Rich and Strange Aeons

Seoul 20 -- Incheon and stuff

2026-08-09T14:21:30Z

Aug 8 -- Album

Walked south, uphill. Saw some marked-out tree, a nice neighborhood park, then a ??? park? with stairs up into the hills (no photos). Didn't take one, but bus frequency seemed decent.

Went out again in the evening for some groceries, but Hanaro closes at 20:00. Tragedy! Walked around, reminded me of Guri -- lots of lights and nightlife: restaurants and sexy karaoke places. I learned a new word of Korean, 'naraebang', meaning karaoke, because I saw it over and over and over. Usually with a heart for the final 'ng'.

It's finally cooling off some, with nighttime temps of 26 C instead of 34 C.

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I fear the entry sounds kind of blah. Various factors: severe lack of sleep (stayed up too late), weather (I did rather like the hillside 'garden', but yesterday's humidity made it hard to enjoy), Chinatown not being that exciting (also, cooler weather is still humid weather), possibly changing homes too frequently. But I do have enjoyment: I'm actually pretty happy with the stew; while the first third of Sense felt kind of grim, I'm now laughing a fair bit as I read it; and I'm pretty excited about some fanfic-writing developments that alas will remain anonymous. I may just stay in tomorrow and work on those. And find yet another place to live.

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Seoul 19.5 -- Korean homeostasis - bathroom size

2026-08-08T06:49:59Z

I complained about the A/C in these two units taking forever to cool. They share a problem, causally unconnected but conceptually related: the bathroom water faucet does not respond smoothly. Start in 'hot', wait for it to get really hot, then turn it toward cold: the water stays hot, rather than cooling gradually. I verified this with my cooking thermometer today. Turn the water off in a mid position, then on again (these are faucets where temperature and volume are independent), and voila, the water is lukewarm. Same behavior coming from cold, you can turn it off lukewarm, turn it on in the same position, and get it hot.

This makes it really hard to get a good temperature, and may actually be part of why I was taking a sponge bath every other day in the previous place, along with the sheer cramped bathroom. I miss Japanese tankless heaters: you set the temperature you want, and that's what you get, within a degree Celsius of error. The 40 C safety feature many Japanese baths have is nice too.

Tangentially, I think this bathroom may actually be smaller than the previous one in total area, though I didn't measure the old length precisely. But going from 3 feet to 3.5 feet in width makes a huge difference (plus not having an oversized toilet seat eating up leg room): having the same or even less area in a more square form helps.

Current bathroom length is 58 inches, or 4 foot 10, 17 square feet. 1.47 m long, 1.07 m wide,, 1.57 m^2. Not huge, but doesn't feel cramped like the old one did. (Both are toilet + sink + shower.)

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rice cooker scrambled eggs and thoughts

2026-08-08T03:37:46Z

So in my previous post (as of like 15-20 minutes ago) I said I planned on making eggs in the rice cooker. If it wasn't clear why: because I've been re-reading about how gas stoves are bad for your health, especially with minimal ventilation as in this unit (basically no ventilation if I want to keep the heat out.) Thus my making pasta in the cooker last night, to avoid 15 minutes of boiling on gas. And cookers are literally designed to heat water, so that was a good match.

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Seoul 19 - center - Bucheon

2026-08-08T02:44:06Z

Aug 6 -- Seoul Station -- City Hall

I did not go back to the museum; I did get out again, to Seoul Station, figuring I should try to explore the center. Or a center. Album. I didn't get far outside, the heat was dreadful, and you leave the station onto the side of a very wide and busy road, with not much obviously along or across from it than scattered high buildings. And some other stuff, but between "wander around in the heat" and "explore the mall" I went with the second one. Also, Kakao suggested that even crossing the road would be a huge pain taking more detour distance than it should.

But why listen to me? Behold! ( Read more... )

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Seoul 18 - National Museum of Korea

2026-08-05T13:21:46Z

Finally Went Somewhere today. Album But first, some complaints!

Line 1 trains really are ugly. Noticed it outbound, then homebound line 4 was fine, but 1 hit me again. Stark white light. Better A/C than 4, though.

Seoul Metro doesn't believe in A/C for its stations.

Transferring at Dongdaemun continues to be a war on accessibility. Broken escalator, no escalator, stairs up, stairs down. And this is a modern system! Not like some century-old Underground.

Not a complaint, but, maps said my bus from train to museum would take 9 minutes. I thought that'd be a lie, the first 5 minutes were crawling through traffic, slower than walking. But then we got out and zipped and voila, after 9 minutes I was getting off.

