought the girls showed me some places to go on mainland korea, i decided to opt for jeju, the island off the south-west corner of the peninsula.
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