A Change of Culture
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2009
1
4
Trip End
Jul 05, 2009
Seoul, Korea Rep.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Lollipop - Big Bang
Hot Girl - Seeya
Gee - Girls Generation
Strong Baby - G-Dragon
Survivable - Brand New Day
Superman - Mario
I suppose this entry should start on Monday night, about the same time that the last finished with Linda and me finishing our dinner and drinks at Disney's Hollywood Hotel. About this time in Perth Pacey would've been departing on her Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. The next thing is Linda and I waking and enjoying our final Chef Mickey breakfast at 7am. We then taxiied to the airport, checked in using the self-check kiosks and then proceeded through the checks to the departures area. By the time we got all the way out to our gate (43) half-asleep Pacey and Rob were already waiting for us.
Shortly after reunification we were boarding our pretty full aircraft. I hadn't bothered contacting Cathay to get the 4 of us seated together so Linda and I were in row 67, Pacey by chance was in 68 but Rob was in something near to 33. As the rear of the plane had a few spare seats I was able to move around a bit although regular turbulence and subsequent use of the seat-belt sign by the American-sounding pilot restricted this somewhat. Linda and I spent most of the flight listening to the "Korean Music Box" channel as video entertainment was not on demand. This was the beginning of Linda's secret, dirty obsession with K-Pop coming out, an addiction that would come to heavily affect our stay here in Korea.
When we arrived into Seoul's massive Incheon Airport we had to take the underground people mover to the main terminal to get processed and exit the facility. Somehow the "obvious" city-airport limousine buses were missed by the 4 of us and staff suggested that we take the train into the city anyway. I was hardly going to protest so we took the A'REX express service to its current terminus at Gimpo Airport, from where the Seoul Subway carried us the rest of the way into town. Rob was heading off to another couch surfing host but I tailored Linda, Pacey and my route to stick with him as long as possible. Our accommodation, Seoul Backpackers, is located pretty centrally, across the road from Namdaemun Market and a 5 minute walk from Seoul Station whereas Rob had to cross to the other side of the city to Gambyeon, which for those familiar with Seoul is a major "express bus" terminal and where TechnoMart is located.
Initial impressions of this new country were positive and reminded me of a more Western-influenced version of Japan. Things were clean, impressive and modern. We encountered a completely automated mini mart at Gimpo Airport Station and the ticketing and fare structure for the subway was the Japanese "find your destination station on the map and purchase the ticket price as in the station dot on the map" system. The subway itself was almost the same as Japanese systems, except that the carriage roofs were notably higher (if not the doorways!) and they were also very wide. As we got into town my impression shifted as more Chinese and Vietnam-esque scenes were passed on our walk from Seoul Station to the backpackers. Infrastructure was quite Japanese but streets were used by a mix of motor scooters, cars and people pushing carts. Then there were stall holders and many kiosks listtered around the place but still everything was clean. I suppose it's in reality a cleaner, more organised and more high-tech, developed version of China. The contradictions of this country (from my Western perspective at least) are very interesting - people cram onto the subway watching TV on their mobiles, LED lights are standard but then people shop and eat on the streets and live under less consistent standards.
The backpackers exceeded our expectations in being modern, clean and well-run. Almost all accommodation was in private rooms and we had one with a double bed and single extra mattress. There was also a TV and an adjoining shower room/toilet/sink and then a communal space with a computer, microwave, fridge and water purifier. Despite the nice accommodation and Korean music TV the girls were eager to explore the market across the road. We wondered around, all the time me reminding them just to observe and purchase later when I went back to the room to use the net. Our walk included a stop at the local Lotteria for dinner, introducing the girls to this Korean burger joint with their signature Bulgogi Burger. We continued beyond the market, north to the centre of town at City Hall, being passed by a man carrying a large plastic crucifix telling us to repent and playing something sounding like Kenny G's greatest hits. By this time it was dark and the girls could no longer control their shopping urges so we parted ways, with me descending into the subway and them heading into the Lotte Department Store.
