Formerly Mad Man Diana's Pressure Cooker

Hello Feedbag fans! JRC here, Diana’s oft-mentioned Old Man. Welcome to my guest blog post.

I’m not much of a world traveler, but faced with the prospect of not seeing her for a year, the decision to fly halfway around the world was an easy one to make. I hope you enjoy list covering some highlights of my recent visit:

10. Gwangju, do you know how awesome your subway system is? It’s really awesome. You should kiss its sliding doors every time one of the fancy, well-maintained, whisper-quiet cars rolls into your stop exactly on time. The new Phoenix rail system is a fine start, but waiting for the car to arrive in 100+ temperatures for half the year really sells the importance of the underground.

Speaking of subway…
9. SUBWAY. Okay, I’m sorry, this might be the lamest thing I did on the trip, but one night, hour after hour, Diana and I just couldn’t find any of the restaurants we were looking for; Enter Subway Seoul, programed into her robot-phone. The perfect meal for the moment–Generic veggies on a starchy bun w/ a side of chips and a Dr. Pepper FTW.

8. Cemeteries: We took public bus to the 5-18 Memorial, never suspecting that it would keep “bureaucracy hours.” The staff were really cool and gave us 15 minutes to visit, AND souvenir postcards/map to salve our disappointment! On the way back to the bus stop we lucked across this little set of plots that we can only assume belong to one of the farm families in the area. Small but majestic. It’s possible we were indecently trespassing at this site, if so apologies from us to the deceased and their living family.

7. Theme Coffee Shops! Not everyplace in SK has a gimmick, but the places that do know how to rock it! Dining on Snoopy-shaped waffles, or including medical advice, or hanging with cats while eating your food. SK is the place to experience all this oddness, along with SOY Delicious Cafes!: Mochas, ice cream! The only place I could safely get a coffee drink besides a simple Americano. (Tip of the hat to the poor trainee kid who we cornered alone one morning, he didn’t know a thing yet but did his level best).

6. Shopping!
I love shopping/window shopping and Seoul in particular had a couple great spots. I could have spent hours in the Lomography Store where Diana got me my funky 4-shot analog film camera . Covered foot to ceiling with different “old fashioned” Holgas, Brownie-remakes, and other fun trick cameras–perfect for a kitsch-collector like me. Also a hit, the Converse store where D got us hightops. I haven’t worn a pair of Chucks since they stopped making them in the US (I know, I know…) so it was nice to have a “when in Rome” excuse. Did I mention the stationary stores? Oh my, so much goodness.

5. A short 20 minute walk to Vegetarian Restaurant / Loveland!
Getting to walk everywhere in SK was a great exercise and honestly enjoyable. The hike on Jeju Island to their infamous outdoor “romance museum” Loveland however started to feel a bit like the Bataan Death March once it got dark and the sidewalk turned to mud. After 12 years living in PHX, the “why walk when you can drive city”, my leg muscles had pretty much forgotten what “brisk” meant. Luckily the vegetarian food at the halfway mark was awesome, and Loveland more than lived up to its absurd promotion!

4. Bangs 1! Along with my other retro obsessions I think photobooths are just the height of charm. They’re rare and getting rarer in the US–especially the old ones that use real film photo processing. Diana and I went to about 4 different photobangs over the 2 weeks I was visiting, resulting in many postcard-sized sheets of silly faces and juvenile photoshop fun. #2 retirement idea: US photobooth shop.

4.5. Bangs 2. How do you know you’re in love? It’s either when you sing Barry Manilow songs to your girlfriend in a mini-Karaoke booth, or when she’s patient enough to listen to it. Dueting on “Rock & Roll Radio” is optional but recommended.

3. Outfits! As Diana showed me, Koreans love to play “couple’s dress-up” with their beau/best-gal, and I’m romantic enough that this sounded like just about the cutest thing in the world. Plus because we wouldn’t be allowed to make out in public as much as usual, it seemed like a good substitute to channel our energies into for a day. Identical Kate Beaton shirts, earflap hats, blue jeans, and of course those chucks and we were fit for a day of SK cultural immersion. One of the photobooth attendants caught on and chuckled at our “SK cosplay.”

2. Namsan Tower! One of the tallest buildings in the world, a majestic view, and easily the most compelling and sweet public art projects I’ve ever seen in person! “Locks of Love” my gentle readers: bring a couple of locks and latch them together as a part of this huge ever-growing display of affection and promises.

1. Snugglin’ up, watching Simpsons. I don’t care what amazing country you’re in, or what adventure you’re having. Sittin’ in bed, watching ‘toons with the woman you love = Win!