Korea in a Nutshell

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Trip Start Oct 23, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End May 08, 2007 Next
Entry

  Incheon, Korea Rep.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Ok, I've totally rewritten this entry multiple times now. I'm definitely trying too hard. Let's just keep it simple. I'm writing less about food. Sorry, I hadn't really noticed the focus. Thanks for pointing it out. All of you.
The name of our hostel in Seoul, if I've never given it, was the Windroad Guesthouse. The colorful characters there included Cheong Ho, Yukari, Matt, Sharon, Andy, Philip, Lee, the Jameses, and later, Jess. Cheong Ho, Yukari, Matt, Sharon, and Andy you've heard about from the Karaoke night. Philip was a German kid who had just finished working in Japan for a year. He's only 19 and would only tell us that his job was not teaching English. He refused to say anything else about himself. Germans... oh well. We only really hung out with him the night at the Western bar. The rest of the time at Windroad we all just kept asking each other if anyone had seen Philip since the bar. Last report was that he was hitting on some high end Russian hookers at a club later that night with Lee, who was another employee at the Hostel. (Besides Cheong Ho). He took a strong liking to Jon one night and they did a few tequila shots.
My mind is really hurting here, and I can't recall if I've told you about the Jameses. My internet connection is also horrible, so I don't want to risk losing everything just to look back. Sorry if this is a repeat. Our room at the hostel was the common area for two more expensive rooms. I had top bunk. I didn't know they made beds shorter than a twin, but my head was at the wall on one end and my shins hung off the other end. After checking in and finding my bunk, Cheong Ho came into the room to show two other guys one of the private rooms. Jon and I introduced ourselves and in turn, we met James, a tall British kid from Manchester, and James, a short British kid from Manchester. We then went downstairs to search for food and met James, a British man who may or may not be from Manchester. Someone had requested more about the people I spent time with. That's them. Although, Jon and I were only at the Windroad Guesthouse for five nights. We mostly hung out with Matt and Sharon. Otherwise, it was just the two of us. Jess (the Canuck) spent most of her time with us towards the end. My plan for leaving Korea was to take a ferry from Incheon to Dalian, a city in China. It turned out that Matt and Sharon came to Korea on a ferry from Qingdao (pronounced Ching Dow) and were planning to return the same way. Jon and I figured we'd tag along and learn from those with experience. We took the subway to Incheon (only took one wrong train) which consumed the entire day. Incheon is a port city right next to Seoul. It's where the international airport is, as well as the ferry terminal. We checked into Mr. Lee's hostel. Matt and Sharon had stayed a few days with him when they first arrived in Korea. That place was amazing. Huge, comfortable beds. A clean, private bathroom. A minifridge with complimentary water and vitamin drinks (which tasted like flat Redbull). I can't post up pics right now, but I will. It was luxurious to a degree I didn't think I'd see on this whole trip, and it was cheaper than the Windroad. Because the subway took so long, we only had time to check in, grab some dinner (which I won't discuss, but check the pictures when I put them up) and a walk to a park. It turned out that we were staying in Incheon's Chinatown are which was a nice opportunity to try out some Mandarin before hitting the real thing. I managed to score some bao (or 'mandu' in Korean) which are steamed buns filled with stuff. Jon made me talk to the vendor because by the end of Korea he was convinced of two things: 1) that I could accomplish anything because of what I've dubbed my "Ameri-hair" and 2) that Korea hates him.
Before leaving on this trip, I decided to get one last haircut, but I was somewhat rushed to do it. I ended up with hair way too short on the sides and way too long on top. It's... unique. And Koreans seem to love it. Despite the positive reactions, I can't wait to chop off this ridiculous Amerihair. I look like a Jean-Claude van Damm wannabe. If I let it go any further, I run the risk of full-on Kurt Russell coif. Of course, it could never hold a candle to what Jon's trying to pull with his Equo-fro. (For those of you who haven't met Jon, he's Equadorian. Kind of.)
