Gyeongju Cherry Blossoms

So, it appears I started to write this post about this time last year and never got around to writing anything - oh well, now seems like a good time to do it! Better late than never hey?

As you may or may not know, Korea has four very distinct seasons and over the last year I have the blessing/opportunity/painful experience of being exposed to all four. This concept shouldn't blow anyone's mind, but for my fellow Australians out there, the big wide world has a different idea about seasons than the "seasons" we experience in say Perth or Adelaide. Whilst Perth appears to only truly have 2 seasons - blistering hot summer and English summer (aka "winter") - and suffers a bi-annual identity crisis, during which it sporadically changes its mind between the two, Korea goes through stark and bewildering changes between its four separate seasons.

Summer is traditionally hot, humid, rainy and muggy and is known to have typhoons pass through to drench the locals and make everyone generally feel gross. Winter is just plain freezing, with a decent chunk of snow falling in the north of the country (around Seoul), and blistering -8 C winds blasting my face as I take the short walk between my car and the office. Neither of these scenarios truly appeal to me, particularly the winter as it was much colder than anything I have ever experienced in Australia and my wardrobe was poorly prepared for it.

In my opinion, it is the transition periods between these two seasons, Spring & Autumn, that are by far the most pleasant. Spring is extra special around this area as the landscape physically changes when the numerous fruit trees begin to blossom with glorious flowers. 

Particularly famous in these parts are the Cherry Blossoms, which sprout beautiful white and pink flowers for roughly two weeks of the year in the early spring. 

Roughly an hours drive away from Ulsan is a place called Gyeongju which is a popular tourist trap, I mean, destination, which is covered in cherry trees and for the two weeks of the year when they blossom, it is a truly spectacular sight to behold! As a result, thousands of people flock there to see the spectacle and in reality the drive takes 2 hours with all the traffic going in and out of Gyeongju.

Both this year and last year my work has organised a group outing to Gyeongju and both were definitely fun days out - more so because the weather has just warmed up, the sun comes out and everyone has a slightly less gloomy demeanour with winter no longer freezing our noggins.

It makes for a good place to go for a walk or bike ride (or in my case last year, an ATV ride... yeaaah, long story) and there are plenty of touristy things to do in and around Gyeongju - there are UNESCO world heritage listed temples, teddy bear museums, water parks, go karting tracks.... everything you'd want to do on a warm spring day! oh, and the flowers are pretty too.

Have I made a decent plug yet? Well, if that hasn't sold you, then how about this photo of a random good looking man I bumped it while I was there last time - he enjoyed it too!

Well, I better go outside and enjoy the weather before it gets too hot and humid - until next time residents of the world wide interwebs!!

Peace,

Leonidas

and here's one of me getting a bit too excited about kimchi - just for you guys :)

This blog unintentionally left blank

aaaaand he's back! I'd like to say with a vengeance, but we'll take it a post at a time shall we.

It's been roughly 13 months since I first set foot in the Korean peninsula and it has been forever since my last blog post. Time sure does fly!

Just to allay your fears, that lack of posts doesn't mean that I've had nothing new to add or that I've been living in a cave without internet, or worse, with dial-up - no, instead I have 2 quite pertinent excuses:
 1. I've been ridiculously busy, and;
 2. I'm pretty lazy
and the two are quite a contradictory and killer pair - which stifles getting anything extra curricular done.
However, with a bit of luck number 1 will ease off and number 2 might improve enough for me to post an array of updates of the adventures I've been up to in the intervening time period.

No guarantees, but I will try my best :)  stay tuned...

Me Speak No Americano

... and before he knew it, it was June...
Howdy folks!
I am super conscious that I have been falling behind in my blogging duties, and I am making plans to rectify this situation.
You may have to wait a little while longer, however, as I am heading to land of the brave this weekend.
My intention is to make the most of the 10+ hour flight back in time (literally - I leave Seoul at 2pm and arrive in San Francisco at 11am of the same day!) to reflect on my recent experiences and put them through the necessary thought processes that creates the random dribble I put into this blog.
So with that, I will just confirm that yes, I am alive and well, and have not disappeared on a covert mission to the "other" Korea, and that I am mulling over potentially juicy material for this blog.
Not to get your hopes up, but I've heard rumours of the Pulitzer prize for one of these upcoming entries, just sayin... although it could have been someone insulting me in the elevator in Korean. I'm optimistic. At least I should be able to get the most improved award. No? Oh well, better luck next year.

