Seoul, Korea - July 4, 2007
I've brought back the SEOUL JOURNALS! It has been a year. Quite a few changes have taken place, but I figure its time to come back. Where to begin with the time that has passed?
First off, much of the inspiration to bring this back alive is owed to a few very good books I've read recently. One was "HEY JOE: A SLICE OF THE CITY - AN AMERICAN IN MANILA". The author is Ted Lerner, and he, from my understanding, has been a colunmist writing about his experiences living in the Philippines. His book is based on his columns. Some great stories of Manila, and a great inspiration for myself to finally finish writing my own Korea-based expat book filled with my first year of experiences here. I hope to make that available through lulu.com and through the general public at some time in the future. Another huge inspiration has been a good friend of mine, Steve Walker, who has wrote a book about his Peace Corp experience living in The Gambia. He's been an old friend and a good friend for the last seven years in Korea. Reading his book has put the bug back into me to get working on my own once again. Plus the Seoul Journals might serve to be some decent publicity and a good link to those interesting in reading it in the future - and I hope there are some out there who are interested! (Steve often criticizes my lack of editing on my journals though - something I should rightfully correct, but am often somewhat uninterested to do. I feel like if I get to into editing/revising, I won't have the interest to write anything at all as it moves me.)
So what has happened to me in the last year? Well, in the last year since my last journal entry, I have definetely done my traveling. Hawaii for a couple months, Las Vegas for a couple months, another trip to the Philippines as well as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Darwin Australia. Sorry to say none of those will be working their way into the Seoul Journals. Too bad, because would have been some real interesting writing! I'll try to do some recaps right here and now.
OAHU, HAWAII: Rented an apartment here where I lived with a German guy and his visiting brother. He was a serious surfer with quite a few surfboards and surf magazines to back that up. He came from Germany with a love for Hawaii and surfing. The nights I was able to hangout with him and some of his European surfer buddies were very memorable. Some of the top nights was him showing me a Guinness $1 draft night in Honolulu. Best beer with great prices! I also drove around the island of Oahu often. I rented a car and explored everyday to nearly every beach and niche and cranny of the island. One side is filled with homeless - tent city everywhere. The other side, more Hawaii Kai is quite rich and wealthy. My favorite area of the city would be Ala Moana. It has a mall that is half inside and half outside, due to the perfect weather. They always play Hawaiian music, and I have some very fond memories and feelings towards the place. Waikiki Beach was also a daily ritual for me. So many palm trees right next to some of the most perfect sand and waves anywhere in the world. I also love the urban Waikiki feel right next to the beach. Feels like Manhattan in the Pacific. If there has been anywhere in the world that I've felt more at home, and more longing to return, it would definetely without a doubt, be Honolulu. I spent a little more than a month alone on that island. I wish I'd kept a journal to record each and every day on that island to relive the memories. I hope to someday try to live there sometime during my life as well.
MAUI, HAWAII: I also took a sidetrip here. Another gorgeous island, possibly the most perfect island. It is basically two large volcanos with a plain between them of flat land. So from each other mountain, you can view the middle of Maui plus the other mountain on the other side. I particularly liked the small towns of Maui. Some parts of Maui were hugely overdeveloped with so many resorts, it just didn't quite feel right to me. But the island itself is nearly perfect otherwise.
KUAIA, HAWAII: This is the Jurassic Park island - where they filmed it. Some interesting aspects were the chickens running around right at the airport. I saw a lot of Filipinos in the main town - and they are well-known for raising chickens! I quite liked Kauai, but one thing I didn't like was the heavy traffic. It felt more congested then The Big Island of Hawaii or Maui. I felt more like I was in a big parking lot. Of course you also have to rent a car to drive around this island. I know its not a popular idea, but I couldn't help but wish they'd built something like a monorail or train or subway or something to go around the island. It would just drop off the tourists (or residents) just to get rid of all those cars everywhere! A rail track wouldn't be pretty, but seems like it would be a lot more effective than automobile traffic jams nearly everywhere you go!
