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Oh Noes, Visa!
Marched my butt up to the Vietnamese embassy today to get my visa sorted. The hostel map was completely useless in the manner of most hostel maps. While I did manage to find the correct street on my first run, I also walked right past the embassy and back down the other side of the mountain on which it's situated. Oops.
Interesting thing--the Japanese cultural center here is guarded by five armed cops, but there aren't even any watchmen outside of the Vietnamese embassy. Its sign is also small and inconspicuous; about the size of a dinner plate. The embassy itself is not much bigger; it could easily fit into an American construction site trailer, and packs about the equivalent in creature comforts. I handed my passport to the harried dude behind the desk and was told to come back an hour later for the visa.
I arrived to find the harried dude even more harried, and to discover that my visa, far from being finished, hadn't even been processed yet. I was told to wait another fifteen minutes (which became an hour), thus causing me to miss my tour of a nearby palace. Oh well.
When I finally did receive the visa, I realised that it was for the wrong dates, in fact, it expired on the day I was due to enter the country. So back to the beginning went I. Meanwhile, I paid Mr. Harried, who then began to bitch in a sort of resigned fashion about the fact that I gave him two coins. "I know money is money," he said, "but coins!" thus making him the first person in the history of my life who has ever bitched at me for giving them correct change while they were horrendously overworked.
From there, on to Insadong--the "traditional Korean crafts and art gallery area of Seoul" where "traditional Korean crafts area" is apparently synonymous with "made in China but sold for 3-5 times more than it is there." Literally, it was the exact same stuff I'd passed over at the Silk Market in Beijing. Did find one place selling awesome bal though. I just have to decide if I want to pay the equivalent of $300 US for the one that I really like. Will probably check out the actual folk art superstores tomorrow to see if I can't find any others.
Wrapped up by stumbling onto the main temple of Korea's largest Buddhist sect in time for a service, which I recorded with my mp3 player and then probably accidentally recorded over. Still, it was an amazing experience.
That will be all.
Interesting thing--the Japanese cultural center here is guarded by five armed cops, but there aren't even any watchmen outside of the Vietnamese embassy. Its sign is also small and inconspicuous; about the size of a dinner plate. The embassy itself is not much bigger; it could easily fit into an American construction site trailer, and packs about the equivalent in creature comforts. I handed my passport to the harried dude behind the desk and was told to come back an hour later for the visa.
I arrived to find the harried dude even more harried, and to discover that my visa, far from being finished, hadn't even been processed yet. I was told to wait another fifteen minutes (which became an hour), thus causing me to miss my tour of a nearby palace. Oh well.
When I finally did receive the visa, I realised that it was for the wrong dates, in fact, it expired on the day I was due to enter the country. So back to the beginning went I. Meanwhile, I paid Mr. Harried, who then began to bitch in a sort of resigned fashion about the fact that I gave him two coins. "I know money is money," he said, "but coins!" thus making him the first person in the history of my life who has ever bitched at me for giving them correct change while they were horrendously overworked.
From there, on to Insadong--the "traditional Korean crafts and art gallery area of Seoul" where "traditional Korean crafts area" is apparently synonymous with "made in China but sold for 3-5 times more than it is there." Literally, it was the exact same stuff I'd passed over at the Silk Market in Beijing. Did find one place selling awesome bal though. I just have to decide if I want to pay the equivalent of $300 US for the one that I really like. Will probably check out the actual folk art superstores tomorrow to see if I can't find any others.
Wrapped up by stumbling onto the main temple of Korea's largest Buddhist sect in time for a service, which I recorded with my mp3 player and then probably accidentally recorded over. Still, it was an amazing experience.
That will be all.