Underground

I love living abroad, because the most mundane of things excites you. After my first solo bus ride in Korea I spent the next 4 hours mentally congratulating myself for being such a strong independent woman. Even ordering your own beer and getting the one you asked for is a mental pat on the back.  Of course, there are a few, minor, tiny downsides to being a stranger in a strange country.....mostly that you don't have all the inside information. It's easy to get a guidebook and pick out all the tourist traps, but when it comes to music and the arts, it's difficult to find the underground venues when they're so...underground.

So, I love it when I stumble across a creative diamond in the rough. And Korea is full of them.....it's just finding them (apparently). The highlight of my year last year was one of these finds. Just advertised on a few posters round Seoul as a 'pysychadelic love camp...free to anyone who brings flowers or incense' we found ourselves in the middle of the mountains with about 150 Koreans, a stage of flowers and candles, tents and tipis, free drink being passed around and even free food. The live music continued all night only interrupted by contemporary dance performed by people painted head-to-toe in white. By the end of the night most people had their face and bodies painted, including me, but......I think I was enjoying myself too much at the time to remember how that happened.

So this year, I was on the hunt to find an authentic venue where there was live music, contemporary arts....and just some raw creativeness. So when I found myself walking into the cave-like Obeg with live music, free drink being passed around, a place to put your shoes so you can dance barefoot, and a bearded Korean man wearing the women's traditional hanbock dress whilst passing around sheesha....I knew I'd found it again. Big smile on Michelle.

There were about 7 live bands, ranging from reggae to samba and soulful,  to 'Rapercussion' - a 30 piece drumming group (which my drunken friend managed to sleep through...impossible, one might think) - and was even interrupted by some breakdancing and caperero. Besides losing my wallet in the melee of the music, it was an amazing night......and just what I needed to find in Korea. Can't wait to get back there! So anymore hidden treasure anyone?