Time Travel! (5.17/5.18)

Flightpath: Georgia > Canada > Alaska > Syberia!!! > China > Korea!

I  H A D a pretty good idea that this trip was going to be a Trip months before I set foot in Hartsfield-Jackson, but the gravity of the situation didn't sink in until I felt my stomach drop as my 777 beat gravity and bid adieu to American soil. (I don't know if that feeling will ever grow old-- it's easily the best part of flying; that visceral point of no return)
I could tell I was in for a slew of surprises when something as simple as flying blew my mind, but the surprises certainly didn't stop there. It seemed like every aspect of the flight was foreign, ranging from the superficial-- the language, look, and uniform of the stewardesses (who really are as attractive as the Korean Air adverts make them out to be), to the surreal-- the fact that the sun stayed stubbornly still in the sky as we flew against time and daylight; the way that time turned to putty and folded around the plane as it flew. My excitement, the novelty, and the absurdity of the flight conspired to give it an other-worldly aura which simply reinforced the voyage's allure.

Around 11 hrs in, insanity began to take over-- note Aveek's fingers in the row behind me: I think they're trying to crawl into his nose. Absurd.

I'm sure the ceaseless sun had something to do with it, but for some confluence of reasons I was ridiculously productive on the plane. That too seemed to separate my time in the air from reality-- I never got bored; I never got tired; I never wondered what time it was or how much longer was left before arrival. My mind was going about as fast as my flight (approximately 565 mph, to be precise)-- I tore through a slew of dense articles on Orientalism (by the likes of Said, Menon, Prakash, and Ning), a few movies (Haywire, Coriolanus, and Dangerous Method), and a ton of classical composers (Saint-Saens, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Copland, Liszt, and Mozart).

My true focus was the articles-- I thought it would be intellectually negligent of me to go to Asia as an ignorant Westerner and NOT expose myself to the influential and controversial scholarship that spun from Said. To summarize, Said and the scholars who follow him are interested in the shortcomings of “Western” conceptions of the “East” as the Other, specifically revealing how biased assumptions can pridefully be mistaken for understanding. The name of this blog is a nod to the problematic conception of "The Orient" as an essentialized and generalized amalgam; one goal of mine for this trip was to test Said's theory and see first-hand just how true or false "Western" claims about "the East" are. I figured the flight was the perfect time to crack into the canon, so I did! And I loved it!

(The movies and music were just icing on the cake between articles, to give me time to reflect and make sure I didn't melt my brain too thoroughly, although they all were valuable in and of themselves. Particularly Coriolanus-- a rather tenuous film due to the original Shakespearean dialogue, but an interesting and apropos rendition nonetheless. Check it out!)

A view of Syberia from the plane-- purely breathtaking.

T H E Y   S A Y  we were in the air for 14 hrs and ~7,000 miles, but I don't believe them. Sure, I got a lot of time-consuming stuff done which would imply the passage of time, but the number of articles, films, and songs I devoured doesn't capture the chronology as I experienced any better than the hours or the light of day do. All I know is that I was in Atlanta when I sat in my chair, and I was in Seoul when I got out of it some time later. I didn't go anywhere physical; the only distances I traveled were existential and intellectual. Somehow my wanderings still got me to the goal-- Seoul (서울)!

People sure were done sittin' by the time we hit the ground in Seoul! Never seen a plane empty that quickly!

First view of the legendary Seoul/Incheon International Airport!! (/obscure self-portrait #1)

The Seoul/Incheon Airport truly is gorgeous-- I say it deserves the title of "Best Airport" it's won for seven years in a row or so. It's a huge, attractively-designed, new, and immaculately clean facility that claims to have the most efficient layout of any airport in the world. Although my exposure to its innards was limited, I can't deny that it's got something going for it that other airports don't.

One of those things are moving sidewalks EVERYWHERE. I love moving sidewalks. I wish they were everywhere, and not just due to laziness! They're thrilling! It's like walking x2!

Another of those things is Bob and T's, a sweet hole-in-the-wall convenience store sort of shop. I bought some delicious almond candies to supplement the delicious meals Korean Air had fed me and waited for my connecting flight to Daegu (대구), my final (flight) destination!

First view of Daegu!

U P O N   A R R I V A L  at the Daegu International Airport (which has got NOTHING on Seoul/Incheon), we caught a tour bus for our ride to Hongbeopsa Temple (홍법사) in Busan (부산), the second largest city in Korea.

On the way, we grabbed dinner at a "truck stop" sort of place, pictured below. Just like everything else in Korea seems to be, it was extremely clean, new, and nice. There were some street vendors outside, plus a good number of people hanging out around the facility. The restrooms were large and clean, and the facilities actually seemed inviting and worth spending time in! In other words, it was absolutely nothing like an American truck stop (at least in the South). I dug it!

A night-blurred glimpse at the "Truck Stop" we stopped at on the way from the Airport

Dr. Hyangsoon Yi, one of the professors of the trip, really did a phenomenal job of keeping us together throughout all of our adventures. She helped us through Security and Immigration and the airport, told us a bit about Korea on the bus ride o the "truck stop", and helped us order our first Korean meal in Korea! Yes, we did order it from the "truck stop", but that place was far more legit than the title implies! It was a full restaurant that served good-quality food. Of course we had no idea how to order or what was good, so she walked us through it and I ended up with a bowl full of delicious! (see picture below)

Maria and I enjoying our "Truck Stop" food. She HATED her "Japanese Pickles"

 It was nice to get to know everyone somewhat in our travels together, and I had some really exciting conversations (including an epic one with Aveek and Kevin about international politics, idealism, and the possibility of change in the status quo), but the first day of travel was more of a teaser than an introduction. I could tell I was traveling with some interesting people and was excited to spend six more weeks with them!


W E   F I N A L L Y   A R R I V E D  at Hongbeopsa around midnight on May 18th. Is that 36 hrs in transit? I can't be sure; I don't know when we crossed the International Dateline or how that messed with my calculations. Long story short, it was a long, not short, journey-- two flights, one layover, one bus ride, and a LOT of excitement and anticipation. I already felt like a completely different person and knew I was in a completely different place, both physically and existentially. I couldn't wait to wake up the next morning and get the trip started f'rill!

First view of Hongbeopsa Temple, our home for 2 weeks!

Aveek inspects our sleeping quarters, complete with Korean heated floors! Turns out I really dig sleeping on the floor!

...but first, I had to sleep. And BOY was I exhausted! International travel and timeless consciousness really takes it out of ya! We all dragged our belongings and stumbled into the temple, where we were taken to a long, curving hallway on the second floor and shown to our rooms. As Aveek and I opened the door to the first room for dads males and flipped on the light, we saw our surprise third roommate, Andy, awaken startledly from his slumber and shoot up from his mat. It was pretty hilarious to find a surprise white guy in our room; it lead to a humerus amount of confusion for all involved. We introduced each other, rolled out or sleeping mats, and hit the hay! I for one was excited to get to the next day, to start the trip f'rill!

And that's how I got to Korea.

-IEB