Until then, don't let me hold your gaze any longer than necessary, however if you scroll down there is a very special message for you.....

Beer ghosts! (Hahn-ghoul = Hangul!)

Annyeonghaseyo beloved users of the interweb!
I am becoming notoriously bad at keeping this blog ticking over but I have devised an ingenious incentive plan to keep myself motivated to continue feeding the masses my mindless dribble, I mean, my highly thought provoking insights into the life of an expat in Korea. I won't give too much away, but let's just say it involves the 1.8kg jar of Jelly Bellys I bought at Costco.... hmmmm sugary goodness.
In a previous episode of this amazingly splendiferous blog, I may have casually mentioned that I am studying Korean in an effort to integrate into my new culture and society. I will take the opportunity now to rant on, I mean, elaborate on the learning experience thus far.
Traditionally, I have never considered myself that great at languages. I "studied" Indonesian at primary school and early high school and, although I did quite well in the class, it never really stuck. In fact all I can remember is "my name is Leon", "how are you?" "Good" and "thank you" (nama saya Leon, apa kabar? baik baik saja and terima kasih, in case you were wondering). So for 8-9 years of study, all I can use it for is minor pleasantries with the odd Indonesian and Malaysian colleague at work. Fantastic return on investment! I also studied Japanese for roughly one semester - that was all I could manage at high school before I pulled out. I can't remember the circumstances now, but I think it may have been something to do with my teacher being mental. Either way, I lacked the discipline to stick with studying languages - I even stopped studying English after year 11 - and I was always better at science and mathematics anyway - hence why I am now an engineer and not a journalist!
Over the last few years, however, my fascination in learning new languages has slowly evolved.  It all started when I spent roughly 2 months living with a Persian/Iranian family back in 2004, when I started to pick up a few words in Farsi here and there (FYI Farsi is the national dialectic of Iran). Now, growing up as a Baha'i in Adelaide meant I had a lot of Persian friends who spoke Farsi but, for whatever reason, I never bothered to pick up any Farsi until that point. I learnt a few words and I quickly learnt that a few smooth words would melt any Persian mothers heart and would take me a few extra steps towards scoring the juiciest kabob you've ever tasted - hence adding motivation for me to learn more words! Over the years since then I have picked up a few more additions to my vocabulary, but I'm not quite fluent, as I've never  really created an opportunity to study it.

Kkhh ghhh khh *hack* - actually in Arabic, not Farsi, but when you can produce something as beautiful as this with your script, you know you're onto something good - no wonder it has been described as one of the most beautiful and poetic languages in the world

Spending time volunteering at the Baha'i House of Worship in 2008 sparked even more interest in languages, as I began to pick up a little bit of "functional" Hindi - by "functional" I mean that I was fluent at telling people to take their shoes off, stay off the grass, be quiet and get in line!! To this day I still say "Ek line mei aye" and  "joote/chapal nikalye" in my sleep...
During my time in India however, I made a curious observation about language that never occurred to me before, an observation that I'm sure many others have made before me but, being me, I've probably never read what they had to say - engineers tend to not study books on linguistics and anthropology! I pondered on how language changed as you move across the world, and that even though it seemed like some languages, i.e. Hindi and Farsi, are polar opposites, one could see how language evolves as you move from on side of a continent to the other, in this case with Urdu (Pakistani dialect) being a hybrid of the two languages - this language gradient being one of many examples throughout the world.

Hindi? English? Nepali? Gujarati? Urdu? Bangala? Malayalam? Tamil?
Too many languages in India!

Where am I going with this you wonder? Good question! I am sure I'll make a point eventually, but its an interesting subject to explore if thats your thing - you definitely see it more intensely across Europe where many languages spring from the same or similar sources and share similar words - look at English, German and French!
I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that Korean - the language is actually called Hangul - is kind of like Urdu. Like Pakistan with Persia and India, Korea sits in the middle of two former ancient kingdoms, China and Japan, who made a living of fighting with each other and had a knack for conquering neighbouring territories back and forth like it was going out of fashion - kind of like a two nations playing ping-pong but with Korea as the net. As a result, Korea's culture and, as a by-product, its language - the two are quite inextricably linked I believe - are heavily influenced by both the Japanese and Chinese. Having said that, it is definitely unique enough for any proud Korean to claim that both the Japanese and Chinese copied them (but we all know thats bollocks).

