Still on extended work schedule – so Saturday evenings and Sundays only free time so using meetup to find last minute things to do as most of my co-workers are on business trips. I already posted on my two exciting meetups of the Noryangin Fish Market and batshit crazy basketball guy.
Noryangin Fish Market
To be clear, eating live octopus in Korea falls into two different categories:
1. Pick out an octopus at the fish market –put it in a plastic Giant bag (and get charged the recycling fee), take it to local restaurant, they cut it up with scissors and put it on a plate, then you eat it while it is still moving but really dead (think chicken with its head cut off). This is eating “live” octopus. This is what we did. Not too bad.
2. Pick out an octopus at the fish market –eat it whole while it tries to climb back out. This is eating “alive” octopus. This is beyond my capability – and people do die. I had attached a video of a lady that did it so check that out if we are really interested.
Basketball
Was playing basketball with the old guys, generally a laid back group of Korean-Americans, some locals and some Expats. But we got a very intense guy – where people called fouls for touching them, he was very rough (and a big guy). So the other team was walking of the court in protest and after a discussion he left the game and went to the lock room. We continued but we missed him as he was a great rebounder and we were winning every game. After the game, we went to the locker room and he was already gone – but before leaving he through everyones clothes (wallets, phones, keys) out the 4th floor window. So quite a panic and we named him “batshit crazy guy”. Found out later on a posting on the meetup page (similar to a closed Facebook page) one comment was posted that the guys were able to get on the roof the next day and retrieve their items. Of course batshit crazy guy is on same group page and nothing else was said. We will find out this Friday at the next game if he shows up. But great rebounder and helped us to the win.
Rail trail
The other meetup was railbiking….interesting concept. Pictures attached. This allowed me to explore regular bike trails and figured out about 2,000 miles of riverside trails are in Korea and the only portion on the road is the 5 blocks from my house.
Finally – first Korean funeral of a work colleague parent. Very efficient. As part of the hospital complex, a separate building (about 15 floors) has 10 funeral private sections on each floor, some Buddhist and some Christian. Each section has the greeting room with the casket, flowers, and other personal effects and another large catered eating area. The family greets visitors for a couple of days – a couple of bows and pay your respects then to the eating area for a Soju toast. Overall very well done.
Other sites around Seoul
From Week 74 and 75 – Three Meetups and a Funeral. Posted by JC Travels on 6/19/2015 (12 items)
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