So, the museum. The permanent exhibitions are free, though you have to go through X-ray if you have a bag. Signs say "no food or drinks" but they don't seem to care about water bottles. The museum is HUGE, you could probably spend two full days there to see everything in detail. First floor is history: prehistoric, early kingdoms, Silla et al, Goryeo, Joseon, Korean Empire (a brief modern period where Korea was claiming to be as sovereign as China, until Japan invaded again.) First floor was also CROWDED so I bailed out in the Iron Age and went up to the 3rd floor, hoping there'd be fewer people.

2nd and 3rd floor are all art, in various ways. One side of 3rd is Buddhist sculptures (closed), celadon, buncheon ware, porcelains. Other side is foreign art: Greek and Roman(!), Japan, China, India, Central Asia, Islamic.

The Greek and Roman halls are surprisingly interesting. They managed to get some good -- and large -- stuff.

Double herm of Sappho and Erinna:

Japan and China actually felt smaller, or less full. Also the light was dim, so I had trouble reading placards and gave up. I skipped India for time. Central Asia was partly Afrasiab murals, I also saw mention of Gandharan stuff. Islamic was better lit, I took photos of a bunch of art with human or animal figures, because that always amuses me.

Second floor is part calligraphy and paintings, part old Korean records, part random donation collections.

I might go back tomorrow, or I might go to Seoul Station and check out the center, because I haven't actually done that. By Friday morning I'll be in Bucheon, further out (toward Incheon), but cheaper.

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Jane Austen thoughts: S&S

2026-08-05T13:01:28Z

I first read Jane Austen, all 6 novels, no later than early college, maybe earlier. In particular I went from Pride and Prejudice to Sense and Sensibility, which did S&S no favors. I thought of it as a cheap knockoff of P&P; knowing the writing order now, it'd be fairer to call it an inferior prototype. Alliterative title, set of sisters with limited wealth for their class, dramatic illness, lover who turns out to be a cad... But far less entertaining.

I've since re-read some Austens, but not S&S or Mansfield Park. Having just finished The Annotated Pride and Prejudice, I thought I'd try S&S again. ( Read more... )

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McD re-revisited

2026-08-01T11:53:31Z

Okay, it might seem silly to post again so soon, but I realized that I can now look up exact prices for a Giant supermarket and a McDonald's that are a short walk from each other, and from where I lived. These are Giant's own prices, no delivery markup.

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McDonalds vs cooking revisited

2026-08-01T06:24:11Z

I got my McD app working again, so I can peek at prices in the US. They seem to have responded to price outrage. Most items are still around 100 cal/$, but some Philly prices:

sausage mcmuffin: $1.70 for 400 calories (236 cal/$)

(but adding an egg jumps to $4.40 for 480 calories, lol. Pay $2.70 for one egg.) ( Read more... )

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Seoul 17 - cheap peaches

2026-07-29T12:37:57Z

Went to an Hanaro Super on the maps, sharing the name of a supermarket chain I'd found before. The location was no closer than the hypermart, and when I got there, nothing! I mean lots of shops, but nothing like a supermarket, and no sign for Hanaro. (I don't know Korean but I have been learning hangul.)

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Korean yogurt disappointment

2026-07-28T07:04:48Z

Went for walk despite the weather, enjoyed the river environment, came home and got to literally wring sweat out of my T-shirt. But stopped at Green Farm Mart before home, got some food, including drinkable yogurt. Which says "Plain" on the label, in Korean and in English. Simple enough, right? Though it shows mint leaves on the label.

Well, I got it home, and tasted it, and no it doesn't taste of mint, but it is sweet. So I look at the label and it's milk, syrup, ... milk protein... pectin... sucralose...

I guess they think 'plain' means "no specific flavor". I was expecting fermented milk plus some extra water to make it drinkable, not a syrupy concoction.

I also got some sweet potato chips. As in (sweet potato) chips. But also (sweet chips) it runs out: label says "91% sweet potato" and the other two ingredients are oil and... sugar.

Like, why? Sweet potato is pretty sweet all by itself! Thus the name!

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Seoul 16 - notes - buckwheat - vents - FAR

2026-07-27T01:24:32Z

Quiet day yesterday, did some riverwalking, double-checked tome home from the hypermarket (15+ minutes from a nearer corner, 16-17 from the building itself.)

Korea is scarce in frozen vegetables. Most store freezers are full of dumplings or something. The hypermart did have some, but not much, and it was like 1500 won/100 grams for organic broccoli. ( Read more... )

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Seoul 15 - return to Emart

2026-07-25T12:03:51Z

Summary: Korea barely does frozen vegetables; people ride motorcycles on the sidewalks; Emart is big and annoying but useful; all the rivers have walking paths.

Last night I mentioned a market north of me. I checked it out, Grand Mart. My prediction was correct, it didn't add much to my life. It might have a bit more variety of cheap pork than Gold Mart, but I wouldn't swear to it.

