Seoul

It's a big city. A big Asian city. But I was struck by how it had a certain lack of Asianness that I have come to expect from cities in this part of the world. There was not the general controlled chaos on the streets, with motorbikes and cars and bikes and street hawkers and sidewalks teeming with humanity. It was busy, to be sure, but it was orderly. It was nice. And it was 76 degrees.

The view from my room.

I arrived at about 7:00 am on Sunday morning and made my way to the hotel, where I met up with my A-100 friends Walter Parrs (Rangoon), Dawn Schrepel (Hong Kong) and Todd Bate-Poxon (Seoul) for a little touring around town. We headed to Gyeongbok Palace, originally built in 1395, then destroyed by the Japanese, then rebuilt in the 1800s, then destroyed again by the Japanese (Korea doesn't like Japan very much), then pretty much completely destroyed during the Korean War, then rebuilt again after the war, like much of Seoul.


We arrived just in time to watch the changing of the guard. Each of the palace guards wore a funny-looking glue on beard, which was entertaining.


But they wore cool outfits. So cool, in fact, that Walter, Dawn and I decided we wanted to be just like them. Thankfully, there were some kind Korean people who were more than happy to oblige our desire, for a small fee.

I think we look quite diplomatic and statesman- (woman-) like. I'm certain we all would have breezed through the Civil Service Examination in our finery, too.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to keep the clothes. I can probably have some made, though.