THE BIG ISLAND, HAWAII: All good things to say about the Puna/Hilo side. It felt very raw and natural and deeply spiritual. This is also where the most active volcano is at. There is also a lot of property available on this island in Puna. Most of it 'living off the grid' which means you have to figure out your own water supply, etc. Kinda interesting. It felt very hippy-ish and rained all the time. I read that Hilo has more rain than anywhere else in the U.S. - including Seattle and Portland, Oregon. The other side of the Big Island was a huge disappointment though. I particularly didn't like Kona. There wasn't a beach there, and very developed with high-class resorts and the tourists that like them. It felt very boring and stale. North of Kona was surpringly a desert climate. Kinda felt like being west of Salt Lake City in the Great Salt Lake Desert or almost anywhere in Nevada. Another part of the Big Island is KA'U which has its own unique feel. Particularly memorable is the Green Sand Beach. It's a sand with actual green sand based on the mineral composites in that area.
SINGAPORE: Spent about five days in Singapore in the last year. Stayed in Little India and walked nearly everywhere in this city or took the subway. A very comfortable city, that if it weren't for the somewhat higher prices than other Asian cities, I could easily see myself spending a lot more time. The great variety of food is overwhelming and it is always nice to be able to do anything and everything in English, yet still be in a very Asian environment.
THAILAND: Finally made it to a few Thailand destinations I'd always been curious about. Pattaya and Phuket. I didn't care for Pattaya at all. Very mediocre beaches and just didn't like the feel of it. Phuket was quite interesting and very relaxing. I more or less enjoyed my time, but no plans or interests in getting back to Thailand again anytime soon.
KUALA LUMPUR: I also made a trip to KL. Very strong mix of Indian, Malay, and Chinese. A lot more of the muslim gear for the women. The city was quite a bit more dirtier than I thought. Sometimes I hear KL being referred to as clean, it isn't. Parts of KL are quite interesting though, like the Petrona Tower and there are so many new places that seem to be being built. I liked the feel overall. I stayed near Chinatown where there were quite a few exhaust fumes, so it probably influenced my feeling on the cleanliness factor. Decent enough otherwise though.
PHILIPPINES: I did make a trip down here again. It was a very brief trip and sadly it rained EVERYDAY! So it was a little depressing, and I was glad to get back out again! But I do like the Philippines a lot, and can't wait until wintertime to get back down there extensively. I mostly enjoy the island-hopping, the live music, the beaches, and the prevalance of English everywhere. Unfortunately this very short trip didn't involve much of anything like that - too much rain - hit it at the wrong time!
DARWIN, AUSTRALIA: Also made it here during the last year. It is a small town with a very heavy drinking bar/tourist-oriented culture feel to it. In addition, quite a few aboriginals in Darwin. They had a Saturday Market near the beach. The beach was fairly ugly I might mention. Very muddy and very unswimmable due to crocodiles, etc. But Darwin was well-worth the visit. I did get stopped by immigration coming in as they were shocked to see an American come all the way into Darwin just for a half a week. They were convinved I had something else going on for my visit and I was detained and questioned for a few hours. I ultimately made it in however, and the visit was an interesting one.
In addition to the overseas experiences, I was also able to spend some time back in the ol' U.S. of A. These places included Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida. I also spent time in California and Michigan (but will exclude their descriptions).
