October 20th, 2023

Day 2

Today is my day reserved for Uncle John! Uncle John is our family friend that I very much admire, and his business takes him to Korea for a few days, and since his original plan was to leave for Japan on the 22nd, I had to buy my tickets to fit his schedule.

After I woke up at around 8, Uncle John called me and asked for my schedule. I said I had the whole day reserved for him. He then asked me to go to his hotel, we’ll have breakfast and climb up a mountain for fun. I thought he meant like walking up a pavement up a mountain, which was fine. I got washed up, dressed up, and drank 1 cup of pepto for my stomach problems yesterday, which was a deadly mistake. Should’ve drank 2. In hindsight, my stomach problems are probably due to not being used to Korean food. But it also didn’t happen the last time I visited Korea, which was around the same time last year. Hmm.

I had a light breakfast in the buffet of his hotel, the Grand Hyatt Hotel Seoul. The restaurant is downstairs of the main hall, and is exclusive to Grant Hyatt VIPs, and Uncle John is one of them. When I was looking for hotels, the cheapest room in his hotel was ¥2900 a night, which was about $400 a night. I could not afford that. After all, if I am to stay at that hotel for 4 nights, I could just buy an iPhone 15 Pro Max with that kind of money. We talked for a while, and during that time, the buffet area was empty and the staff started to clean up. We moved the conversation to his room upstairs, which had a gorgeous view. After I went to the bathroom for the first time today, we hit the road.

At first, it was just normal road, just as I thought.

However, as we moved upwards, it became dirt trails. We had to climb up rocks and tree trunks to keep walking up. My thigh has not been through a workout that intensive in a while, so I was panting like a dog in heat while Uncle John was walking up there in a breeze. We walked for about 40 minutes until we reached the top of that mountain, which had a beautiful view of the city. Uncle John told me to look for Cheongwadae, which used to be the official building of where the president works and greets foreign guests.

When we turned back, I saw the Seoul Tower. There are a lot of foreigners and a lot of people who speak English there, so it didn’t interest me to get in Seoul Tower. Here’s the thing with me. I really don't want to look like a tourist. I hate to be seen as a tourist. I don’t know why, but I just, I can’t be seen as a tourist. That’s why I didn’t get into Seoul Tower.

We started to walk down the mountain. By then, my inner thighs are already burning like hell, and trembling with every additional step I take. Getting down the mountain is a lot harder when your legs are very exhausted. Apparently Uncle John walk up this mountain road every day. Wow.

After we got back to his hotel, I was completely exhausted. I drank a whole bottle of water. Then I looked outside and saw the Seoul Tower. Holy crap I really did climb up a mountain that far away.

Since Uncle John came to Korea this time for business purposes, he is supposed to meet with his business associate today. He said I should come back at night to meet with him for dinner. I have decided to go visit Cheongwadae, and I was ready to take a taxi and maybe find lunch along the way. However, when his business associate arrives in her white Genesis SUV, Uncle John talked to her to see if she could drop me off at Cheongwadae, which she graciously agreed to do so. After a while of driving, Uncle John asked if I could be added to their lunch, and she agreed again. She is so nice.

The restaurant that they have a reservation at is a very tiny Italian place. Uncle John is a man of great tastes and great experiences with food, so if he likes a place, it must mean that it is good.

Restaurant name: 오스테리아 오르조 (Osteria orzo)

Address: 서울특별시 용산구 한남대로20길 47

It is a very boutique and small restaurant, and diners need to reserve before being able to get a seat in there. Even though I was not prepared to eat Pasta in Korea, but it nevertheless was the best Italian food I had. Well, the only other experience I had at that moment was the Cheesecake Factory, so what do I know. But it still tasted good!

The first dish is salad and truffles wrapped in pastrami. Holy crap it was the best salad I have ever had. It was so GOOD!!!! We had 2 other pastas, beef and uni, both are exquisite. We had a spicy risotto which was extremely spicy, but equally delicious. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food was at this restaurant, and I can see why Uncle John like this place. It is in a very tiny walkway where cars get stuck all the time, but I now know why it is worth such a hassle to get in here.

After lunch, Uncle John and his business associate was supposed to go to the business meeting at 1:30, so they had to drop me off somewhere near Gyeongbokgung, which is literally the block next to Cheongwadae. Uncle John’s business associate told me about the Museum of Modern Art in Korea and recommended me to check it out because it just opened a few years ago. It is right next to Gyeongbokgung, the exit that I exited through last year when I visited the palace. I thought I was going to see some art. Turns out it was “art” that I did not appreciate.

I mean the replica stone pillars and the replica sarcophagus were pretty interesting, but other than that, it was complete rubbish. I am just not someone who appreciates abstract “art” that has no significance. I mean come on, how is a bucket of paint sitting on a floor considered as art? How is a wooden structure with 4 sticks sticking into 4 different buckets of water “art”? It’s just ridiculous. The only consolation I had was that the museum was free to visitors under the age of 24. I mean, if they charge money for people under the age of 24, basically no one will ever get in. It is just so ridiculous and over the top.

Somehow they have a traditional building behind the main museum building, which was another consolation.

After the disappointing museum exhibits, I started walking towards Cheongwadae, as Uncle John told me that it is right behind Gyeongbokgung. By then my feet are very much in pain from walking too much in the morning, but I thought it won’t take much walking in Cheongwadae. You see where this is going right?

