We took ourselves to Seoul a couple of weekends ago to see the city, to see Lazer, and to see those lovable Okies, The Flaming Lips. We didn't go by boring bus, or car, but we took the sweetest ride imaginable. The 300km/hr KTX bullet train baby. In a bus or car it is a 6 hour trip. We made it in 2 and a half. So smooth and relaxing, it was my first train ride and I think I'm hooked. Although I was slightly disappointed to find out that there wasn't an old west style dining car. Where did all those go? What happened to those extremely luxurious days? I mean come on people... Traveling at 300kh/hr is simply not enough for me. What happened to the days of train chit chat and maybe the odd gentleman's wager?
We arrived. An extremely large amount of humans occupy this city. We could see that immediately upon stepping out of the train and into the main station. We are a world of tiny ants running to and fro. So many people. There was a slow moving procession of people entering the subway from the train station. Koreans looking like cattle.
We took the bus to meet Lazer in his dong, which was very close to the station. Dong means neighborhood for all you comedians out there. Lazer's dong is the heart of downtown Seoul. Megan was very happy with all the fall colors on the trees. And once again she lamented how Texas has no seasons, and how much she misses the autumn of Indiana. That I have no idea about the sweetness of the color changing of the leaves and the Earth going through it's phases and stages. She's probably right. But Texas is still bigger than Indiana. Yee-haw! (Guns a blazin)
On the bus ride we befriended a Korean man who turned our to be from Busan. He spoke great English and told us where to get off the bus to reach Lazer's dong. He was surprised to hear that we lived in Busan. Unbelievably ecstatic actually. What didn't seem like a huge coincidence to us really blew his mind wide open. He wanted to be friends. We exchanged numbers. We still haven't heard from him. We'll let you know.
We found Lazer and took some sweet photos. Lazer lives in a shack. He is a man of few needs. He has a dog. It peed on my bag. We are still friends. Lazer is a very cool man that I went to high school with. He is in previous blog, you may remember him. We works very little and knows everyone in Seoul. He speaks Korean better than any foreigner I have met. This is very impressive as I have been completely unable to begin my journey in this strange new tongue. We went out to the bars and all these Koreans know him and speak to them. I'm quite impressed with him. He's pretty much a Seoul celebrity. He did some acting on a T.V. show there. He played a chef in San Francisco.
We ate Seomgypsal like champions and then headed to Ax Korea to see The Lips. They did not disappoint. There were so many foreigners there. We saw some people we know from Busan as well that made the trip to Seoul. The show was awesome. I had seen them before during SXSW and I'll never forget the positive vibe they have during their shows.
It is something very rare in rock and roll performance. They make everyone feel as if they are helping to make the experience happen. They make you feel happy. They make you feel loved. And they have giant balloons and giant lazer hands. Wonderful. I cried during a couple of the songs. I am a sentimental man when it comes to art.
Race for the Prize was my favorite song of the night. Got me screaming and crying at the same time. Love the lyrics of this song. So wonderful. Neither of these videos are from our concert obviously. I have found out writing this post that in South Korea I cannot upload videos to my YouTube account. And it takes way too long to put videos on facebook or blogger, so I tried to grab some good ones from other shows. Enjoy! "They're just humans with wives and children..."
After the joyous concert we met Lazer and Laurie and went to Hongdae. It is the hip spot, lots of bars and nightlife. It was an awesome area. Nothing that hopping in Busan. Seemed really sweet, and I was jealous being there because I know it would be really easy to d.j. in Seoul, and I am having no luck for the moment in Busan. We saw some awesome bars though.
Jeff led us to this underground hippie hookah bar, there was a nice world beat dj throwing down some fresh jams i recognized. And they had bongos and a drum set that anyone could play along with. The place was dead when we entered and by the time we left it was a packed dance-a-thon with foreigners and koreans getting down. It was a cool club. I would have liked to spin there for sure. Maybe in the future Lazer can hook it up for me. Seemed like he knew everyone there.
The next day we woke, chilled for a bit, took ridiculous showers in Lazer's bathroom. Seriously the strangest setup I've ever witnessed. The man is a true bohemian. We went back to the Seoul station and we saw this sweet group of Peruvians jamming the sweet styles. I threw out a loud, "Bravo, que buena!" I think they were quite pleased to hear someone speaking their language.
We returned on the KTX like wizards out the dungeon, a la John Matthew Walker. We made it home safe and sound. A classic journey. Took some time to enjoy the view of Busan when we arrived home.
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