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Published: February 17th 2009
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When you are japanese, or in Japan, going to Korea is the thing to do. Tokyo is closer to Korea than any other country, so close in fact that it takes longer by plane to get to Okinawa than it does to Seoul. Korea is cheap, dirt cheap. I've never been in a country before where the dollar bought anything. Japan's yen is very strong compared to the dollar, and the times I was in Europe the exchange rate was about 1.5 euro to a dollar. Not easy on the wallet. As for Korea, it took work to spend money. The largest denomination of Korea currency is the 10,000 won note, and this clocks in at around 7 dollars, and even in Korean terms the many markets in Seoul are dirt cheap. Some common comparisons: 20 minute taxi ride costs 5000 won, 30 minute subway ride costs 1100 won, music charge at a bar costs 8000 won. Starbucks 2000 won. Shopping is one of hte big things to do in Korea, and hte Japanese love it and must drop a tremendous amount of money there each day. There is actually an airport in Seoul just to handle Japanese flights from Tokyo
and Osaka. Most shopping experience are designed just for the Japanese, with exact replicas of the department store atmosphere everywhere in the city for those who want to try to drop some money and do not want to shop in the market (host family). As far as communication went, Japanese was more helpful than English, and I had quite a few conversations and exchanges with Koreans in Japanese. It was the first time the Japanese that I learned came into practical use and felt good.
Host family also went to Korea, but for different reasons. They went to visit my little brother's best friend, who moved back to Korea over winter break. The host family is great, but one pretty frustrating flaw came out. Its ridiculous how they baby the little brother as far as waiting for and on him, and a second one is that they. I stayed at a different hotel than they did, which was a good choice because we had different reasons for being there, but when we did meet, they took their time to make decisions, make sure the little guy is on board and awake, etc. One day we took until 11am to
get moving, when I got to their hotel at 9am. They also werent as much into the food, markets, so I went off with the other host student quite a but while the family was eating in hotel restaurants (which in restrospect might have been a bad idea).
Upon landing, you realize that not every place is Tokyo. Tokyo is remarkably clean. Seoul was covered in a thick blanket of smog, which our taxi driver from the airport said was fog. This was not the first lie told by a Korean taxi driver to an unexpecting group of Japanese tourists who think that everyone is nice, kind, and willing to help in anyway possible (Tokyo way of thinking). Good thing there was a skeptical American with them to put a pushy taxi driver in his place when he said certain things were not within walking distance when they clearly were and certain things were within walking distance when they werent. Bastard just wanted to charge a fee to essentially "rent" the taxi when we did some sightseeing, then then dump us at a market as our end point where we couldnt have walked back to the hotel. This
argument over distances was held all in Japanese btw.
Everyone got a nice hotel, I was in the Millennium Hilton and the family was in a place called the Lotte World. Lotte is a company that seems to own all of Seoul, and this hotel was the most luxurious building I have ever seen. Everything was covered in crystal or gold. There were countless wine bars, oyster bars, a Michelin 3 star chef had just opened up a restaurant on the top floor, flat screen TVs in the room, the works. And it only cost them maybe 100 more over 4 nights than it cost me. Thats how cheap Korea is. I got some pics up but they don't do this place justice.
Once we all got settled in we broke off for dinner. Family is less adventurous and budget is not an issue so they went to an expensive italian place in the hotel for their first meal in korea...total waste. I went to the market about a 10 minute walk away to get some culture and some food. Also got food poisoning. The market was big, but nothing like the size of the ones in Thailand.
Both sides were lined with vendors that were selling bags, ties, belts, korean food type souveniers, or import stores with international goods. Because Vday was close, there was a tremendous amount of chocolate, both bulk and packaged. Never saw that much chocolate in once place. Down the middle of the road were little tents set up where you could get a meal or produce. All kinds of kimchee, fruits, fish, bowls of rice porridge, veggies, silk worm casings, etc. could be found here. First thing I sat down to eat was a bowl of hot, thick, pumpkin rice porridge. It was delicious on a cold night. It was thick enough but, was also served with mochi pieces in it. Probably could have cut this with a knife it was so thick. After browsing the korean goods like spiced nori seaweed, various teas, nuts, dehydrated sweets (cheap and sold on the side of the street) we stopped in one of the tents in the middle of the road that was displaying its cook to order food for a meal. A huge meal. In retrospect, this was a bad idea, but it was an experience to point to what you wanted, have
it disappear behind the counter to the one grill, sit down on plastic chairs inside a tent and have your food brought to you buy the owner/operator/chef/waiter of this fine dining establishment.
Even though this is where I got a case of food poisoning, the market was by far the best part of the trip. Other highlights included seeing the old Korean palace and a small street called Insadong that sold handmade items and antiques. At insadong I got to speak quite a bit of Japanese. We also took a 1 hour ride to the DMZ and got a look at North Korea from the observatory that South Korea has put up on its side. At first, it was too foggy to see anything but the weather did break before we left and were able to get a good view of "the other side"
The last night in Korea I tracked down a live jazz club and took Lauren and Yuka with me. I was so happy to see one of hte host sisters go out and do something. They really just stick around the house or tag along with the parents while catering to Koji. This was
an excellent jazz bar in one of the areas of Seoul that caters to youth, so the street were pretty rowdy. I think host sister was petrified before we got in because this was nothing like the street of Tokyo that she has seen. Once we got into the jazz club though, she loved it. The music was a funk band, all Koreans, that did mostly American covers...and did them as well or better than the originals. Lots of EWF, TOP, my kind of stuff. Also found a new favorite dark beer...Leffe. Korea is big into dark beer and wine, less so regular beer than Japan is, so most bars and night places carried a full selection of wines and as many dark beers as lagers. Made me happy.
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KOREA
glad you got a "taste" of Korea, just wish you had not got the food poisoning along with it. As usual your blog and descriptions could make for a travel brochure. Bravo!! love you, xo