The Inquirer

The charms of Old Montreal. N5

Sunday, June 5, 2011 # Section N

Turkey tour takes sartorial turn. N4

Travel wardrobe to go. N4

A

MATTHEW CROMPTON

View of the Seoul cityscape. The region, home to nearly 25 million people, is within artillery range of volatile North Korea. That hasnt stopped its meteoric rise from war-ravaged poverty.

Sizzling

SEOUL
By Matthew Crompton
FOR THE INQUIRER

The thriving capital works and plays frenetically, then simmers the stress away in hundreds of spas.

A vendor prepares bindaetteok, a savory mung-bean pancake,

at one of Seouls night market stalls.

EOUL, South Korea I have made it a general rule in life to avoid eating anything that fights back. Nonetheless, here at Noryangjin fish market, the dish before me fully alive only moments before is still squirming. Chew vigorously, my friend Nick advises me, as I seize a particularly ambitious piece of sannakji a freshly dismembered bit of raw octopus tentacle between the metal blades of my chopsticks, dredge it through a small dish of sesame oil, and pop it, writhing, into my mouth. I mean, I like the flavor, he muses, as a peculiar sucking sensation takes hold of my tongue and cheek. But its the feeling of it gripping as it goes down that Ive really come to love. Dynamic Korea: A b-boy competition in July at Olympic Hall in Seoul. I shoot him a look and swallow hard, volatile North Korea. Still, that hasnt stopped the city, feeling the unmasticated suction cups working their dubbed The Miracle on the Han River for its meteoric way down my esophagus. rise from war-ravaged poverty to global business domiThis is Seoul. The sprawling South Korean capital nance, from thriving in the shadow of the gun. region, almost destroyed during the Korean War, now is Like my vigorous octopus snack, its an offering home to nearly 25 million people, all living, working, youve probably heard little about, but one that holds and playing as they have since the cease-fire that See SEOUL on N6 ended the conflict in 1953 within artillery range of a

Getting in the know before you go

Y
Senior Traveler
By Sally and John Macdonald
ing up the ethnic atmosphere of whatever foreign land were going to or pining for. Heres what we mean. Not long ago, before a trip to western China, we settled into the far end of a pew at the local Chinese Presbyterian Church. We were trying to blend in, although we obviously werent members and the bulletin said plainly, in English, that the service would be in Cantonese. After a while, an usher made his way over, knelt beside us and quietly whispered, Do you know where you are? This is a Chinese church. We laughed and explained that we See SENIOR TRAVELER on N2

Chef Joseph Poons Wokn

Walk Tour of Philadelphias Chinatown includes a cooking demonstration in his kitchen.

ouve bought your plane ticket to Hong Kong, reserved a room, and purchased a guidebook to help you decide what to see, where to eat, and how to tip the cabbie. But what to do while youre waiting for departure day to arrive? You could do what we do, whether a foreign trip is on the horizon or not even an option: Take a virtual trip nearby, soak-

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