after coming back from shanghai the day before, i felt a sense of familiarity as the cold air of the city filled my lungs with invigorating doses of freshness and vitality. there is something beautifully refined about korea and her capital that i cant quite put my finger on, and the minute i arrived, i was soaking it all in.
this picture of a highly intricate and complex play of light and shadow formed from the streaming of sunlight through the mish-mash of a shell of perfect geometry above was the arrival and departure hall in which i would return to the heart of the city, and ultimately, back to my guesthouse. i was so taken aback by how arresting this dramatic manifestation of light within this space was in front of me, that i just had to take a moment to gaze at the awesomeness of it all, and take a shot for posterity.
the space almost felt sacred, like stepping into a futuristic cathedral, in the distant future.
and as i went down, waiting for my ride, i saw an advertisement of what seemed like a local boy-band, made me smirk a bit, and i thought i take the shot to remind that quirkiness is a quality found everywhere.
the trip back to seoul from shanghai was an uneventful affair, as expected, but at the immigration counter, the officer began to look at my passport with a magnifying glass. that's right, a magnifying glass and it was the kind sherlock holmes uses, when he and watson traverse the notorious, crime-ridden alleys of victorian london a couple of centuries ago. he found it difficult to identify me with my passport picture simply because i was clean shaven back then, but blessed with an imposing beard now. eventually, after asking me to speak in bahasa malaysia to verify my citizenship, i did get through.
did i really look all that different? apparently so.
anyway, after coming back to the hostel, resting in the deep cold for the night, i was back at jamsil stadium. i had shared my room last night with this norwegian guy ( who kinda reminded me of ryan reynolds .. you know the american actor who played green lantern in june 2010? ) who was friendly and fit, and whom i invited to tag along. gladly of course he did and we were off to the stadium. i had told him about the design fair and i said he could join me if he wanted to.
today however was special. another one of the lovely bunch of girls i met last year would be meeting me at grounds of the stadium. her name was jieun, and my heart beats with anticipation, and the weather, being sunny and cool was just perfect for the rendezvous.
we had arrived at the stadium earlier than the set appointment time cause i wanted to walk around and catch some of the other areas i missed when i was last here about a week before.
i had ran out of time previously and so this was my chance to make up for it. this time, my focus was the main tented areas on the field of the stadium and the other guy joined me. walking in the direction of those tents in the middle of the field, i had remember seeing these timber geodesic domes placed on seating areas within the stadium. they looked clearer and more prominent now, under the clarity that direct sunlight provided and i felt that somehow they resembled giant mechanical spider-like organisms walking down slowly and steadily.
my mind playing tricks on me, i guess ... either that or too much exposure to transformers.
as i entered the tents, i felt that the focus in these places seemed to be centered around collections of elegant home furnishings like this simple but gleaming teapot set above and the perfectly balanced stone and timber chair and table next to it. it was clear the concept was to make these plain everyday objects as refined as possible, almost looking like objects of art, and the results pretty much speak for themselves, and they carried a distinctly eastern flavour in their presentation.
absolutely lovely.
this richly detailed architectural model is a perfect replica of a gateway that would be found at the entrance of palaces. everything about it was proportional and scaled accordingly and a testament to the ingenuity of skillful wooden engineering, whether it was the model or the real thing.
it was almost surreal to see how well detailed this model was and i can only imagine how many pain staking hours it must have taken to have built this so precisely.
its brackets, its panels, its eaves, its columns, its posts, its tiles.
this kind of detailing is frightening, to say the least.
as i walked around i came across one eye-catching exhibit after another and this was an interesting interpretation of the concept of temporary shelters i thought, almost prehistoric in nature and raw to the touch. each individual member looked a colossal bone from a whale's corpse, forming a colonnade of arches for us to sit beneath.
and pieces of art were on display, birthed from actual rubbish, in a form that could only be described as cute, kawaii-style.
this tunnel of light, where animated graphics were playing in the dark on the floor, caught my attention next and i was pulled in, like moth to a flame. i walked in of course, entertained by the swimming of virtual gold koi fish, and taking a moment or two to appreciate the visual impact of these projections.
exiting, i then proceeded to the area where the latest in gadgets and gizmos were on display and one of the booths that i had visited had this striking mirror ceiling above it. it was time for a little play and i decided i wanted to take a shot in an unconventional manner.
