Seoul graffiti
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
We went to Seoul last weekend to see the Gustav Klimpt exhibit (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alisonjl/3379213866/) at the Seoul arts center, and explore Itaewon, the international district for the weekend. I honestly didn't think I would like it, as it had been described as a sea of generally drunken and derelict foreigners, but during the daytime anyway, it was pretty great. The only way I can really think of to describe it is as a big city (NY, SF) Chinatown, but in reverse.
Chinatown: You're walking along in little Italy or exploring past SF's pioneer square and all of a sudden, you can no longer read the signs. Is that a bakery? A dry cleaner? A pharmacy? Who knows.
Itaewon: You're walking along, such and such street (who knows what it's called---the streets don't have names anyway) hoping to find shoes in your size when bam, all of a sudden there's a Croc store followed by a Nike store followed by a Thai restaurant. Take a right past the Calvin Klein knock off underwear cart and find "Little West Africa", with stores selling plantains and more cassava based products than you ever thought tiny little South Korea would hold. Take a left and you're in India, another block down and it's Pakistan. Intersperse a little Mexican here and there and that was basically Itaewon. The population was delightfully diverse, and I think I heard more languages being spoken than I saw "traditional Korean gifts" being sold...amazing!
We ate Indian for dinner, chorizo and eggs for breakfast, and had thai for lunch before heading home. I think the new rule might be "no Korean food in Seoul", as much as I like it. We even did a little grocery shopping to bring home some black eyed peas, tapicoa and tumeric.
It made me think I could live in Seoul, since it was the first time I have felt sort of at home since I've been here. Coming from the US, I'm used to a kind of diversity that I haven't seen here at all. Foreigners stick out like sore thumbs. I can see why the Koreans stare because hell, I stare when I see a westerner walking by. But in Itaewon, as the muppets say "piples is piples", and it was fantastic to feel like that again.
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