SEOUL Searching Pt 1

note: How did I not realize that I didn't post my previous travel journal emails from the last time I was in Korea?! So I will post them now, until the most recent journals are experienced and written!

original date written: April 10/09

Yes, you know what this means...the subject of this email is a clear indication that Sam is travelling...again!!! You know the drill, if you would rather not get the emails, pls let me know and I shall cease to harass you (and no hard feelings)...

This is actually the first time, I'm going completely solo on a trip! Hopefully I don't cause too much trouble! Get well soon Melbs! now...on to the adventures...

Airport Shananigans
As soon as I got off the airport bus, I realized that one of my luggage handles broke off. I found a stain on my jacket and have no idea how it got there and this reminded me that I had forgotten my tide pen...boo-urns! What else? I went to the wrong gate in Vancouver, but I noticed that pretty fast.

I made a new friend on the flight to Seoul. His name is John and he was studying in Victoria. He's very nice and we had some good conversations. He has been with his girlfriend for 9 years and hopes to move to United States to be a vet and start his family. We might hang out for a day next week :)

Smouldering Seoul
As soon as I got off the plane I was greeted with a bright sun and heat. The pilot had told us the weather is 19 degrees celcius. SHWEEET! Good thing I packed a lot of short sleeved shirts in case the weather was nice. It took me more than an hour to get to Beewon Guesthouse where I am staying. My room is on the third floor, so I had to carry my luggage up with the help of the receptionist.

I checked my facebook and noticed there were msgs from my friend Melbs and Nick, my friend who worked at HPL with me when I was a Page. Nick is teaching in another part of Korea and is meeting me in Seoul to hang out for the weekend. We managed to find him accomodations here, so when he arrives he'll be staying in another part of the guesthouse. It takes him 4 hours to get to Seoul and the earliest bus he could take was the 9pm one.

Spending like a Spendthrift
I went to Myeongdong (a shopping district) to kill time. I also checked to see if my friend Song, still owned the music store I would frequent every time I visited. I found another store and bought a few things...I continued to walk around and found his store! I guess my other friend was mistaken when he told me the place closed down @_@ Anyway, he recognized me right away...I wasn't sure if he would and we made plans to have dinner on Monday night. I shopped around his store and he gave me discounts and a ton of posters to go along with it. I also made sure not to go too crazy shopping, because I can easily blow all the cash in my wallet.

Bought two pairs of earrings and some random stuff and window shopped. I plan to go back before I leave. The stores are calling me!

Too HOT to Handle
I was getting a bit hungry and decided to have some vendor food. I like eating dukbokki, which is rice cakes in hot sauce...the dukbokki the lady makes is WICKED SPICY. I really tried my best not to make it obvious that I was starting to sweat and my tongue was burning! I tried to drink a little of my flavoured water but alas, it did not cure it. I had to politely ask the lady if I could pay and come back to finish my food. She was very nice and I got to a store and bought some milk tea. Ahhh the cure of all woes....I love milk tea. It saved me...

After eating I walked around more and at midnight, I headed to the subway to go back to the guesthouse. I don't know what time the subways close but I didn't want to take any chances. So here I am...writing the travel journal and waiting for Nick to arrive. We'll be hanging out the whole weekend, which is the most we've seen each other since I left High Park. It seems to be a trend...I hang out with people out of the country than when we are in the same city...

Until tomorrow,

Sam ^__^