Korea: Morning Commute from Hwajeong-shi

A necessary ritual in many modern lifestyles is the morning commute, the pilgrimage from a suburban respite into the bustling business centers of the city. My time in Korea was certainly marked with this ceremonial passage, morning and evening, as I made my way from the northern residential burb of Hwajeong down to Seoul proper to set up for the day. Every so often, I would get to work and begin setting up only for a coworker to awkwardly approach and ask if perhaps I'd misread the schedule, or maybe they had. Typically it was my fault that I'd misinterpreted my shift, and I'd end up having to find a way to fill the handful of hours at my destination until the shift began. Given how far out of the way Hwajeong was from, say, Lotte world, it didn't make much sense for me to go all the way home only to turn right back around and return, so I'd explore the nearby shopping centers or parks. As annoyed as I might have been in the moment for missing out on some additional sleep I might have garnered by staying home, it was generally a good thing that I explore these areas. The various Fun Caricature locations operating throughout Seoul are placed strategically in high-traffic touristy areas, after all, so the neighborhoods I'd coincidentally find myself arriving at too early in the day would have ample ways for me to entertain myself. 

The commute itself, though, had its own merits. While many mornings I'd take the time to catch up on podcasts, e-mails, or various threads on Reddit, the scenery wasn't unpleasant to look at by any stretch of the term. As the seasons evolved from one into the next, the scenery, too, would shift in shades and texture, providing an aesthetic affirmation of nature's workings. Depending on the time of day, I might pass a food stall with billowing plumes of dense and delicious steam flooding out onto the path, or vendors with freshly procured produce offering their wares.

The short walk to the train station, in and of itself, became a precious sort of journey. That green sign to the right in the photo above? That was my go-to market after returning home from work, as I could pop in and find most of the groceries I could possibly want at a reasonable price. E-mart, too, was just a bit further down the street on the trek home. There were several other groceries, department stores and markets all scattered about nearby, and there was a rather large one tucked into the basement level of the train station, too. No shortage of options available, that's for sure. Never underestimate the sheer convenience and walkability of the city of Seoul and it's suburban branches! It will truly spoil you to live in the area... I miss being able to walk to a store at any given time of day or night and find a hot meal or cold bottle of soju/beer/wine, or fried chicken, sweet and chewy egg bread... but I digress! I could write tomes about how tasty and bountiful the food is in Seoul...

Vegas: Driving around old Boulder Highway

Driving in the city of Las Vegas is relatively easy, for the most part. There are a few weird places in the city where seemingly perpendicular streets decide to cross, like at the intersection of Sunset and Sunset, but beyond the anomalies defying the laws of space and time, there's only a handful of complaints I could logistically lodge against the city with much merit. Compared to my brief experience with driving in the Pacific Northwest (I drove from Seattle back to Vegas in 2014) Las Vegas is blessedly straightforward and fairly affordable city for driving in, to boot. I mean, compared to gas prices in some states we're getting shafted, but when you consider the largely abundant (and primarily free) parking it's not too shabby.  We even get some streets with cool names, like Admiral Ackbar way. Insurance rates aren't in the top or last 10th in either direction, so it's not the most expensive or least expensive place to be a driver... The worst things you'll likely have to contend with, as far as driving in Vegas goes, for the time being, is traffic cones and the heat. 

The occasional crack head running out in front of you or vehicular breakdown is likely to pop up, too, especially if you spend any large amount of time driving in the city. The heat out here is absolutely brutal on vehicles! I've owned two vehicles in my life thus far and they've both suffered immense amounts of mechanical stress due to the routinely 110+ degree summers we deal with. I've replaced (or at least paid for the replacement of) several radiators, water pumps, thermostats, and other associated mechanical parts intrinsic to the operation of the automobile at ideal temperatures. It's unavoidable. The last few years with my Volvo has seen countless hoses bursting and spewing violently green coolant upon our roads, even in front of Mandalay Bay the night of a concert... the van, too, has made a steam-spewing demonstration of its disdain for the weather here at least once upon a hot and inconveniently timed day drive. Driving in the city of Las Vegas will be hard on your car in the summer, but the tradeoff is that our dry weather prevents excessive rusting, so you'll encounter lots of classic rods rolling through.

My engine blew up on the way to see Panic! At the Disco tonight, I'm so devastated!! I've wanted to see them for years and years and now who knows when I'll get the chance to see @brendonurie perform :((( I was looking forward to this for MONTHS! Tonight we are NOT victorious. 😳 I'm so heartbroken. @panicatthedisco

A post shared by Jessthulhu (@shethatisnau) on Mar 24, 2017 at 8:15pm PDT

I don't always pose seductively against my car, but when I do it's because I'm pushing her after missing the @panicatthedisco show in Vegas because the old girl broke down.