Seoul's subway network through the centre of town is east-west focussed and thus to head south to the backpackers I needed to take 3 different lines for only a few stops, but hey I always welcome an opportunity to expand my repetoire. Back at the backpackers I logged onto one of the many nearby unsecured wireless networks and started working on the blog. We were amassing a large collection of photos to be sorted through and songs found on the Cathay flight had to be tracked down. The girls eventually made it back to the backpackers after getting a bit lost and rained on in the market and we soon called it a night.
Wednesday was our first full day in Seoul and with a dubious weather forecast we decided to spend it at the predominantly indoor Lotte World theme park. In the morning our room's most obvious flaw became apparent - no blinds or curtains on the window. Despite this we were tired enough to sleep through the light and got up at a lazy hour. Breakfast was had at the market across the road, from a stall manned by 3 mature ladies. We had no idea what they would be serving but the noodles, salad and many accomanying side dishes were all very tasty and filling.
The subway journey to Jamsil Station and the adjoining Lotte complex took a while but was well worth it. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Lotte, it is one of Korea's biggest corporations, owning a theme park, hotels, department stores, general stores, a burger chain, a drinks company and other enterprises. The other major businesses that feature heavily in Korean life are Samsung and Hyundai.
Exiting the subway we encountered what to be the first of many Lotte Department Store subterranean entrance classical Roman fountains. Faux marble horses and columns covered in cascading water seems to go down well with the locals, who love taking pictures in front of these fountains, despite their complete and utter irrelevance. Inside the despite their complete and utter irrelevance. Inside the store we entered on the food level and couldn't resist grabbing some stuffs to satisfy our sweet tooths as we passed through. To get to the theme park entrance we also had to pass through the supermarket section, which was a great way to see where some Korean food comes from. An inspection of a foreign supermarket is always an interesting insight into their culture and this Korean example did not fail to disappoint with its vast array of seafood in various states of preparation.
Finally we found the demure entrance to the country's grandest amusement park, tucked away from the attention-grabbing indoor atrium. The middle of the Lotte complex is a large glass domed roof with the indoor part of the theme park occupying the top levels, then a few floors below of food and an ice skating rink at the bottom, all around a central atrium that allows natural light to flood the building. This set up helped to further draw us in and excite us for what lay ahead, and we hadn't even seen the outdoor section of the park yet.
As we ascended the escalator into the park we were tempted to try some of the many indoor attractions but instead headed straight to the outside area, Magic Island, in an attempt to beat the forecast poor weather. Of course I steered the group towards my most anticipated ride first, Atlantis Adventure. This fun Intamin roller coaster is pretty unique as we travelled in 8-seater single cars, were launched by linear induction motors at the start, giving great airtime and also got to experience running in and around water each time we descended.
We made our way around Magic Island in a pretty sequential, anti-clockwise order, enjoying the rides and good weather. Highlights of this part of the park were of course Atlantis Adventure, a particularly intense gyro swing (rotating circle of outward-facing seats swining on a pendulum), a gyro drop (rotating circle of outward-facing seats up a tower with a freefall drop) and the Comet Express. The latter was particularly bizarre, but this was half the reason that it was fun. It consists of a long powered train with each set of 2 seats spinning freely during the ride. As such, each ride is different depending on the weight distribution of the seats, and can often include much frantic spinning as the train rushes around many twists and turns. Add to this the crazy layer of themeing that, as far as I could tell, involved the train being eaten by a space monster, then somehow entering space, swirling around a UFO, passing some crazy crumpled stuff, somehow entering space, swirling around a UFO, passing some crazy crumpled stuff, a sun and then lots of black-light fluoro coloured everything.
Our riding timed in well as the park's monorail was switched from running the internal loop only to run the full system, including the outdoor section. This meant that we could head back to the inside part of the park, Adventure, in style and also get an overview as our train passed by many of the attractions. This monorail is worthy of a little side note here because it is an Intamin design and is almost the "missing link" in their transition from being only a ride maker to a ride and public transportation monorail company. Systems developed from this one in Seoul operate as legitimate public transport rail networks in Shenzhen and Moscow.
