Wild Weekend

#1 Gate that burnt down a few weeks ago.

Finally we had a weekend of good weather and not being sick! :)

Friday night Heather and I decided not to go out. We figured we should rest it up because Saturday was going to be a big day. Come Saturday we headed out with our new friend Brandon to the Dongdaemun Market. Normally the market is held in a stadium and there is all sorts of crazy weird cool stuff, but unfortunately the stadium was closed so there was just a market in the area surrounding the stadium. Supposedly it wasn't as good as it normally is, but we still had fun walking around and seeing everything. Next we went to Namdemun. This is also a market. On the way to Namdemun we saw Seoul cities' #1 Gate which burnt down a few weeks ago. The story is that the government was trying to buy a man's land in the southern part of Korea for a very low price. The man was pissed off that he was getting screwed over so he burnt down the #1 Gate. People are pretty big on fire demonstrations around here. I just heard that last week during the processional of the Olympic torch a guy set himself on fire. I'm not quite sure what he was demonstrating but that is one way to relay a message.

Namdaemun was a fun market. It was pretty large and sort of set back from the street. We walked the ally ways of market and didn't have to worry so much about getting run over by a car. In the market we saw all sorts of things. There was ginseng everywhere. That is the latest health rave around here. People were selling ginseng roots, ginseng roots in jars of amber colored water, ginseng powders, ginseng candies...everything ginseng. Other than ginseng we walked down the street to smells of seafood and other cooking food, we saw tons of people everywhere, all sorts of clothes, shoes, illegally imported foreigner goods such as deodorant, peanut butter, cheese, american snacks like cheetos...and all sorts of other things. As the day wore on and the sun beat down we decided to stop for an ice-cream bar. I chose melon, which is pretty much the best thing I've ever tasted. So we stood in front of a vendor selling roasted pigs feet, eating our ice-cream and discussing the random pigs head and pigs feet that were being cooked and sold right in front of us. It was a good time.

Next we went to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace. Lots of cultural activities are happening this weekend and next weekend because this weekend is the festival of the Spring and next weekend is Buddha's Birthday. Upon arriving at the Palace we could see the outside of the Palace and hear the music coming from inside. There were people dressed up in traditional costume, playing drums and bells. We decided to wander around the outside of the Palace since the ceremony was almost over. Then as we were leaving everyone came out of the Palace and we were able to get all sorts of fun pictures.

Finally around 7pm Heather and I parted ways with Brandon and headed home for some dinner and relaxation before our big night out. We left our apartment again around 11pm, rode the subway until it closed at 12pm and then took a taxi the rest of the way to World Cup Stadium. We were headed to the World DJ Fest so we looked for the lights and decided to head in that direction. Soon we came upon some other foreigners who told us we were going the wrong way. So we decided to abandon our route and follow the foreigners who had been lost for the last two hours. We wandered around the park talking and getting to know each other. Finally we found our way to where the DJ Fest was. People were everywhere, the music was pounding, the strobe lights were going and it was AWESOME! The location was in a park right next to the Han River and the scene was pretty much an outdoor rave. Heather and I jumped in and started dancing right away. The first DJ was crazy. I think he was from Canada and he kept coming out on stage with different costumes. At one point a fire dancer came out and performed too. The music was loud and wild and everyone was dancing. I met some random guy who said get up on my shoulders so I did and I was able to see the huge crowd and the stage even better. I danced on his shoulders for a while, had tons of people take pictures of me and then got down. It was an interesting way to meet someone. After a while Heather and I met back up with Brandon and hung out/danced with him for a bit. He left at about 3am, but Heather and I stayed. We danced and danced and met so many people. Finally the sun came up, but the party didn't stop. A lot of people were camping out since the DJ Fest goes for a few days, but Heather and I decided that we should probably head home. We slept the whole subway ride home, got back to our apartment and crashed. It was an INCREDIBLE night!!