So different yet sooo similar - like all of humanity really

Luckily for me, its more like Japanese than it is Chinese. I say that because fortunately for Westerners living here, Hangul is phonetic, i.e. it doesn't have the multitude of tones that accompany Mandarin and the like. Thank the Lord! I really struggled with the tones when I spent 2 weeks in China last year - just when I thought I had a word or two downpat, no one had a clue what I was saying! Damn the foreign devil that I am!
Having studied Hangul for roughly two months, I am discovering that it is probably one of the easiest languages one could learn (in Asia at least). Sure it has a few strange sounds, like "eu" which is semi-entertaining to ask a Korean to pronounce for you as they pull a ridiculous face to make the noise, and that some of their letters translate to what sounds half way between two English letters, i.e. one letter sounds like a b or a p depending on what word you use it in. It takes a little while to get used to it, but it's nothing compared to getting your mouth around the hacking, cough-like sounds in Arabic/Farsi and the clicks in the native African languages.
Combined with being phonetic, Hangul as a written dialect is similar to English in that it has an alphabet which builds words in a logical manner from the defined alphabet, as opposed to having a distinct symbol for each word. It might be a slightly different form of logic, but it is logical nonetheless - in fact, with the amount of weird rules and inexplicable exceptions to aforementioned rules in the English language, one could argue that Hangul is probably more efficient and logical that English. As a result, learning to read is usually the first skill most foreigners can get their head around - it isn't a difficult task when you put your mind to it - the real trick is learning to understand what you are reading! And then putting it altogether into sentences is another level entirely - thats where having regular classes really helps, which is what I have been getting twice a week up until recently. Computer programs and books are good to help with study, but one really benefits from having people to ask questions too, practice pronunciation with and having the opportunity to actually use what you have learnt in real situations.

The basic vowels in Korean - the combination ones are fun, so is "eu"

After a few basic lessons, one major key to becoming fluent in any language is expanding the vocabulary and then remembering it so you can use it when you need it. One technique that has been bandied around the office, usually in a somewhat entertaining fashion, has been doing "sounds like" comparisons as a memory tool - similar to the title of this post. For example, "here" in Hangul is "yeogi" and we made the comparison with a beloved cartoon character - "not Bubu! Yeogi!" - it took awhile to explain what this was about to our Korean teacher, which made it all the more hilarious!

Yogi and Bubu are yeogi! Where's the picnic basket? Yeogi? Annyo - jeogi! 

In short, I have really been enjoying studying, learning and practicing Hangul, in spite of what I used to feel about learning languages - and there is definitely no better place to learn a new language than in its country of origin! And I didn't realise how much I enjoyed it until the other week a Persian friend here in Korea told me she was impressed with my Farsi and Hangul and said I had a talent for languages - I never, ever thought someone would say that to me! Well - there you go! What a strange and beautiful world we live in - why not learn a bunch of languages while you're at it? It only helps to build a unified world that we all long for - and a true appreciation of how language affects each of us and our various cultures will aid in developing a universal auxiliary language that will reflect the collective experience of humanity, as envisaged in the Baha'i writings. I'll leave you with this quote and bid you adieu! Peace

Today the greatest need of the world of humanity is discontinuance of the existing misunderstandings among nations. This can be accomplished through the unity of language. Unless the unity oflanguages is realized, the Most Great Peace and the oneness of the human world cannot be effectively organized and established because the function of language is to portray the mysteries and secrets of human hearts. The heart is like a box, and language is the key. Only by using the key can we open the box and observe the gems it contains. - Abdu'l-Baha

Happy Children's Day!!

Holy moly its May! Yesterday was a good day... May the 4th be with you! Hehe love it.

Anyway - it's been awhile since my last post - life has been crazy as some of you probably know. Will have to post about that sometime!

For now I thought I'd write a quick update, to satisfy my ever growing band of readers - a grand total of 12 I believe. Eat that Kanye West's Twitter!

Today is a public holiday in Korea, Childrens Day. Naturally, you're probably wondering what it's about and maybe thinking, gauging from the title perhaps, that the purpose of this post is that I will explain it's significance and that you will come away from reading this post feeling like you have gained some cultural insight you didn't have before. Well - I don't have a bloody clue what it's about! Celebrating children I suppose? It would be un-Australian of me to question a public holiday - hell it's a national institution in Australia! So I say "Happy Children's Day!" while I kick it at home. Win.

I've had a few people ask me what I do in my spare time in Korea, seeing as I seemingly have no friends and no life aside from work. It may seem that way, and it is true that my social life has dropped a few notches since moving here, but for some reason I always seem to be busy. I play soccer twice a week -didn't take me long to find some people to play and it never usually does! - and I play squash once a week. On top of that I have a massive back log of books, video games, TV shows and movies to go through, so that keeps me occupied whenever I have free time. I have also been studying the Korean language - I will make a few comments on this in a future post.

I also recently bought myself a bicycle, which I got from a local store down the street for a reasonable price - they threw in all the added accessories for free which was a nice touch... the only problem being that they left out one of the most crucial accessories... a kickstand! Akh! Need to visit them again sometime soon before my two wheeled vehicle decides to give in to gravitational forces when I take my eyes off of it. 

So today, on my day off, I predictably did all of the above... watched a movie, played some video games, studied some Korean and went for a ride on my bicycle - which was the most exciting part!

Bicycles are amazing. I haven't owned a bike in a long time, but as they say, you never forget how to ride a bike and boy have I missed it. I'm not saying they're awesome because of the exercise factor, how they help with keeping carbon emissions down when people ride them to work rather than driving... these are great side benefits but, no, I think they are amazing because they are awesome exploration tools. Walking/running is great for exercise and exploration but you're limited by distance and traffic, to some extent, to getting much further than within a few kilometres of home (unless you're more dedicated than I - most people are) and driving lacks the fresh air aspect and you tend to glaze over as you drive by all the intricacies of the neighbourhood - but a bicycle is a perfect balance. You get the exercise, fresh air and you can travel an appreciable distance, all while taking in your surroundings - this has been extremely useful having just moved to a new home in a new country, where everything is different and I have no knowledge of the local scenery, shops and attractions. I used to enjoy riding as a child for similar reasons - even though I grew up in the area and knew it well, there were always new places to discover - those "black spots" you just never drove past because you didn't have any friends there or whatever - and now I feel just like a big kid (well, I pretty much am a big kid) - riding up and down hills, taking random back streets, and pelting down the bike paths along the river. I even managed to find the Ulsan Grand Park today - the weather was brilliant so everyone was out with their kids, playing football, basketball, walking with their families... and many others were also riding bicycles! Ah, they all stole my idea, I had it first! haha. Such a nice spot and no doubt I'll go riding out there again.

Ergo, I believe the best way to explore a new place is on two wheels and I look forward exploring more of Ulsan and other parts of Korea by a similar method.... however I may be tempted by four wheeled ATV's!! hmmm (thats another story....)

Until next time (hopefully sooner rather than later) - annyonghigaseyo!

Driving me crazy!

Following my story on my almost maiden trip to Seoul (I passed through on my way in to Ulsan), the next few posts will probably be dedicated to some of the finer aspects of life in Korea as I see them.

First up - driving!

I believe that when you observe the behaviours of drivers in any country, you can almost distil the common underlying attitudes and behaviours of any culture and this is no different in Korea. In Australia, you have the laid back attitude, mixed with a little bit of unforgiving self righteous-ness (in the sense that cars belong on the road, pedestrians don't therefore they shouldn't be there and drivers act like that is always the case and no forgiveness if that assumption is violated at an inconvenient moment), some courtesy in patches and a sense that the rules of the road will always protect you. In India, the rules are that there are no rules. Anything goes, everyone owns the road, pedestrians, cars, taxis, auto rickshaws, cows, you name it. Somehow, you manage to get from point A to point B, but not without doubting at various points whether the trip was even worth it in the first place.... "Thanks bhaisab, I'll walk from here..."

As for Korea.... well, let me elaborate.

My first driving experience in Korea was actually long before I got my car - work provides a defensive driving for all staff, as safety is a huge focus here (in my company anyway) and it's especially useful for us expatriates that are not familiar with the Korean road rules and driving behaviours. As part of the course, we did a semi-driving test - where we took a car for a spin around the block and parked the car and such. It was no-where near as harrowing as my actual drivers test, but driving on the right hand side of the road for the first time was definitely freaking me out - you have no idea how much you rely on where you sit in the car to give you a point of reference when driving till when you change! I drove ok, cautiously, but I did drift towards the right side of my lane, subconsciously clinging to the Australian system.

This experience paled in comparison to when I first got my own car here... a bright red, brand spanking new Hyundai Tucson I might add - still had all the plastic on everything inside and had only done 50 km when I first got in it (refer to my previous post as to why it was a Hyundai! haha). I decided that my first drive in my new beast would be a simple trip down the road after work to Home Plus (Tesco's local presence) for some groceries... easy right? Wrong!

Now, to understand the lay of the land here, in regards to driving, let's analyse the average Korean - average to short in stature, mild mannered, fairly quiet, timid, friendly people who will always say hello to strangers, hard working, diligent and generally speaking, fairly peaceful. Take your average Korean and put them behind a wheel of a motor vehicle however.... and a monstrous transformation takes place! Well, it's not that it is completely unpredictable - it's just that Koreans seem to equate driving to work. Koreans are hard and diligent workers and therefore are aggressive by nature in their work life - get the job done quickly, no matter what it takes. They take on a similar attitude to driving. This presents several challenges in both the work world and on the road. 

What this means is that, unlike India, they generally stick to their lanes and obey the road rules most of the time - however this is only when the rules serve their objectives - they assume that if their objectives are compromised, they can bend or break the rules in order to meet their objective. It's the deadline that counts, not how you get there. What this ends up looking like is pure mayhem... Cars and bikes go every which way at times, drivers are impatient and aggressive and red lights will be run if they see no need to stop. To a fresh foreigner, it seems like madness...

So my first drive consisted of my first real drive on the "wrong" side of the road, in a new car I wasn't used to, at night, to a location I'd never been to (thank God for GPS!), and with an order of magnitude crazier traffic than I had ever driven in... needless to say I was a bit confused and anxious throughout the  entire trip and history will tell that I navigated it safely... even if it didn't feel that way!

Since then, I've become a lot more comfortable driving here, and driving on the other side of the road has become normal now, but I still get a bit bamboozled when drivers do things out of left field - like buses cruising around traffic waiting at a red light and ploughing through, being consistently overtaken by motorbikes on the inside (combined with motorcyclists and scooters being very unpredictable in general) and the odd use of the hazard lights as a universal pass to do whatever the hell you want on the road... "oh hey, I cut you off, turned left across four lanes and ran a red light and a pedestrian crossing but if I put on my hazard lights, its all ok, no worries". 

It can drive you nuts at times, but I am starting to see their method in the madness - not that I have any plans to adopt their methods, I will stick to my guns and drive defensively - i.e. I ain't running no red light just because you're honking your horn buddy! - but by at least understanding their driving philosophy can help predict their actions and avoid putting myself or others in danger. 

Definitely one of the keys to navigating this country safely, and I hope that none of it rubs off on me! Otherwise.... look out Australian road users upon my return!
Until next time - drive safely readers!
PS: Although I have become used to driving here now, India is one place I will NEVER drive - here is a video to illustrate why...

Searching for my Seoul... (part 2)

In a galaxy far, far away, our story continues with our hero well rested after an unsuccessful quest after the cheapest hotel room in existence. This has not been the first time he has exerted his energies in search of a bargain and sure as hell won't be the last....

Ahhh well, moving on. After resting my weary legs, I started to feel the stomach rumble and ducked out of the hotel to get some grub. The Lonely Planet guide indicated I was near one of the popular markets, Namdaemun - which is near central Seoul - and I decided I'd go check it out. 

Namdaemun market is fairly similar to every other shopping market I've ever been to in Asia - full of stalls selling a wide variety of stuff - most of it being fake handbags, Louis Vutton ties, Gucci sunglasses, etc that all falls apart within a week or two if you're careful, otherwise it might not make it out of the market alive. Needless to say, when that happens and you go back to return your brand spanking new Ray Band sunnies that just happened to have the lense fall out the first time you try them out, the stall you bought it from magically turns into a deep fried indescribable local food stall. Such is the nature of the fabric of the Asian market universes  - Petaling St in KL and Palika Bazaar in New Delhi can claim similar honours. The one benefit from the Korean version is that the shopkeepers aren't as in-your-face as their Indian counterparts nor are you likely to have poo thrown on your shoe (that is another story entirely!). But I could be proven wrong... however the deep fried whatever it was wasn't too bad and my glasses are still broken.

