No Gangnam SEOUL for me!
Day 12 – Oct 27 – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
My flight from Fukuoka to Seoul was EXCELLENTEEE!! I sat with a head physician of many hospital Doctors in Japan, Korea, and I think even Taiwan. He oversees many clinics but still has a practice as well. We chatted and laughed the entire flight about how hard it is raising kids! He has one 4 year old with a nanny, and parents who help and can’t handle it haha.. his wife is a physician too. He also gave me insight into Japanese culture.
He told me that even when Japanese people are wealthy, they live among others in the regular apartments. He said they do not pass wealth on to the next generation. He said they spend all their money on things, such as designer bags and clothes and jewelry, maybe a nice car but he said they spend their money. Interesting concept.
I arrived to an empty terminal!! I realized after it was not the main terminal but still.. what a stark difference from where I had been.
I found my bus terminal and bought the ticket. My bus ride was 1 ½ hours from the airport. I got a good comfy seat. I flew in to Seoul, I was staying in Gangnam (like the song… purposely wanted to experience this area)
SO…. Biggest realization immediately upon arrival to Seoul.. .we are NOT in Japan anymore!! People here are rude, from the first person I talked with and every one after that. Wow. This culture does NOT have the Japanese kindness !! I somehow found my way, though maps was giving me a hard time.. my AirBNB mom had sent a series of photos that I was able to piece together. Wow Seoul is VERY HILLY. Up and down the streets I go.
I am staying in a 3 bedroom part of a house. My roommates are, 2 girls from L.A. in one room, one loves Korea and has stayed in this exact space before. The other is Japanese and recovering in this home from a facelift she had here in Soeul. She is fully bandaged up in her room.
The other 2 invited me to join them out for dinner. I said yes. I quicky realized they are on a very different timeline than I am. They walk very slow and need to take breaks from walking. I walk almost at the pace of a slow jog. We rode the train to a big mall in Gangnam. At that point, I separated from them. I went to get KFC, asked for 2 drumsticks, which they refused to sell to me. Haha.. I took a pic of her text to me, too funny. I took a pic by the Gangnam hands statue. I asked many people if they know where the main area is for Gangnam. I may as well have been asking for directions to my home in Canada. Every person completely confused with this question. Are we not in Gangnam, like the famous song place?!!!??
I left there and realized, my maps does not work at all. I don’t have my roommates number. I took a train with them, just followed them.. and I just got to Seoul 3 hours ago and have no clue where I am. It was a bit of a nightmare.
Eventually I got maps semi-working .. it said I must walk 3 miles. I was fine with that as long as I had some direction. I was only worried because it was getting dark. My AirBNB is in an area that is full of one back alley after another.
Seoul is hard to describe. THERE ARE NO RULES TO THE BACK ALLEY TYPE ROADS!!! There is the main highway, but when you get off that, there are hundreds, maybe 1000s of back alley type roads where there are just massive buildings lining every side of every road. On these small streets, there are NO STOP SIGNS. So, cars, motorcycles, people, anything just moves and does not stop and does not choose any side of road. You may walk or drive anywhere on any road without stopping. Move at your own risk, and at your own speed, preferably a speed demon through these back roads. Nobody is concerned, nobody seems to get hit – mind blown… not sure how but somehow it just zig-zag flows.
I was getting nervous I could not find my place, I found a guy who spoke tiny bit of broken English.. he said I was close. Another thing I quickly learned in Seoul, is that any question I asked to anyone, they could not answer. Nobody knows anything about anything. Literally they only know what is directly in front of them and they are NOT willing to help or chat any further. The answer is .. perplexed, confused look. And that’s it. ..they move on.
I somehow found my place, so happy to be home.
I slept in a quiet room double bed soft pillow, for 9 ½ hours!!!!!
