Better

The previous entry was written in utter pique (yes, really), but, peevish as it is, it's part of the experience, so I feel a certain obligation to post it. I could have written Korea over and over, Shining-style, it felt so good to stop trying to be tolerant. Korea's like a bad date; it's very nice and has many things to recommend it, but there's no chemistry between us, and the longer we spend together, the more exasperated I get. I'm sure someone else will be very happy with it, but I'll be very happy to delete it from my address book. I wish it every success in the future.

Another issue I had yesterday was that I was hungry. Like "it's been days since I had a good meal and my body won't put up with this crap for another instant" hungry. Being hungry and hating Korea are so interconnected that when I find myself inwardly ranting at everyone, my first thought is "what have I had to eat today?". It was to be a long time til dinner--there was an overlong dentist visit, an unsuccessful attempt to reach my next stop via an alternate and more convenient subway line, and the increasingly-frustrated walk around that station that ultimately ended with me getting back on the train and going the 'right' way--but when I finally arrived at Yeouido, met a patient Diana, and emerged onto the street rather desperate, instead of the usual wasteland that greets such a situation, there, across the street, was....Kraze Burger!!! I've been wanting to try one of those! They're American-style, which means expensive, tax extra, and vegetarian option(s). I had a tomato and fresh mozzarella sandwich and, most gloriously, french fries! I've been craving fries for a while...while they're available frozen at Costco, the necessary stovetop preparation doesn't scratch the itch. Anyway, Kraze Burger was a moment of grace at the end of an extremely trying day. I thoroughly appreciated it, and we even capped the evening with mint chip at Baskin Robbins. :D

In between courses, we walked around the perimeter of the island (a small chunk of land at the edge of the Han River) and enjoyed the cherry blossoms, now in full flower. It was really, really nice. Yeouido is much more recently developed, and with infinitely more attention to aesthetics than the rest of Seoul. It's also a very wealthy district. The apartment high-rises have design elements, the streets are lined with trees, and there's space between things. It was one of those rare pockets in Korea that allows my soul to breathe. Walking under a canopy of flowers is a rare treat, and we even discovered a lilac bush just beginning to bloom. I could feel the quizzical stares of Koreans as Diana and I took turns burying our faces in the one flower that was open enough to smell. And smell it did--heavenly is too tame a word to describe it. Great salve for a very weary soul.

I had a nice respite last weekend, too. Decided to take a day trip to Incheon, inspiring a lot of puzzlement from anyone I told. Incheon's a port city, replete with cranes, smokestacks, and an industrial aura that make it potentially off-putting at first glance. Second glance, too--after checking out its impressive but not lovable Chinatown, and mingling with the masses at Jayu Park (home of the General MacArthur statue commemorating the American's liberation of Seoul--the first time--during the Korean War), I was in a veni-vidi-vaminos frame of mind. But I felt obligated to check off the areas mentioned in Lonely Planet so, too cheap to get a cab, I followed the traffic signs on foot out to Wolmido, a recreation-oriented peninsula that's the uvula in the throat of the port.

There was almost nobody around, and I had shipyards on one side and their administrative buildings on the other. And it felt great. I realized that what I've been needing for weeks is peace. I have a bit of a thing for shipping and its environs anyway, but the really great part was the physical & psychic open space. It was fantastic. When I reached Wolmido proper, Lonely Planet's information was too vague to be of assistance, so I had some blind decisions to make. They mentioned a promenade, and I had velleities toward walking it, but followed instinct instead and wound up in a bastion on top of a hill, nearly alone and with a view over the ships, bridges, and sea. I'd found my happy place.

I could have stayed up there a long while, longer even than I actually did. I wished it was close enough to return to repeatedly, but the journey may be justified by the awesomeness of the place. It probably is less enchanting at the height of summer crowds, but to enjoy the peace and beauty of that spot for $3 in subway fare and 3 hours of reading on the train is, I believe, a fair exchange, and a perfectly good use of a free day.