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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2007. 5:49PM (SEOUL, KOREA TIME)

well so far seoul has been pretty neat even though it took me two full days to really get over the jetlag. it's actually a lot cooler than i thought, everybody is really nice which i seriously wasn't expecting at all (mostly because i lived with three korean girls for two years in college and two of my bestest friends in the world are korean and all of those ladies are absolute bitches).

anyhoo. ohmylord i am completely dumbfounded the level of service here it's unbelievable. unfortunately i can't name the hotel i am staying at (it's really great though!) because koreans are evidently insane google freaks and so if i mention the hotel, then the nice peoples who put us up in this place will most likely see it (especially considering how famous my bloggettyblog is here in korea hee heee) and somehow i don't think me yapping all about everything would fly all that well.

but yah the service is INCREDIBLE. i probably notice it much more though, because the day before i left nyc i happened to have drinks up at theMandarinOriental@theTWC and geezus christ.

uhh correct me if i'm wrong but isn't theMandarin supposed to be like a five star or some shit? holy cow i can't even begin to express how fucking attatoody every single mutherfukker (except my homeboy of course, whom i went to visit) working there was. what in the hells is their problem up there in the fucking mall?

oh wait never mind, i know. i commented to homeboy "dude your peeps up here are so wack" and he replied "they're not exactly my peeps. and that's the Union for ya!"

so so sad.

anyways my point was: the Korean Orientals are making the Mandarin Orientals look like spoiled overpaid union bumblefucks.
i'm just sayin.

oh! and i learned all sorts of kinda neat things about seoul too. like how seoul is hella huge-- there's about 18 million peoples here!
and how the city is essentially split up into the "north side" ("traditional" and business district-- think: wall street) and the "south side" ("young," hip, and modern-- think: west village slash meatpacking) which are separated by "the river."
the amazing thing too is that seoul has something like twenty bridges to get back and forth. yes i said TWENTY fucking bridges. as in: sad assed nyc has THREE to access brooklyn for example, and each one of them shits is like a hundred years old.

seoul has this really funky underground walkway system too (lined all up and down with tiny little shops) which means you can go from place to place to place and never get wet in the rain. i would know-- i just went from my hotel to the next hotel and over to the big shopping center and i didn't need an umbrella even though it's pouring outside.

oh and the shopping! holy cow.
i mean, everybody knows i never ever ever shop for clothes but here i couldn't resist i already bought two pieces and i'm probably going back for more. the department stores in seoul make Barneys look like Kmart i am not even kidding.
the stuff is so nice here it isn't the same boring ugly crap you get in nyc that you see in every retarded magazine. even stupid calvin-klein has better shit here! what's up with that.

the one weird thing in seoul though is that there are about 10,000 restaurants on every single block but they all serve the same fucking shit. don't get me wrong now, i looooves me some bibimbop and kimchee but geezus christ. here they have a dozen korean restaurants all next door to each other.

oh hah haa that reminds me. i got invited out to dinner the other night to the "best barbecue place in seoul" (ahaha can't name it though, sorry!) and alls i can say is ummm yeeAAH. and i'm not just saying that cuz the place was an HOUR away (no joke) the car went past 6,000 other barbecue joints getting there.

i mean it was yummy and all, but if THAT's the best restaurant in seoul then i don't quite know how to break it to them that must mean the best korean place in the WORLD is in fucking new york city. just pulling any random spot in my head without thinking (hmm uhh WooLaeOk?) blows this poor BBQ seoul joint away.

the other funny thing is that koreans are really REALLY into shoe repair. seriously. there's a shoe repair kiosk on like every street corner no exaggeration. and they're all FILLED with shoes (mostly men's though. funny) waiting to be shined and repaired. they even shoe-repair flipflops, that is not a joke. eehee i even took a photo of all the flipflops lined up in front of this little kiosk it was so fascinating to me.

there's a lot of octopusses here too, they're EVERYWHERE.
for some reason ever since i was a kid and my auntie gave me a big green furry stuffed smiley faced octopus for my birthday, i've had this thing for octopusses.
so now i have photos of all the seoul octopusses too. live octopusses, cartoon octopusses, logo octopusses, and even a bigassed red neon octopus.

i bet you want to visit seoul now, don't you?

september 6, 2007 "business lunch with the koreans" • COMMENT on this entry (registration required)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007. 4:12PM (SEOUL, KOREA TIME)

now that have a minute i want to tell all about the funny business lunch yesterday, before it totally flies out of my head.

okay is it me or does this sound like some crazy bizarro cosmic other plane past life twilight zone freakishness or what. check it:

so i go to this business lunch meeting with a bunch of serious suited korean dudes. mind you now, the only reason i was invited to this korean businessman lunch meeting is because i used to work for juan-jorge . this is why last minute they insissssted i join them (even though i have absolutely zero reason to be in seoul,korea-- basically i'm just a stowaway in a steamer trunk).

september 5, 2007 "business lunch with the koreans" • COMMENT on this entry (registration required)