Fri 28 Sep 2012
Flight was Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong. (The original intent was to travel to Singapore for a couple of days en route for work, but the expense was unjustifiable). Chep Lap Kok is always one of the better airports to kip out for a couple of hours (although there are never enough bloody seats in the dining area and the wifi is an absolute bitch to hook into (the only consistent signal I could get on my iPhone was from standing in the main thoroughfare near the water fountain.))
My own personal Incheon Landing (I'm certain they built the international airport there just so people could say that) was uneventful although the telco shops had all closed (or just possibly I was too tired to pay attention to them) and the high(ish)-speed train efficiently discharges you at Seoul Station in well under an hour. The Seoul metro is (I would later learn, characteristically) clean and efficient and a single line change takes you to Chungmuro. That station and the name of the hotel, Astoria was all I could recall in my suddenly bandwidth free environment, but by stroke of luck (and presumably effective hotel positioning) my randomly chosen subway exit had clear line of sight on a building with Astoria plastered across it in letters 10ft high. (A brief dash across a six-lane highway was also required). No wifi in room
Sat 29 Sep 2012
Turns out I left my toilet bag at home. (I realised this about a mile down the road from my house in the taxi.) Replacing contents was second priority (after data connection). Unfortunately, I'd arrived the day before Chuseok (30 Sep - variously translated as 'Thanksgiving' or (by Wikipedia) as the 'Mid-Autumn Festival') and consequently in the middle of the only three-day holiday on the Korean calendar. Although telco shops were open, their back-office registration wouldn't be available until Tue 2 Oct at the earliest. On to next priority, toothbrush and toothpaste replaced trivially (although didn't manage to acquire electric toothbrush for another few days). Deodorant. About a dozen pharmacies later ended up in the Body Shop and on request was pointed to a single stick near the back of the shop, proudly proclaiming 'No Aluminium Salt' (ie deodorant). No choice but to buy the ridiculously expensive deodorant-free deodorant. (It turns out Koreans don't use, or apparently need, deodorant - even packed metro carriages remain basically BO-free. Certainly they don't buy it.)
Too knackered to do much for the rest of the day. Being deodorant free with uncleaned teeth and not, you know, hiking didn't help disposition. Fortunately, Astoria is reasonably centrally located for the main shopping region ('area' doesn't quite do it justice) so could wander around in my own malodorous turbulence for a bit before booking a Sunday day tour. Dined out in my hotel room on what I thought was crab-meat in a cold shrink wrap from a GS25 convenience store. (English, or even latin script is utterly absent from food packaging).
Sun 30 Sep 2012
Normal 'new country' stomach problems lead me to be 7 min late for the tour pick-up at the hotel. Second lesson. Along with being deodorant-free, Koreans are very punctual. Tour was scheduled to begin at 9am but I was warned to be down by 8:30am. Turns out this wasn't just b/c they assumed I'd be 30 min late. By the time I'd wandered downstairs at 8:37, I'd received three 'where are you' calls from reception and the tour bus had already departed. It did eventually return (after pick ups from other hotels) and I was duly (if non-verbally) berated.
Among the dozen or so on the tour there were a pair of Aussie girls on the tour (one of whom is based on HK and who had a pronounced London accent from the decade she'd spent there) who had actually been on the same flight into Incheon and a pleasant Singaporean trio.
The tour guide was a pretty young girl with so-so English and not a terribly deep understanding of the tour destinations. It's worth noting that Korean women are remarkably beautiful. This was noted by the tour guide (although it wasn't always clear whether she was talking generally or just about herself), and the apparent historical tendency for invading neighbours (particularly the Mongolians and Japanese) to cart off Korean women along with traditional plunder suggests it's not just the guide's narcissism.
I was too tired to pay too much attention to our destinations. We did visit the two palaces (both of which are quite beautiful (built to an architectural style that to my untrained eye could have been anywhere in China, Japan, or Korea) and beautifully located, placed as they are in 'old' Seoul, surrounded (apparently according to geomantic principles) by mountains at the four cardinal points) as well as the Blue (President's) House. The latter has some serious security, including bright white roller-blading young police doing V-signs for tourists and whom I'm certain exist solely for misdirection from the ubiquitous unsmiling men in dark suits.
The tour also stopped at a shopping strip devoted to souvenirs and some antiques. I'm normally fairly cynical about such places but was so terrified by the ferocity of one monkey-king figurine decided to buy it (for ~$60) for further consideration. (It's surprising just how widely-known Journey into the West is in the whole 'sinosphere' - monkeys aren't even native to Korea). It's wooden with a crack through the middle suggesting it is genuinely at least a couple of decades old (or had very poor QA/QC). They also had Emperor's Beard. I have found this once (only) in London, once (only) in Singapore and now here (on a street whose location I now can't remember). I bought four packets but more interestingly got to watch them make it. They punch a hole in a solid block of honey to form a rough band then loop this back to make a double loop of half the thickness then repeat probably a dozen times, dipping all the while in flour. From rough calc there must be at least 4096 loops in the sweet by the time it's finished.) And it is the Food of the Gods.
The tour also stopped at licensed Ginseng tourist shop to sample free 'heaven' grade ginseng and encouraged to buy the extremely stuff for ourselves. I've not had ginseng before and there is definitely an effect - not too dissimilar to coffee (which I don't drink) but without the crash but nonetheless not unambiguously positive. In any case at hundreds of dollars for a small quantity, the cost was simply too high (Although I did weaken later and bought some capsules on a later enforced stop on another tour). The tour also made a forced stop at an amethyst shop but the most interesting here was the bench I dozed on.
