Travel: Seoul, Part 4

Insadong is the cultural heart and soul of Seoul. Which means it is my kind of place. It essentially is one long street (Insadonggil), slowly winding downhill, filled with galleries, shops, traditional restaurants and tea houses. We started at the top of the street and made our way into the mix. We both were hungry and eager to try a traditional Korean dish. There were all kinds of street vendors, but we opted for an authentic-looking restaurant. In the end, we felt it had a little more tourist trap to it than we had hoped, but the food was pretty good. We had bibimbap, a local mixture of rice, vegetables, and meat, with an egg on top. Apparently, we had sanchae bibimbap, which is served differently than dolsot bibimbap, what Farah was familiar with (and looking for). The dish was served in a hotpot and cooked at the table. Accompanying it was a myriad of cold side dishes, including the ubiquitous kimchi, which is pickled and fermented cabbage (traditionally, it was prepared to preserve vegetables and ensure a steady diet during the cold winter months in Korea). I like it, but I can see it being an acquired taste. Think of it as Korean sauerkraut, with a different set of flavors (including some hot spices) than its German cousin.




We then set off to explore the area. We happened upon a demonstration against the Beijing Olympics (right in the middle of the street) and watched several other street performers doing their thing. I found some nice little galleries and shops where I could spend some of my won on souvenirs. It is just a pleasant place to walk around, and it felt a little bit cooler (temperature-wise) than the exposed streets of Itaewon or the grounds of the palace.


We then headed up a couple of flights of narrow stairs for the highlight of our trip to Insadong: a traditional Korean tea house. These dot the buildings lining the street, and ours was a small, quiet space, darkened by opaque paper over the windows covered with Chinese calligraphy and artwork (while the Korean alphabet distinctly differs from Chinese, you still see Chinese characters throughout the city, evidence of the influence of China in Korea's history, whether as occupier or neighbor). We sat along the wall, on an elevated section, so we essentially were sitting on the floor. We were the only patrons in the place when we arrived, and it was a nice place to sit for a rest. We had Five Flavor tea with a traditional snack of honey cakes. The surroundings were cosy, the tea and cakes were delicious, and we were able to stretch our legs (we had to, we were sitting on the floor). It was the perfect stop.


From Insadong, we kept going. We took the subway to Seoul Station, the very modern central train terminal, and then caught a taxi to the Seoul Tower cable car. Seoul Tower rises more than 770 feet above Namsan park and can be reached via bus, walking, or the cable car. Now, I was expecting a cable car ride like in Taiwan - a quick wait for individual cars and then a panoramic view of the city during the ride. But, the Namsan cable car (as it is called) is a single car, which can fit probably 30 people (crammed in pretty tight, mind you). We were lucky to just miss one of the cars going up, which means we were first in line for the next car. So, we got a window spot. The ride is only about four minutes, but it would seem much longer when you are packed in the middle of the car.


Seoul Tower itself is okay. The observation deck is poorly designed, in my humble opinion. Other decks I have visited, from Taipei 101 to the Sears Tower, provide wide walkways and maximize the window space for great views. Seoul Tower felt cramped, and it seemed the windows were not designed for observation. On top of that, it was hard to see any landmarks at night, and large parts of the park below were dark. I thought a night visit was the way to do it, but maybe it is better during daylight. The queue for the ride down in the elevator was longer than for the cable car, which reduced the enjoyment. As you can see from the pictures, the views still are pretty good, so it wasn't a total disappointment.



It was late, and we had been going since 10.00 in the morning, but we had one more place to visit: the Dongdaemun Market. This street market lines the outside of two athletic stadiums and is just across from four high rise malls. You can buy almost anything there, from clothes to electronics to food. I let Farah browse for the first two, while I went in search of food. Unfortunately, I found the food in Korea to be less appealing than in Taiwan, and I overpaid for a seafood pancake, of which I only finished a portion. Farah was a bit more lucky, finding a few things to buy.


The subway stops running at midnight, so we needed to jump on it to make it home before that witching hour. At our transfer point, however, it appeared our train had already stopped. It just wasn't coming. We waited and waited until we just decided to try our luck with a taxi. Little did we know that "try our luck" would be all too accurate.

