Back on familiar ground

  Seoul, Korea Rep.
Monday, September 24, 2007

· Seoul, South Korea
· GMT +8:00 hours

Fast Forward
Okay, so here I am diving headlong into an entry from Seoul, where we arrived yesterday. I know, I know. You're probably wondering where the entries for Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey are? Well, it's been a busy last few weeks and I just haven't gotten around to getting them done. They take time folks... or at least they take time to do them right. So rather than work on them with a view to eventually getting to the Seoul entries I've decided to try, from here on out, to keep you guys right up to date with our goings on over here in Korea, obviously a special place for us. So for now I'll postpone the stories from the last few weeks to bring you right up date with the present. No objections, I hope.

Still to come
In our futile quest to keep some sort of 'structure' in our travels we like to think that our honeymoon has now moved into a sort of 'phase II', meaning the pure travelling part is over, for now, and it's time to turn our attentions to working for a few months (4 actually) and raising some much needed cash. We're obviously still gonna be having fun (we hope) but we're primarily here in Korea to work, dedicating the next 4 months of our life to doing just that. We will, of course, be trying to update our goings on over here via this site as often as possible, but we're not quite sure how often that will be. But don't worry, we still have stories to tell of the past few weeks, if we ever get around to finding the time to tell them. Oh yeah... eventually we hope to tell you all about how Meg got turned away at the Macedonian border, how, once we got to Macedonia, we found heaven in Lake Ohrid. We'll also tell you why we didn't like the Macedonian capital, Skopje, and thus decided with minutes of arrival there to head for Bulgaria instead (thankfully there were no issues at the Macedonian/Bulgarian border). We'll also be telling you all about how we found Bulgaria to be surprisingly nice, how Canadian's are charged an arm and a leg to get into Turkey and how it was the ultimate tease having to board a plane for Korea in Istanbul, a location that was supposed to mark the beginning our much anticipated Middle Eastern odyssey. Yes, we'll be telling you all about that, and more... but all in good time.

The Plan
So, we've already mentioned that it was sort of bittersweet boarding the flight to Korea in in oh-so touristy Istanbul, Turkey. The four days we spent there definitely whetted our appetite for the Middle East and, although going to Korea from there was the best thing for our dwindling bank balance, we did want to just keep on going, as originally planned, through Turkey and into Syria, getting use out of that Syrian visa that has been decorating Meg's passport for the past few months. But we've promised ourselves we'll be back in the Middle East and as things stand we plan on spending a few months after our time in Korea (beginning early March 2008) making our way back there, via China, Nepal & India. But that's what lies ahead. For now let's get back to the present.

Not what it used to be
I was going to type a small paragraph about how air travel these days isn't what it used to be. It used to be fun to fly. Even exciting. But truth be told it hasn't been like that for me for years and these days I'd rather go to the dentist than the airport (a Globespan experience coming back from Canada in August has a lot to answer for). The reasons are obvious - air travel isn't the only thing to have changed post 9/11. But still, given a choice, I'd take the train over a flight any day. I'm not sure what makes present day air travel such a chore for me - maybe it's the endless, anal (albeit neccessary) security checks, the layovers or the ever-increasing cost saving measures all airlines seem to be taking in the push towards no-frills flying... or all of the above. But as I said, I was going to type a small paragraph bemoaning present day air travel... but that was until we flew Emirates from Istanbul to Seoul.

No Frills? No way

01 You guys are killing me

We both got onto the flight tired, expecting to pass as much of the 15 hour trip (including a 3 hour layover in Dubai... see picture 02 below) as possible sleeping. Well, not a wink of sleep was had and the half a day we spent in the air flew by (no pun intended), mainly thanks to the amazing service, food (complete with a menu) and above all, the amazing entertainment system.