NEVADA: Spent most of my time in Nevada. I should mention I did indeed get married within the last year, and that marriage took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. I spent a month or two in Las Vegas over the last year. Part of that included quite a bit of HOLD 'EM POKER playing. I've become somewhat addicted to the game, as many Americans have. I admit I know am often seen playing on UltimateBet.com as well as a couple other sites. I also have a co-worker on there regularly as well as my own wife! I don't play the money games though, just a real interest for the game of Hold'em Poker itself. In addition, I've gone through a heavy poker-reading strategy stage. Meaning I have about six or seven books from the experts on Poker. There are too many stories of just Las Vegas alone that could go into these journals. Mostly because I hit just about every casino in Vegas to help get my poker skills down. My favorite was Binions though, as it is the legendary casino that first brought poker to the Vegas casinos. Another huge portion of my Las Vegas time was also devoted the Las Vegas Public Library (yeah, Vegas does have those too), as well as hitting all of the many various multi-ethnic restaurants, which often included Hawaiian and Vietnamese and Korean (my favorites). There is even a Chinatown section of Vegas now - all new and newly built. Vegas is growing at breakneck speeds, and I enjoyed the time I was able to spend there over the last year.
ARIZONA: I also took a car trip into Arizona. I once had the remote idea that if I were to live back in the U.S. again, I might consider some warm climate area like Arizona, New Mexico, Texas or Florida. Arizona was one of those places I was to explore. The thing I did like about Arizona was the adobe architecure in the houses. I love stucco as well. So those were highlights. I drove down to Phoenix and was somewhat impressed they did have a downtown - contrary to the sunbelt city rumor of no downtown whatsoever. I particularly liked TEMPE (the college town area). So my first impressions of exploring Phoenix were fairly positive. From there, I decided to go down to Tucson. There were even more adobe and stucco type houses that I immediately loved. However as I drove around Tucson it felt either very strongly Mexican or very strongly univerity town. Neither of which is a bad thing, but felt like there was NOTHING else except those two things. In other words, if I were ever to live there, most likely I'd become quite bored. From downtown, I decided to explore the perimeters of Tucson where I found some really cool adobe housing with desert type lawns. Decided to walk around a mall to get a better feel for the people of this city. It was almost entirely teenagers in the mall and most of them with unstylish dye-colored hair that wasn't quite cut hip or cool It felt like people were highly missing the mark of being cool. Something very typical American and not quite right about the place that I didn't like. From Tucson I decided to drive back up to Phoenix and check out the Tempe area - that college town had a stronger urban feel which I thought I liked a lot more. So drove up there again on this Friday night. Parked my car in Tempe and walked around some more. It was somewhat lacking however this time around. Went to a bookstore, and overheard many of the conversations. People seemed much more smalltown talk that I'd imagine. It was nothing like hanging out in a bookstore in New York or Hawaii or California or something. In fact, felt a lot more like Michigan - where most people are just from there, and not so many coming from somewhere else with a lot of different experiences and backgrounds and ideas and diversity and such. Felt more like Phoenix was more like what it was - a place to grow up, a place to escape from, and not a destination type place. So that pretty much killed any interest whatsoever I ever had about Arizona as a potential place to live.
NEW MEXICO: Albuquerque was also on my list. Another city where I loved the architecture. The adobe-style houses everywhere again. However they weren't so colorful as Arizona. They were mostly dull in color and plentiful. The entire city had a brown feel. It was unique but so colorless. I drove around as much as I could to get a feel for the city as well. In the end, I felt the city and probably entire state was a bit too local for me. You had the long-haired guys with mullets, the rock t-shirts (which I thought long went out of style) and just a very local small-town feel to this city. I did like the fact many were Indigeneous or Mexican giving it a totally different feel than most typical mid-size American cities. But it also felt very isolated and just 'out there' in general. Felt insular and inward of a city. Unique in many ways, but lacking interest in the outside world or outside of Albuquerque and New Mexico world. A good thing in itself I suppose, but I'd probably personally need a more international feel to a city to match more of how I see and think of the world with various experiences I've had myself in my life. A very interesting place nontheless.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Flew into San Antonio and immediately disappointed. What a run-down city! Felt very ghetto and just ugly brick buildings everywhere. Once we went to San Antonio I realized why the real estate was so much cheaper than anywhere else in the U.S. Everything is just seriously dilipated. It was a city I was once considering, but after a visit, it very quickly was scratched off the list.
