April 2017

Happy spring days!

My first non-climbing trip since I started climbing!

Adventures and delicious foods, silliness and floundering, red eye flights and sleepovers at the airport. 

Endless good times that stretch long beyond the sunrise. 

A week in the Seoul metropolitan area and a week in the Tokyo metropolitan area in photos. 

We actually arrived in Japan first-- but our flight to Korea was 8 hours after we landed, so we spent a few hours eating and drinking and walking off the 14 hour flight and getting ready for the next 1.5 hour leg!

Whew!

In America, flights do not generally depart after about 11pm but such rules do not exist in Asia it seems-- our flight to Korea was at 1am! Pretty inconvenient given that we landed in Korea at about 3am and the subway doesn't start until 5:30am.

Thus came the first sunrise of many on this trip. 

Sake in Japan!

Supposedly this is a traditional way of pouring sake-- you put the sake cup in a wooden box, and pour the sake such that it fills the cup and overflows into the wooden box to the rim! Then you drink both (one at a time, of course). 

So fancy!

In America we call this a double shot, but you do you, Japan. 

Visiting Korea is less like tourism and more like visiting home.

Shops here and there have changed-- my favorite park in Hongdae is under construction, the paving was all torn up with just piles of dirt and pebbles everywhere, and most of the restaurants are something else-- but it's the same as ever. A little more crowded, sure, but it's really comfortable. 

In the 6 days we spent in Korea, I got an average of 5 hours of sleep a night. There were opportunities to sleep more, but no matter how exhausted I felt, I couldn't sit still-- I gorged myself on as much of Korea as I could possibly, the

sound of kimchi sizzling on the grill, the
          grease of barbeque soaking into my tongue and my clothes and my skin, the 

clinking of shot glasses overflowing with soju, the
     elderly workers appearing with the first rays of the sun to clean the streets, the

endless music pulsing in the streets from the guitars and from the lips of hopeful youths and the
               banter of young people so lively and heated during the chilly moments of the night,
      fighting to make up for the long hours spent meeting impossible social expectations, the

overbearing but warm mothering from the numerous mothers I don't even know who gently
           ask me with their eyes though not their words how I, this
   girl with Korean faltering and hair colored green and skin too dark, came to
                               be here in this neighborhood bathhouse, and instead
tell me to try the sikhye, a sweet rice drink, because it's refreshing after one comes out of the hot baths. 

Dog cafe.

Dog cafe dog cafe dog cafe dog cafe.

This cafe was so great! We ended up staying here for 2 hours just playing with all the derpy dogs.

This dog though.

The employees trained this one so that when they squat in front of the dog, the dog hops onto their back for a piggy back ride!

Or should I say.

Puppy back ride.

So cute!

"Who drew the eyebrows on this dog?"

"Oh, us employees did. Pretty funny right?"

"You should draw the eyebrows daker."

And they did!!!

Amazing.

Service in Korea is unmatched.

Traditional buildings nestled between modern bars and shops, caught in the web of power lines, the likes that just don't exist in America because for real, those cables have got to be a hazard. 

But they're ubiquitous in Asia! 

Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Taiwan... everywhere, they've got these crazy power lines. 

I absolutely love Hongdae. 

It's bursting with art and culture everywhere.

Pockets of color hide on walls.

Delicious restaurants and cafes fill the streets.

Bars and clubs overflow their sounds and drinks through the air.

But the live music--!

Oh, the street music is amazing!

Seoul is a sleepy city in the mornings-- most cafes don't open until 10am, and shops won't start business any earlier than noon.

It's quite dull trying to find something to do weekday mornings as a tourist!

But the evenings burst with life.

Around dinner time, performers set up portable amps, microphones, and instruments and sing. 

I can't count how many hours we spent just camped out in front of them.

A bottle of soju, a can of cider to wash it down with, and a comfy seat on the porch of a shop in front of a talented performer. 

It makes for a perfect evening, really.

On the weekends, they play into the wee hours of the night but on weekdays, it's music out at 10pm.

Of course, this didn't stop one performer we listened to-- when he saw the cops coming over to shut him down, he sat down in the audience! The cops passed by not knowing where he'd run off to! When they came by a second time a while later, he packed up his things only to set up shop a few blocks down the street. 

So silly.

So determined to play. 

So great, to try so hard to do the thing you love.

No trip to Korea is complete without a hike!

And of course rock stacking.

So much rock stacking. 

And also an entire gym that someone must have hauled up the mountain! 

It included the hula hoop (pictured right) as well as pull-up bars, benches and bars for bench presses and actual lifting!

It's funny, coming from California, I couldn't help but to notice how tiny the trees are in Korea! But I guess it's like that everywhere compared to the giants we have in California.

I really did miss the Korean foliage.

And all the old people going for hikes.

Throughout the afternoon, we saw no end to the old people in hiking attire, but besides some small children, we saw no young people!

