TUESDAY

WEATHER: sunny.

Go to the CHONG DONG theatre for yet more drumming concerts. Then I switch hotels to a really ritzy joint in the trendy Myong-Dong neighborhood.

Myong Dong is fucking amazing. . . busy, rich, but still funky. . . like Tokyo! But with street vendors selling 3 foot long dried squid arms. Yanghie says you're supposed to snack on the squid in the movie theatre. "Like popcorn???" "yes."

I think I'm the only male here in blocks. .. it's all women in their 20's, shopping for shiny things. Everything is lit up with neon.

Then I go to my hotel, and - lo! More Hotel Music: instead of a band of white pony tail guys, it's a Pilipino Ponytail Guy on a piano, playing along to a DAT, while some Filipina lady in a halter top sings along. I get a front row seat-I don't think there's more than 5 people in the whole restaurant-and take in the show. The waitresses there are all bored as hell, so they come over and ask about my hair. When I go to pay the bill ($6 for one cup of coffee!), the manager of the bar starts asking me if I've got a girlfriend. I run and hide under the table. . .

But she speaks good English, as well as fluent Mack, so we wind up speaking for another half hour. she tells me that she runs a mean pack of gangstas, and has been all around Europe.

WEDNESDAY
Weather: cloudless but cool.

Today I'm leaving Seoul and going to Saraksan ("Sarak Mountain"), Korea's #2 national park.

Korean buses are pretty awesome-the chairs tilt back hell of far, and the footrest pops up like a first class plane seat (not that I've ever been on one)… the effect of this Extreme Reclining is, if you close your eyes it makes you feel like you're constantly going uphill. Weird.

4 ½ hours later we finally get to Saraksan. Oh . my . God. Saraksan kicks ass!! It's so full of trees and mountains, and temples and birdies and everything. It's completely nuts. I admit it, I'm a fucking hippie.

here's the mountain that the park is named after. Maybe. I mean, even if it's not Pukan, it's still pretty good for a mountain, isn't it? right? think you could be a better mountain? huh? well, shut up then!

here's a tiny, cartoony, Dr. Seuss-style mountain:

while i'm in the park, i tend to say "annyoung hiseyo" to everyone. but one bunch of asian dudes just says, "SUP" . .. doh! they were americans after all. some other group of asian kids says "konnichi wa" and "sayonara" but my friend said, "dude, they were totally talking Korean to themselves before they saw you." so i guess that's a wacky joke you can play if you're Korean. . .

 

the park is full of temples, with ancient statues and exquisite religious meanings, but i thought i'd just take a picture of an "anime-style Bhudda" insdead. Enjoy!

Go up to the mountains, to this rock that's famous because you can tilt it but it never topples over the cliff. Yeah, we've got weebles in America too but we don't get our fucking picture taken with them now, do we? No, we just write rock operas about them. But that's another story. Anyway, they have kick-ass apple waffles up there too.

On the way back down, I see a little green frog with a cute bright red belly. It's trying to escape us but it's too tired to jump far. I think it must be really dehydrated so far from the river. So I pick it up, and walk with it until I get to the river. Go me. back at the monastery, I see a monk with a cell phone. I know that's a cheap irony, but I really can't get enough of that shit.

When I get back, I'm exhausted. I inhale 2 cans of soup, and take a bath. And let me tell you, that bath is the best fucking thing to happen on this trip. I mean, it's HUGE, and hot as hell, and I'm so tired.

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