Explore o'clock!

So the last few days have been full of exploring the city

I had my first bike ride two days ago, and went biking along the road (my heart, I admit, was racing a bit), which is definitely a little sketchier here than in Vancouver, but fun nonetheless. I also rode along the track alongside the Han river... a huge streaming mass of water that gives the city and the endless apartment and office building stretching into the sky a surreal look .. part of that I'm sure can also be attested to the haze of pollution that drifts over from China.

My friends aunt whom I'm staying with also took me to the markets when she went to grab a few things - it is nothing like the local markets I have seen anywhere. It is jam packed to the ceilings, where there is more stuff hanging. There's also no particular order; each store has a certain thing it sells, such as food or homewares, but it is all crammed in to fit in as much as possible. You ask for a certain brand however, and they know exactly where to go to get it for you.

I cannot express enough how amazingly kind the people here are. They help you at the drop of a hat, will ask someone else to help you if they can't, and if they have something to share with you (even a store owner), they are happy to do so. If you can speak any Korean whatsoever, you are even applauded and usually receive a completely gobsmacked response. It makes me think of how we treat foreigners and travellers into our contries - I know sometimes they are a little harder to spot due to our multi-cultural integration, but I hope they are treated with the same warmness and helpfulness as they treat people who come to their country.

As for some funny things that have gone on here - drinking seems to be pretty popular, and while eating lunch downstairs in the markets, a group of 4 older people had apparently been drinking soju and macoli (korea's vodka-like drink, but only 20% alcohol, and rice-wine, respectively) for the past three hours. An argument ensued, mostly being the patrons yelling at the staff and causing a ruckus until the main offender stumbled and fell face first over a chair, and was then dragged out with loud exclamations by what seemed to be her husband. Apparently, drinking here is quit popular, and they have nothing like AA in place for those who abuse it, from what I was told.

Also, the uncle who I'm staying with shares a similar taste for food with me, in that he doesn't like to eat meat, but will eat seafood. This is extremely uncommon in Korea, since most of their dishes are meat inclusive, but his reasoning was one of the craziest things I have ever heard!

He had an older brother who ate chicken, and promptly died, so his mother has never fed him any chicken whatsoever, certain that it was an allergy to the chicken that killed his brother. It was her dying wish that he never eat chicken, and he has never in his life tasted chicken and has no desire to.