Monday, October 5, 2009
Sasha and I made plans to meet up Sunday morning to climb Bukhansan mountain, which is in the North-East outskirts of Seoul city. It took me an hour and a half subway ride to get there, and I was not alone. Car after car, subway after subway became increasingly packed with middle-aged Koreans dressed head-to-toe in very professional (and colorful) hiking gear. It felt like I was at a volunteer photoshoot for some major hiking gear company like the Northface or EMS.
Thursday, my first day of Chuseok vacation, I went exploring. Originally on the search of a cultural theater that used to do special drum performances, I stumbled across this gate:
"Happy Chew-sock what?" Let me fill you in: Chuseok is essentially Korean Thanksgiving: a celebration of the harvest, celebrated every year according to the lunar calendar, near the Autumn Equinox. Just like holidays that you are familiar with, the holiday is centered around food, though not exactly turkey and gravy and pumpkin pie.
After doing the mass freeze at the COEX mall, Saeko and I met up with my other old roomate Sasha (two former roomates with me in Seoul: how lucky am I!!!) and we went to check out the aquarium, only a five minutes walk away. The highlights included seals, sharks (accompanied with an underwater tunnel through their water), penguins, a two-headed turtle, bats, and funky modern art involving fish. Pictures say it best so here you go: