Tag Archives: 2012

memoria, viajes

Seoul and Sinbad the Sailor

I went to Seoul last weekend. I listened to a movie on my iPhone while riding an empty train to the capital. Much can be learned about a movie through its audio track. I fell asleep and woke up near Seoul. The corridor was packed with older people. Most were geared up for a hike-up-and-booze-at-the-top sort of deal.

I visited one of the royal palaces.

Techniques to deter evil spirits:

1) Dragon Faces

2) CCTV

I wanted to find The Papertainer Museum at the Olympic Park. The Papertainer is a museum made of shipping containers which I thought would be neat-o to visit.

I didn’t find it which is odd since it’s pretty big. Instead I enjoyed the sight of some inline skaters with sweet moves under the Olympic Peace Gate.

Late that night I saw the last snowflakes of the Korean winter fall on Hongik University. Felt like Winona Ryder in Edward Scissorhands.

The next morning I read Sinbad the Sailor on the train back to Busan. His voyages are mostly accounts of terrible troubles encountered. His stories are filled with people getting eaten by giant snakes, cannibals, mythical birds, etc., etc. Sinbad always regrets his decision to travel when these tribulations catch up to him.

Sinbad in the Valley of Diamonds

He survives, finds a treasure, and returns to Baghdad richer than before. Soon he finds an excuse to travel again.

While Sinbad’s adventures are magical and fantastic, they made me remember that risk is always present in a good adventure. Adventures have dangers both physical and emotional because we step into the unknown. This is what attracted us to the adventure in the first place. The fights between best friends, the breakups, intestinal parasites, etc., etc. are also part of an adventure… though jumping off the Swiss alps wearing flying squirrel suits may be the more fun and thrilling part of the adventure. When we travel, things won’t always work out the way we planned them. I accepted this common perception when I came to Korea but didn’t fully internalized it.

So don’t be too surprised when you find yourself alone, scared and uncertain, and, perhaps, surrounded by giant snakes. These things may all be part of your adventure package. You may be cursing your luck while walking on a valley of diamonds.

memoria, viajes

Yangsan

SATURDAY JAN 14. 2012. This morning I ran up Jangsan Mt. where the Korean army had emplaced land mines to make things more exciting for trail running… see happy mined trials.

Back home, I started writing an essay on two movies I’ve been thinking about a lot.  The essay compares “The Notebook” and “Blue Valentine”. Two movies that have a lot in common and seem to be in dialogue.

Then got on the first train out of Jangsan for Yangsan.  Yansang’s the furthest point in the green line of the Busan subway. This is the first part of my plan to go to every end point in Busan’s subway system. It took me about 1.5 hrs to get to the station… I live at the other end of the green line in Jansang. I wrote part of my graduation play for the kids I teach on the train. On the train, I listened to the later works of Bob Dylan and read Atlas Shrugged on my iPhone.

Pretty soon all the cosmopolitan Koreans got off the train and the old Koreans got on. They were ajimas and their male counter parts.  Yansang must have the ajima manufacturing plant and all ajimas must have been recalled for their weekly perm. The train went above ground and I saw the Nakdonggang river glistening in the afternoon sun.  Across the water,  strawberries fields spread away into the hilly horizons.  White apartments buildings grew out of the green eastern hills.

Yansang was a little boring. Here is what I thought was most interesting.

Horizontal lines under a bridge

 

Pipes

Then I went to see “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” good movie but with a lot of sexual violence.

David Fincher is the shit. I hope Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross do an evil cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”.

The movie finished late… at 00:05… I ran across a darkened Lotte Department store to catch the last train out of Seomyeon. I failed. The train had left a long time ago… sad face… took my fail as a sign that I was going to find something interesting on the streets of Seomyeon… perhaps a mystery to solve…

I followed my intuition… found some friendly Korean soldiers out for a night of fun waiting outside of the Milk Boy club (which I first thought was a gay bar and then remembered I was in Korea and that there’s no “doble sentido” here).  The line to get in was too long but the Koreans kept me entertained until they told me I was going to be waiting for an hour to get to “the best dancing hall this side of the street.”  Took a picture of them. Koreans, like most other humans, love the immortality of a photograph.

Couldn’t wait an hour. Took a cab back to Jangsan.

At home, I listened to a Fresh Air episode on Rin Tin Tin, a Ted Talk on inspiration and a Moth podcast about the holocaust.  Then I made my necessary FB check and saw a picture of Lionel Richie… decided that THAT was definitely a sign to listen to All Night Long.