Some More Seoul

Neither Danthemanstan nor I are big morning people, and thus continued the trend and didn’t hit the town too early our second full day in Seoul. We had lunch at a small, typical restaurant not too far from our hostel. Despite my attempts to learn the Korean alphabet on the plane ride over, it’s a little more than a two hour task, so we went with the time-tested method of having the waitress/owner point at an item and then nod. We got a pretty good dish, and enjoyed being the only people in a restaurant that might have fit 6 eaters (although it’s owners encouragingly squeezed in seating for 12 or so). Apparently, I can’t mix my food well enough, so the owner came over twice and passionately stirred up my dish for me. I was just disappointed she didn’t take the first spoonful and do the airplane up to my mouth.

As we approached what all the signs stated was the Korean War Memorial and Musem, we both started to get doubtful. The plaza was filled with young teenage girls (not generally museum enthusiasts) and a huge stage and sound structure with the word Möbius splayed across the lights above the stage (we figured out that was the band). There were tents and tables set up everywhere with “I ♥ U SO MUCH” printed on almost everything (I am guessing that's the name of a song or album). Sound checks intermittently blasted from the speakers. But, as we got closer the statues of soldiers and flags of all the countries fighting (for the UN/South) confirmed that we were in the right place. I would contend that in few places, Seoul being one of them, could a pop-rock concert occur on the plaza of a civil war memorial. Judging by the fans, this band isn’t exactly a politically conscious group-or one that has any footing with the remaining veterans of the war. Upon entrance, the museum offered more in the distinctly non-Korean War sector. The entire special exhibition zone was taken up by a Thomas the Tank Engine fun zone. It was filled with toddlers and young kids playing on slides and a moon bounce, riding a train, building train tracks, and most impressively, playing/working in a conveyor belt ball movement toy. This was really cool, as the kids were very industriously working to move all the balls from one bin to another. I guess that’s how you develop the minds to make some of the world’s best cell phones, cameras, and cars. When we did make it to the stuff about the Korean War (and the entire war history of the Korean peninsula) it was very interesting and quite well presented. It was refreshing (compared to China) to walk around a museum that presented the information in a generally neutral tone. Each section had a video summary with English versions, which were well done and quite informative.

Danthemanstan is a pretty avid computer/video game player, and he had heard that you could watch live Starcraft competitions in Seoul. The guidebook noted that it was the country’s addiction to Starcraft (and the need for speed to play the game) that caused its broadband Internet network to develop. Now it’s the most connected nation in the world-don’t doubt the power of online gaming—especially in Asia. One hostel receptionist told us the metro stop where he thought you could find these live competitions. At first we found not Starcraft, but a Mexican mariachi-rock band playing in the lobby of the mall. But, when we were almost ready to give up, or maybe look foolish and ask somebody, we saw the mall directory, which listed an “e-Sports Stadium” on the eighth floor. We crept in an otherwise uninviting door and there it was-cameras, lights, huge monitors, and projection screens, and two banks of computers with young Koreans playing a Counterstrike-like game called SF-Special Force. Each team had 5 players, and they had uniforms, coaches, chants, and logos. There weren’t too many people in the audience, so during one break, they taped Danthemanstan and me chatting. I got the feeling that the e-Sports stadium isn’t on the normal tourist circuit. There was even an all girls team (and some of them were pretty cute).

One of the interesting things I noticed around town today was the prominence of Major League Baseball hats. Danthemanstan bought an LG Twins hat at the game last night, but he was the only one supporting a team from the local league. Young guys and girls alike rocked out MLB hats with incredible regularity all over the city-many not being the team’s official color; reflecting the similar trend in America. Yankees and Red Sox caps were probably the most frequent, as expected, but I noticed the Pirates had a more than usual representation.

After a long search-due to bad directions in the guidebook, for a recommended Korean BBQ restaurant, we just went to one that looked and smelled good. And it was. We had a great meal in a nice cool alley, filled with other BBQ restaurants, which had a lively atmosphere. The service was wonderful and we enjoyed BBQ duck and pork with all sorts of sides to enhance the meat flavor. We took down a bottle of soju, which wasn’t too bad at all.