Things really haven't changed too much-- except nowadays the best competition boulderer is Korean! Who would have expected? Is this really the same Korea that used to think bouldering was stupid and dangerous?  

The picture above is of a meal of jeon we had. Jeon is a korean word that sorta translates into 'pancakes' though these Korean pancakes are savory and a lot more oily! Also I love kimchijjigae, Korean kimchi soup, forever and everI really didn't take enough pictures of food. 

It's kinda funny. 

Usually when people travel, the majority of their pictures are of food, but I'm so bad at it. I always just end up eating without thinking about it. I also get self conscious about looking like a tourist, especially in Korea where the food feels so familiar!

There was an amazing meal we had of pig feet-- so good! I wish I had taken a picture of it. One thing I've actually said several times before is that I've never eaten a baked good with too much cinnamon and I've never had a savory meal with too much garlic-- but this was the actual one and only time in my life where I thought, this actually might be too much garlic.

It wasn't, but it was close. 

We also had another fantastic 6 or 7 course meal in this tiny Korean restaurant that was just wonderful. Tons of real traditional Korean foods you'll never see outside of Korea! I actually don't even know what to call them because they're not typical restaurant fair. Ah, I really wish I had taken a picture of that-- or of the shaved ice... The regrets have hit me now! 

A cafe with all cat-themed food.

I love how in Asia, people embrace cute things rather than feel embarrassed about them! In America, shops and companies always try to look modern, artistic or cool, but in Asia, shops and companies are super into cute things. It's not embarrassing for boys to even like cute designs because it's so normal. 

I definitely re-stocked on cute stationary and pens while I was here!

Secret to travelling in Korea: Look up! There are restaurants and businesses on every one of the 4 floors of these types of buildings, and even in the basement! This single building holds more shops than your typical American street!

At some point, I spent a day by myself, exploring my old neighborhood, around the Pyeongchon and Beomgye areas of Anyang.

I lived here for two years!

It's still the same. Of course it is!

I stayed at the bath house I used to always go to. Got a massage. Ate street food. Wandered shops. Visited the park. 

All the things I used to love and still do!

Korea is funny. 

In some ways, things are very governed by rules, particularly social rules. For example, you cannot sit in the elderly/disabled seats on the subway train even if the seats are open! People will judge you and give you the dirtiest of looks. 

On the other hand, when it comes to business, there's very much a feeling of why not? In official brick-and-mortar stores, there's no haggling, but if the conditions are just right, you can bargain down club entrance fees. And there's these little things. 

On this trip, I needed to charge my phone, so I left it at a cell phone shop and asked them to charge it. They didn't ask when I'd return-- I simply left and shopped for two hours. When I came to pick it up, I left them with pastries I bought from the bakery.

The little things I love about Korea. 

The place that started it all-- a little old gym out in the far suburbs of Seoul.

In the middle of the day, the gym is empty save for this handful of crusher moms. They raise children and work and are some of the strongest climbers I've had the honor of climbing with!  

Then at night, all the members come out. Total membership has never been that high, but the people who are members are crazy dedicated, coming out most nights of the week. 

On the weekends, everyone goes to the local outdoor wall (right). This is where I learned how to clip my first bolts! I remember lead climbing here, asking for tension on the rope, but Lee Sangyul refused. I screamed as he dropped me some 25 feet, thanks to the slack he left out! He laughed as he lowered me to the ground. Tough love.

Our gym is tiny compared to any American gym, and the holds are old and I don't know the last time the floor padding was replaced, but it's a place that's trained some of the best!

Eimir, who started climbing in her early 30's, placed 5th overall in the World Ice Climbing Cup after just 5 years of ice climbing, thanks to Captain's training here. After her crazy rise to the top, other ice climbers started seeking out Captain and our gym in hopes of finding training secrets! 

To support this focus on ice climbing, Captain built out this brand new dry tooling room a year or two after I'd left Korea.

Amazing. 

I don't know of any gym in America that lets you dry tool indoors at all, but in Korea it's so easy. 

The legend himself, Kim Jongheon. In Korean, we call him senteojjang, but I just say Captain.  

In his early years, he was the top sport climber in Korea. He helped establish the sport in its early years, bolting routes in Korea and in China. If you ever go to White Mountain in Yangshuo China, you'll see the Korea #1 graffiti he tagged under the eponymous 5.13b route he set there. 

He's also an extremely well-respected ice climber and is one of just three certified route setters for the World Ice Climbing Competition. 

Once, while routesetting for a Korean competition, an entire frozen waterfall collapsed on top of him. He was left for dead and his wife was notified of his passing. Later that day, he showed up at the competition tent and asked why you assholes didn't help dig him out. 

Captain has been without a doubt among one of the biggest influences on my life. He's had endless belief in my abilities beyond my own beliefs and I can't wait for the next opportunity to climb with him again! 

It feels right somehow that the last person I interacted with in Korea was Captain.  

Part II continues with photos and stories of Japan.