A Lost Seoul

My trip to South Korea began with a weekend in Seoul. Researching where to stay in Seoul quickly revealed Seoul as a very huge and confusing city. With no previous point of reference as to where anything of interest or importance was, my eyes glazed over the sprawling and winding map in front of me.

Of course, I turned to my usual method of just putting everything into Google maps as a point of reference. But even Google was confused! This is never good.

You see, addresses don’t mean much in Seoul. The city is divided into 25 administrative districts, or “gu”. The name of an administrative district always ends in a –gu (Jongno-gu, Dongjak-gu). Those 25 gu are divided into neighborhoods, or “dong”. The address for a teashop in the interesting Insadong neighborhood area might just be #54, Insadong, Jongno-gu, meaning building #54 in the Insadong neighborhood, within the Jongno district.

 

Usually, the idea of an address is that you can use it to find the exact location of that building. NOPE, not in Seoul. The buildings are numbered, but they are assigned numbers in the order they are built, not according to their relationship with other buildings on the street. Therefore, these numbers are pretty much useless except for the postal service.

This means that even local Koreans have an extremely hard time finding a place if you give them the address. The system revolves around using landmarks and directions. Most hotels and guesthouses have a card that they will give you, which has a map and directions on it. That way, you can hand it to a taxi driver to help them take you back. Almost all directions that I found about Seoul gave me directions based on landmarks (no street names, no building numbers). They always included a sentence at the bottom saying, if you don’t find it, ask a Korean to use their phone to call this number, and we will come get you!

I took a taxi from my meeting back to my guesthouse. Our partners wrote instructions in Korean on a piece of paper for me (since most taxi drivers speak little to no English). The driver had to pull over to the side of the road, where he sat muttering to himself for a few minutes. I tried throwing out helpful hints: (Bukchon? Anguk station?). Eventually, after a couple of phone calls and the help of his GPS, he got me pretty darn close.

To make matters even more confusing, since Koreans use Hangeul alphabet, they use romanisation so that foreigners can read the words. However, in 2000, the government switched their method of romanisation. This resulted in most places having two different names, which change depending on who you are talking to or what you are reading. Some maps use the old system, and some the new. This is why you’ll hear Busan referred to as Pusan, or Jeju as Chechu. Those are easy enough, but when you get to the names like the province Chungcheongnam-do, things can get pretty confusing!

All of these things initially make the idea of getting around South Korea feel pretty daunting. But, once you understand the points above, it will make things much easier! With the use of maps, gestures, and a sincere attempt to pronounce the Korean words, you’ll get by juuuust fine.

Flight Perks

Some perks specific to today’s flight:

·     I’m flying Korean Air, and it has been a totally pleasant experience so far. With most US based airlines cutting out any frills to survive (I have to pay for peanuts now, seriously? And you are going to charge me to check a bag?? No blankets?? I digress.) being on a nice airline is a positive change.

·     I finally got to watch Sex and The City 2 (this is one of those movies mentioned in the last post). A delightfully mindless and girly choice for a long flight.

·     They give you a choice of a western or Korean meal. Of COURSE I chose Korean! This is Korean Air! And I’m flying to Korea! And what did they serve, but one of my favorite Korean dishes (that I know of) – bibimbop. It is a bowl of vegetables that you mix with rice, red pepper paste, and sesame oil. It came with an instruction card in how to prepare it! So fun! It also came with seaweed soup and kimchi (of course).

·     I have also been pretty productive this flight. I have done some work, written this blog, started my book, and read almost the entire Korea Lonely Planet.

·     We are flying above the North Pole! Right now! Maybe it’s not technically the North Pole (I didn’t see Santa, so it obviously wasn’t), but if you look out, it is white ice as far as the eye can see. I have never seen that before! Very exciting.

Alright, time for one of those naps.

Chasing the Sun Halfway Around the World

The flight to Korea is a whopping 14 hours long. With that many hours on a plane, combined with a 14 hour time difference, I will arrive in South Korea a mind bending FULL DAY AND 4 HOURS LATER than when I left Chicago. By leaving Chicago on Wednesday at 12:30 PM, I arrive on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 PM. Flying West also means that we are flying in the opposite direction of the earth’s rotation, meaning that although I am on this plane for a full “night”, it is blazingly bright outside for the entire flight. 

Arriving at Incheon International Airport - to rain!

 

What is even MORE mind-blowing is the flight home. Although I will be flying for the same amount of time, by flying against the time zones, I actually GAIN two hours when I land in Chicago. Yes, I get on a plane in Seoul at 2:00 PM on a Wednesday, fly for 14 hours, and land two hours earlier – noon on that same date! It’s best not to think about this too much. 

