A Day in Insadong

Let's get back to the blogging then. This is a post about an exciting day I had when I went to visit Insadong, located in Seoul, Korea. It's home to perhaps the highest concentration of gift shops in the world centered around one street, as well as art gallerys littered along the sides of the primary street. I knew I wanted to visit some art gallerys as well as pick up some art supplies.

My bus left at noon. I was waiting outside of the terminal when I checked my phone for the time. It was 11:51 so I figured I should get on the bus, though this was the last time I would see my phone for a while. I was looking through my pockets for it once the bus left, and found no sign of it. Oh no! More on that later.

I made it to Seoul and to Insadong fine, but my day was hindered by thoughts of whether I would ever see my cell again. I looked around a few gift shops looking for paper lanterns I could paint, and ran into a Korean man I had met before. His name was Jacob and he remembered me from a birthday party we both went to in Seosan, though I didn't remember him right away. He and his friend David invited me to lunch with them. I said no because I wanted to see art galleries before they closed, but these guys didn't take no for an answer. They said they would find the gallery I wanted to go to and then go to lunch from there, so I agreed.

The whole area was really nice along the side streets that contained the art gallerys.

The one I went to is called Kyungin Museum of Fine Art, which is a complex of about five buildings housing galleries with a nice courtyard and some sculptures.

We went through only one of the buildings and they were hungry enough that we decided to leave and look for food. We went to what turned out to be really great dok bokki. For anyone who doesn't know, this is cylindrical rice cakes in hot sauce, which my little sister likes to call fire noodles. The restaurant even had a great mascot:

"What's for lunch? Oh....my head. Well, let's dig in."

The dok bokki had some shellfish and noodles in it as well as the rice cakes. It was really really good.

A picture of Daniel:

And Jacob:

And me. We got to wear nice red aprons because the food is so sloppy.

After lunch we walked down some more of the streets in the Insadong area. It was super scenic, and we walked to the area where the president of Korea lives, The Blue House.

Here is a picture of what the main street of Insadong looks like on a Saturday:

I bid farewell to my new friends, and I was finally able to do the shopping I wanted. I picked up a few paper lanterns from a souvenier shop, and I also found a really great art store that had canvases, paint, and brushes:

So it was a nice day in Insadong, but there was still the matter of my phone. I got back to the bus station in Seosan at about 9:30 and started (trying) to ask around for a lost and found. This involved something very similar to a game of charades, but with real consequences. After being shown a bank of pay phones, I was led to an office around back of the station. The guy there let me call my phone to see if I could hear it, but nothing came up. He then thought of an old desk where some items like this are kept, and luckily the cell phone was in one of the drawers. Sweet relief!

Korea can be a great place because people tend to be honest about things like this and not go and make a dozen phone calls to Nigeria or something. So thanks to whoever picked up my phone!

Signs: They're Big in Japan

As anyone who has read this blog knows, I really like (am borderline obsessed with) cute cartoon characters and mascots on signs. The trip to Japan presented the opportunity to see another wacky Asian culture's take on how signs should be made. In Japan's case, they aren't nearly as heavy on the cutesy mascot type sign. That's a slight bummer, but they more than made up for it in all out zaniness.

The way I see it in my experience, there are three primary reasons that a Japanese sign is funny to me. Type 1: the designers designed it to be funny, and pulled it off. Type 2: the designers are going for something I completely don't understand and find hilarious. Type 3: sometimes my favorite, the Japanese word sounds like something in English. In the end, I think the reason number two definitely comes up the most.

I have in this post 15 of my favorite signs I saw in Japan, so hit the play button for some background music and enjoy:

This one is a totally common street sign. I think it's for a crosswalk or something about the sidewalk but the picture is just not clear at all to me.

This one was a HUGE sign in the electric district of some weird old dude.

This is actually a type 1, they want to discourage people from drinking and passing out in the subways. We could use signs like this in Korea, everywhere.

This sign was in the gondola near Mount Fuji, just oddly worded with a typo. I missed getting a picture of a guy holding this sign at a gondola stop that said 'The passenger who wishes to get off will raise my hand.'

This is on a toy vending machine, the character looks a little like a poo.

Something about not smoking....

Hey, it's another Type 1 spotting, from the famed Condomania.

I have no idea what this sign is going for, but I don't want my karaoke to leave me angry and nose deep in some water.