We hailed a taxi at street-level, but as is often the case, the driver spoke little English. We told him the name of our hotel, which he repeated as another hotel. I finally found a card from the hotel with Korean instructions and handed it to the driver. As he was already driving, he had to stop, turn on the interior light, and read the card. This he did in the middle of the street! Then, when he understood where we were going, he took off. Like a bolt of lightning. I found out later that Korean taxi drivers like to drive fast to maximize the number of trips they can make and maximize their income, but I felt like I was in some video game. Here we are speeding through Seoul at midnight, windows down (Korean taxi drivers apparently do not like air conditioning, either), with reckless abandon. By the time I got my bearings, we were about 100 metres from the hotel. I think I said something just as the driver realized where we were, and we skidded into the entryway. In retrospect, it was a thrilling ride, but at the time I was just glad to be home!

We had been out and about for 14 hours. It had been an exhausting but rewarding day. Unfortunately, we had to be up early the next day for a trip to a traditional Korean folk town. No rest for the weary.

Arts: Harry Connick, Jr.

Singapore is not New York or London, but it has a decent arts scene. I wrote last year about the Singapore Arts Festival, which featured an eclectic mix of artists from around the world. This month, Singapore hosted its Mosaic Music Festival, a ten-day run of shows that opened with one of my favorite artists: Harry Connick, Jr.

I had never seen Connick in concert, so I jumped at the chance. He played the Esplanade Theatre, which is housed in the "bug eyes" structure at the mouth of the Singapore River. We had balcony seats, with good sight lines to Harry and his 11 piece band. He entitled the tour, "My New Orleans Tour", and it was a tribute to his home city. He played all kinds of songs, from upbeat classics to soulful, jazzy numbers that would have been at home in a smoky little bar just off Bourbon Street. These were peppered by solos from his talented band mates, as well as plenty of spotlight time for Harry on the piano.

Connick is immensely talented. In addition to his excellent work on the ivories, he often took centre stage to sing and dance. One number had him dancing with his friend, Lucien Barbarin, an excellent trombonist and jazz singer, that included a Ricky Martin-type booty shake across the stage. For a guy my age, Harry is in quite good shape!

On top of everything, he is hilarious. He played the crowd like a comedian, picking out people in the audience and even coming out in the crowd to get his picture taken with one fan. This after he had read the man's name, phone number, and email address from off his business card!

All in all, it was a fantastic performance. If you ever have a chance to see him live, GO! His trip in Singapore was part of a larger Asian and Australian tour, but I think his stay in Singapore, while brief, proved far more enjoyable than that in his next venue. In Shanghai, where he flew the next day, he inadvertently submitted an old song list to the authorities there, who closely monitor all Western performances. Apparently, they were in no mood to grant exceptions (the Icelandic artist Bjork just a few days earlier had ended her concert with a cry of "Free Tibet", which led to the increased scrutiny of foreign artists). So, he was forced to follow that song list, which meant that most of the time he played solo while his band sat silently on stage. I suppose that in China, the old adage applies: the song remains the same.

Arts: Taraf de Haïdouks

The Singapore Arts Festival is now over, but I was able to catch another performance on its last night, that of a Romanian group called Taraf de Haïdouks (Band of Honourable Brigands). This colourful ensemble of Gypsy “lautari” (traditional musicians) plays violins, accordions, upright bass, and the cimbalom (a type of hammer dulcimer - a stringed instrument where the strings are stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board) at a frantic pace, enough to put the best of bluegrass bands to shame. Every other song or so, a couple of old vocalists would come out from backstage and for a rousing rendition of some local Romanian song, all the while playing to the crowd with a twinkle in their eyes or a light dance step. They were having more fun than the audience. It may have been the subject matter of the songs: “tales of cheating husbands, unsatisfied wives, and a longing for the elixir of youth”. I know this only from the program, as all the songs were in Romanian. But, it was a fun show.

While the group is not well-known in its own country, it does have an international following, even in Hollywood. Johnny Depp, for whom they played his gypsy family in The Man Who Cried, had them play the at his club on Sunset Strip for the opening of Sleepy Hollow back in 2002. He said, “they have this gift to make you feel alive.” I can’t disagree.

Arts: An Arabian Passion

Singapore is celebrating the 30th year of the Singapore Arts Festival, which plays host to a number of events throughout the month of June. Last week, I attended the Asian premiere of An Arabian Passion, based on J.S. Bach's St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion. The musicians were drawn from two distinct groups: Ensemble Saraband, which joins together musicians from Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, and Germany, each contributing their own native traditions, and the Modern String Quartet, an improvisational string group based in Germany. The two combined to weave improvisational jazz, Arabian based tones and rhythms, and the baroque music of Bach into a very nice performance. The vocalist is Lebanese, and she sang in German and Aramaic. Particularly powerful was her rendition of Alajum, Mary's Lament on Good Friday, sung in the Maronite tradition. I don't know if you will ever have a chance to see this group of musicians perform, but I would highly recommend it.