Stephanie's Travels: Toilet Museum & Dinner With the Bosses

One of my bosses, Mu, cutting our dinner.
This is samgyeopsal.

Our side of the table had galbi.

A close up of galbi--it's a leaf of lettuce, topped with the meat,
then this utterly fantastic sauce, then some sprouts in a chili sauce.

Friday night after work, the bosses took us out for dinner. We went to a very nice galbi restaurant in Dongtan. The food was fantastic, as usual. I tried samgyeopsal, which is fatty pork belly meat, or basically really thick cut bacon. It's cooked the same way as galbi, DIY style over hot coals. After dinner, and some Cass beer and soju, we went to do some karaoke! Karoke places here are called norebangs, which means sing room, and it is a completely different atmosphere than back in the States. Instead of having to perform in front a crowd of strangers, they have private rooms for karaoke. They're set up pretty comfortably--comfortably seats, a table in the middle, and a few microphones to pass around so everyone can sing. It was a lot of fun, and it was fun to hear some popular Korean songs.

Mural outside.

A close up of part of the mural...dog poo!

With Jen and Lily in a toilet bowl in the garden.

On Saturday I went to Suwon to visit the toilet museum with Lily and Jen. The museum is dedicated to the hygienic history of toilets mostly in South Korea, but also throughout the world. It took a while to make it there, but it was a strange, quaint place to visit. It originally began as the house of Mr. Sim Jae-duck, a man who affectionately became known as Mr. Toilet. He was the founder and first president of the World Toilet Association. Apparently his childhood nickname was the Korean word for doggy poop because he was born in a toilet. He campaigned for toilets to become more hygienic and less of a taboo subject. He was also responsible for providing the toilets for the 2002 World Cup.

Wall with the different symbols used to denote
male and female restrooms... Some were a little bit racy.

A bit sassy, but definitely to the point.

I love the peeping tom! I have never seen these symbols,
but I hope some day I will!

After he passed away, his house was converted into a museum. The walls have the history of toilets and hygiene (sadly, this was mostly in Korean). There were also displays of different toilet-related artifacts and paintings. Outside, the grounds are dedicated to various statues and replicas of ancient toilets. It was most definitely a strange, interesting museum!