Shopping, Culture, Dining and Protests?

I think we walked all over central Seoul yesterday, but activity is such a good way to combat the monkey mind.  Right Dad?  I think yesterday can be divided into roughly 4 sections.  First, we went to Itaewan which is a shopping district near the US army base.  It serves tourists and the military so they speak some English.  Since I promised all of the kids in the neighborhood souvenirs, we thought this might be a good place to start.  Plus, the free shuttle from the hotel went there and we got a nice ride through the city.  In addition to the classic souvenir and knock-off stores, this turns out to be an extremely diverse neighborhood.  It reminded me alot of Devon Ave.   There is a beautiful mosque here (when you look past the power lines) as well as Catholic and Protestant churches.  

From there we took the shuttle to Deoksugung Palace which dates back to the 16th century.  It has been actively used as home to the king or emperor until the early 20th century.  It is a nice oasis in the middle of the city and is only 1,000 wan to get in ($1).  We had to remind ourselves that these buildings were not replicas.  It was also really cool to look up and see the modern skyscrapers behind these old buildings.  While we were enjoying our oasis, however, we could hear protesters outside in the square in front of City Hall.  They have been protesting the importing of American beef all weekend.

After a trip to Citibank to get more money, we went to Namdaemun Market which is where many of the locals shop.  There are tons of restaurants and stalls in the streets selling fresh fruit, T-shirts, clothing, meat, fabric, and other things.  Very crowded.  We passed by tables full of seafood and meat ready to be cooked for the customer, but none of it seemed to be refrigerated.   Although, i was tempted to stop and try the eel, Mr. Daddy advised against it.  

After that we were exhausted.  We walked back toward the spot to pick up the shuttle and found a Vietnamese restaurant on the way.   In addition to all of the traditional Korea restaurants, American restaurants (McD, BK, KFC, Bennigans, etc), there are a ton of other Asian restaurants including Japanese, Chinese and Thai.  Very cool since we are fans of all.  We had a great meal (the restaurant was also air conditioned and did not smell like raw meat) and listen to the protesters in the square.  We weren't sure what they were saying but they sounded very angry.  

A few words about the general Seoul experience.  It was very humid yesterday and we drank lots of water.  All of the signs are in English as well as Korean so it is pretty easy to get around.  There are also lots of maps that use pictures of the major buildings so we could verify our location.  

Today we go to the Welfare Society.  I feel like . . . I'm not really sure.  Excited and anxious but also somewhat numb.  it doesn't seem real.  Yesterday, we could trick ourselves into thinking we are tourists, but not today.  We will let you know what happens and i hope to be able to download some more pics tonight.  

Dr. Mommy, signing off for now.