can you spot me in the reflection above?
moving on, one of the most ludicrous things i saw however was this tv commercial playing on air of a bunch of rapping hamsters in hip-hop inspired outfits doing the break dance and riding an SUV tearing up the streets of the town.
these hamsters were of course 3D virtual characters but they seemed some believably real, that you could be forgiven for thinking they were, and the things they were doing instantly dropped my jaw in astonishment, and i just coulnt stop myself from laughing out loud.
they truly were hilarious!
and soon after watching dancing gangsta hamsters with attitude, the much - awaited call came.
jieun was here, waiting outside and i was going to greet her at the main entrance of the stadium. immediately when she saw me she reached out her hand and shook mine. expressing surprise at my appearance she nonetheless welcomed me with open arms and the next thing on the agenda was a cup of coffee, starbucks style.
it was so good to see her again. so good.
of course the inevitable happened and we started catching up on old times and bringing ourselves up to date on how things have been since we last met a year ago. she had been working in samsung now this past year or so, and i could see how demanding it was to be a part of that team. she had told me the projects she had been working on for the company and said that her project was actually on display here. i said great and we'll definitely have a look at it. i had told her that her english had improved considerably, and she was flattered, but i think she was a bit unconvinced.
now just outside where we were having coffee, the fields were abuzz with festive activity. it seemed only natural that we would go out to explore and breathe in the fresh air as we walked around. it may seem hot and sunny, but the air was chilly and it was delightfully breezy.
two guys, a girl and a sports place.
just around the corner, something peculiar was about to take flight.
jieun told me that this was actually a haechi, which was a mythical lion that was the country's national symbol, and his image is popular everywhere, especially with children. i had told her that it looks like a character from the simpsons, and she couldn't stop laughing. so i guess homer, marge, bart, lisa and maggie and the rest of springfield are loved here too!
and soon he takes flight!
way, way up in the vastness of the blue yonder. wild and free.
time for another shot. again, two guys, a girl and a sports place.
we walked along for a while, observing all the merriment around us. children playing in the fields carelessly, guarded by their parents watchful gaze, surrounded by playthings stationed all around the field.
once we were done on the fields outside, we walked in the halls of the exhibitions inside the stadium and we kept on talking about our lives as we observed all around us. several interesting exhibits on design and technology were on display here and each piece of design truly was a work of art, functionally and aesthetically. even everyday objects as ubiquitous as the humble bicycle were given a complete makeover and redefined into something new and exciting.
after spending a couple of hours, she told me she had to leave soon, cause she had personal things she needed to attend to later at night with her family. and once we were at the end of this hall at about 6pm, it pretty much signaled the end of the day at the fair, and it was time to leave.
for all three of us.
i told her id be in korea for the next 6 days or so and if possible, we should try to meet again soon. smiling, she said she will try.
lets hope so. goodbye jieun, see you soon.
now, earlier on in the day, i had also made plans to see my malaysian counterpart in seoul and we had planned to meet for dinner once the evening was done. she, yw, would be calling another friend as well, mj-kim ( whose company i absolutely adore ) to join us tonight. well, of course i was looking forward to our encounter, wholeheartedly knowing it would be in a completely relaxed, laid-back manner, care - free all the way.
and so we arrived here. the thing is, i cant quite remember where "here" was. oh well, that didnt really matter i guess.
the night was wonderful, irregardless.
as i spent time chatting withe these two lovely ladies and relieving memories while having coffee and ice-cream, i was entertained by various sweet anecdotes of how both of them were living it up here in seoul and it was a joy to listen to every word.
humorous bits and pieces of their social lives peppered the conversations we were having, and i juts couldn't help but smile every time i heard something warm and heart-tugging.
i wish the night would have lasted much longer, but unfortunatley, they both had responsibilities in the morning and needed to head back home soon. MJ-kim, especially, lived quite a distance away and needed to get back before it got too late, and of course, i understood. the night soon came to end, and we said our heartfelt goodbyes.
of course i had hoped we would be able to catch up one last time before i leave seoul in a few days, but i realised even if we didn't, this was one pleasant evening i would remember for a long, long time.
goodnight sweethearts! see you soon!
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