I've got Seoul, but I'm not a soldier.

My first impressions of Seoul was that it was dirty, crowded and had waaaay too many noisy tourists. I like the city, it has a big friendly subway system, but its so spread out. It' s like LA if it actually had a decent public trans system.

The first jokes made were about my bag. I pack like a woman. I currently have three bags in my possesion, my messenger, one large duffle and one larger duffle. I brought the large duffle and had it half full. The best joke was made by Brian's friend, Tim. "What's the matter little boy? Are you running away from home?"

We headed to Itaewon(the foreigner district) immeadiately. It was repulsively dirty and crawling with foreigners. It is entirely possible to spend days here and not hear a word of Korean. The favorite bar of one of my friends was a place called "Polly's Kettle." It sits on top of "Hooker Hill" and is about as in your face as you can get. There were at least five tussles, fights and shoving matches. It felt a lot like the old west. At any time, a bloodbath could erupt with the right combination of booze, testosterone and booze. The clubs were just a little too in-your-face for my taste. I'll take 10,000 bondage nights at Exit before I spend another night in Itaewon. I will go back for the Indian food. Best Indian food I have ever had.

The electronics district was mostly closed on Friday and half closed on Saturday. I picked up FIFA 07 and Fight Night Round 3 for roughly 20 bucks and an xbox with a modchip for roughly $90. The pirated stuff was a big highlight, remember, there are NO copyright laws here. I also picked up a bizarre clock for Eun Jung, here's hoping she likes it. Hee Chon thought she would and he ought to know, he's a real Korean.

We checked out the art district on Friday as well. It's much more laid back and featured mainly Koreans. I picked up a cellphone charm and had some the best tea I have ever had in a tea shop I couldn't possibly tell you the name of. The featured item was the "Chan Ho Park." It was an iced pumpkin tea. I guess his name translates to iced pumpkin or something. The apricot and persimmon tea were big highlights, but the best was the mountain dew. Amazing stuff.

It was at the tea shop that we were allowed to write on the walls, at Maria's request, we wrote "For a Good Canadian time, call Katie (It involves maple syrup :))" and then listed one of our Canadian friend's phone numbers. We then totally pranked her and she never figured out who did it. In fact, she thought it was a former teacher. :)

Then we headed back to Itaewon for Mexican food. I had the super burrito for roughly $10. It was a burrito, but it was hardly super. Then we hit the bars. By the end of the night, Brian and I gave two of our female travel companions piggy back rides down Hooker Hill while they kicked each other. Maria and I defeated Brian and Audrey. Yeah, things got strange.

The biggest highlight of Saturday was going to a bar called "King of Pirates" in a district called Sanbon. It was just nice to get out of Itaewon for a night. Seriously, anyone who ever goes to Seoul, go to Itaewon for lunch if you want excellent Indian food, but stay away at night. It's like old Vegas minus the charm and ten times the pollution. Anyway, at King of Pirates, you're given beer in ice mugs. The mugs are literally made of ice with a plastic handle and a plastic tube to hold the beer. after finishing a beer, the drinker is allowed to throw the ice at a target for prizes. I was given 8 throws, hit the target four times, hit the target well enough to make the board light up twice and won one free beer. Good times were had by all.

Actually, Seoul made me really miss Daegu. Daegu is cleaner, MUCH easier to travel in and there are hardly any stupid foreigners here. In Daegu, it's a thrill to see a foreigner, in Seoul, its strange not to. Seoul is just too polluted. I smoke the occasional cigarette and my throat was burning.

I was able to watch the baseball playoffs on Thursday night. Actually, I was able to flip between Kitties/Yankees and Arsenal/FC Porto in Champions League football. I also get not one, but two video game channels. I don't mean like G4, I mean channels in which they broadcast guys playing Starcraft, Warcraft and Winning 11 24 hours a day. It's strangely addictive.

Again, pics still need to be rescued from my phone. This could take a while.