Korea Day 7 - Orange Juice is Bad for your Qi

The next day we got up and went over to the bus station. We had realized before that we would have extra time on this day so we planned a stop in a city just sort of randomly picked out of the book. The bus station was pretty easy to navigate, you'd be surprised in how many countries tapping you finger down on a desk means that you want the soonest ticket. When we got to the city my stomach wasn't feeling so good as a result of the incredibly spicy food we had eaten the night before. We went into a pharmacy and after a bunch of pantomiming, it's also interesting how important a keen skill in charades is to traveling, I got some sort of medicine. One thing was a pill which I clearly understood I was supposed to take two of the other thing was some sort of powder which I was unclear if I was supposed to take with water or not. We walked down a while and Ken needed to stop into a bank to get some more money. The bank actually had a cool collection of foreign currency. It's remarkable how many countries call there money a dollar and how many have a picture of the Queen of England on them. I think the coolest money was from Hong Kong as it was really colorful and had the name of a corporation on it, something to do with the weird way the city has always been run.

As we were leaving the bank, in what I'm quit sure was the same way we came in, we discovered that the entrance we had come in was now covered by a big gate. After looking around for a minute I noticed a side door leading to what looked like a closet that had a door to the street. The door was locked but being on the inside I could unlock it and we exited that way. I don't know whatever happened but if the bank managed to get itself robbed on account of an unlocked door it was their own fault. We had picked the town since it was known as some sort of traditional medicine hot spot and was supposed to have some big traditional medicine market. The market was pretty disappointing since it was just a bunch of stores not really an outdoor market. The best thing though was a big museum of traditional medicine and the crazy things it said. I've never really had much respect for traditional medicine and living in China has only made it worse with some of the nonsense the students spout off. If something really is good for you, like tea, then regular old science can prove that and not just rely on what someones grandma said. The museum had all sorts of wired display about the elements (earth, fire water, not sodium and beryllium) and nonsense about Qi but the best part was a computer which was supposed to find what sort of person you were and what things were good for you. Me and Ken both did it and despite entering very different things got the same result which included a list of things you should and should not eat. On my list was, I believe, oranges so know I know that orange juice doesn't agree with my Qi.

Later on we went to eat at a McDonalds, conveniently located next to a Outback Steakhouse were I tried some Korean version of a big mac which tasted like it had been dipped in soy sauce and I tried mixing the powdered stuff with water and drinking it. When mixed with water it sort of looked like mud and didn't taste much better. By that point even Ken was feeling a little sick from all the spicy food. We got on the train which took us back to Seoul where we even stayed at the same hotel we had been in before. On our way into Seoul we noticed two odd things. First was a sign for a pizza place who's slogan read "Love for Women." Now I'm not advertising expert but that seems like a pretty odd slogan. Is the pizza somehow better for women? Is the company run by women? Or do they just have no idea what they're doing. The other odd thing was a vending machine which seemed to only sell study books. Now that's how you build a hard working society by having even the vending machines telling you to study more.