Korea really doesn't seem to like Jon. It isn't an active hate (except for a couple times). It's more that it wasn't really set-up to accomodate him. Coffee is insanely expensive and/or crappy depending on where he went. He resigned himself to buying 2oz. cups of instant stuff from a vending machine. Then there's the watch. That thing lasted four, maybe five days. We kept fixing it until it was too far gone. Jon was devastated when he found out that Korean porn shows nothing and always has the girl laying motionless and silent with no music playing. Then there are the instances of active discrimination. When our group was trekking to Dongdaemun market, we passed a store called R. Athletic something something. Their mascot is a bear. Some employee was dressed up in a bear suit and passing out free stuff on the street. He handed Matt, Sharon, Jess, and me little dangly cellphone decorations. Jon walked up to the bear and got flat-out rejected. Then at Dongdaemun, no one would haggle with Jon. When he would mention any other price, they'd shoo him away. He paid full price everywhere. There's been other stuff. Store clerks refusing to try to understand him when he asks where a phone is. That kind of stuff. I feel bad for him, but he has easily ten times as many interactions where the people adore him. And for those few times people are rubbed the wrong way by him, he's got me and my Amerihair to step in. It works out pretty well, except for the watch. That was a piece of shit. And now he wants to go out and buy another really cheap one. Oh yeah, that's another thing, his camera totally broke. He's thinking of buying another one here. I'm sure we'll all enjoy that story in a few days, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I had read online that the ferry to Dalian only left Incheon on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Matt and Sharon's ferry was leaving Tuesday. Our first full day in Incheon was Monday, so Matt and Sharon went to the terminal to buy their tickets. Jon and I decided to kill that bird at the same time only to find that the Qingdao ferry left from terminal 2. The Dalian ferry which we needed left from terminal 1. No problem. Which way to terminal 1? We were given a map with the route highlighted. One street over, then two down. It was simple. Until we started walking. The scale of that map was fucking deceitful. More than two hours later we made it to terminal 1. Once there, I asked the tourist information girl where to buy tickets for the Dalian ferry. She speaks no English. That's fine. I'm in Korea, so I don't expect that people should be conforming to my needs as an English speaker, but why have a giant sign in English saying 'Tourist Information' if the person below it can't help me in that language. Anyway, after a little pantomiming and overpronunciation, she understood and conveyed that I needed to go to the fourth floor. I head up the escalator right next to us all the way to the top. The top, which is the third floor. After some exploration, we find the back way up to the actual fourth floor. While purchasing our tickets I find out that the site I'd gotten my information from was horribly out of date, and the ferry was leaving on Tuesday. Luckily, the site was also wrong about price, so it was cheaper than I had anticipated. Wow, this is dragging. Yada yada yada, we get on the ferry the next day. I love the ferry. If I could use them for the rest of this trip I would. It was an overnight trip, and I have to say, I've never slept better. We met two really nice old Korean guys travelling to Thailand. One spoke some English, and he translated every announcement for us so we wouldn't be completely out of the loop. Matt and Sharon had advised us to bring our own food because the ferry's food prices were outrageous. They paid over $50 US for two Cup O' Noodles on the way over. We each brought two for about $6. Thank you Brits. :)
We also met a Canadian guy named Ethan. Well, he's kind of Canadian. Like me, that's his passport. Every place I mentioned he'd say "Oh yeah, I lived there a few years". Apparently he was born in Shanghai, grew up in Dalian, then went to school in Canada, did grad school in Palo Alto (Stanford), worked in San Francisco, and now he's based in Hong Kong. This fucker is only 25 years old. He already has his masters and worked in banking for two years. He's been travelling for the past 5 months and plans to keep doing so for at least 2 more years. He's fluent in 3 languages and can get by in 2 more. He's my new hero. I got his number, and he said we should give him a call when we get to Hong Kong. Always good to network. He also let me use his cell phone to get ahold of Katie once we deboarded.
I should mention: that's why we came to China. Way back in the day, meaning elementary school, I had a best friend named Katie Hutton. After 5th grade, she moved to the far-off land of San Luis Obispo and I never saw her again, until they invented MySpace. She messaged me one day out of the blue and invited me to come crash at her place in China. I was going to be in Seoul anyway, so why not. But we'll do that in the next entry. Cheers everyone.

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06 Sharon with a Puppy	07 Somgyopsal Begins	08 The Vents	09 Somgyopsal Cooking
10 The Whole Spread	11 Chinatown Stairs	12 Incheon at Night	13 More Incheon at Night
14 Me and the Brits (with Incheon at Night)	15 Bunnies	16 Incheon's Own	17 Maple Soju
18 Shark Suits	19 Korean Currency	20 Hard Sleeper	21 Last View of South Korea
22 The Can Says it All	23 Morning on the Yellow Sea	24 Aft	25 Light and Dark
26 First China Sighting	27 Dalian	28 The Tug

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