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Published: July 18th 2015
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Gangnam Style!
In the heart of the upmarket shopping district made world-famous by Psy's infectiously catchy tune. And so after a month in the awe-inspiring Middle Kingdom, it was time to say goodbye, but there was yet one more mini-adventure to come. The day before my departure, Shanghai airport was hit by a wave of flight postponements due to a typhoon, and that meant an inordinate number of flights scheduled for the day of my departure, and an even more inordinate number of irritated passengers at the airport. It was a scene I'd never seen before, two-hour long lines to check-in, which I finally managed to do AFTER the original scheduled departure time of my flight! The airlines had sensibly taken into account the circumstances, and delayed the flights accordingly. I have to say despite the clear unpreparedness of the airport and airline staff for such situations, they remained relatively calm and polite, and certainly so by usual Chinese standards.
In any case, a short flight later and I was in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, for my first time stepping foot in the country that's been responsible for the ubiquitous wave of pop culture sweeping across Asia in recent years. Having read so much about the economic miracle that the country has conjured in the
Gyeongbokgung
And the modern day sentinels standing guard, in ancient traditional dress. wake of their bloody civil war in the 50s, I'd of course expected a very modern and well-developed country. But even then, I was still surprised at how advanced Seoul is. Very efficient and well-run public transportation (despite the subway system being already several decades old), highly prevalent credit card/ cashless payment systems, wifi everywhere, super clean public toilets, spanking new buildings, world-class museums alongside Unesco ancient palaces, and the list goes on and on really. One would have thought it would have been difficult to impress a Singaporean, with many of these stated attributes often being used to describe my own hometown, but especially when armed with the knowledge that all this development had been hyper rapid in the wake of the Korean War, I was certainly more than suitably impressed with Seoul!
And the softer, less tangible aspects were impressive too. Especially just coming from gruff China, Seoul denizens struck me as being extremely civil and polite. They queue up orderly, provide good service (what a contrast to China), lovely, atmospheric cafes everywhere (definitely bonus points from me for that), pretty girls, fantastic food...And despite the capital being one of the most highly populated cities in the
Dorasan Observatory
That's North Korea in the distance. Through the coin-operated binoculars, one can see the Kaesong Industrial Park, the gigantic North Korean flag pole, and a big state of Kim Il-Sung. world (I'm told some twenty million, or about 40% of the country's population live in and about the metropolitan area and suburbs), it really did not feel very crowded at all, especially when compared to the Chinese cities I'd just come from. Oh, and did I mention the pretty girls? Global capital of plastic surgery and make-up or not, Seoul girls can absolutely hold their own (and then some) against pretty much every other place I've seen.
Spent a wonderful week here in the capital, including day trips to nearby Suwon and the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), possibly one of the best weeks I've had on the road this past three years, and the perfect introduction to my first visit to the country. Leaving Seoul for now, but definitely not forever!
Stayed at Sarangbang Hotel.
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