Fireworks

There was a huge fireworks competition held in Seoul last night. I bought a couple big bottles of beer and met up with friends to watch it all go down.

The competition came in three shifts. Japan did a show. America (Fuck Yeah!) did a show. And Korea did a show. To be honest they were all pretty good, but I truly thought that the Americans put forth the best effort - we Americans love blowing shit up and we're good at it. We sat close to the Han River, many miles away from the show. I heard that if you wanted to be near the competion you would have had to arrive before 3:00 (and the shows started around 7:00.) Even though we were pretty far from the center of the action, we still encountered a huge crowd. We had a great view of the show though, and I would say that all in all it was a good night.

Too Many People



This picture was taken as we were leaving. I was amazed at how many people there were even though we were so far away from where the actual event was taking place. I guess a lot of people had the same idea as us. If you look closely, you will notice that the sea of people does not end. It goes all the way under that tunnel and for another mile or more behind it. Fucking ridiculous. And if you look really close, you just might find Waldo.

This crowd was larger than the crowd I am usually surrounded by, but there are always huge groups of people everywhere I go. Seoul has too many people. According to my friend Ben (which means according to Wikipedia) there are more than 44,000 people for every square mile in Seoul. If you think about that for a second, it is mind boggling. It is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and that is a fact that I can back up from experience. I guess I've gotten used to it, but it still bothers me. It is painful to be trying to walk on the street or through a subway station, only to be caught up in a "traffic" jam. It makes me yearn for a town like Lake Nebagamon where there are more trees than people.


Stereotypes



You know the stereotype that all Asians take pictures - it is true. The waterfront where we were was littered with tripods and cameras. I don't think this picture shows how many cameras there really were, but I liked the way it turned out. One of my good friends over here thought it looked like a shot from World War II.

Koreans take pictures of themselves alone on the subway, they take pictures of their meal when it arrives at their table at a restaurant, they take pictures of anything and everything. Maybe that is why I've been playing with my camera so much lately - maybe I'm becoming Korean...

Much love from Seoul