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS: Another city I'd been interested because of its cheap real estate and mild winters. The beaches here were good. I liked the downtown, it had a very urban feel to it with a lot of interesting businesses around. I also drove around the bay and liked the towns outside of Corpus. The largest negative of Corpus however was the huge oil refineries that greet you as you enter the city. They are overwhelming and more or less blow their pollution right into the traffic as it comes into the city. The city is a combination of either really poor or really wealthy and nice. Everything by the ocean is very cool and interesting in my opinion (although its not like California or anything), and everything that is say a half mile inward and extending farther inland is quite dilipitated. I found it interesting overall, but outside of a Spring Break destination for college kids, not sure if the town would be that great for future living or anything.
BROWNSVILLE/HARLINGEN, TEXAS: I also went down to South Padre Island, which as incidently quite cold in the winter. So many 'winter Texans' from northern states migrate here for the winter, but I'm really unsure why they do. It is warmer than northern states, but not warm. South Padre has outrageous real estate prices, but doesn't seem worth it. The tourist type feel is there, but quite boring and dull in the winter. I imagine it really only comes alive during univerity spring break. The rest of the year it just waits for that time. I didn't mind Brownsville or Harlingen though. Very Mexican-American feel. Most people were Mexican ethnicity, and very friendly and comfortable. It was also very small-town feel in a very American way, yet I liked the fact it was Mexican-American, giving it a unique different yet still very American feel to it in that small-town(-ish) way. For some reason, I liked better than anywhere else in Texas, New Mexico or Arizona. Maybe become I had low expectations of it, and it managed to not meet them at all? Who knows, but I liked the feel of it there.
TAMPA, FLORIDA: My cousing lives in Tampa, and enjoyed the city. Clearwater in particular was gorgeous! Most of Tampa had a very rural person feel. Quite a few southern accents and southern style trees and architecture. Southern-style architecture meaning the large porches everywhere. The city was very hard to drive across (probably because of the BAY).. and just felt rural somehow. Downtown Tampa was urban, but had that burned out urban feel making it very undesireable and dead and uninteresting. I also went to YBOR which is the nightlife area of the city. It had a college student feel to it, and somewhat more smaller than I hoped it would be, but looked popular, although why is the U.S. so often setup for 'driving to' everything including your drinking spots?
MIAMI, FLORIDA: South Beach is very cool. The city itself however is VERY driving-oriented. Felt like I was most often on the highways driving around everywhere, and that driving around was essential in this city. Cars were #1 (quite like most of the U.S.) but for some reason, I was hoping Miami would be different. South Beach seemed typically hip and cool and urban in its own way. But living self-contained in there would probably be a strong challenge. I also found South Beach to be highly overrated. The sands weren't that great, and the people weren't that beautiful. San Diego or Honolulu has Miami beat by a long, long shot in the beach department in my opinion. Actually Western Florida beaches were also significantly better beaches as well. Everything on the Western Florida coast was a purer white and just softer ocean and sand and everything else. Miami and everything northward had more weeds and rougher sand and waves feel to it. I also drove around Miami as much as possible, and more than anything, just felt like all the same stores as everywhere else everywhere. Little Haiti and Little Havana were quite unique and different, but Little Havana wasn't all that different from say THE MISSION (another Latino neighborhood) found in San Francisco.. or honestly, I found Little Havana to be a like just about any Latino neighborhood in any North American city be it New York, San Francisco, wherever. I'm glad I was finally able to explore the city however. It had long been on my list of must explore places.
So now we are all caught up with my travel trips in the last year! As to what I'm doing now, I'm setting down to a married life with a wife and just recently changed apartments here in Seoul. I'm still loving my same university job and was just recently signed on for a third year. Although I've found myself dreaming and exploring other potential places to possibly live, at the same time, I couldn't be happier living in Seoul, Korea.
Next Journal Entry in Korea:
January 25, 2008
You can email me at:
Wintermoon2@yahoo.com