Except when my phone loudly rang at 5:30am. My ringer is always off, but my kids numbers ring through regardless. Jorg called and said, oh I guess I should have looked at the time. Lol asking about career choices. Haha
Day 13 – Oct 28 Seoul
I had a fairy leisurely morning other than intense career discussions with Jorg. I had a 10:30am appointment for a scalp treatment in Gangnam. I figured out today that this entire area really is Gangnam and there is not really a big outdoor nightlife type place as I thought there was unless nobody who lives here knows about it. Seriously!?
I had heard about scalp treatments in Seoul and I always have a dry scalp. I found my way there, it was lovely. Then I thought I would as a few questions about skin treatment, I heard a lot about that too. It took me I believe 5 different offices where people were rude and most of them only offered plastic surgery. I found one who said, sorry we only serve Koreans. And she refused to talk with me any longer. She just looked at me with disgust. So crazy.
I finally found the place, WOW. I walked in and it was like a massive business full of young people getting skin treatments. How are they all affording this? She said to sit down and wait for a consult. They must have had 30 consultants helping people choose skin treatment services. The lady came to get me.. she too was very unfriendly and annoyed. She told me what I need costs $3100. Well that would be a hard NO. The treatment I read about cost about $250 which I was willing to splurge on.
I left there, went into a busy Gangnam area.. a woman leeched on to me and would not let me go.. begging me to come into her restaurant. I guess it worked, I went in. $8 for all you can eat buffet, a chance to try their food here. I really did not like it. I didn’t eat much. I started making my way home, stopped to buy a sandwich and a donut at Tim Hortons for my dinner.
Went home, had a shower, did some laundry and did work…. And this blog. I have added work for myself with this but it’s a good diary as well. Jenni, the homeowner came by. The first sweet Korean I have met, she is amazing!!! Hard working, kind, fantastic woman.
Tonight, I will work on kids future idea stuff for them… tomorrow is a big day, early to my tour.
I must say, I will never come back to Seoul. The streets are lined with garbage, this city is dirty, the people are rude, I don’t like the food. This place is not for me.
Day 14 – Oct 29 - Seoul
I got up early, my AirBNB owner told me last night she would order me a cab for 6:10am – which would be cutting it close to catch my tour bus today to DMZ. Early morning traffic. She asked me to text her when I woke up. I got up at 5:30am and sent her a text. No reply. At 5:55i sent another text. Nothing. I was starting to get anxious.. at 6:05 I said, I am nervous to make it to my bus on time. At 6:11 she said, ok I will call now. I had already gone outside to see if I could get my own cab from the corner store. My cab ended up getting me there at 6:35, we rolled out at 6:38, like 2 ½ minutes in a sea of high rises and people. Made it to the right bus somehow and sat in the front seat. Good deal.
The tour was my Seoul highlight. Seeing and hearing the history of North and South Korea is quite something. Learning all about the history and the every day life even today was prob almost more than I could take. North Korea lives in the dark ages, even today. No internet, no access to the outside world. 25 Million people living in absolute control. They are told what their job is, they are paid a menial salary and given not enough food. Though living expenses are free. This is all they know, so it is hard to imagine they dream bigger.
This past year, people from South Korea (rumored to be previously escaped from North Korea) – dropped balloons over North Korea with USB sticks loaded with South Korea soap opera dramas). This was to suggest to the North Koreans how the rest of the world iives. My tour guide told me today that the students who watched those USB sticks were publicly executed a few months ago. A public execution mandates all family members to come watch the event.
The DMZ area is a Demilitirized Zone between North and South Korea which has been designated a no conflict zone. Though there are over 2 MILLION land mines still in that area today. The tour was high stress in some ways. Stopping both on the way in to DMZ area and on the way out with South Korean soldiers coming on to our bus, to check every passport. There are also U.N. soldiers at that checkpoint as well.
Our tour guide also told me that every year guards are killed there, as well as many suicides. These guards are very young men, and the pressure is immense. She said that serving in the military is non-negotiable. Al boys must serve various terms. A very different life than our boys live in North America.