Then I walked to the big Emart Hypermart. I crossed multiple rivers/creeks/canals, all of which had footpaths, that's pretty neat. I also encountered a couple of heavy e-bikes or light motorcycles on the sidewalk, not at high speed, but still.

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Seoul 14 -- ups and downs

2026-07-24T12:28:41Z

Day of frustrations and finds. But first, a couple of notes. My A/C was very slow, but relentless operation has gotten my room almost below the target temperature, despite 30+ temps outside.

Second, Japanese markets are very good at organizing self-bagging. Typically a cashier takes an item from your basket, scans it, and puts it in a new basket; when you've paid, you take the basket somewhere else, and bag it as you wish (with your own bags, or bags you bought at scan time.) Korea, it's more like the US without baggers. Your stuff is scanned and tossed in a pile, and then it's up to you to bag and get out of the way of the new items coming in.

So, today. Actually I spent a bunch of it reading about gas vs induction stoves on Bluesky, but I finally got out on the Quest For Whole Wheat Bread. ( Read more... )

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Seoul 13 - 2026 July 23

2026-07-23T10:14:46Z

Random bit: when in Taipei and exploring convenience stores, I discovered that they tended to sell lube. KY Jelly or something, I forget. Once I looked, it was pretty pervasive. Back in Japan, I looked out of curiosity but did not find, and the web told me that you have to go to the adult level of Donki, or maybe a drugstore, for those.

I was checking out convenience stores today just to see what they have (mostly not much, though one last night had fruit and eggs and tofu), and whoops, one GS25 had lube (in helpful English) and condoms. Taiwan and Korea, united in cheap rice and convenient lube.

(And good parks and missing 4th floors and supermarkets less attached to train stations and a shortage of balconies.)

Moved to new Airbnb yesterday, took trains. Elevator down to ticket level, entered ticket gate... no elevator or escalator. Staff had to let me out and lead me around to a different gate with an elevator. Slow elevator.

Transfer started alright, escalator up! ...to a mezzanine level. I need to go up one more level, whoops, stairs. Or an elevator, but the elevator was sloooow and also full of people from the platform level. Figured my options were go back down to stand in line, or haul my luggage up two flights (which I did.)

I think Japanese stations don't have any better elevator access, but they tend to have better escalator coverage, and also aren't nearly as deep, so you have far fewer people trying to use the elevator. Also, the "close door" button works in Japan; it did in the love hotel elevator, but not in subway ones.

Oh right, I never mentioned that the 4th floor in the love hotel was missing. The stairs were scary so I never took them, but between the elevator timing, and then just looking outside at the building, I think there was no hidden floor -- they just go from 3 to 5.

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Seoul 12 -- city wall - palace - parks - cats - roof decks

2026-07-21T11:21:39Z

Big catchup post. Enjoy!

July 14: Took buses again, moved to new place, Airbnb next to Naksan Park. It's rather up hill, just 6-7 minutes brisk walk but you really feel it, maybe 15 degree incline? I'm not good at judging angles. Owner-occupied apartment, I'm in one half-basement unit, they're in the others, some other rooms above us. They met me and showed me around (the place has quirks, like having to hold the door a certain way to get it to lock.) Friendly; a couple nights ago the wife knocked and gave me some fresh cooked corn. (Very waxy and unsweet.)

Apart from one park entrance, everything is downhill from me. Bus stop, convenience stores (barely closer than the supermarkets, which are small), supermarkets. HomePlus Express feels expensive and has limited meat, but whole wheat bread and REALLY GOOD jarred pasta sauce; a K mart is cheaper, especially one cut of pork (only 900 won per 100 grams, boneless).

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Night view from my deck. Did some reading (Annotated Pride and Prejudice) until suspected mosquito bites drove me inside.

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Seoul 11 - Deokso and McDonalds

2026-07-13T10:50:19Z

Change of plans: run out my time in the hotel, switch places tomorrow. More time to figure out and enjoy the massage chair, and the really dark bedroom. And to explore the area. Took the train east, not many stops before it ended at Deokso, though other trains go further. Walked along a wide river: ( Read more... )

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Seoul 10 - bus and new hotel

2026-07-12T11:44:22Z

I'm getting more confident at packing. I didn't even do anything Friday night. Saturday morning, packed Dakine in 30 minutes, not much longer for backpack. Whee!

My street has some serious bollards: ( Read more... )

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Seoul 9 - housing search and subway too deep

2026-07-10T10:24:40Z

Didn't leave the building yesterday. Lots of rain, plus had things to do, including searching for new housing. Procrastination works well in Osaka: I just did a search for July 11-18, and there are over 600 units under $300 for the week, and the first one I picked had high rating + elevator. Here, not so much. After combing through the much more limited last-minute options, I ended up taking an actual hotel (off of Booking) for the weekend, then what's hopefully a nice Airbnb Monday-Monday, and maybe a few more days after that if it works well. I think I'm spending a bit less than I would have for a straight Airbnb, and better. But planning ahead is looking like a much better idea.

