I have been in Seoul for more than a week now. I’m squatting at my friend TJ’s apartment. It’s an overwhelming city. The scale is hard to comprehend compared to the US. New York or LA doesn’t even come close. The smog here is atrocious. It’s a little claustrophobic having so many people around you all the time. But I’ve been pretty fascinated by it all. I wish I had more time to hunker down and photograph here.
I will probably leave Seoul sometime this week and start my travels to Bhutan. So far it looks like I may go through Bangkok and Calcutta on my way to Bhutan. I’m a bit nervous about all the political turmoil in Thailand though. Hopefully they won’t shut down the airport or anything and I can slide through safely. Once I arrive in Bhutan it will be over a 200 mile journey by truck to get to the forestry institute in Bhumtang. I will have to travel from the airport at Paro in the West of the country to Thimpu in the West central part of the country. There I will have to spend a day or two getting travel permits for my final destination in Bhumtang, which is more in the East side of the country.
Bhutan has some interesting laws. You can’t travel on the roads freely without a travel permit. If you are Bhutanese you can’t be in public without wearing the national dress, a Gho for men or a Kira for women. Plastic bags and tobacco are illegal there. It will be an interesting change I think. Korea for me has been almost a carbon copy of the US for the most part. The model is just about the same, except I think they are actually more rampant consumers than Americans, if you can believe it. I’m looking forward to more of a true culture shock. I will miss Korea, the relaxed atmosphere of the beaches and environment on Jeju-do and the frenetic chaos and scale of Seoul. Who knows, maybe I’ll be back someday to teach again. You never know.
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- self portrait in the seoul subway
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- Seoul Buildings near the Coex Mall
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- ASEM Building
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- ASEM Building
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- Building across the street from world trade building
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- Jack, Nancy and I at a coffee shop
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- My buddy, Tokki
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- Hanging out at the park
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- Cherry blossoms in the Parc de Paris in Mokdong, Seoul
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- TJ and Celinda at the Parc de Paris in Mokdong, Seoul
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- Soccer game at the world cup stadium in Seoul
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- Dinner with TJ and Travis
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- Haemon’s bar with TJ and Travis
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- TJ Lebel
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- Haemon singing one of his songs at the club
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- View from TJ’s apartment in Seoul #2
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- View from TJ’s apartment in Seoul #1
