Seoul

Seoul

Itaewon

I wasn’t terribly fond of Itaewon. It struck me as Tourist Seoul; there were a LOT of American tourists and servicemen there. A huge US Army base was nearby, with concertina wire along the walls and patrolled by humorless Korean soldiers in black uniforms and truncheons as large as (and about the same shape as) two handed swords.

I couldn’t pass any of these shops without a hawker out front yelling at me in broken English. Most of them were selling suits. “Want to buy a suit? Almost like free!”

I’m told Itaewon is more exciting at night, but I was also told by others that the sort of excitement Itaewon is known for isn’t really recommended for married men. The sort of thing that regrettably pops up anywhere US servicemen do. Yay for diplomacy. Hey, look, local restaraunts! (Outback in particular is really popular in Seoul, as is Bennigan’s and TGIFridays.)

So as you can probably tell Itaewon kinda depressed me so I started wandering off.

Right about here I realized I had no idea where I was.

Yay for transit maps!

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Mox

Actually those are sauvastikas.
http://www.damnedvulpine.com J.

The NCSoft building looks like a giant game console from that shot.
http://www.edgecase.net/devsite Cael

The swastika is just another mandala, and the arms are intended to trail the spokes. So, your buddhist (and others) swastika rotates clockwise and indicates life and growth.

The Nazi swastika rotated the other way. No big surprise there.
Eso

Got to love how ancient symbols of power and luck, like Pentagrams and Swastika are seen as taboo by ignorant westerners because some idiot who did bad things used them as a decoration.
Aaron

I thought the same exact thing about the 16 hour flight to Hong Kong. Got to spend a few days in Seoul on the way home and felt exactly the same as you. Glad you got to experience it!
GooseOnTheLoose

That trip looked like so much fun! I need to work on a marketable skill so I can jet-set around like you, Lum.
http://www.theworldtakes.com damijin

The trip looked amazing! I’m glad you took so many pictures for those of us who might not get to see the short west in our lifetimes. I don’t know about it being five or ten years in the future, but I wouldn’t mind America looking a little more like SoKo.

And I really want that L2 board game!
Nonentity

Man, no way. I don’t want that L2 board game. It would take 72 real life turns to get from level 50 to 51.

In all seriousness, though, I’ve always found that city fascinating – I dig the pictures. Good little pictorial.
Lietgardis

Did the Diet Coke taste the same as it does in the US? It sucks in China.
http://haven.thratchen.com isildur

“People were actually in the middle of services during our visit, which kept me from going picture happy inside the temple buildings. I mean, wandering in the middle of a church service and firing off flash bulbs just seemed rude.”

Heh. You’ve never been to Notre Dame, have you? There’s something disturbing about a church with a roped-off ‘for congregants’ area in the middle, and a path lined with donation boxes for tourists around the outside of that.
Chuck

> Did the Diet Coke taste the same as it does in the US? It sucks in China.

Diet Coke in China adds Lemon. I agree that it sucks.

Diet Pepsi on the other hand is just fine in China.
http://ve3d.ign.com/ Apache

It’s a beautiful city
grant

I had something called “Coke Light” in Mexico and Europe. It’s the same calorie-wise as “Diet Coke” but tastes waaaaaaaay better. I have no idea what the actual difference is.
scottj

It’s “Coke Light” in Korea too, and is identical to “Coke Zero” here.
Ajeba

Really cool stuff, thanks Scott!
LanTheWarder

Looks like you had a really good time. I want to go to the future!
GregC

“Did the Diet Coke taste the same as it does in the US? It sucks in China.

Diet Coke in China adds Lemon. I agree that it sucks.”

You can get Coca-Cola Light aka Diet Coke in China without lemon…and it tastes just fine. I drink one every morning.
http://www.damnedvulpine.com J.

“Man, no way. I don\’e2\’80\’99t want that L2 board game. It would take 72 real life turns to get from level 50 to 51.”

And meanwhile everyone will be standing on their chair throwing paper wads at your head.
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http://www.psychochild.org/ Psychochild

Man, no way. I don\’e2\’80\’99t want that L2 board game. It would take 72 real life turns to get from level 50 to 51.

You forget, Scott likes war games! 72 hours to play a board wargame is what the grognards call “a little warmup”.
http://www.cesspit.net/ Abalieno

Ohh, Guild Wars screenshots in the first page!
http://ambernight.org Amber

The juxtaposition of old and new fascinates me. It seems as if you can be looking one direction at a completely modern building, streets, etc, and then turn 30 degrees and now you’re looking into the past. I’ve got to get myself over in that part of the world someday.
Morrolan

kewl pics. Sup Lum, I used to play with you back in the 3d0 days of meridian , I remember you having no mana and barely able to talk heh heh.
Jaera

Wow, the POW propaganda is kinda nuts.

Seoul is a beautiful city. I have outdated ideas of what Korea looks like, apparently. Only the wedding recreation comes close. Nice pictures.
http://alaph.net alaph

I’ve been stationed in Korea for almost 3 years now and have only seen a little of Seoul so thanks for the civilianized shots. I have seen other Korean cities though and they all look fairly similar.
Iteawon is definatly a Disney version of Korea, the merchants there cater to the GIs and the movement away from the traditional is painfully obvious. This is true around any of the US bases in Korea.
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