PART II-THE SOUL OF SEOUL

Korea- a picture story-

We ended the story on the bus returning to Seoul. Now, we have landed in the heart of Seoul and put down all of our bags. Wondering what to do next, we went looking around the Dongdaemun shopping area.

Not one for shopping, I opted to go downtown to the theatre where they were playing BREAK OUT and JUMP . We had read abit about the two performances in our travel books and thought we might check them out.

Both of the shows did not have much dialogue and relied heavily on stage actions and movements.  BREAK OUT being a dance performance and JUMP being a martial arts performance. So we thought that they would be a good choice to watch, since we don't understand any Korean, apart from thank you (kamsamida) and your welcome (cheongmunheyo). We preferred watching JUMP due to the martial arts involved, but could only get tickets to BREAK OUT . Though it was good enough for the time being.

Teresa and I get ready to watch BREAK OUT .

Having no expectations whatsoever, we got totally enthralled in the action packed dance adventure that was  BREAK OUT . The story starts off with a bunch of prisoners doing their daily exercise. The prison guard leads and the prisoners follow, but as soon as he turns his back there is all types of shananigans going on. As the story progresses the dancers go through different dance routines and do various tricks on stage.

From the get go it grabs your attention and is really funny. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time. Anyway, back to the plot. A mysterious book falls to Earth, and whenever any character touches it they get the urge to dance. And they can dance, spinning on their head and hands, cartwheels, the robot, all forms of breakdancing and modern dance.... I think. But, after awhile it became evident that certain actors had special moves that they kept on repeating time after time. It was fine though because the story progression was really good and it was absolutely hilarious, almost pissed my pants, just kidding.

So content with the show, we try to get tickets for JUMP the next day. But, they are all sold out. The lady at the counter tells us that we can come 10mins before the show to see if there are any cancellations and we might get lucky. We tell her that's exactly what we will do.

After the show I couldn't help but feel hungry. I got myself a taco hot dog. Weird, but tasty!!!

Teresa got the munchies too!

"Now this is how you eat it," she says.

Teresa couldn't stop eating.... (fei pau!!!)

It was the end of another day, and then time to start a new one again. The cycle never ends, until we die that is. And something important to a new day is some wholesome food, and we got plenty of that in Korea. We went to a Korean BBQ restaurant for lunch where they spoke no English at all, but somehow managed to get a great meal at a decent price.

Before going to the BBQ restaurant we went to the theatre to see if they had any more tickets for JUMP . But, unfortunately we lucked out. They told us to come back at 4pm when we could try again.

Just look at that meat, doesn't it look yummy!

You look yummy too babe! I mean... the food looks great!

Staring at the empty hot plate as I have almost licked it clean... "Give me more!" I say.

I wait a couple of minutes and (bow bow), I'm full.

The trip couldn't be complete without visiting the 75 year old Seaweed store. Teresa found it in our travel book and forced me to take her there, otherwise no brownie points for me. It was hard to find and we had almost had given up looking for it, when voila, there it appeared. Teresa was so happy. I think she bought something liked 25 bags of seaweed. Some stupendous number.

Teresa is really happy. Brownie points for me. Shuts her up for the rest of the day... cos her face is full of seaweed. hahaha!

Our persistence paid off, we went back to the theater at 4pm and we got 2 tickets to JUMP ! Yes, finally. The lady at the counter had set them aside for us. Turned out to be a great show!

Took this picture of the stage just before someone told me not to take any photos. Ha!

The story is about a family of martial artists. This guy below, was the Father of the family.

The show was really awesome, but the best part was when the Father walked through the audience and spotted me out. He looked at my hair and laughed, so he made me get up and the whole crowd cheered (or laughed) at my spikey red hair.

Then he asked me to come out, so I did. He said, "block this." and he attempted to hit me in slow motion. I put my hand up to block and he was so amazed, calling me the master etc etc... I looked at him strangely and then realised the joke. He asked me if I liked sport and invited me onto the stage. I was very enthusiastic and I joined him on the stage, wondering what they were going to do to me.

When I got on stage they took me to stage right and they had the Uncle on stage left. Then he told me that we were going to have a fight, so I got myself ready, almost thinking that I was going to have a real fight. Or a play fight. I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't to know that they were going to take me through a series of trials against the Uncle to see how good I was at martial arts.

They told the Uncle to do a high kick and so he did. Then they motioned for me to do the same. When my leg rose higher than my face (in perfect motion) they gasped, and I am sure some of the audience did too. I did a perfect high kick which was a testament to my kickboxing and jiu jitsu days of old.

They thought that wasn't hard enough for me, so they got the Uncle to do a forward roll, followed by a backroll, and then a handstand. I laughed when he did it, knowing that I would have to follow. So when it was my turn I took off my scarf and got ready for the roll. I rolled forward and slightly paused as I reversed direction, then rolled backward. My backwards roll was carried out nicely except I forgot to do the handstand. But, before finishing the manoevre, I rolled slightly forward and did a handstand, the crowd cheered. I got up laughing. I didn't do it perfectly, but it was good enough. I am sure the actors were impressed to.

Next, I didn't understand what was going on. They asked the Uncle to spread his hands and feet apart and started patting him down. They asked me to do the same and I thought I was going to be felt up or something. Then something strange happened. They started pulling all kinds of weapons from my clothing; knives, nun-chucks and a spear were some of the things that they pulled out of my clothes. It was kind of like a clown trick where they pull so many scarves out of their wrists. But this was much weirder. How did they get in there?

The family of martial artists ran to the other side of the stage in horror and grasped eachother, calling me the Master. I couldn't help laughing and the crowd was estatic too. The family were all huddling in fear of me, so I did what I thought was best, to keep the atmosphere. I made a noise and a threatening gesture (all in good fun) and they all screamed and took a step back in unison. I relaxed, nearly pissing myself on the stage because I wasn't expecting their reaction. But, it was great. They are a good lot of improvisers, and this part of the show seems to need a lot of improvisation.

So, that's my cool story. They thanked me, calling me the master and getting the crowd to cheer me off the stage, not before they presented me with a book of show. I made sure that all the actors signed if after the show. If I had to compare the two, I think I enjoyed the dance performance more, but the fact that I got onto the stage of JUMP , made it a memorable moment that I will never stop talking about.

The daughter. Isn't she cute!

The Uncle. He said, "Today, you are the MASTER!"

Teresa's favourite character was the Uncle, who was always drunk.

After the show, I felt like I had done enough exercise to warrant eating a sausage and chips on a stick.

I sink my teeth into the sausage and chips on a stick.

That's where I will end my adventure. It was a great couple of days with great company. Forever more, when I go to a Korean restaurant I will remember all of my lovely adventures with my beautiful girlfriend. Especially JUMP .

I hope you have enjoyed the ride! And if these two shows come to a city near you, make sure that you go. You can't miss out!

Cain