Saturday, June 09, 2007

Under the bridge...

Yesterday, Matt and I went to the Han river and rented bicycles. It cost six bucks to get a bike for two hours which ain't bad I s'pose.

It was a nice relaxing ride because my bike didn't have a bell so Matt was in the lead. A bell is essential because their are so many people on the path and running over people isn't cool, although would probably be a decent way to meet girls.

Because Matt was in front of me, let's just say we rode at a leisurely pace. But in usual Spence fashion, he seemed to speed up at the oddest times, such as riding up a hill.

Our first stop was under one of the bridges that crosses the Han. There was lots of action down there as you can see by this picture.
First, we have an old lady taking a rest on the asphalt. She looked rather comfortable for a person sleeping on pavement.

On the bridge footers we have another lazy Korean passed out and a group of old Koreans playing some game. I'm assuming the game involves some sort of gambling because it just makes this picture better if money is at stake.

Here's another shot of the goings ons.
Not much else happened that's worth mentioning, but I did get a couple good pictures.
Here's a view of one of the bridges. The next picture is even better, if not almost exactly the same.

When I start my long-overdo 70's inspired psychedelic rock band this is definitely gonna be my first album cover. I'm thinking that the album will be called "Infinity" or "The Never Ending Channel" something thought provoking and vague like that.
I'd name my band "The Purple Lights" as a tribute to my Uncle Dave's band back in the day.

This picture of the subway would also be included somewhere in the album's art work.
Pretty trippy wha'?

After we returned our bikes, we went walking around trying to find out if there was a baseball game. Stopped at a PC Room but couldn't find the info so gave up on the baseball and looked for something to eat.

Matt bought a few $5 shirts in the process in this little market alley

This is a pretty typical alley with all types of little shops and people on the street selling stuff. It's in places like this that I feel like I'm in Asia and Korea instead of some sprawling metropolis.
The odd part is that PC Rooms are all over Seoul. So you're in this old-school alley and there's still an internet cafe smack dab in the middle of the place. See the "PC Interface" sign.

Things like this quickly remind you that you are indeed in one of the world's biggest cities and that you are in developed Asia where technology is a little ahead, or maybe just more accessible than in the West.

As I turned my head I saw this scene.
Three cute little girls hanging out in the alleys and sidestreets they call home. This is likely where they meet their friends and play. I often wonder what it would be like to grow up in a big city, and a scene like this probably one of the least appealing scenarios.

No backyard or grass to play. No park anywhere close by. Just chillin' out in an alley while high school kids also hang out and drink chocolate milk.

Once we left this place we tried to find something to eat. We weren't in the mood for Korean food so wandered around and ended up in the Konguk University area.

We found a Dominoe's Pizza and Pizza Hut but neither had any tables to sit at so we ordered from Dominoe's and wandered until we found some tables outside a convenience store. This is super common in Korea so we went inside, got a couple cans of Coke, and sat outside and ate.

After eating, we went to visit a bar we haven't been to in a long time. The bartender speaks okay English and is a super funny guy. He gave a good lesson on China and told us to avoid Shanghai but to instead visit some other city that I can't remember the name of. He also said Chinese women have big breasts.

He's a super funny guy and even when I don't quite understand what he's getting at, I know it's most likely something perverted.

After a beer here we were both too tired to much else so we just chilled out and watched a movie. Great day and very uneventful night. I really needed a break anyway.

Today, I'm meeting this girl I've seen a couple times and she's bringing along a friend. It's common for a girl to take her friend to meet her potential boyfriend, especially if the guy is a foreigner.

To battle back, I told her I was also gonna take a friend with me. Hopefully this friend is cute and single and likes Matt, and hopefully she also approves of me.

Although I think her approval is a given because I'm such an awesome guy, and I already have that girl believing and telling me of my awesomeness.

I also have some stories to tell about about our first couple of meeting.

Maybe more details on that later, but to quickly summarize, it involves too much drinking, calling in sick to work, and convincing a doctor I'm sick, all with my little female Korean helper guiding me through it all.

Could be trouble...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

People should read this.