The Cheongwadae is open to the public, and they even have the slogan of “Cheongwadae — back to the people”. It is ironic that back to the people means back to the foreigners, as foreigners are allowed to waltz right in with a foreign passport, while Koreans have to register in advance, and are subjected to the 2,000 a day maximum. This part I like, though, I love to feel special.

I am going to be honest with you. It is a very awesome group of buildings. I particularly like the green roof. It just now came to me that maybe green is the official color of Korea. As I walked a long while to get to the main building, as a Political Science major, I am extremely fascinated by every corner of the building that is open to the public. To see where government officials of different countries are engaging in political discussions or even just tiny day to day chitchat like complementing on each other’s hair is beyond fathomable to me.

I also got to the room where they hung pictures of past presidents, which is a game I like to call “circle the one that’s not in prison”.

After visiting the main administrative building, of course I am going to walk to the president’s residence, which is no longer used by the current president. However, the main caveat is that it is up a hill. If I didn’t have to climb the mountain in the morning, I might’ve been fine. But I have climbed the mountain, which posed a logistical challenge. I had to find a bench and sit for a while for every hill I have climbed. After sitting 2-3 times, I finally reached the president’s residence.

The main entrance is very 立派, I’m sorry I can only think of this Japanese word now. It’s very grand and well built, that’s how I define 立派. Unlike the main administrative, not a lot of people walk up the hill to the president’s residence. I guess I am the only stubborn SOB that is willing to climb up there when I am already exhausted from climbing. Also, unlike the main administrative building, none of the rooms of the residence is open, so all you can see is the exterior.

There’s honestly not much to see here since all you get to see is the exterior. I am starting to see why so few people climb up here. Every window is locked or boarded up as well, so you can’t see through them and see what’s inside. However, as I had the patience to walk around the building, I actually saw a window that is not boarded up and is actually lit from the inside. It seems to be a kitchen. Now, I’m not sure whether it was intentionally left open or if it was a mistake, but seeing a president’s kitchen? Worth the climb.

Next is supposed to be the Buddha statue and a tiny traditional room that I don’t know the purpose of. On the map it didn’t say that the tiny traditional room is up there with literally 10 flights of stairs. As I was climbing the stairs with my dead legs, I whispered the word “fuck”, and I think the foreigner behind me heard it and agreed with me.

It was nothing special. From the advertisements, apparently the door opens with lights inside, but we don’t get to see what’s inside. I am hoping that this is not the room where the president sends his wife to do some thinking alone. The brochure that I got said that the first president Rhee something was the one who wrote the 五雲亭 on the board. If this is true, then he sucks at writing. He should not write at all. He sucks. However, I showed this to my Dad who is a calligrapher, and he said that it is actually one of the best that he has seen. Something with how Chinese characters have the base structure and how he perfected that. Okay.

Next up is the buddha statue. The brochure says it was made a very long time ago in a different part of Korea, and was moved here by the Japanese imperial army. I’ve got to see that. It’s still up a hill though. I’m just lucky that my feet are not bleeding.

Other than the buddha and the small room, there are a few other traditional houses that are not that much special, but nevertheless I felt the need to go see them.

I’ve saw every corner of Cheongwadae, so it was time for me to leave. Uncle John said that he will call me at around 5:30 and take me to dinner somewhere. It was 5:00, so I needed to find a place to sit. Luckily, South Korea has a really good cafe culture where you can grab a seat and have something hot anytime of the day. It was ironic though, so keep reading.

I saw the girl’s face from very far away, and I thought she was devouring the building. I thought to myself that this is the creepiest thing I have seen. However, it was a good attention grabber, and it successfully made me see the cafe below the creepy girl’s face. The cafe was actually not a legit cafe, it is like an order window with a few seats inside a dentist’s office. The staff did not speak English though, and had trouble understanding what “strawberry latte” was.

And yes, I forgot that latte only means milk in Italian, and is not supposed to be correlated with caffeine in any way. When I got my strawberry latte, I was very surprised, cuz it did not seem brown at all. It is also full of ice and the strawberry is actually the strawberry jam for ice cream sundaes. You have to thoroughly mix’em up to make it drinkable.

Why did I say this was ironic earlier? The thing is, this cafe closes at 5:30. Like, when I was on the phone FaceTiming with my dad, the staff shut off the lights. Like seriously, I know it is not a legit cafe, but I expected it to remain open until like 9 PM or something.

Uncle John told me to wait for him at his hotel, so I tried to call an Uber but to no avail, and Kakao T is still not working on my Samsung phone. Luckily I have an iPhone with me, so I tried to call for one using my iPhone, and it worked. I thought Samsung is Korean, come on, Kakao.

After I got to Uncle John’s hotel, I called the customs office per their instruction and reserved to get my stuff for Monday.

After having dinner with Uncle John, I got on a taxi with an address for a “CS Premier Hotel”, but apparently “CS Premier Hotel” is a chain. They have hotels all over the place, and have one in Anyang, a city that is not Seoul, and a city that does not have my CS Premier Hotel (Seoul). Also, it apparently is a hotel made for couples. I was too exhausted at the end of the day, so I did not realize we were at the wrong hotel until I arrived. I kept nodding off in the back. After I got out, I realized we arrived at the wrong hotel, and went in for help. The front desk staff was really nice and called a taxi for me. Just then, my stomach started to act up again, so I went to the bathroom, got down here, thanked the staff for calling the taxi for me, got on, and was very surprised to see that it was the same taxi that sent me to this hotel in the first place. After another 30 minutes, I got to my hotel, saw that house keeping took my toothbrush away, went down to ask for more, washed up, and slept soundly.