02 Desert? Kind of

Take your pick from any of 40 movies, hundreds of documentaries, sit-coms, sports highlights, live BBC World satellite feeds (see picture 01 above) to understand how or simply sit and listen to any one of thousands of albums. The choice was yours. If that wasn't enough you could play games between seats, call other passengers, send e-mails or SMS's, call home ($5 a minute), watch the flight progress with info fed from the cockpit and even get a birds eye view of take off and landing from the cameras perched on the nose or underside of the plane. We weren't quite sure how staying up for almost 36 hours without sleep would effect our first few days in Korea, but with not much to do once we got there, and with that entertainment system control in our hands, we weren't really concerned.

"Why are you in Korea?"
So we eventually arrived back in Korea, back where it all began for us over two years ago. We were, needless to say, pretty tired and shortly after landing we made our way to the city centre, but only having got the okay from the especially inquisitive Korean Immigration official. Presenting a passport with evidence of previous employment in the country was bound to arouse suspicion as to our reasons for being here this time around, especially when our passports were presented without a fresh work visa (we plan on heading to Japan during the week to get the required visa before we begin working next week). So peddling the tourist line got us a few suspicious glares but nothing more.

Catching up

03 First Date relived

We were a little taken aback that we had to inquire in a few motels in the Insadong area of the city before one had a room (or one with a room for a price we were prepared to pay). Yes, we tried all the ones we are both familiar with but eventually found ourselves in one that hasn't had the joy of housing either of us before. It was small, like all so-called 'Love Motels', a Korean institution offering a comfortable nights sleep (keeping in mind that's not their primary purpose.... hence the name) for a reasonable price,

04 Another one of Us

all rooms coming complete with poky, shower curtain-less bathrooms, a dodgy array of personal grooming products (hairspray, toothpaste, hair gel, etc.), TV's, coffee maker and their own personal red light! Even in these surroundings we managed to sleep right through until 3:30 this afternoon, before having a look around the all too familiar city shortly after to relive some of the 'good old days' (see pictures 03 & 04 here). Some things worth reporting in Seoul have changed (see the observations below for more), but not much. It's all quite familiar, for now.

The Coming Week
As I type it's Sunday night and sometime this week we have to do a day trip to Japan to get our visa for our 2-month teaching assignment. It's the reason we're here and we have to report for work this day next week, September 30th. Tomorrow marks the beginning of 3 days of Korean Holidays, so here's hoping that doesn't hinder us in any way with our quest for the visa. Fingers crossed.

Day 39 to 41 Observations (September 21st to 23rd 2007)

· Differences
So this is my 5th time in Korea, Megs 2nd. It's been over 18 months since I've last been here and although we've only just arrived there is quite a few subtle differences that both of us have noticed. We'll sum them up here, under the single heading of 'Differences'. First up, there is new money in circulation. Yep, crispy new (and slightly smaller) notes are doing the rounds. For those who care the 1000Won (€0.77, CND$1.10) note is now blue (replacing the purple one) and the 10000 Won (€7.70, CND$11) note is a different, fancier shade of green. Maybe that explains why things seem that bit more expensive, something else we've also noticed. It's still not what we would class an expensive location; it's just not as 'good value' as it used to be. One final observation is how Korea seems like a more efficient, better oiled machine, one that is generally cleaner and generally more modern looking (keeping in mind that Korea is a very modern, first-world country anyway). This feeling is best summed up by the airport shuttle bus we took from the airport to the city. I'd been on the bus before, many times before, but I don't recall it ever having a live satellite TV (Samsung, of course), in-flight style magazines in each seat and a nice Korean man who tags your luggage before placing it under the bus. As I said subtle, but noticeable, differences. Btw, one thing that hasn't changed is the friendliness of the Korean people, something I'd never expect to change.

· Warm
Its warmer here than in Turkey. While it was overcast today it's still quite warm. It's nice now but we're under no illusions that it'll be cooling down soon, ahead of the typically freezing Korean winter. Is it as cold here in the winter as in Canada? Probably not, but from my experiences it feels just as cold. We're gonna have to make sure, when the time comes, that Meg is sufficiently wrapped up, or else we'll be reporting on more of those aliments.