We were shown 4 tunnels that North Korea built underground all the way to Seoul. We were able to go into the 3rd tunnel right to the end which was incredibly steep and long underground to the end where we could see grass through an open space, where we could see grass growing on the North Korea side. Everything was incredibly strict, no phones, no cameras on any of the areas close to the border. I did sneak one photo of a billboard she explained, filled with dynamite so that in the case of war breaking out, they could blow up the billboard and block the road so nobody can get through for a while.
I met great people on this tour. Emily and Kravis from Chicago. She is a Physician assistant, which basically in Canada would be like a physician.. great people. I also met Cindy, she was also amazing – young professional doing large International banking. Young people doing fantastic things in the world.
I had a big problem of not knowing how to buy a ticket for the bus to airport on the way back. I had asked the few English speaking people I knew. One thing that is curious and very frustrating is that in Seoul, every person you speak with knows ONLY information about their immediate surroundings. As in, not even the building or floor next to them. ONLY the 4 walls they are working in. Even if the same brand and company, they will ONLY know about their specific location, and only very limited information, and usually no English. For this reason, it is incredibly difficult to get information about anything except maybe online.
Our tour guide was amazing and spoke English. I took a chance and asked her if she knows where I might be able to purchase a ticket back to the airport. Being 1 ½ hours away, I was not going to hail a cab. She gave me an address, told me to get my cab driver to take me there to get the ticket and I could walk to my AirBNB from there.
Remember the roads in Gangnam…. Super skinny, no stop signs, people, motorcycles, trucks, cars, everything everywhere at all times, all directions and every corner littered with garbage. He drove me to that address, which was basically a large garage door to a high rise. He said there are no tickets here! He was angry. This is too long of a story to type out but I ended up getting a ride back to my AirBNB, the driver was so angry, people were honking at him the whole time, I paid him, got out and was so lost in a sea of doors in every direction. I found my place. I texted my home owner. She ended up coming by about 9pm to walk me around town and find a ticket, and show me where to go at 5am the following morning. What I did not realize until that moment either is that you cannot buy a bus ticket with a credit card. I had purposely used up all my cash that day so I wouldn’t have any when I left. So we had to get cash from a machine firs.t. Thank goodness Jenny took the time for me, or I really do not know how I would have gotten to the airport, the communication and information is THAT poor. The other house people came home late and turned on all the lights and were super loud till past midnight.
What a day. What a night! So ready to leave Seoul!!! And never come back.
Day 15 – Oct 30
Basically I got up at 5am and got myself to the bus stop. Thank the Lord I remembered the landmarks because maps never works in this town. And thankfully but #6009 showed up… never know out here!! Made it to the airport, worked on a few things via text with Jorg. On flight ready to meet Sandy in Vietnam.
SEOUL RECAP
I can safely say I will never come back to Korea.
People are rude. Roads make no sense and even locals cannot make sense of maps online. There is a stench most places you go. You cannot put tissue in the toilet paper anywhere in this country, you put tissue in a basket beside you, hopefully there is a garbage bin available. I felt confused almost the entire time in Korea. I did not like the food at all. A lot of spicy kimchi type stuff with fatty meat. Everyone puts their garbage on the street each day, it is shocking. Piles and piles outside everyone apartment and home. There does not seem to be a solution since the narrow streets in Gangnam won’t allow a big truck through the roads. Apparently, some of the affluent high rises have a bit of a better garbage system, but this is how it is in Seoul.
The people are not quite as withdrawn as they were in Japan. They have more self-expression, which also means I saw more teenagers acting out, being loud and belligerent.
I guess I am glad to see the Korean culture once in my lifetime and especially the tour gave me a firsthand understanding of what people are really dealing with over there. But I can surely say, I would not spend my money again visiting this country.
PICS BELOW:
1 Head Physician Edwin, what a delight to meet someone so kind and open – great chat!
2 Arrival in Seoul, not biggest terminal but still – no people for a couple of minutes!
3 Had to visit the Gangnam Style song site (see FB for pic of me doing the pose lol)
4 A kind Korean who tried to help me find directions to no avail.. nobody knows anything about this city, it is hysterical!
