It went well, so I’m happy about it. I was a bit worried—not in terms of my presentation, which I’m comfortable with, but with what questions might come up that would be tricky. I didn’t get anything that threw me off, or anything that I wasn’t prepared for, so I’m glad.
View from my hotel room at dawn, in Gangnam.
I ended up staying an extra night, on Friday, to hang out with F. Scott Thompson. He and one of his coworkers trekked into Seoul (they live about 45 minutes away) and met me at my hotel, and then we hit Itaewon. Started the night at a little Mexican restaurant (how sad is it that I can get better Mexican in Korea than in Australia?), which was delicious, especially the refried beans, and then to some bar called Gecko’s.
Gecko’s creeped me out a bit. Itaewon is near a US military base (Yongsan Garrison, chiefly), so there are Americans everywhere. And they all have little to no hair. I haven’t been in a room that full of Americans since December of 2006, so it was a bit weird. Plus, they’re all under 24. And you get the—well, let’s just say there aren’t commissioned officers hanging out in Gecko’s.
What’s strange is that there is a 1am curfew imposed on all US military members in Seoul. (There are about 30,000 American troops stationed in the country to keep the commies at bay.) As this deadline approaches, you see military police officers—in full night-time camouflage gear, complete with guns—entering the bars to check for anyone violating curfew. I didn’t see anyone get hauled off, although as we walked up “Hooker Hill”, passing brothels and the like, we did see a couple of soldiers being talked to sternly by some MPs.
A few of them came into a sparsely populated bar we ended up in, and I almost expected them to approach Scott and me. they gave us a once-over and somehow judged that we weren’t. (Too old, probably; hair too long, although mine had just been cut short.) We kind of hoped they did, that they’d get snippy and hit us or something so we could sue the US Army. Deep pockets, that Uncle Sam.
Saturday was a write-off, really. I met Scott at a large bookstore and we went and ate tacos at yet another Mexican place (also good). Scott had to leave to teach a private English lesson somewhere, so I did some shopping for the team here. Bought nice little spoon and chopstick sets for everyone. (Australian quarantine officer, looking at my bags through X-ray, smiling: “Wow, you’ve got a lot of chopsticks in there!”)
I hit the bus to Incheon airport at 4pm. It’s then that you realise how polluted the area around Seoul is, at least compared to a city like Sydney. Most days there were what a meteorologist would probably call “clear”, but it was still quite hazy. as we headed west toward the airport, the water in the bay and the sky were so perfectly fused that one couldn’t see the horizon. It was just washed-out white, plus haze, brightly lit by the setting sun. I wished for my camera, but I left my new baby at home.
Another good time in Seoul. Don’t know when I’ll be back, but perhaps soon.
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