R.I.P. Backpack

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Originally uploaded by bibimbop3

My backpack has a hole. I've had it for 16 years. I bought it when I started school at UAB. It has been with me to Bali and Central Africa. It has been almost everywhere I have been for the past 16 years. A few days ago, I was actually thinking that maybe I should try to find a backpack that is a little bigger so that when the weather is colder, I can still fit in everything for a weekend trip.

Last weekend, I went to an Owl Museum and the Seoul Museum of Chicken Art.


http://www.owlmuseum.co.kr/

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Originally uploaded by bibimbop3

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Originally uploaded by bibimbop3

Today I went to the Monet exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art. Then I walked around. I'm tired.

Inje

Saturday, I went on a wilderness hike near Inje. We basically hiked alongside a river, constantly crossing back and forth for about two hours until we came to a flat rocky area where we stopped for lunch. On the way back, we just hiked along a path and only had to cross a couple of times.

When I got back to Seoul, I met up for dinner with a couple of friends and then called it a night.

Sunday, I wandered around Insadong and went to a vegeatarian restaurant. Then I went and played ultimate. Then I went to a Thai restaurant for dinner.

In front of museum

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Originally uploaded by bibimbop3.

Jeonju

I'm at the bus terminal in Jeonju. I went to a film festival here this weekend. It was great. Details to come. Actually, there are a lot of details to come. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Coming soon: Japan-museum, Japan-baseball, Japan-temples, Lotte Mart, Chungju not Cheongju, CD, Hiking, Gaelic football/veggie bbq/ Itaewon/ DGBD/ ultimate ...


Next month is going to be busy. I am thinking of going on some trips with Aventure Korera.
http://www.adventurekorea.com

Japan

I had to go to the Korean consulate in Fukuoka, Japan to get my visa.

My flight there left at 8am on Thursday and I flew back at 3:30pm on Friday.

I took the subway to the airport. I left my apartment around 5:30 and arrived at the airport a little after 7. Luckily, there was a line for people who didn't have to check bags. By the time I got to the gate, my plane was boarding.

On the plane, I sat next to someone who was also going on a visa run. When we were getting off the plane he started talking to someone else who was also going to the consulate. On the shuttle bus from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, we met 3 others, so we all rode the subway together and walked to the consulate.

As I was dropping off my passport at the consulate, I ran into someone I had met the Sunday before at the vegetarian restaurant. We went for lunch at an Indian restaurant, then walked up to the baseball stadium. I ran into the people I had ridden with on the subway, and they told me they were going to the baseball game that night, so we arranged to meet outside before the game and I bought my ticket.

Bibimbop Till You Drop

I've been eating a lot of bibimbop.

It is a bowl with rice, vegetables, and an egg. They bring hot sauce for you to mix in. It usually comes with meat too, but you can ask them to leave it out.

The first couple of days that I was here, I walked around looking through the windows of restaurants looking for bibimbop on the menus. I found a place and went in. I had written down how to say "without meat please", but at first, this just confused them. They started suggesting dishes that had chicken. Eventually, they understood that I wanted bibimbop, I just wanted them to leave out the meat.

Lately, I've mostly been eating dolsot bibimbop. It is like bibimbop, but it comes in a hot pot and the rice on the bottom gets a little crunchy. As far as I know, it also never has meat, so it is easier to just order dolsot bibimbop than to order bibimbop without meat.

It is really good, but I was eating it almost every day and I was getting a little bibbimbopped-out.

Then, one Sunday, I went to Seoul and met some other vegetarians and went to a vegetarian restaurant. It was a buffet and I've never seen so much vegetarian food in the same place. It was one of the best and most satisfying meals of my life. I've been back again and have also found some other veggie restaurants in Seoul, so if I'm not travelling anywhere else, I will probably go to Seoul on the weekends. There is also supposed to be an organic vegetarian restaurant in another part of Incheon, but I haven't found it yet.

yesterday, i went to seoul for st. patricks day. there was a parade and i also saw a korean band play irish music. it was great. i took the subway there. it took about an hour and a half to get there and not quite two hours to get back. it is probably about a 15 min walk to the subway station. there was supposed to be a vegetarian restaurant right next to the subway station where i got off, so i tried to find it. i walked around forever, but had no luck. i decided to eat at an italian place instead. i had garlic bread and pasta with cream sauce. it also had corn in it. last night when i got back, i walked to a $5 take-out pizza place and got a cheese pizza. it had corn in it too. i'm not sure what's up with the corn. today i got up and went for a walk to see what is around. i walked to a park nearby and watched some men play a game that is a cross between voleyball and soccer. they were playing on a tennis court, and it was like volleyball, but they kicked the ball and it could bounce once between each kick. then i decided to walk to lotte mart. on the way there, i passed an italian restaurant like the one in seoul. can you beleive that? i went all the way to seoul and ended up eating at a chain restaurant that has a location 2 blocks away. lotte mart was very interesting. it has a grocery store and food court on one floor, housewares on another, and clothes on a third. there are also floors with special shops. the escalators are ramps so you can take your shopping cart between floors. on the way home, i stopped by paris bagette, a bakery. i got a pumpkin danish, a sweet potato and sesame donut and a melon ice cream popsicle. mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Travel Update #1

I am at an internet cafe at the Detroit airport.

I ordered The Pacifica Pear Grilled Cheese: Gormet grilled cheese featuring Muenster and Brie on panini or ciabatta bread with Bartlett pear slices. Rasberry preserves on the side.

My trip has already been eventful.

My initial flight was delayed an hour because a door wouldn't lock. I don't know which door, I was afraid to ask.