5 One tiny sample of a translated text when I tried to buy 2 drumsticks at KFC
6 Traffic at night, ASIA is unbelievable for population – every country
7 A sample of a Korean home, almost every single residence has a Mercedes or BMW or the like sitting outside
8 No parking, they find a way – tho precarious
9 Korea is famous for scalp treatments and plastic surgery. I had no idea! I did the first one
10 A sample of walking in Gangnam – no order whatsoever, no stop signs, just cars, motorcycles and people randomly everywhere
11 More of the same
12 A sample of signage. And in translation app, much of it translated strangely – super difficult to get around
13 One small corner of the city I was walking in, but Seoul is like this it must be for 150 miles, high rise upon high rise it is something else
14 I walked into this place called Ppeum to find about 25 consultants helping young girls with ‘procedures’. I thought I would get a consult. Some laser work for my wrinkles, on the spot would be about $3500 Canadian. I’ll pass. Everyone is doing it there, all ages.
15 My buffet stye lunch in Gangnam
16 Takes a little while to read signs around here, MAPS does not really work so this is how you have to try to find a place
17 And like this… all day
18 Check out me walking across the walkway with high rises behind as far as you can see, but if you go to those buildings, they run a mile deep just as you see here
19 Happy to support Canada while abroad. I bought a maple donut and a grilled cheese mushroom sandwich
20 This is common everywhere, male and female all crouching down in alleys smoking cigarettes
21 My AirBNB bottom left of this building .. very difficult to find all buildings look the same, no real clear street signs nor numbers on buildings
22 Jenny!! My host. She did not live here but came to visit each day. Every day she told me ‘I love you!’ and gave me a heart. She was the treasure of Seoul!!!!
23 Korean snacks… rice crispies with peanuts
24 Not one person could help me find my AirBNB so I searched and walked a few miles and found it!! Truly shocking how nobody in that city knows anything other than their specific space and room they are standing in. Jenny explained to me this is the case and I found this to be 100% true.
25 An example of a washroom that did NOT have a trash can. Since you cannot put toilet paper in to the toilet, used toilet paper goes on the floor, yup!
26 My DMZ tour group
27 Standing on the FREEDOM Bridge where many soldiers crossed into South Korea
28 They salvaged this train as is with 2000+ bullet holes and completely misshaped wheels – from the war
29 Gondola ride over to the North Korea side almost touching
30 Barbed wire cage walking
31 Emily!! From Chicago. The Physician Assistant – which by all Canadian standards is a physician with her own patients, so fun!
32 Emily & hubby let me tag along with them most of the day
33 Cindy – a young lawyer / now international banker working on digital currency implementation with banks globally with a great team. Amazing! Super interesting girl.
34 This is the 3rd tunnel they found that North Korea dug all the way to Seoul. We walked to the end of the attraction where there was an open space and you could see North Korean soil. I almost died. Steep and very very long.
35 This is the sign that is filed with dynamite in case of war outbreak, which they are on the lookout for every single day, especially now with King Jung Un…
36 Another huge climb to get to the start of this suspension bridge.. my steps on my phone today were many many stairs and we were not allowed to bring our phones into the tunnel so those steps did not calculate
37 Beautiful trees up there!
38 Jorg did this same DMZ tour earlier this year and the restrictions were not like they were now. They were allowed cameras, this was the tunnel.
39 Jorg was also allowed to look in a telescope and took some photos.. the North Korea and South Korea flag posts are close together and have been in competition for years of the height of their flag. Each has kept raising and raising .. they are in toxic competition with each other
40 North Korea on the other side of this .. they had a huge atrium, I wish I could have taken a photo. I could have sat in there all day. They said the closest they ever came to having peace is when Trump met between the 2 flags with their president but after he was voted out, everything now is worse than ever shut down
41 My cab ride trying to find a bus ticket to the airport, with my angry cab driver
That’s Seoul! That’s a wrap!
