Airplanes, on the other hand, I'm not so keen on. The flying is fine, in fact I love flying, it's the whole pajama party in the sky scenario that underwhelms me. Particularly because, at this sleepover, you don't get to chose who you unroll your sleeping bag next to and I inevitably end up next to the bed wetters. "I wish," I said to my mother before leaving, "instead of giving you the option to choose a window or aisle seat they ought to offer a choice between nursery or handsome bachelor."
I did actually get my handsome bachelor on the overseas leg of the flight. Unfortunately he was accompanied by his mother and two decades younger than me or I'd have snapped him up. Not only did he fix my in flight entertainment center but he folded his hands prayerfully and bowed his head almost reverentially after doing it to. I was agog and had to remind myself that all too soon puberty would transform him into a great big jerk and I felt sorry for the girl who's heart he was going to break.
I fell asleep for a few hours in Seoul airport while waiting for dawn, but I managed to make it into the city by mid morning. Thanks to Joseph at Somewhere in Dhamma I knew exactly where to go and make the most of my few hours there.
The first recognizable landmark for me was the I Want apartments which I recalled from one of Joseph's posts and made me grin despite my jet lag. The first stop though was the palace which I loved for the lily pond, but was, quite frankly, terrified of thanks to incessant buzzing and whirring. Welcome to Seoul, City of Screaming trees.
Whatever was shrieking in the foliage was either averse to asphalt or drowned out by the traffic because it couldn't be heard on the city streets. I went in search of the temple lost in a lunchtime crowd of investment bankers and real estate lawyers, hundreds of them dressed in uniform black and white and gray. I felt awkward and conspicuous. I began to second guess everything, from my choice of lunch (yogurt and a banana-maybe I should have tried harder to find some local cuisine?) to my life (Am I completely mad to leave everything I know behind and dive into the unknown as though it was all a big lark?) I was on the verge of panicked exhausted tears when I stumbled on the very same, in every detail, Buddha statue from my birthday dream.
After a half hour of respite in the temple I took a far too quick tour through part of Insadong. It was here I discovered, aside from the most amazing collection of antique books, teapots and toys, that it's not only Indian men who want to have their pictures taken with random white girls. I wonder what stories trhey make up when they show them to their friends?
By two o'clock I was back on the bus to the airport catch my flight to Singapore where a Ms. Heni was waiting to pick me up.
2 comments:
Hey! I'm glad you made it okay!
I'd been wondering.
I laughed about the noise in the trees. They are cicadas. They spend about 5 years underground then come up for a few weeks to make a bunch of noise and mate, then die. They look like giant house flies, about the size of both your thumbs put together, plus wings, but they're harmless.
haha, the photo taking isn't nearly as bad as India (there's something less creepy about it). I used to get asked a lot when I first came, but it doesn't happen any more, they must sense something about new comers! They probably brag that they made a foreign friend, because it means their English is good... haha!
That wooden Buddha is the tea-house I always go to, I was surprised to see it!
Anyway, glad you made it back in time for your flight, and hope everything's going well!
Hi! Yeah I'm alive and well, it's just taken me a week to get over the jet lag and culture shock and get internet hooked up.
You knew about the screaming trees and didn't warn me?!?!? ;p I kid, surprises are fun. I actually thought of cicadas but for some reason I've always thought cicadas were large locust type creatures, not remotely like a housefly, so I wouldn't have known that's what it was even if I had seen one.
haha! I just watched a talk by Douglas Adams on TED where he tells the story of searching for the blind dolphins on the Yangtze river. He says the thing he liked most about Asia is they remind you that we are all in a zoo. They just sort of stop and stare, not in a mean way, but just waiting to see what you might do next.
I can't believe it! Now I wish even more I had gone in instead of worrying so much about the time.
Do you know by any chance what the story is with the ornamental dragons and men on the rooftops at the palace?
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