Enough negativity!

Yesterday I went for a stroll around the COEX mall in Seoul. I never actually went inside, just walked around the outside. They have a big aquarium there, though, so I think I might go in at some point. I love marine life.

At any rate, as I meandered the border of the mall, after eating some super delicious super spicy hot seafood soup, I discovered a festival! Purely by chance. Intrigued and excited, I decided to go into the middle of it all. Only... I couldn't!

I walked the perimeter of the giant crowd of people surrounding the booths and couldn't find a clean entrance. I could've squeezed through some tight crowds watching a performance of some sort, but it would have been quite an adventure.

That and people kept staring at me. It was kind of unsettling. Eventually I stopped behind the huge crowd of Koreans watching the performance (although at that point it was just some guy talking at a podium, words I couldn't even begin to understand). This old lady kind of stared at me for a few seconds, then turned and whispered to her friend. Then the friend turned and gawked, wide-eyed at this behemoth towering over her.

I just laughed.

Even so, that wasn't the first or last stare I would get. There were a few friendly hellos - in English, even! If I was a more outgoing guy, I might have stopped and talked to them about the festival. But for the most part people just looked at me like "what the hell are you doing here?" I never got these looks in Japan; only the curious stares of children. Kids are cute, though, so it doesn't bother me.

I think the festival was some sort of Korean pride thing, so people just generally had no idea what the hell I was doing there. Either way, it was awkward, so I got the fuck out and went back to my hotel room.