On the road again...

As noted, I'll be braving the highways of Korea this 추석/choo-seok in an effort to find some fun. Yeouido is veritably shuttered (as is much of Seoul) during the holiday so I might as well take this opportunity to see the country; and my destinations: 거제도/Geoje-do, 전주/Jeonju and (to a much lesser degree) 부산/Pusan are about as country as you can get here. I've actually only been to three places outside of Seoul: 부산, 전주 & 영덕/Youngdeok (a tiny fishing village on the East Sea known for its 영덕대게/Youngdeok DaeGai/bamboo crab).

To celebrate the season many (if not all) of the businesses in Korea give their employees and clients gift packages--they do the same on a more selective basis for 설날/seol-nal (Lunar New Year). Last year it was a much-needed shampoo/soap/bamboo toothpaste gift box, this year it's...SPAM! I've noticed that places where the US Army has/had a large influence (such as Korea, the Philippines) they think Spam is a real delicacy...perhaps because during the fighting it was some of the only meat in the country. Koreans even have a famous soup called 부대찌개/budaejjigae (literally means soldier's hot soup) where soldiers in the ROK army would add Spam and hotdogs to their traditional 찌개 (basically hot pepper soup with ramen and some veggies) for extra protein. These days 부대찌개 has a lot more meat in it, but it's still quite spicy.


Nothing says Choo-seok/Thanksgiving quite like a case of SPAM (Note: it comes in a handy tote bag!).

Um, I had enough Spam when I was a kid (actually we couldn't afford a name brand like Spam, so we ended up with Spork) so I'll leave the seal on the box intact and spring it on an unsuspecting 'friend' during 설날 or next year's 추석. Wow, did you just read that Hangul? You're learning tons of Korean from this blog! (Oh, and thanks to readers who correct my mistakes...I think all entries are certified correct 24 hours after their original posting.)

I have a bus to catch today...so this is it. Hope to post from the ultra-modern facilities at 거제도 and 전주 as well...did you just read those too?! Wow.

UPDATE: If you're looking for a foreign ATM in Korea VISA has a page where you can find all ATMs that take their cards in the whole world. From my experience they don't all work with all cards in Seoul, but it's probably better than asking on the street.

UPDATE: I happened across that SPAM in the supermarket...it costs 35,000 won (USD30.5) for 10 tins of the stuff! Hey, next time just get me a couple bottles of whisky or something, ok?