South Korea - Part 1

Although it’s only a two hour flight away, South Korea sometimes seems like it’s a world away from Japan.  Having spent a week in South Korea, I’m repeatedly mentally kicking myself for not having started Korean instead of Japanese, despite the fact that it’s a much more difficult language and despite the fact that learning it would probably be quite difficult, due to the high levels of English among university students and graduates in Korea.  But, I do realize that if I spent more than a week there and developed a normal routine which did not resemble that of a tourist I would probably have a very different opinion. 

For scheduling purposes it was decided sometime on the 25^th or 26^th of January that it would be most convenient for Valerie and I to visit Sunny at her home in Seoul during the current vacation, instead of in March as originally planned.  We were lucky to find and, despite the best efforts of the airline, purchase tickets for Saturday the 31^st of January.

Flying on a discount airline provides an interesting comparison to your typical Delta or United international flight.  For one thing, Jeju airlines (named after a popular Korean resort island) operates a website which only provides a translated web page for routes that touch countries with that official language.  For example, the English page only provides information on the routes between Hong Kong and South Korea.  The Japanese page, correspondingly, only provides information on routes which touch Japan.

Secondly, on Jeju Airlines, everybody flies in Joy Class.  I would also like to note that in Joy class all the arm rests have ashtrays built in, which attests to the age of the aircraft.  I was nervous that if one peeled back the labels on the seatbacks which note the location of the life vests in Korean and English, the label below would be printed in Cyrillic. 

After the in-flight refreshment, which consisted of a beef Onigiri and your choice of orange juice, water, or coffee, I studied Kanji using a slick Nintendo DS game I bought a few weeks ago with the assumption that I would be bored out of my mind this vacation, so I might as well learn something.  Valerie slept.  Soon we were able to see Korea.

What sort of idiot goes to Korea in January when most people are heading for Thailand?

It looked cold.  Even the largest rivers appeared to be frozen entirely.

Upon arrival we made our way through a nearly empty international terminal at Incheon International Airport, about an hour outside of Seoul proper.  We received a warm welcome from Pierce Brosnan, who recommended the Paradise Casino.

Thanks.

An amazing thing about going through immigration control in Incheon was the English ability of the interviewing officer.  We both marked that we were visiting friends on our customs form (which interestingly was an option next to the usual business, travel, study, etc.) but had neglected to get an address or write down Sunny’s phone number.  He let us in anyway, but I commend him on his ability to thoroughly probe the depths of our unpreparedness in clearly understandable English.

Thankfully Sunny was waiting beyond customs.  Together we picked up our bags and proceeded to the train.  Another thing I liked about South Korea was the cost of public transit.  When we traveled to the airport in Japan it came to around $20 USD.  In Korea it cost approximately half that and took about the same amount of time. 

Reunited!

We disembarked at the station and walked for about 5-10 minutes to the condo where Sunny lives with her family.  On the way I noticed that, yes, Korea is much dirtier than Japan.  However, I have to admit that I found it refreshing after the ugly but very clean atmosphere of Japanese cities. 

The condo was on the 16^th floor of a new building.  It had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a large kitchen and dining area.  I’ve since been informed that this is definitely a large apartment by Korean standards.  Another amazing thing about the condo was the heat.  Japanese homes in the region where Valerie and I live have no central heating and no insulation, so although it rarely drops below zero (and when it does, it’s a huge deal) I am constantly cold in the house and spent the first part of the vacation in bed with my Kindle or DS, as that was the best way to stay warm if I was going to stay home.  This home had in floor heating and I was too warm in the house on occasion.

The view from Sunny's room.

That evening the three of us when out to dinner in a local restaurant. (I should point out now that this restaurant is not typical for Korea.)   It was an experience that I think would frighten many of my acquaintances in Japan, but I think part of the reason I liked it so much was because it was an experience which be entirely alien to some.  The restaurant was crowded, but Sunny went ahead and asked for a table.  She came back and we followed her into  the restaurant.  The interior was somewhat dark and covered with sticky notes with messages in Korean, Shochu girl posters, and some handmade decorations, which included one featuring the chief waiter of the establishment on a wanted poster next to Osama Bin Laden and one “Mr. Kim” of a city about 200km to the north.

After becoming used to Japan it was a relief not to have anybody shout “IRRASHAIMASE!” as soon as I open a door or look at the shop.  In fact, the waiter, appropriately dressed for the occasion in a jeans, a yellow t-shirt, and sunglasses, was too busy to move out of the way when I opened the door so I had to carefully slide around him without knocking over anybody’s drink.  (It was not a large shop.) 

We made our way to what was labeled the “VIP Room” in the back to wait for a table to become clear.  The VIP Room was obviously a smoking deck which they had covered in plastic and plugged in a heater due to the cold.  It hung out a little bit over the train tracks, but seemed solid enough, at least enough to accommodate the group of eight who came in after us.

When a table became available we did our best to get seated without putting our coats or gloves in somebody’s beer or kimchi.  The ordering process is very simple, you name tell the waiter how many people you have in your group, and an appropriate amount of pork is placed on the portable stove set up on your table, along with some kimchi.  In addition, you receive a dish of thinly sliced daikon (I think), some soya powder, and some sort of a red sauce.  As the meat finishes cooking in front of you (the start it on a grill somewhere in the back) you cut it into small pieces with shears provided by the restaurant.  If need more condiments, water, or napkins, you get it yourself.  If you need more meat, rice, or sake you call to the waiter.  Apparently that doesn’t always work as some patrons would just smack him or yank on his shirt as he passed, and he would shout at them, finish whatever he was doing, and then deal with them. 

危ない！

The other waiter sported aviators, spoke some English. After discussing with Sunny where we were from and how she knew us, he spoke a bit with me, and then tried out a little bit of German on Valerie.

Sunny was going to meet with a few of her friends, so Valerie and I retreated to a nearby branch of the chain “Angel in Us Coffee”, which appears to somehow be associated with Vaseline.

Anyways, we sat and talked and people watched for a while before Sunny returned with a few of her friends who wanted to meet us.  We spoke with them for a bit and managed to navigate the cultural landmines without too much trouble.  Soon, another acquaintance arrived.  He was on leave before finishing his last 100 days of military service, which in South Korea consists of two years of compulsory service.  He lived in the US for two years when he was younger and now works with the American military at Camp Humphrey.  It took me a few tries to figure this out.  At first when he spoke to us, I had no clue what he was saying, I couldn’t even identify the language.  Next I thought it was Korean, and then one sentences later something clicked and I understood everything:  He was speaking American English with an incredibly strong North Carolina accent, which in some ways makes sense as Camp Humphrey is almost entirely staffed by servicemen and women based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

It was extremely cold outside, especially after living in a part of Japan which is usually between 5-10 in the winter, so we took a taxi back home.  In most other countries I would have toughed it out and walked the whole 20 minutes or whatever it would take, but we took the taxi and it cost roughly $5USD.  (Another friend told me that to get to a certain building on her campus in Seoul, she and a friend will share a taxi instead of walking to the this building as it is cold in the winter, on a hill, and costs less than cheap cup of coffee.)

Part 2 will be up soon and will cover our trip to Andong and Gyeongju.

Not all the photos are mine, so credit to Valerie and Sun Hyun.