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The Irony of Itaewon
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Jul 24, 2008 3:20 am
Mood: Slow day at work,
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For those of you that are homesick, just go to Itaewon in Seoul. There’s the KTX bullet train for the pricey one hour trip or the cheaper bus trip for two hours. In the Lonely Planet book it describes Itaewon as a place with more foreigners that Koreans and the all the American troops that seem to be permanently stationed at Geckos it gives a feeling at familiarity and unease. For those of you looking for some light reading during the daytime there’s magazines and comic books, must resist nerdish urges, at What the Book up a hill that is mainly populated by well…. those aren’t bars. Some things you’ll just have to figure out on own.
The shops and sellers are a riot because you can’t just casually look they are always selling something. Phrases to have on the tip of your tongue are “No I don’t want to buy a Rolex.” and “No I’m just looking.” Also if you have any limited knowledge of an other language this is the time to whip out, so to speak. That German language class I suffered through came in handy when saying no to a seller from a “bar.” There is also Krazy Burger where they don’t always tell you that there is a cooked egg in your burger and I thought that corn on the pizza was the worst thing I’d have to deal with living in Korea.
My last trip I spent too much money and that leather jacket is already starting to fall apart the minute I got it home in Daejeon. For all you ladies out there Itaewon is the place to find knock offs of designer bags and don’t be afraid to haggle there’s no telling how long the bags will last.(See previous sentence regarding my leather jacket. I’m out thirty thousand won.) Also for many women that are having trouble finding clothes only seem to be made for the rail skinny Korean gal; they have clothing shops for women that enjoy a Brickhouse burger. For me the fries are garnish, but my students will still point to my beer belly and say “baby!” My reply is always “Full sentence!” Which in itself is a sentence fragment so don’t bother pointing that out you anal English majors.
Hotels in Itaewon are very pricey the Hamilton will set you back one hundred and forty thousand won, but it is right where the action is with a it’s very own mall, restaurant and sauna. Man I wish I had just stayed in the sauna and saved myself a bunch of money. But when you dragging around loot, which is mainly South Park and Simpson neck ties, in monsoon season. The urge to put a room on your credit card is harder to resist than giving into the dark side when you’ve just constructed a new light sabre and that Jehovah’s Witness keeps on bugging you. Must resist the dark side. There is also D’or hotel for about eighty thousand won but it is harder to find. No real punchline on that last one just a general tip.
Now I’m sure those anal English majors will point out that the irony of Itaewon is the Alanis Morissette version of Irony and not the actual Irony but when you are standing on that hill looking at bars, shops, coffee shops next to a Muslim Mosc and Transvestite bars. It’s a place that looks part melting pot and part mosaic with American soldiers walking side by with Africans, Koreans and a few of us Canuks. The sex toy shop was closed but there was a phone number for emergencies and off in the distance a neon cross to complete the irony…juxtaposition…see for yourself and tell me what to call it.
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