Back from my wanderings
I have returned from my travels to Tokyo and Gwangju, Korea. What FUN! How TASTY! Elaine and I spent the week exploring, roaming around and eating our way through her current home city of Gwangju. This is a "small" city of 1.4 million and the site of mass uprisings against military dictatorship in May of 1980. I made a small ripple in my sea of ignorance on this topic and visited various memorials and parks dedicated to remembering the massacre of civilians by the Korean military's Special Forces unit .
I also exercised Gwangju PRIDE by cheering on the Kia Tigers as they played the Samsung Lions. That's me and Elaine at the ballpark. With 9 league championships the Tigers are the most successful team in the Korean baseball league--the league has only been around 22 years. We're holding one of the noise makers that Ginny so happily purchased and banged along with the cheering section.
The entire first baseline comprised the cheering section. All fans are led in chants for each home team batter by the guy in the middle there and a mess of cheer leaders who gave me the chills, but that's a whole other issue. There's also the requisite mascot in the corner. He kept adjusting his face and lifting it up every once in a while to talk to the squad leader. Elaine and I concluded that people dressed in large furry costumes make us uncomfortable. None of this prevented us from shouting KIA!! when prompted and enjoying the echo that comes back from Echo Land or where it is echoes come from. Baseball snack options include, beer (of course), all kinds of squid, fried chicken, ice cream and anything you want to bring in to the stadium. This game was a lot of old school small ball which I really enjoy.
The food was amazing and while Korea is not a good place to be a squid or chicken, it is a good country to eat lunch for 3 dollars. Well, Gwangju is--from what I recall Seoul a tad pricier. Here I am pointing out the finer elements of this excellent mandu. I also enjoyed several bowls of spicy cold noodles. Perfect summer eating. I will post more pictures and updates over the next week or so.
