South Korea Has Seoul

Before I get into the recent travel let me first talk about a few recent experiences. The site facilities have been good for the most part with a few exceptions. The latest being my lock. In my area of China we have close to 100F heat and 95% relative humidity almost daily. Also I have been directed (like I needed an excuse) to keep my apartment cool and dry to avoid any mold outbreak. Well this yields a big temperature difference between the indoor and the outdoor and the victim is my door lock. For a few days it was getting stuck as I tried to enter my place, but I would get in after 2-3 tries. Then my lock seized. It would start taking me about 20-30min just to get into my house. So I called the maintenance people. She told me place was too cold and that I should turn off the AC, open the windows during the day…and obviously let in all the mold. So I said fine, let me see if I can figure anything out. I went around to different stores but couldn’t find anything WD40-esque, got back and now it was about 45min to get in. Enough is enough, called her again and told them they had to go and fix it. She reluctantly agreed, and the maintenance man came, and practically had to take the entire door apart to fix it. He lubed every moving piece in the whole contraption. And now, finally works like a charm…let’s see for how long.

Well as most of you know I went this past weekend to Seoul, and let me tell you the entire trip was awesome. It started off by taking the high speed train into Shanghai. This is somewhat of a misnomer since it’s high speed from my current location to Ningbo at around 250 kph (~155mph) and then the rest of the trip it goes between 40-100 kph. Our admin bought me the ticket and got me a first class ticket ($20 or so) which has a nice big seat and an electrical outlet for the computer. Once I got in I moved around the subway system, got to my hotel, changed shirts then met up with two friends for dinner and some minor TV.

The next day I checked out, got to the subway station and figured out what lines I needed to get take to get to the airport (one transfer or so I thought). I’m on the train making my way over, it’s very easy since everything is in Mandarin and English, then I get to a stop and everyone sprints off the train. I look up, 6 more stops to go, hmmm ok. Doors close it goes one stop further and there is a mad rush of people getting on the train fighting for any available seats. Kinda strange. Then the doors close and the train starts going backwards….what WTF? I’m looking at the line information with the flashing lights which now decided to stop being updated. I quickly realize that it is taking me now in the opposite direction and I need to transfer to a different subway line (both the same line, but don’t ask me). Finally I get back on my way to the airport, international flight showing up 1hr ish early…oh well. Got on the plane ready to go and after about 10min of the pilot talking he announces that the flight deck is making us wait (the announcements are in Korean, Mandarin, then English). Mind you the entire time I am here waiting I am sweating profusely, something I’ve become accustomed to now in China. But the main reason is that I had to sprint through the airport, then I get on the plane and there is no direct air for the seats. Chinese are accustomed to some weird things, but during the announcement the one thing I heard them say was that they couldn’t go even though the plane was hot enough. No we aren’t talking about the engines either, we are talking about the interior. Here I am sweating, and a guy next to me is asking for a blanket. ITS ALSO 93 DEGREES OUTSIDE!

Oh well, I get into S. Korea and find the bus (its own little ordeal) and head to Seoul from Incheon Airport. This city is insanely Western. The Koreans walk around listening and watching TV on their cell phones, many have antennas they add on just to get better reception. The people are driving around in some amazing looking Hyundai’s and Daewoo’s (seriously they look like BMWs) and just give off an incredibly cosmopolitan feel to themselves. The weekend was busy with a mixture of touristy, foodie, and some minor partying.

Touristy wise, we went to Gyeongbok Palace which was the royal palace for many centuries, a street called Insa Dong which is where a lot of the tourist shops are, the riverside park, and a foreigners central area called Itaewon. The palace was enormous almost seemingly never ending. The buildings almost immediately start to blend in because they all look just about the same. Gardens consisted of large ponds with temples and such. And their use of color was focused around green, maroon, white, gold, and light blue. Still very cool though. The other area of real note is Itaewon. This area is full of fake items street vendors and is where you can find the majority of foreigners. Walking around you mostly here English and think you are in some sort of other universe. I swear I was only on that subway for 5min, what the heck….

Food and partying is also something worthwhile doing in Seoul. Food wise, I had two main Korean dishes. The first was Bulgogi which reminds me of a pepper steak type dish with many assorted smaller dishes. Quite good, but nothing compared to the Korean BBQ. Man that was awesome. You sit down at a table and they bring out a charcoal pit where you are to grill your food on. My buddy and I ordered a beef dish meant for two which brings along garlic, seaweed salad (at least similar), pickled radish, kimchi, cabbage slaw, red bean paste, lettuce leaves, and an onion liquid broth. Basically you cut the meat, grill it and once its ready you can either eat it as is, or make a little lettuce sandwich. Funny thing is, as I said before the meat was meant for 2, guess they didn’t realize they were dealing with two hungry men, so we had her come back and bring us a pork dish after. Both definitely great, but the beef was better.

Past this we walked around went to a bar and a night club had some drinks and relaxed. Met some crazy people (Nigerian and British) and had a blast. Unfortunately when you are still out at 130-2am and you need to wake up at 630 to make your flight, it makes the next day rough. But it was well worth it, plenty of time to sleep once you’re dead :P. I recommend S. Korea for anyone that is interested as it was an awesome time. I would love to go back at some point again and really hit up the sites hard. Only time will tell though. Also it is a very easy city to cope with as the water is all purified, the beef is all amazing (usually Australian) and the populace is just used to Western ways.

Sorry for the long post, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Next weekend I am off to the Qingdao Beer Festival, so hopefully you shall see an update on that afterward. I am hoping to post up some pictures soon of the hotels I’ve stayed at and walking around Seoul. Need to get the latter from my friend though. Take it easy!