Even with that, the cheap month-long places in Incheon seem gone, apart from a few on an island to the west. It's not that there aren't cheap places, it's that they're all booked at some point in August or late July, so nothing's open for a month. Feh.

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One positive observation: most of the cars on the road seem to still be cars. Compact sedans. Some SUVs or crossovers, but small ones, not much bigger than the sedans. Even Japan showed more signs of invasion by US childkillers, especially further from the two big city centers.

Edit: was exploring convenience stores near me. Lame 7-11, lame GS25, surprise CU25 with cherry tomatoes, fruit cups, and eggs. Not as good as the grocery GS25 from the other day, but a step up.

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Seoul 8 - TOMB OF THE CONCUBINE

2026-07-08T13:59:00Z

But first!

I've said the traffic here was calm. That seems true of daytime Seoul. Today there was even a car waiting to make a mid-block left turn that waited for us pedestrians to clear rather than making a break for it like I expected. But at night? At 21:00? Then the streets are clear, and many drivers race at speed, whether in straight lines or making fast turns. And one motorcycle totally blew through a red light. Yaaay.

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Seoul 7 - university and masks and such

2026-07-07T10:41:29Z

I haven't talked about masking in Korea. Not a ton of data yet. But when I took the subway from first to second Airbnb, my availability sample of passengers was like 3-5% masked, one tenth of what you'd seen in Japan. And yesterday I'd have said that bus drivers, as seen through their windows, were one maybe to several unmasked. But today I saw five masked drivers, and maybe another maybe or two; I wasn't counting the unmasked ones, but not a ton. Today's sample might have been a third masked, if not close to a half. So I dunno!

As for people outside, it's mostly unmasked, but frequent enough that you'll see multiples in 10 minutes. Including two bicycle riders together on the river trail today. ( Read more... )

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Seoul 6 -- of bike and balconies

2026-07-05T09:15:31Z

Went on a walk, mostly down that river path. ( Read more... )

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Seoul 5 - supermarket success and new place

2026-07-04T13:25:02Z

I forgot to say -- the Emart supermarket had unit price by weight for everything except the bananas. Per 100 grams usually, but per 10 grams for cannned fish and pupae. Much better than Japan. Though, bread nutrition per 100 grams is useful, but per slice would be nice too.

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Seoul 4 - supermarket

2026-07-03T08:06:49Z

I did some websearching on "neighborhood supermarkets" in Seoul, and got a few chains: Emart Everyday, Lotte Super, GS Fresh, No Brand. Map searching made me still feel I was in a desert, but an Emart Everyday showed up some distance to my west, so I tried that today. But first I sought the alleged markets north of me on Naver -- mid-afternoon, so they should still be open, right?

Right, found them. A series of what felt like mini-warehouses, lots of random items each, no obvious organization, a obvious price labels, and shopkeepers who stared me with a "wtf are you doing here?" feel. Between them you could probably get a lot of household goods and microwave rice and snacks; nothing fresh, but there are other small shops for that. I moved on.

Convenience stores continue to suck by Japanese standards, at least from a grocery POV. Mostly no vegetables, though last night I did get a 1600 won pack of salad greens (no dressing, but I can eat them with cherry tomato, or in a cheese sandwich.) Stores might have eggs, cooked meats, wheat noodles, rarely spaghetti or sauce, canned tuna. No tofu. Canned silkworm pupae, those must be popular.

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Seoul 3

2026-07-02T10:09:20Z

Good news: I obtained cash and found groceries.

I did some research last night, and found advice on using Global ATMs, plus warnings that they still don't work randomly. Today I first hit Shinsan bank -- Global ATM, but no English menu. Moved on to Woori, and their first ATM was great. I got cash from one card, successful inquiry on another, and... not sure about the other two, one of which may simply not work. Anyway, progress!( Read more... )

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Seoul 2

2026-07-01T14:10:30Z

Further observations tonight.

My BnB/hotel lacks a 4th floor. And it's not hidden away for machinery or storage, because I took the stairs: what should be floor 4 is simply labeled 5. Ye Olde Asian Superstition in the wild. I don't recall ever noticing this in Japan, though I wasn't paying that much attention.

My shower-bathtub lacks a curtain or stall door, and the tub is slippery when wet. There is a drain, in the bathroom floor, so maybe you're supposed to shower there, though the angle is bad, and you'd be showering over the sink, and maybe getting the toilet wet too.

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