Krazy Korea
Okay here it is folks. The low down on the closest I'll ever get to Kim Jong Il. How that man ever managed to procreate I'll never know.
Friday - woke at 4.30am (unfortunately too pissed at the early start to celebrate the fact that I had a day off) to drive to Yamaguchi city to pick up Alex and Lauren (UK), two fantastic girls who were genki and ready to make a move. We then motored thru to Fukuoka and made our way to the port. We were lucky, the sea was calm and we arrived in Busan (huge container port, 4 million people) 3 hours later. We got driven up to our hotel, which was fab-u-lous. It was designed in the style of a Korean buddhist temple. There was a bed, no futons in sight, and a TV with English cable. The trip was worth every cent for me right there. Unfortunately the others wanted to do stuff! We went out and checked out the city, bustling markets, dirty, but with clean air, and explored the subway which was good and cheap. Our first eating experience was terrible, the travel agent referred us to a bbq meat restaurant (yakiniku, what Korea is famous for) which sucked dogs bollocks - service, food and price. Luckily we were a resilient bunch and bunked down determined to succeed.
Saturday - out and about, shopping and exploring in Busan. Weird stuff - Korean people do openly rude things - like stare at you a lot. Didn't realise how used I had got to the extreme Japanese politeness. Eating pizza at a local joint saw me almost getting into a Guiness Book of Records staring competition over lunch. Korean women wear way too much bright lipstick. The shopkeepers try to hustle to the point where you leave the store because the "assistant" is so close they are touching you and shadowing your every muscle flinch, while of course, staring at you. We went out to the countryside to see a gorgeous ancient temple, similar in design to the Japanese temples but - painted underneath with the most beautiful, colourful designs. You realise how plain and subtle the Japanese ones are in comparison. The flashier Korean stuff was leaning more towards Indian or Chinese style than Japanese. It was very cool. We went up a huge cable car to get a good look over Busan which was very fun.
We went out to a huge spa complex, after my revolutionary onsen experiences http://www.theculturedtraveler.com/archives/Nov2001/Hot_Spring_JP.htm
I wanted to try a Korean one. Unfortunately it was a bit like an indoor public swimming pool, it really didn't have the feel of the discreet, at-one-with-nature Japanese onsen. It was still good though, it was so interesting to see the amazing culture of body acceptance which is so foreign in the West. You realise how desperately we all need to re-read The Beauty Myth. What I love particularly is how families go together, you see the grandmother with her grown daughter and in turn, her babies. You see the caesarean scars, where someone had their appendix out, and you just gradually lose your hang-ups. We all have our issues but essentially we are all the same. The specialty at the Korean onsen we went to was the body scrub, they had tables set up, where you could pay a woman to scrub your back to exfoliate. It was a mixture of pain and relaxation, stung a bit when you got off the table. They really take a tough love approach to dead skin. Dinner that night was hugely better, good beer, good meat, no dog! At the hotel bar that night we had a few drinks and I accidentally signed the bill Daniel "Bae Yon Jung" Hrstich. http://www.tamenobu.com/2004_11_01_archive.php Oops.
Sunday - The big one - we caught the fast train (after some Starbucks hehe) to Seoul, 3 hours away. Crazily, if you reserve the 4 seats which face each other in the middle of the carriage, you get a massive discount. We saved over $50 each! They have these amazing "Foreigner Only" queues at the train station, with an English-speaking local to help you out. Hello, Japan!
Seoul was crazy, 8 million in the city with another 12 million in the outlying districts. It was fantastic getting a good look at the countryside along the way as we played cards in our cheap seats - 4 was the perfect number (Ironically, you never do anything in 4's in Japan - 4 is synonomous with death, kinda like avoiding the number 13). The scary thing was the buildings they are all exactly the same everywhere in Korea. And I mean exactly. They are all white with the same design. It had a very mass, anti-independant thought vibe. We checked out the Royal Palace, the National Museum, saw the ridiculous amount of armed police outside the American Embassy, ate great bakery food, shopped at the markets and went up the Seoul Tower at night. Thank God for Lauren's Lonely Planet guide. We got back really late that night, what a whirlwind.
Monday - Our final day back in Busan, we slept in late, had a lazy frozen yoghurt breakfast and did our final shopping. I got some amazing souvenirs. One of the cool differences was the metal chopsticks. Korea is the only place in Asia not to use wooden chopsticks. Apparently one of the Emperors used silver chopsticks, as if there was any poison in his food he would know immediately when the silver tarnished. The legend is that his habit trickled down to the common people, and voila, stainless steel is the norm nowadays. I picked up my English newspaper from reception and checked out, looking forward to going home to Japan. It was nice to have that perspective and appreciation.
Just want to thank Alex, Lauren and Dan for being so fun to travel with, you guys rock. Wasn't all plain sailing, especially when I lost my temper missing 2 exits driving home. Phew! Next stop India with Ellen in Spring Break 2006...
