It began with garbage bags...

I know I haven't finished blogging about my vacation, don't worry, another installment will follow this entry. I just decided to do a blog on a random tangent, about today. Today was a saturday full of serendipitous events, and as so few of those days happen, I wanted to catalogue and share such a day. And yes, it all started with garbage bags...

So, let me begin by explaining that the waste disposal system here in Korea is a bit convoluted for the foreigner. First, everything is separated; plastic, cardboard, glass, metal. Easy so far, right? Then food/organic trash goes into a separate bag. THEN everything else goes into a bag. Except you have to use special bags in order to throw your trash out. AND these bags are specific to your city (I live in Anyang City, so have to purchase my bags from a store in Anyang). And, a side note, or reminder, said bags are only labeled in Korean. AND only certain stores sell these bags. AND the cherry on top, the one store I know of that sells such bags, has closed since the last time I purchased my bags. This is when I found out not all convenience/grocery stores sells these bags, and have pretty much spent the last week on a quest to find them. No dice.

Back to today. On the way to meet a friend at the subway station this morning, I happen to glance in a random, hole-in-the-wall store, and lo and behold, there stacked against the window, were as many garbage bags as I could want. Trash bag mystery solved!

I was meeting a friend with the intent to locate a certain camera store that we heard about on the internet. I dutifully copied down a map from their website, and the next amazing event, though it may not seem so to you, is that we found the store on our first try, without backtracking or attempting to ask for directions (which in my experience is futile, me not speaking much Korean, and most Koreans not speaking any English). And, ironically, we ran into a student group handing out fliers advertising a free guide service for foreigners (you just shoot them an email, tell them where you want to go, and they set you up with someone who is studying English; they get conversation practice, you get a free guide). It was ironic because being lost is a perpetual state of existence for me in Korea, and we ran into them on the one day I happened to figure out where I was going.

After this, we headed to another area which was home to a pretty impressive camera district. Here on out, we relied on our sense of adventure and curiosity (no longer prepared with directions or maps, reverting to my natural state), and subsequently located film (for the cameras purchased at the previous successfully located store), and a store called "photopia," which, while unfortunately closed for the day, sounds like a good bet for getting that film developed.

The final act of amazingness for the day occurred during our search for a mexican restaurant called "Taco Rico." Though we should have known better, we again were without directions, and decided to methodically looked for the restaurant. However, this is located (we were pretty sure...) in a city called "Gagnam." This place is huge, and packed with people and a profusion of restaurants and stores. Its a mob scene on a good day. This day was a friday night. After meticulously surveying the streets in a grid pattern, we decided to abandon all logical search techniques, choosing instead to screw around with our recently bought cameras and wander aimlessly down side streets. At which point we practically ran into our intended destination. And better yet, we walk in, and there's a Mexican in the kitchen. And better STILL, the Koreans working there spoke SPANISH. Awesomeness. And the food was amazing.

Lesson learned today, when in search for something in Korea, try to put yourself in the right general area, then give up all hope, throw caution to the wind, and follow your whims. They're are almost always right.

VACATION! Part I

Yes, I have been home a week; it has taken me that long to get around to blogging about it...For those of you who don't know, I spent Jan. 19-29 filling my passport up in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I went with my friend Kourtney, also an English teacher here in K-land.

First stop was Bangkok, Thailand. We arrived just in time to catch the tail end of a meeting (we were on a group tour). We only had one night in Bangkok, but had a good meal, and managed to do some shopping (which is pretty awesome in SE Asia, if you can haggle). The next day, we were off to Cambodia! We went from Bangkok to the border, then to Siem Reap, Cambodia. This is where Angkor Wat is! Needless to say, we went to the temples; we hired a bus to take us there, complete with tour guide. Attempting to view Angkor Wat at sunrise, we left at the amazingly early vacation time of 5:30am, only to witness the "gradual lightening" of the sky; unfortunately for us, it was overcast and rainy...oh well. It was still amazing. The second temple complex we went to was Angkor Thom; "Angkor" in Khmer (which is what the Cambodian people are) means "capital," and "wat" means buddhist temple, thats what our guide told us. Angkor Thom is famous for the Terrace of the Leper King, and the Elephant Terrace. Finally, the last temple complex we visited was Ta Prohm, which was my favorite. It is famous for the fact that it was lost in the jungle and only relatively recently rediscovered in the 20th century. After it was abandoned, the jungle took it over and now trees sprout from the tops of the buildings ( it is popular to point out, as our guide and tour leader did, and everyone else that discussed it, that Ta Prohm was where some of "Tomb Raider" was filmed). Over all, the temples were amazing, and I could have spent an entire week there. You actually get to walk in them and touch ANYTHING YOU WANT. It was awesome. And at Ta Prohm, there was some reconstruction going on, so as you walk through the temple it was as if you were there when it was being built. The clink of the chisels on stone echoed off the temple walls, and there were relatively few tourists there, so everything else was quiet. We ended our day with a walk through the market, where you could buy anything from t-shirts to bracelets to hats to spices...and get it all at a good price if you knew how.
One thing that was fun, and pretty much unphotographable, was the tuk tuk race we had back to the hotel that night. Our tuk tuk group was a pretty international affair, with 4 English people, 3 Aussies, 1 Swiss, 1 Japanese, and me (to represent the good ole US of A; There was also a guy from Brazil, one from Portugal, another Swiss, and Kourtney in the group, but they didn't go out that night). Therefore, we pitted country against country in a race; as soon as we found 3 tuk tuk drivers willing to do so...and by the way, tuk tuk's are motorcycles with a small carriage attached to the back, it is the prefered form of transportation (for multiple people) in Thailand and Cambodia. So, it was England vs. Austrailia vs. The Rest of the World. Sadly, the Aussies won, but only because they cheated...my team came in second (on pure driving talent; we had no regard for either pedestrians or potholes...).
The last event in Siem Reap was a visit to Tonle Sap Lake. There is a floating village on the lake, where everyone lives in little house boats; they have a floating school, markets, even a floating basketball court. I have also discovered that the more rural areas are pros at attempting to get money out of you; not only did we pay an exhorbitant fee for the floating village tour, but as we were on the boat, smaller boats would come alongside, like a little pirate ship, a child would board us and walk the legnth of our boat trying to sell beverages. Their boat would then pick them up at the back...Gotta give them points for trying, but it got a little annoying...We stopped at a floating restuarant that had some, I guess you could call them "displays," of the local fish, and industry and whatnot. One of these included a boa constrictor, or python, I'm not sure which; A "really big snake," and yes, I held it, and yes, I have a cheesy tourist piture of that to prove it. They also had alligators (or crocodiles...again, my reptile identification skills are not at their best). Apparently they farm the gators for their skins and meat and whatnot (and no, I didn't hold one).
So, that is what happened in Bangkok and Siem Reap; that brings us to about the beginning of day 4 of the Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam Vacation Extavaganza. Next Installment: Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. (pictures will be forthcoming...as I am typing this at work, and don't have access to my computer...)
Stay Tuned...