A post shared by Jessthulhu (@shethatisnau) on Apr 3, 2017 at 11:17am PDT

Seoul: Bus from Hwajeong to Hongdae

Seoul and it's surrounding areas have no shortage of means by which to get from one end of the city to the other, which means it can be beneficial to look into your options. Living in Hwajeong while there, a suburb not far from the city proper by Line 3, I had a decent assortment of strategies... Taking the trains could, at times, be quite crowded depending on the time of day, as I found during my work commute. Living in the suburbs is a popular choice for many residents, and many of those people, just like myself, had to commute into the urban center for their work or school. Depending on where I was going, it could sometimes be much better to take a bus- Hongdae being one such area. While I could ride Line 3 over to an adjacent station, then transfer to a different line and crowd in with the students headed to class, I found the hard way that it was a little too easy to miss my stop and end up at Seoul station, where to reroute to the place I needed to be would require walking to the opposite end of the rather large building (and up/down so very many stairs). If I was in a hurry, say to catch a doctor's appointment my lovely friend and experienced ex-pat Carmen had arranged for me with an English-speaking woman doctor, taking the bus would drop me off within five minutes' walk of the clinic's front door. This would spare me the potential panic of realizing I'd gotten a smidgeon too absorbed in a story on Reddit and missed my stop, losing valuable time.  No transfers to worry about, either. The bus stop for the ride to Hongdae was in front of a large department store complex not far from the train station entrance, so it was no less convenient getting to it, either. There was a handy LED sign displaying the bus routes, their ETA and destinations- albeit in Hangul, but it's not the hardest alphabet to learn and you can start to parse out key words and phrases with a little effort. At least, after being in Korea for a few months at this point, I found my comprehension of Hangul increasing without having to spend an intensive amount of energy into studying it... that is to say, I didn't really study much, if at all... I probably would have picked it up much sooner and more smoothly had I applied myself, but I digress.   

Your preloaded transit card works for the busses, as well, so no need to panic trying to figure out pocket change for fair. Just make sure your card is loaded at a train station and go about your day. I very much enjoyed taking the bus into the vibrant, trendy area of Hongdae, and the ease with which it returned me to my area. I took lots of photos because I found the different perspective novel. 

Enjoy!

Hong Kong: Day 2 breakfast & leaving the city

Day 2 in Hong Kong!

Ready, set go~

Started my day with a bowl of beef noodle soup at a small noodle shop down the street from where I was staying at the Harbour Hotel. I walked right passed the place before as it was hidden behind stalls so overflowing with produce I didn't realise there was an entire store front tucked away! 

I don't speak Chinese and what little kanji (Japanese symbols based off of ancient Chinese) I did know wasn't of great use, to be honest. I can recognise symbols like 肉 niku, or meat, and 麺 men, or noodle, so at least I had that much to work with but proficiency that surely does not make. Even though Hong Kong used to be a British territory, you shouldn't expect everyone to be proficient in speaking English and I certainly didn't. While some people could communicate quite well with me, there was still a lot of gesturing and patience involved from all parties. In this little shop there were sufficient pictures for me to point and eat and the servers tolerated my linguistic challenges well enough. That all being said, the food was absolutely delicious no matter what I had or where I stopped! The noodles above were chewy and springy in a flavourful broth and the meat was sufficiently cooked by the broth without being tough. After refuelling my belly, I stepped back out into the bustling streets of the Ladies' Market to venture forward into my day. After breakfast, I was heading to Hong Kong Disneyland, which will be it's own post tomorrow!

Japan: Day to day vibes 2011-11-30

More meanderings around my neighborhood in Urayasu-shi, Japan. 

Photo diary~

Ferry ride from Oakland to San Francisco

Riding ferries has long been a favorite way for me to see a new city. I've taken ferries in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boulder City and San Francisco and they always offer such a unique experience. Growing up my dad was always taking me out on boating adventures around the Southwest, so having spent so much of my life in, on or around the water I absolutely love reconnecting with it whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Oakland's Jack London Square

After a brief refresher back at the house, we walked over to Jack London Square to wait for the ferry over to the San Francisco side of the bay. 

A lovely couple walking by offered to take photos for us when they saw Antho attempting with a self-timer. He was able to make this adorable gif with all the photos they took. :) Right on!

Leaving L.A. April 2015

As the clock was winding it's way ever later it was eventually time to return to Union Station to catch our ride home. We opted for the Megabus, which departed some time after 12:30. There was some issue with the bus causing it to arrive late and our departure to be delayed some, but wasn't a terrible inconvenience as we were pleased just to be seated somewhat comfortably for awhile.