Staying up the entire flight to Korea was a smart idea. I felt pretty alert our first day here. So far much of the city reminds of modern cities in the US. Yet the thing most striking so far is that it feels like a city of glass shapes. The buildings are modern shapes, full of glass and built in reaching to the sky in puzzling directions. I hope to capture some of these before we go. 

We spent the afternoon exploring a traditional Korean street and market. The were lots of pottery, art and wooden box shops, as well interesting food being made there on the streets. I quickly caught on though to items directed to tourists since we kept seeing some of the same things througout. The art though was so beautiful. It's a mixture of modern and traditional. This is true throughout...you see a large traditional clay pot in front of a modern glass entryway where a scooter with a pizza hut delivery sign sits on the corner.

We stopped at a tea house where I had the most wonderful tea! It contained five flavors -- sour, sweet, salty, spicy and, um, I can't remember the fifth but it had a wonderful grapefruity flavor on top. I have to bring some of this tea back with me.

We then went to dinner and had a traditional Korean dinner with lots of beer. The Kobe steak was interesting but the kim chi was to die for! I had root, cucumber and cabbage kim chi. So good...and we learned the proper way to pore beer according to age. So far the food has been spectacular and no one has gotten sick yet.

We go to a part of town today where young people hang out -- which I am very excited about. I am ready to do some shopping!