Final stop for the day (by this time only me and two other tourists) was NANTA, a dance/cooking/comedy/semi-martial art performance which was entertaining although probably overrated.
On the walk back to hotel I witnessed the memorably, impressively full moon - Chuseok was scheduled well...
Mon 1 Oct 2012
Seoul has about 22 million people, approximately half of South Korea's population. It would have been easy to not leave at all but I did want to get a better feel for the country's geography so I decided on a KTX (effectively a TGV, built locally under a technology transfer contract) to Busan, Korea's largest port and usual entry and exit point of any seaborne invasion. (And alos memorably the centre-piece for the 1950 Busan Perimeter. The terrain the
My hotel was in the far-east of the city, near Haeundae and (chosen as it was purely on cost) caters to a quite a different market to the Astoria. For a hotel marketed on Expedia, you'd expect it to at least have some English advertising (eg its name), but no - the hotel proclaims its existence only in Hangul. After wandering around for approx an hour and getting several attempts at directions, it was only by asking a foreigner who not only spoke (and actually was) English but by pure chance was actually staying there. It turns out to be a 'Love Motel'. I ended up staying at a few of these (price was the main factor and they are cheap). They exist in vast numbers but they're homogenised to an extent they might as well be a franchise. Exotic lighting, check. Small or painted over windows, check. Large (in some cases huge) lcd tv. Crappy old computer with internet connection. Check and check. Tiny, hand-towel like towels, check. Two-person bath and shower, check. Condoms in the toiletries 'welcome-pack', check. Rock hard bed... Check. Everything else is amusing but the beds are a real problem. I can only assume they're not designed for sleeping. Fortunately I had a twin and was able to cannibalise the duvet from the other bed as a second mattress. Although the above makes it sound like a brothel, they're not at all seedy (and actually saw (almost) no signs of red-light activities in all my time in Korea). Apparently they exist mainly to give couples some privacy, perhaps not easy in such a densely populated country.
Busan has a different (and more relaxed feel) to Seoul. Also notably warmer. It was a week too early for the Busan Film Festival, however, there were preparations everywhere and it would be good to see one day. I didn't have much time in Busan, only one night, and my planning wasn't particularly good. The position of the hotel meant travel time to what I later discovered was the real center was approx an hour. The district I was in was apparently famous for its beach which seemed pleasant enough (I've seen few beaches anywhere I'd categorise as 'good' by Australian standards) and being autumn it was at least no longer packed. What were genuinely impressive were the skyscrapers surrounding the beach. Between the beach, beautiful weather, green-clad mountains and ultra modern skyscrapers, it was quite memorable.
The only site I saw that evening (again poor planning) was the tower in central Busan that gives a quite impressive 360deg view of Busan and its harbour (although given I arrived after dusk it wasn't always easy to work out what was what).
Tue 2 Oct 2012
I saw the next morning the most impressive site in Busan - the UN Cemetery. It is often said that war cemeteries in foreign countries are not always well regarded by their hosts. That is most emphatically not the case here. The UN soldiers who died during the Korean War are respected here in a way that's quite humbling. From the two soldiers who salute at the entrance, to the old tour guide who talks everybody through their respective country's contributions, to the immaculate condition in which the cemetery itself is maintained - everything speaks of gratitude to the foreigners who sacrificed themselves.
Following that was a coach ride to Gwangju, a destination I still know really nothing about, and which served only to bulk out the triangular loop back to Seoul. And a stay in another Love Motel with a rock-hard bed and free condoms.
Wed 3 Oct 2012
During my stay in Gwangju I really only visited a (the?) river with concrete retaining walls and bicycle paths in the flood zone (and which was at low flow) for a pleasant walk followed by a visit to EMart (Myers/Walmart/Marks&Spencer) to pick up some clothes I'd bought near midnight the previous night.
The week leading up to Korea had been (as typical before anybody's vac) super-busy and gave me the opportunity to do basically no preparation. The one thing I knew was that I wanted to visit Panmunjom, where North and South glare at each across the (literal) armistice Line. What I hadn't realised was the 'no jeans, no t-shirts' dress code. Given my backpack constituted 6x t-shirts and 1x pair of jeans, I'd first resigned myself to not going, but then decided damn it I'd buy the necessary clothes. As a result I bought a pair of cheap and uncomfortable chinos, a not so cheap and slightly less uncomfortable shirt, and in a fit of insanity, a formal ~$150 jacket which I'll likely never wear again. It was quite fun communicating and trying out clothes with a salesperson who spoke not a word of English, but these clothes existed to Panmunjom.
A second coach ride returned me to Seoul that evening and I'd decided on returning to the Astoria. As soon as I arrived, I made the booking for Panmunjom. 'Not possible for tomorrow, 24 hours notice required.' Ah. I wasn't planning on staying the following night at Astoria as their rate had sky-rocketed with only more expensive rooms remaining available, but in the absence of a mobile connection (I'd resigned to being bandwidth free on my vac by this point) they were my only point of contact with the tour companies. Okay. I've spent all this money on these bloody clothes, I may never come to Korea again, I'll stay another night. Just make the booking. 'Booked out for Fri.' um, could you have mentioned that before I extended my stay? 'Booked out for Sat'. OH F*CK. Apparently they did have an opening on the Monday following my departure. 'But we have DMZ tours'. Whatever.
I have no one to blame but myself and my piss-poor planning but not visiting the one thing I did want to see did put a downer on the rest of the vac.