Many people dread the idea of flying. Whether it be the fear of heights, the fear of flying, or just the general agitation that security and airports so often provide, many people just loathe the entire experience. Not me. I actually love to fly. I love (almost) everything about it. 

Here are the reasons why flying and airports are awesome(!): 

• The people watching! I could spend hours in airports just watching people come and go. Of course, you don’t get as many of those tear-jerking greetings we used to observe when friends and family were actually allowed to wait inside the terminal at the gate (can you BELIEVE that used to be allowed?) It’s so fun to guess why people are going to where they are going. You see young men dressed in full Army garb. You see the inevitable family walking through the middle-of-Winter O’Hare airport with hair-braided, flip-flops on, fried red skin and sunglass tans. You see the 50 year old woman still smiling cheek-to-cheek, wearing Mickey Mouse everything, and carrying a giant, almost life-sized stuffed Minnie Mouse (do they need to buy an extra ticket for those things?) Maybe that woman had always dreamed of going to Disney World, and she finally made it!!
• The stores! Filled with glossy beautiful magazines! All of the latest and hippest books! All those little travel gadgets you never knew you needed! Those last minute souvenirs of wherever you just were! Forgot to buy that Gatlinburg shot glass for your Aunt’s sister-in-law’s collection? No problem! It’s all here in this little gift shop! Ok, sure, most of the shops are the same. And yes, okay, they are totally over-priced. Of course, you could have bought all of these things in Walgreens or with your 40% off Borders coupon. That’s not the point! There is nothing better than having a little extra time before your flight, and browsing through the latest gossip or news magazines. Even if I already have two books in my bag for my trip, it is always hard for me to resist the temptation.
• Sure, security can be awful. But, if you know what you’re doing, and you prepare your little baggie of 3.4 oz liquids, remember to take out your laptop, remember to take off your stinky shoes, it can be a pretty easy experience. Even if the line is long, just check out that dude 3 people up that is slowly growing more and more agitated by the minute. Watch it build. It can be pretty entertaining. And guess what? If you’re nice to the TSA security staff, they will be nice to you! Go figure! (As a side note, I actually got put through one of those full body X-ray scans today at the airport. Yes, the ones that have been all over the news and debated about for months. Without warning, I was suddenly between two tall walls with my hands on my head, feeling totally exposed. Sigh.)
• What is it about airports that suddenly makes fast food and chain restaurants appealing? For some reason I get great pleasure out of eating in airports. I might be alone on this one.
• Layovers. Again, others may not agree, but I really enjoy layovers! Being in airports is cool! Sometimes they have shops. Sometimes I’ll walk around scoping out all of the fine dining options. Sometimes I will just park my butt near my gate and people watch, eat, absently stare at CNN on the flat screens, or catch up on emails.
• You know what’s really awesome about flying? You can’t do ANYTHING. That might frustrate some people. But for me, it is a welcome excuse to sit and do nothing.
• You can take naps. Whenever. You. Want. You can’t do that at work! If you’re on a date or in class, and you are really tired, it is NOT okay to fall asleep. That’s not true on a plane! Because no one is expecting anything of you! In fact, they’d prefer if you’d sleep! It is perfectly okay to pass out in the middle of a movie, or after you read the same paragraph in your book five times. Feel like sleeping? You go right ahead. And I always encourage drooling on your neighbor. 
• On the opposite side of the spectrum, the plane can be that place where you can actually focus 100%. Whether you need to write that paper, type up that report for work, catch up on your blog writing (ahem), or cram in the last 100 pages of this month’s book club book, you can do it here. There is no Facebook, TV, texting, or phone calls.
• You can see amazing ariel views. Have you ever flown into New York, Chicago, or Miami at an angle where you can see straight down on the whole city? It’s so cool! You can see the desert, mountains, ice caps from a view only possible from a plane. Just make sure you get the window seat!
• You often have random conversations with complete strangers. You can get some interesting stories from that old guy sitting next to you. Now, this is not to be confused with the chatty Cathy that initiated conversation and will not shut up. You know those naps and doing nothing I mentioned before? These people can totally interfere with that. Some of them will not stop talking until you land. I find that the best time to cut these conversations off is when the plane takes off.
• You know that movie you wanted to see a month ago in the theaters, but you just never made it? And now it’s in that awkward void between the theater and DVD/Netflix release? It’s here! This is where it went! You know that movie you were too embarrassed to admit that you wanted to see? It’s a foot in front of your face! Do not worry, you can watch shamelessly in the comfort of your very uncomfortable coach seat. I won’t tell. (What?? There were no other options!)
• You get waited on hand and foot! THEY bring the food and drinks to YOU. They don’t WANT you to get up! This is the perfect opportunity to embrace your laziness EVEN MORE.
• International flight bonus: Multiple free meals, free wine, free slippers, moist towelettes, endless movies to choose from in your own private entertainment system.