I can almost go down in history as the worst shopper ever. Unless I know exactly what I want and why I want it, I inadvertently spend my time being indecisive, umming and erring over even the simplest of purchases and usually end up walking away with nada. I managed to get out of my predicament a little this time when, as I was attempting to ask for a price on something, a Korean lady helped me out. She started talking to me, as she knew some English, and then asked if she could walk around the market with me and chat. Apparently, she was from out of town, visiting her daughter who studies at a uni there and she'd been studying English and wanted to practice - so she followed me around and taught me a few things about Korea while we had a relatively broken conversation as she struggled with my accent and I tried my best to follow what she was saying. What surprised me was that her daughter seemed to know little to no English - which is a bit of a role reversal to what you usually come across. The sweet lady even showed me some of the nearby food stalls and explained to me what was in all the dishes - lets just say I might reconsider trying some of those now - ignorance is bliss when experimenting with food!

Since this experience in Seoul, I've since found it is not a unique occurrence - everywhere I go, someone will spot the foreigner and use it as an opportunity to try out their English - mostly its kids saying "Hi" and "Where are you from?". I sometimes wonder how they would even know that I know English - I could be German for all they know - I've never had a Korean child come up to me and say "Guten tag!" That'll be the day... Meanwhile, if you are a foreigner and you don't know Korean or English and don't have a translator or tour guide, you would be almost up the proverbial creek in this country. You'd survive, but English can be a saviour at times, even if it is a poor one.

I parted ways with my inadvertent English student, satisfied that I may have introduced some Aussie slang to her vocabulary just to confuse her (I'm such a great teacher like that) and retreated to the hotel for some shut-eye.

The next day was a little more routine in the tourist sense - I checked out of the hotel, left my luggage in a locker at the train station (I casually mention this, but was a lot more work than expected!) and caught the subway to meet a friend at Gyeongbok Palace. 

Gyeongbok Palace

Gyeongbok Palace is one of the five palaces in Seoul and is the first palace of the Joseon dynasty. It's design follows Confucian philosophy and is simple in design, and from my point of view, looks very similar to a lot of the traditional East Asian architecture that is found throughout China and Japan. 

We arrived there just in time to see the changing of the guards ceremony, where numerous Korean men were decked out in traditional garb with weaponry and all and went through their ritual to the amusement of the gathered crowd. 

Bang that drum sunshine. I never would have thought colourful long flowing robes would be useful in combat, but there you go.

Our timing was not so perfect in terms of the free English tour of the palace, so we ducked out to check out another local market - Insadong. 

Insadong market

Insadong is a quaint market that tends to focus on selling more of the traditional arts and crafts of Korea/Asia and is a bit more cultural than Namdaemun, and has a lot less fake goods on offer. A very nice place to go for a wander on a Sunday afternoon and we were treated to a couple of small "cultural" performances... see the attached video.

I never said it was a Korean cultural performance! Seeing a turkish ice cream vendor in Seoul was a welcome reminder of Istanbul, and definitely unexpected!

Heading back to the palace, I observed more interesting aspects of Korea that I will elaborate on in further posts - due mainly to the length of this one! I imagine many of you have either flicked back to facebook or a youtube video by now, but for those who are still tuned in, I'll finish my story!

The tour of the palace was nice, and learning about and appreciating the history of a place is always fulfilling - I won't go into in this post, but Korea's history is an interesting one and hard to perhaps get an objective view of it - given the ongoing war with the North and long term resentment of Japan - these aspects have a sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle, influence on how the country's history is portrayed. 

Kicking it on a cultural tour - the building behind me was the party pad for the royal family - yeah boi

View behind the palace - great day.

After a pleasant afternoon getting my culture on, we made our way to where the Seoul Baha'i Community's Naw Ruz celebration was to be held. For those less familiar, Naw Ruz is the Baha'i New Year (it is also the term for Persian new year as well - literally means new year in Farsi) and marks the beginning of the Baha'i Calendar and the end of the Fasting period. Hence why a buffet Korean meal hit the spot perfectly! Over the years I have noticed however, that no matter how great the idea is, fasting tends to shrink the stomach and you can never eat as much as would have liked. Alas, it happened again, but the food was delish and the company was even better! It was great meeting the Baha'is in Seoul and partaking in a joyous celebration with them - the stand out was the performance put together by the youth and the quiz/game show afterwards. Having seen Baha'i youth do creative performances all over the world, they definitely took a unique approach to it and, as usual, it was an extremely joyful occasion and the crowd really appreciated it. I then had time to catch a coffee with some of my new friends before hitching a ride on the KTX train back to Ulsan. 

Youth performance at Naw Ruz celebration

Overall, I was very satisfied with my visit to Seoul and I look forward to going there more as my time in Korea  continues!

Until next time readers - gamsahapnida!