Category Archives: Travel

Autumn

It’s October 1 and I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Myeongdong Shopping Street chilling before a meeting. The air outside is cool enough for me to be wearing a jumper over a t-shirt and be perfectly comfortable. I also have on a scarf, dark blue jeans and a new pair of Ecco slip-ons. I’ve missed Autumn and the sense of closure that it brings to a year. Living somewhere without the seasons time stands still, whereas here in Seoul, the leaves will be changing colors and the air will get chillier. Winter won’t be fun, but it’ll make spring bloody awesome.

My feet are killing me…

2 Replies

Jenn & I had an amazing day today in spite of being 40+ minutes late to meet our friends in Hongdae.

Nicole & her boyfriend Pat have (pretty much) lived here in Seoul for five years. I knew Nic in Cayman during one of her previous lives and when she made the jump to Asia I was thoroughly impressed. Not because I didn’t think she could handle it, just because I admired the chutzpah it took for a single gal to go through an ESL teaching course and travel halfway around the world to live and work. That was awesome. As I said a half dozen times to her, if it wasn’t for her input, the whole thing here in Korea would have been a whole lot more challenging. And today was amazing proof of that.

The orientation group had skipped Namdaemun Market due to time constraints and we at least wanted to see what all the fuss was about. So we set a date to have a quick bite in their dong, Hongdae, and then take the subway to the market where more food would be had. it being Sunday (read: Cheat Day), I was super excited to let loose, especially with my new The Sports BigTen by E-Mart Nikes.

New Nikes

So we missed the first 5500 bus headed into Seoul, which gave me an excuse to get started on my Cheat Day via one of Paris Baguette’s conch shell pies.

Paris Baguette conch shell pie

We finally arrived in Hondae and after quickly checking out their pad, we made our way to Istanbul Kebab, a little no-frills joint down the street. After finishing up and stopping at my (rather expensive) cookie place, we headed over to the market.

Ben’s Cookies in Hongdae, Korean girls not included.

Pat alluded to the fact, and I finally coughed it up, that Namdaemun is kinda the bottom of the tourist ladder. But the sights and smells were unique and I’m glad we went. Jenn got her fan and iPhone5 flipcase/wallet.

Jenn in Namdaemun

We smartly decided to head over to Myeondong Shopping Street, the same place I’d visited early last Tuesday morning. It was even better with the throngs that flocked there…

Myeondong Shopping Street

There was some great streetmeat on display…

Myeondong streetmeat

Pat had a previous engagement, so he split and after a fruitless search for quality ice cream and the beginnings of foot cramping setting in, it was time for a refuel in a Starbucks. Then it was time to part ways with the lovely Nicole.

After a lengthy trip back home to Suji-gu which involved three different subway lines, Crunky bar, a stop in Pizza School, and a cab ride because we were just too pooped to deal with the public bus situation, it’s time to call it a night.

The Nikes held up awesomely… But they were definitely put through their paces.

There will be more pictures on the facebook when I wake up tomorrow morning…

Of eating healthy…

4 Replies

I kinda fell off the 4HB wagon today and I’m not proud of it. But it’s okay.

There’s a little something called a Hangul language barrier that goes hand-in-hand with a fried chicken and beer barrier which is a little farther down the road from a carbohydrate goodness barrier that has been erected all over Korea.

It took every ounce of self control I had not to gobble all the carbohydrate goodness that has been presented in front of me since moving to the RoK from the Rock.

There are an abundance of coffee bars on not just every main street, side street, and alleyway, but they are sometimes hiding on the second and third floors of what look like office buildings.

: I 3> Coffee

: Coffeenie

: Cafe Dorothy

: Banyan Tree

And in addition to having the life saving nectar of caffeinated ambrosia, they all have pastry.

Not just any pastry, but what looks like the most delicious of deliciousness.

This might come from Starbucks where they have the cookies and pieces of cake and brownies to accompany your soy chai latte or half-caf almond milk iced cappuccino.

In addition to the mermaid, there are Paris Baguette shops, Tous Les Jours shops, Dunkin Donut shops, Baskin-Robbins shops and other stands and sweet-selling and sweet-smelling shops all over the place.

All of the places below are within spitting distance of each other…

: Starbucks

: Paris Baguette

: Dunkin Donuts

: Tous Les Jours

: Baskin-Robbins

There is more pastry and sweet here in the RoK than I could possibly imagine. It’s everywhere. And it all looks so damn good.