Just a sign I liked, maybe a restaurant?

Just Tommy Lee Jones tryin' to sell me some coffee.

This is an awesome sign that was down in a subway stop. The world needs more signs like this.

This was actually posted to warn about officers stationed to control traffic. I don't know if I would like being compared to an Alfalfa mouse.

If you're riding the crazy train, remember your point card.

Type 3!!!! But, it reminds me of the number 2.

Just a cute food court sign.

Anyway, thats it for today, I thought I would take a break from the day to day recaps and switch it up a little. I'll be back tomorrow to talk about New Years Day in Japan.

Mascots: Daejeon Edition

So my recent trip to Daejeon yielded some pretty good mascots, and by good I mean super crazy. These mascots are so good that I had a lot of trouble coming up with what they should say. Therefore, if any reader thinks they have a better line for a mascot, please post in the comments. Anyway, please enjoy Mascots: Daejeon Edition.

"I spit on your food to cook it!"

"My wife makes just the tastiest little babies"

"(singing) Oh, I lost my old job, at the WB, and now I am here where nobody seeeeeees"

"You know you can trust a bird with a human head"

"I can't believe I have to share the side of a tiny van with this guy!"

"I am your lord and savior, Jejas Ka Ree Soo Too"

And the Winner Is....

Some readers will remember that I posted a contest in my mascot series where I asked my loyal readers to suggest what the mascot might be saying. I waited about a month now, and I had three entries. I consider that pretty good actually, so thanks to everyone who entered.

Anyway, since it's been about a month, I may as well just pick a winner since there most likely aren't going to be any more entries. Lets go ahead and recap all of the entries:

Entry 1: "I'm singing and playing air guitar while I bathe in this soup, so I'm sure you'll like it."

Entry 2: "If you can eat me in one spoonful without choking, I will sing you the most awesome song with backup played upon my own bones!"

Entry 3: "Oh, you know you cannot resist the sweet meat song! *wink*"

First of all, these are all great entries. I do have to say that the third one is my favorite, though. I like how succinct it is and the phrase 'sweet meat song' has a ring to it. That's right, number three, you are the winner!

One problem, who are you? This submission was entered anonymously, so obviously I can't be sure who did it. I promised a prize to the winner, and I do intend to deliver. The other two entries, I'll try to get you something the next time I am home anyway.

Once again, thanks for entering, and I'll try to put up another mascot post soon.

Mascots Ep. V, So Many Mascots

So, continuing the beloved series of guessing what a small lovable mascot might be saying or thinking, its Mascots Ep. V, So Many Mascots. Oh, by the way, this might be the last mascot post for a while because I think I ran out. There's an outside chance I can find enough for another one.

"Hey kids, I used to sell breakfast cereal, and now I sell something waaaay more delicious. Cigarettes! They're Great!"

"This year, why not let a bed bug do your taxes!"

"I have a pepper for a hand, and I like it."

"Alright, who invited the spoon?"

"We should consider other delivery methods!"

"( )"

This is a new feature, where I would like you to tell me what you think this character would be saying. Please leave any ideas in the comments. If a few people actually contribute ideas, I'll make it a contest and find a prize for the winner.

Mascots Ep. IV, insert title here

I actually forgot about doing this for a while until it struck me today that I really need to put out another installment. Here, for your viewing pleasure, Mascots Episode IV:

"I'm as confused as you are!"

"You know, technically I'm drinking my own pee"

"Go ahead, stick your nozzle in my mouth, bro"

"Together at last, Bunnies and Chicken!"

"Alright, who stuck my head in a basketball?"

"Upon smelling this meat, I can only smile up at the heavens!"

Mascots Ep. III: Revenge of the Mascots

Well we all know the story by now. Brad comes to Korea, loves the advertising genius of using the suicidal mascots, takes pictures, makes up captions, yada yada yada. Here we are, back by popular demand, Mascots Episode III: Revenge of the Mascots.

"Come and watch me drink beer out of a mug with a beak! A damn beak!"

"Most people can't even understand how offensive I am!"

"Once you go black beer......"

"You don't even want to know how this happened!"

"Oh God! I'm a shoe, aren't I?"

"I keep telling the wife, open your eyes when you're pounding the dough, but nooooooo. Last week she nailed some clown in the nose."

"That's right, there is no where in the world you can get away from me."