Annyong (Seoul Day 3)

On Wednesday morning Charlie and I hopped a cab to the Yantai Airport to fly Korean Air into Incheon, South Korea. The flight was really short, about 50 minutes and the flight attendants gave everyone newspapers which was cool. When we arrived at the Incheon airport, it was as if we landed on another planet. Korea is completely different from China. The airport was one of the nicest I've ever scene. All of the airport staff were really friendly and the facilities were top notch. Outside there were palm trees and lush vegetation welcoming its visitors to Korea. So we found the right limousine bus that supposedly would drop us off in downtown Seoul where our friend lives. When we got in the bus, Charlie and I were shocked to find seat belts. Korea actually has safety standards?!? After the bus driver checked everyone's seatbelt we were off toward downtown Seoul and proceeded to watch a half hour of models showing off all the latest fashions (we didn't choose to watch it, it was on a Samsung screen in front of us). Which brings me to why Seoul and Korea is so bang (great or amazing).

Why Seoul/Korea is So Bang:
1. Bakeries on every corner - Heavenly bakeries filled with things that make your body feel good. Real bread, bagels, pastries of all varieties, cream cheese filled bread...you can find it all here.

2. A great metro system - Reminds me of the NYC subway a hundred times cleaner and more high-tech. There are flat screen monitors showing live TV interspersed with safety videos featuring a man holding a bottle of liquid with one hand and using his other hand to light it on fire, and security guards tackling him before he can do anything. The metro cars also feature a luggage rack for anything you don't want to carry and either a Mario or Fanfare ring depending on if its just a regular stop (Mario ring) or if its a major transfer point (Fanfare ring). The rings tend to wake people up if they miss a stop.

3. Samsung controlling everything - Samsung literally owns Korea. Office buildings, cell phones, food, appliances, underwear, you name it and Samsung owns it.

4. Living in a high tech world - everyone is connected, finger print scanners are in and everywhere, small portable dvd players that fit in your hand, crazy mp3 players with antennae coming out of them, and the slide phones

5. The world's largest indoor amusement park - and it is called Lotte World. This park is not only indoor, it extends outside. Disney on steroids could be a good description of this place.

6. Everyone loves baseball - Koreans do not discriminate on which teams they support or unknowingly support by wearing a certain team's hat. I have seen every MLB team on either a shirt or hat here. People just love baseball which is a rare sight outside of the US.

7. Seoul has every American chain store - I mean every US chain restaurant/store, here's a rundown of what I've spotted so far: 7 Eleven, Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Outback Steakhouse, Tony Roma's, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Baskin Robbins, Starbucks, Au Bon Pain, and more.

8. Converse is hip - all of the college kids on down wear Converse, in the US Converse isn't as popular as it is here.

9. No Stares - No one stares at us in Korea. I'm not sure why, but people do not stop what they are doing and look us over for a long time. Korean culture value of respect and kindness is definitely involved here.

10. Bibimbap and Green Tea ice cream - Korean food is great. Bibimbap is a traditional Korean dish with rice and about 6 different vegetables. Green tea ice cream is green tea flavored ice cream. Both taste great.

11. Genuine courtesy and culture - People are polite and treat their elders with respect.

12. Beautiful people - A lot of Koreans wear designer clothing and sport the pop star look.

13. Cars that don't run you over - Cars yield for pedestrians most of the time.

14. Kong Tiao (AC) - Any place indoors in Seoul has air conditioning. This is a good thing since we are in Korea during the hottest time of the year.

15. Largest Museum in all of Asia - The National Museum of Korea in Seoul. It is massive, larger than any of the Smithsonians in DC. I can't describe the scale of this museum. It has everything you could imagine.

16. Orderly lines guiding all pedestrian traffic - Crosswalks have white painted arrows directing people to orderly cross the street. The metro directs people to walk to the left side of the stairs and escalators have a painted yellow line reminding people to stay to the right if people want to pass on the left. Most busy streets in Seoul don't have crosswalks but rather underground crosswalks.

17. 2-handed waves - For some reason a select group of people like to wave using 2 hands, shaking them from side to side in a rapid motion. I don't know what to make of this. It is a bit scary.

18. No censoring of any kind - No sites are banned so I can read my blog temporarily. Also newspapers are not controlled by the government which is nice for a little while.

19. Underground Stores/Restaurants - This is something that every country should have. Not only does it cut down on traffic above ground but its nice to be able to get out of the heat for a little while.

Well here's a quick rundown of what I've been doing in Seoul on my time off from classes: going to the Korean War Museum, riding the tram to the top of the Seoul Tower, stopping by the China Cultural Center and meeting some Chinese students, going to a Korean musical based on a popular drama, getting lost on the Seoul metro, trying to find banks that will actually accept my bank card, randomly finding a huge indoor mall with movie theaters and 9 other floors, playing mini-golf, touring the Seoul Museum of History for free, going on a tour of the Korean Parliament building, eating Green Tea Ice Cream, going to a giant indoor amusement park called Lotte World, walking along the new man-made river through downtown Seoul at night, exploring the largest museum in Asia, and seeing the only Chinese town in Korea.

Check out the new Korea/Seoul photo album that I uploaded a few days ago. I also put up some new links. Tomorrow (Thursday, August 30th) we're touring the DMZ. More posts on the way...