Not Sick of Kimchi . . .

Yet. But it'd be nice if it was served with a glass of red wine, pinot noir to be precise. There's an incredibly interesting combination of old and new in this country. Yesterday we went to the Leeum Museum, in Seoul. It is owned and managed by the Lee family, of Samsung fame. So, do you get it? Lee (muse) um. I think I may start my own museum and call it the parkerum.

they had some louise borgeois sculptures in the courtyard (where these calders are in the picture). And then inside they had a gorgeous collection of celadon. but because the museum is owned by the samsung people, there were fancy schmancy pda's that automatically started talking about the object you were looking at. they should call it the drippingwithmoneyum.

After the new, it was time for the old. We toured Gyeongbokgung palace (the main palace during the choson dynasty) which is right in the center of Seoul. Again, an interesting contrast between the old and new architecture. It's like seeing the pyramids of giza next to the skyline of Cairo.

And then, we went to McDonald's for dinner. Because of Chusok (Korean Thanksgiving) we were having a hard time finding an open restaurant. So everyone was tired and hungry and we settled for the golden arches. I had a bulgogi burger and a green tea milkshake. and you know i like bulgogi. and it makes a good burger. it's a bit like asian style meatloaf on a bun.

Tomorrow we get up early and head to the Early Printing Museum in Cheongju. And then it's on to the Buddhist nunnery of Unmunsa. It's vegetarian so it's a good thing I got my fill of Bulgogi last night. we'll stay the night there if you can call it a night. we get up at 3:30 am for a service. i might be spooning my instant coffee granules directly into my mouth. we'll see.

Don't expect to hear too much from me over the next few days. I'm not sure about internet access at nunneries.