Sunday, July 10, 2011

Seoul

Before I went to Korea, I was not a fan of the country. With thousands (maybe millions) of them flocking here in the Philippines, going there to see more of them didn’t appeal that much. But a brief visit to Seoul changed that. What was that quote? To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries (Aldous Huxley)

Seoul has no particular landmark that will tell you right away that yes that is Seoul. Not a skyscraper or a mountain or a bridge. But this city has little charms which will surprise especially an unprepared visitor like me.

Incheon airport was impressive, it looked and felt new (to think it’s already 10 years old). My friend quipped it smelled of Germany. I wonder how Germany smelled like. The airport’s information system is as high-tech as one can get. Printed on the carts is this line “Incheon- World’s Best Air Hub”. I haven’t been to that many airports but I think this statement is not far from the truth. (After the trip, I checked some airport stats and indeed Incheon airport ICA has been on the top for the past three years beating its neighbors Changi, HKIA, Nagoya and KLIA in one survey by Geneva-based Airports Council International.) The top airports are all in Asia. Go Asia!

It was supposed to be the start of summer but we were greeted outside the Incheon airport by 12 degrees Celsius temperature. After having my best (and most expensive) Dunkin Donuts meal to date (at 5,200 won=P226 pesos), we took bus 6011 to our hostel in Seoul. The journey took about an hour and a half as we got stuck in morning traffic jam.
Grace and I with a an old friend Egay from UP and a new friend Simone from Italy

We stayed in Inside Backpackers, a hostel rated by Trip Advisor as the top specialty lodging house in Seoul. It was located in a university neighborhood with lots of restaurants, bakeshops and charming shops. If there’s one word I can describe Seoul with, it is charming. The city has little alleys with most shops looking as if they’re from a movie set interspersed with traditional Hanoks.

one of the side streets near Sam Cheong Dong
with Ian, a couchsurfer I met in Nagsasa Cove, Zambales

So aside from the friends I reconnected with, here are some of my experiences in a city sometimes referred to as the Soul of Asia.
• Foggy and very bumpy landing in Incheon (landing and take-off was bumpy)
• 12 degrees Celsius (supposed to be summer already) when we stepped out of the airport
• Uber high-tech Incheon airport
• Ultra modern airport information system (that's why it's the world's best air hub)
• Big new restrooms (uber clean)-smelled like germany according to gracie
• Required seatbelt on the bus
• Excellent Dunkin Donuts variety with misleading prices (discounts reflected on board rather than prices; when everything is in Korean aside from the numbers, how can one figure that out?)
• Singapore-like landscape on the road leading to the airport
• Kia and Hyundai rule in the road
• Tour van driver has been to Singapore (said it as if it's the most normal thing to do)
• Border with guard houses with guards everywhere
• Really young soldiers (20-ish)
• Entered the civilian contoured line
• Took forever to cross the unification bridge because of too many checkpoints
• No pictures allowed on the bus after the first checkpoint
• Watching the border like watching a war movie with no gunfire
• Really cold tunnel (North Koreans dug several tunnels going to the South, we went in the third tunnel)
• Seoul is a city with most number of train university stations I’ve ever seen
• Really young generation who knows how to party
• Cushioned train seats
• More complex train system than Beijing
• Noryangjin wet market has nice lights which made me think it was a furniture store
• Blind beggars walking around train with music
• Train platforms reminded me of Tokyo platforms (already tested by time yet extremely efficient)
• Seoul is less crowded than Tokyo and Beijing
• Seoul has better English than Chinese and Japanese combined
• Naver (play on the word Neighbor)-their version Google with its own street view
• Policeman in a small station used Naver to show us directions
• Changing of guards in Gyongbokgeung palace was made a spectacle for tourists
• I commented on a lady’s nice attire in Filipino thinking she was Korean “ang ganda naman ng suto ni Ate” and she quipped “Ay ako bay un, salamat”