Once inside we again made a pretty logical progression through most of the rides, operating once again in an anti-clockwise fashion (this was not a concious decision). Although the Adventure part of Lotte World housed more attractions they were in general older and less enjoyable, so we did not re-ride any of them. The air inside could've also done with a bit more circulation in some areas. Notable rides indoors were the hot air balloons on the roof, a long, complex and impressive but in the end incomprehensible "Sinbad" boat ride and a rip-off of the Disney Indiana Jones Jeep rides, that even copied some of the effects from these originals.
During our visit we had been snacking on the classic and Korean theme park fare and hadn't eaten properly. When we finished enjoying Adventure we exited the park to go to a lower level and dine at the Moevenpick Marché we had seen adjacent the ice rink. Linda was familiar with the concept as it exists in her native Singapore but Pacey had to be educated, which wasn't easy with the lack of English text and speach. Nevertheless, we fumbled our way through and ordered things like Linda's favourite Roesti to be cooked for us without extra cost. Whether this was our mistake, theirs, our foreign charms or that we were actually entitled to it, nobody will ever know. I wasn't fussed, as long as I had access to the chocolate fondue, I was happy (and I was).
Post-dinner it was time for the favourites hit-list and as you can probably figure out this meant spending time on Magic Island, to which we travelled by monorail. The night was capped off with an enormous light, laser and sound show indoors that was pretty impressive, but yet again incomprehensible.
If you thought we would end it there, you were wrong. Linda and I clearly didn't learn when to call it quits from Macau so we headed off to the nearby Hongik University district to meet Rob and his English teacher couch surfing host Andrew for some drinks. Once we had actually selected a bar things got underway with massive keg-sized jugs of beer and then soju and more beer. All this was of course accompanied by some K-pop hits as requested by Linda and Pacey. When we finally did make the tough decision to head home it was after the subway had closed so the three of us cabbed it, unconciously taking turns to sleep during the 10 minute trip.
Surprise, surprise, Wednesday was not an early start for Pacey, Linda and I. Even the curtain-less window could not wake us before midday. Wispers of the previous night haunted us and delayed our start so that we did not actually get up and leave for the day until the ripe hour of 2:30pm! This meant trudging to the market for some food then subwaying it up to Gyeongbok-gung Palace.
The palace grounds are vast and we spent several hours walking and resting in the calm of the complex, slowly soaking up the Joeson Dynasty legacy. About an hour was spent at the adjoining Korean Folk Museum, which allowed me to learn about the construction of Korean writing characters and their sounds, as well as the expected displays about Korean life and history as an ethnic group. What was most interesting for me was how Korean history has been greatly influenced by Chinese history, to a far greater extent than Japan. Although this makes sense when one considers that Japan is a series of islands.
It was soon 6pm and the complex was closed and thus we began walking south, towards the Cheonggye Stream in the centre of town. This route took us through the crafty and traditional tourist-trap of Insa-dong, where we did stumble upon a few good things like an antique toy shop and some "royal court" almont sweets. We made it to and walked along the landscaped and completely engineered (the stream is a natural feature although I think that is was originally more of a wetland than flowing water) but very relaxing and pleasing stream environment.
Soon enough it was time to eat and we found ourselves in a vast and crowded eating street leading away from the stream. After much deliberation and a stop to spin a wheel and win a Cold Stone Icecreamery discount voucher, or in my case phone accessory, we settled on a Korean BBQ joint. Dinner was nice, confused, but authentic and friendly. Yes, it was all topped off with some Cold Stone ice cream and I have to report that I prefer the Australian Cold Rock than this American counterpart.
To finish off we returned to the stream to see some digital artistry that had been commissioned for the space. This consisted of some cool digital flowers projected and growing on a side wall and an impressive laser and sound show projected onto a mist screen for about 10 minutes every half hour. Then we subwayed once more back to the backpackers for an earlier night and the hope of a good sleep. Our original plan for Seoul had been to visit Everland on the Thursday but Wednesday night's activity had prevented this from occuring. Instead we were to go on Friday and thus needed to make this Thursday night rest a good one.
