I met my Korean friend JW today at the top of Exit 6, Dongdae-ipgu Station, at a little after 1PM. He was never a fat guy, but he looked amazingly skinny after four years of living a married life as a POSCO prole stationed in Pune, India (he's a general manager now—definitely moving up in the world). We did my double-summiting route, then continued our walk past my neighborhood and into Jongno, where we ate dinner at my other friend Tom's favorite place, Seorae, which serves galmaegi-sal (grilled, boneless pork chunks).
Before Seorae, we went on a quest for books (for JW, who has suddenly gotten a hankering for Buddhism despite being a committed Catholic) and for Legos (for JW's son) at Youngpoong Bookstore. JW, who was tired from our walk, wasn't in the mood to walk all the way to Kyobo, which is the place I had suggested earlier. As JW guessed, the Legos were hellaciously expensive: he had guessed that a large set would cost around $150; the actual price turned out to be a ridiculous $190, so he settled on buying a toy safe for his son for under $30. "My son likes sticking things in safes; sometimes, when we're in hotels, he'll lock things in the hotel safe and we have to call the front desk to get the safe opened," JW explained.*
We basically walked all day, from 1PM until around 9PM. By the time we were done, I had racked up nearly 30K steps (28.5K), which wasn't a bad way for me to begin November. JW had gone running/walking for 90 minutes earlier in the day, so he can add about 9K steps to my total. I felt sorry for his feet: he didn't bring appropriate walking shoes, so he's likely to have raw skin (he had no socks) as well as blisters. As for the blisters, I told him about my experience walking 600 miles in the Pacific Northwest in 2008, and the best advice I could give was: "Just walk right through them." Blisters pop, and that can't be helped. But eventually the pain of your blisters will fade and you'll find you can just keep on marching with little to no problem at all.
Stay tuned: I have plenty of photos to upload, some from today's massive walk, some that are simply part of the backlog. More soon.
*When I got back to my place, I popped onto Amazon to see how much a large bucket of Legos would cost in the States. The answer: under thirty dollars. I shit you not.
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And Amazon.com delivers to South Korea. Just make sure your keep your total under $100, or you will have to declare the contents and pay an import tax on it.
ReplyDeleteMy buddy lives in Pune, India. Does Amazon deliver to India? I'm guessing it does, but I'd have to look up the import-tax situation. Surely a bucket of Legos wouldn't be held forever (and have the shit taxed out of it) by Indian customs, ja?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about India as I haven't lived there, but, thanks to Google, it costs $4.99/lb (not kilogram) for shipping to India for toys which is the same as to South Korea.
ReplyDeleteNow, thanks to an American immigrant from India, I need to decompress from one hell of an emotional high as I just saw one of the best films I've ever seen, America: Imagine The World Without Her. No one can watch this film and not feel proud to be an American while feeling sadness (and even hate) towards those twisting and inventing facts to suit their own selfish purposes which extend all the way to the current tenant of The White House and his former Secretary of State. Bono says it best, but you'll have to watch the film to nearly the end to get his profound message about why the world needs the United States of America and is so much the better off for the mostly land of the free and the home of the brave.