Dispatch from Seoul

This city, so far, is:

Le Corbusier’s wet dream.

Land of Doughnut Plant franchises. (Take that, New Yorkers who think themselves swell for eating unhealthy blackout doughnuts at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge!)

Home of octopus served live, with the tentacles still wriggling around and the suction cups still quite functional.

Seoul sans pun

Man, is it tempting to pun off of Seoul. It is so alluring.

It will be difficult to resist when I head there on Friday, for work. Luckily I’m going with S, who speaks Korean. When pronounced properly, Seoul does not lend itself to puns. And anyway, the concept of a “soul,” such as it is, is most likely not a cognate across Korean and English.