Friday - woke at 4.30am (unfortunately too pissed at the early start to celebrate the fact that I had a day off) to drive to Yamaguchi city to pick up Alex and Lauren (UK), two fantastic girls who were genki and ready to make a move. We then motored thru to Fukuoka and made our way to the port. We were lucky, the sea was calm and we arrived in Busan (huge container port, 4 million people) 3 hours later. We got driven up to our hotel, which was fab-u-lous. It was designed in the style of a Korean buddhist temple. There was a bed, no futons in sight, and a TV with English cable. The trip was worth every cent for me right there. Unfortunately the others wanted to do stuff! We went out and checked out the city, bustling markets, dirty, but with clean air, and explored the subway which was good and cheap. Our first eating experience was terrible, the travel agent referred us to a bbq meat restaurant (yakiniku, what Korea is famous for) which sucked dogs bollocks - service, food and price. Luckily we were a resilient bunch and bunked down determined to succeed.
Saturday - out and about, shopping and exploring in Busan. Weird stuff - Korean people do openly rude things - like stare at you a lot. Didn't realise how used I had got to the extreme Japanese politeness. Eating pizza at a local joint saw me almost getting into a Guiness Book of Records staring competition over lunch. Korean women wear way too much bright lipstick. The shopkeepers try to hustle to the point where you leave the store because the "assistant" is so close they are touching you and shadowing your every muscle flinch, while of course, staring at you. We went out to the countryside to see a gorgeous ancient temple, similar in design to the Japanese temples but - painted underneath with the most beautiful, colourful designs. You realise how plain and subtle the Japanese ones are in comparison. The flashier Korean stuff was leaning more towards Indian or Chinese style than Japanese. It was very cool. We went up a huge cable car to get a good look over Busan which was very fun.
We went out to a huge spa complex, after my revolutionary onsen experiences http://www.theculturedtraveler.com/archives/Nov2001/Hot_Spring_JP.htm
I wanted to try a Korean one. Unfortunately it was a bit like an indoor public swimming pool, it really didn't have the feel of the discreet, at-one-with-nature Japanese onsen. It was still good though, it was so interesting to see the amazing culture of body acceptance which is so foreign in the West. You realise how desperately we all need to re-read The Beauty Myth. What I love particularly is how families go together, you see the grandmother with her grown daughter and in turn, her babies. You see the caesarean scars, where someone had their appendix out, and you just gradually lose your hang-ups. We all have our issues but essentially we are all the same. The specialty at the Korean onsen we went to was the body scrub, they had tables set up, where you could pay a woman to scrub your back to exfoliate. It was a mixture of pain and relaxation, stung a bit when you got off the table. They really take a tough love approach to dead skin. Dinner that night was hugely better, good beer, good meat, no dog! At the hotel bar that night we had a few drinks and I accidentally signed the bill Daniel "Bae Yon Jung" Hrstich. http://www.tamenobu.com/2004_11_01_archive.php Oops.
Sunday - The big one - we caught the fast train (after some Starbucks hehe) to Seoul, 3 hours away. Crazily, if you reserve the 4 seats which face each other in the middle of the carriage, you get a massive discount. We saved over $50 each! They have these amazing "Foreigner Only" queues at the train station, with an English-speaking local to help you out. Hello, Japan!
Seoul was crazy, 8 million in the city with another 12 million in the outlying districts. It was fantastic getting a good look at the countryside along the way as we played cards in our cheap seats - 4 was the perfect number (Ironically, you never do anything in 4's in Japan - 4 is synonomous with death, kinda like avoiding the number 13). The scary thing was the buildings they are all exactly the same everywhere in Korea. And I mean exactly. They are all white with the same design. It had a very mass, anti-independant thought vibe. We checked out the Royal Palace, the National Museum, saw the ridiculous amount of armed police outside the American Embassy, ate great bakery food, shopped at the markets and went up the Seoul Tower at night. Thank God for Lauren's Lonely Planet guide. We got back really late that night, what a whirlwind.
Monday - Our final day back in Busan, we slept in late, had a lazy frozen yoghurt breakfast and did our final shopping. I got some amazing souvenirs. One of the cool differences was the metal chopsticks. Korea is the only place in Asia not to use wooden chopsticks. Apparently one of the Emperors used silver chopsticks, as if there was any poison in his food he would know immediately when the silver tarnished. The legend is that his habit trickled down to the common people, and voila, stainless steel is the norm nowadays. I picked up my English newspaper from reception and checked out, looking forward to going home to Japan. It was nice to have that perspective and appreciation.
Just want to thank Alex, Lauren and Dan for being so fun to travel with, you guys rock. Wasn't all plain sailing, especially when I lost my temper missing 2 exits driving home. Phew! Next stop India with Ellen in Spring Break 2006...
posted by Rosie at
7:05 pm
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