At dinner earlier tonight with four other teachers, we hit the FryPan Restaurant in Sunae. They serve fried chicken tenders and potato chips and a salad covered in sugary dressing. I was going to pass on eating b/c I had my usual 4HB breakfast of (homemade) egg whites, spinach and black beans for breakfast, and a spinach salad with black beans and chicken for lunch and knew that I shouldn’t have the fried chicken tenders for dinner. But something switched inside of me and the hunger got too much. Poor planning on my part.

So we decided to make the most of it and have a dessert called a patbingsu. Ashlea and Natasha had one last week at Paris Baguette with tons of fruit in them, but you know how anti-fruit Jenn and I are, so we had one at Tous Les Jours of the green tea variety.

Ashlea & Natasha and their fruity potbingsus.

Ashlea & Natasha and their fruity patbingsus.

Patbingsu at Tous Les Jours

Then it was cookie time.

I’m down to my lowest weight ever as an adult and I think I’m gonna cut myself a little slack…

We’re here…

18 Replies

So let’s get this out of the way first and foremost…

There is no way possible in which the Suji-gu area of South Korea is anything like Cayman. A week in the USA did nothing to prepare me for the culture shock of coming from a Caribbean island to a major suburb of a major city. And we haven’t even gone into the city yet…

Yes, really.

During the plane ride I decided to be a little adventurous…

Bibimbap. Photo by Jennifer

Korean Air Bibimbap directions. Photo by Jennifer

Wasn’t too bad and the instructions card really helped.

Korean Air was great, except for feeding us at weird times. So that when we got off the plane on Monday evening, we were hungry and tired.

Relief was nowhere to be found as we were the last to arrive and others were waiting for us. So it was a dash to quarantine, where all of Jennifer’s hard work paid off and both of the pets arrived safely and healthy, if not a little worse for wear like their owners.

Gigi & Rooney are okay

Jennifer & Rooney outside the airport

On the bus to the apartment

The first full day started early with a bus to the school and a quick tour followed by a trip to E-Mart Trader (like CostCo, which we will visit on Saturday) and E-Mart (dept store) for necessities.

Wine @ E-Mart Traders

E-Mart Traders

By the time we made it back home, we had started to get silly from not eating enough, so we cruised around the neighborhood…

Fresh market

Street food: Dim sum

Tomorrow (Weds) I have a free morning and will meet Jenn back at the school for a BBQ. I think.

Walking in Dulles…

2 Replies

“I’m a rocket man…”

Elton John serenaded Jennifer & I as we rode the escalator up to the A Concourse at Dulles International Airport.

Walking thru the international hallway there are flags of various countries.

Eagle eyed observers will ignore the Ben & Jerry’s and note the two interesting flags hanging on the left.

See you in the RoK.

Waking up in Philly

2 Replies

Whenever we travel out bodies go thru various processes to get things resynced. Not just time change biorhythmic stuff because of daylight but also because the food we eat has different particulates. The water is processed differently in different places and that’s why bagels from the Mid-Atlantic taste better than bagels anywhere else, fwiw.

It usually takes a day or three for all the changes to be absorbed and processed. In the meantime it’s no fun being like an illegal alien, amIright?

Even thru it all, I’m looking forward to making myself a little ill from all the different yet familiar foods here in Philadelphia. And not just the cheesesteaks, but more the small things that make it all the more comforting.

Termini Bakery, here I come.

Leaving Grand Cayman

25 Replies

Today Jennifer and I left Cayman. We divested ourselves of everything seven years of living in the Caribbean brings with it except seven bags of luggage, nine 22lb boxes, and two pets.

I write this onboard the airplane at altitude and location unknown. When we left the USA the Internet hadn’t gotten to airlines yet. That’s weird.

Hopefully we left a positive mark on Grand Cayman. Lord knows it made a mark on us…

Hopefully we left the island a little better than when we found it. Maybe some people were entertained and/or amused by my radio performances over the years. And maybe some of Jenn’s students are a little smarter and/or have a better awareness of our animal friends that inhabit this planet.

Godspeed Cayman and good luck.

Ben Maxwell

Website of Ben Maxwell.

Category Archives: Travel

Autumn

My feet are killing me…

Of eating healthy…

We’re here…

Walking in Dulles…

Waking up in Philly

Leaving Grand Cayman