My time with Amy was sadly coming to an end. The laughs and experiences we shared were some of the best moments of my life. We got ourselves into and out of some once-in-a-lifetime situations - that girl is hilarious! We spent most of the day eating and shopping and finished it off with a couple drinks as we again bumped into Ryan, Dillon and Craig. We gave Amy a nice sendoff, and we went out exploring the city to the road with lady-boys and strip clubs - we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It mostly consisted of rich, old men or oddball young foreigners. We got back in time to put Amy in her 3am cab to the airport; the end of an era.
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| Goodbye shots. |
Over the last seven weeks, I collected all kinds of clothes and gifts, and I had to get some of the weight off my back. I mailed home a 7kg box, which my posture was thankful for, and roamed the streets until Lena arrived a few hours later. Over the next few days, we shopped, checked out Chatuchak Market (which is now flooded) and went to the MBK mall where I could reluctantly get a cheap phone and sim card only to satisfy my parents' demand.
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| Chatuchak Market. |
We stayed in Bangkok for longer than I would have liked, but it happened to be Yom Kippur and Bangkok was a good place to be for it. Lena joined me in my last meal before the fast with a bowl of green curry with chicken and rice. She was going to accompany me to the Chabad House for the boring services but was subjected to racial profiling at the door and was refused entrance. I was completely stunned by the rude interrogation she was receiving by the older, Israeli doorman - in fact, I was truly embarrassed. I've never known of any congregation to be unwelcoming to a guest, no matter what their religion, but Lena left and I headed into the lonely room solo.
I forgot how much I hate attending Chabad services, although the one in Korea wasn't as bad as this one. It quickly filled up with Israelis and the random American Jew, but it still felt empty. I forgot about the partition between the men and women, and the entire service was 100% in Hebrew - sermons, books and all conversations - which I can handle, but the Rabbi was speaking so quickly. I rushed out at the end and decided I wasn't coming back the next day. Instead, I handled some things I needed to finish before taking an overnight bus and ferry to Koh Phangan, in time for the October full moon party.
Yom Kippur fell on Friday to Saturday, the 17th and 18th. Unfortunatley, my school was not exactly accommodating and didn't let me have the Friday off, but I didn't push it too far either. Saturday morning, I headed up to Seoul en route to the Chabad House services at the US Army Base Religious Retreat Center in Itaewon. There was a good group of fellow "Dae-Jewers" (Jews of Daegu) that were there also. It was a pretty decent turnout - maybe 100 people - definitely more Jews in Korea than I had anticipated. And I could not get over the adorable half-Korean children running around speaking Hebrew at 4 years old - I kid you not, it was amazing. Other than that, it was a normal Chabad service, much like the others I've previously experienced. It did make me miss our Yom Kippur services and the reform nature and family feel, but it was nice to make the journey to the only services in Korea.
On the verge of passing out nearing the "break-fast" point, I finally made it to 7:30 and snacked on crackers, tuna, hummus, veggies, fruit and cake at the Army base. We walked into the Itaewon area and grabbed a beer with the Jews and moved on to an area called Hongdae. It was pretty fun - we got a bag drink from GoGo Vinyl (minus the "GoGo") to keep things like Daegu, got some BBQ Chicken and beers, stopped by a hookah bar/lounge and at 3am headed back to the hotel. We stayed at the Ibis Hotel which was fairly nice but really not near any of the places we were ever at. Not sure how that worked out. I'm still skeptical of all hotels, motels or whatever other type of accommodations. The cleanliness is always FAR below par, and I will never step foot into the shower without shower shoes - even at Ibis, the shower floor was dirty. Just one of those things you have to expect.
Sunday, I spent the day shopping around in the Myeongdong area. There are many Western restaurants and clothing stores, so it was nice to catch some of those once in a while. There was a huge Forever21 and H&M, Nike stores, adidas, GUESS, Outback Steakhouse, CPK, the list goes on - we opted for a meal at CPK, but I enjoyed every bite. I even found Red Mango for the first time since I've been here, despite the fact that it's a Korean chain that was recently named #4 on fastest growing food service chains in the US in 2009 - but nowhere to be found in Korea. It was a fun day regardless of the pouring rain, but I wish I was able to enjoy Seoul a bit more and not have to fast and stay so far from the attractions.
Til next time, Hi Seoul!
