a weekend in Seoul

Well it was a weekend of near misses and mistakes that somehow turned in to really good luck. It sounds strange but it's true. Makes for a few more ups and downs than I'd like on a weekend trip, but it all worked out.

It started Friday. At work we had a workshop where we listened to a presentation and then each of us gave a 20 minute presentation. I had been nervous during the week but when we actually did it I had a lot of fun. I opted to go first and I think I did well. I then got to play the part of students for Mike and Kris  and I had a little too much fun doing that. The best part was that we were off by six.

I got to Seoul around midnight and opted for a cheap hotel near the station. When the guy said 40,000 I was happy, as in Daegu that gets you a decent room..... not in Seoul. The next day I went to meet a friend of mine from Taiwan, Serena (my friend from Taiwan) and her friend Carol (also Taiwanese) for coffee. It was really great to meet a few new people and I found a place in Seoul that does 500 won (45 cent) Americano refills.... a bit dangerous. After a few hours I left and went back to Insadong, got a much better hotel and did some shopping and eating. I was hoping to meet up with Bobby on Saturday night but a busy day combined with virtually no sleep had me tired so I suggested to Bobby that we meet on Sunday and he was okay with that.

The next morning I visited Jenny, Kwang ho, her sister Jin Baek and Jenny jr. and at the Korea National Museum. They were two very good friends of mine when I first came to Ulsan way back in 2008. She was my head teacher and I became friends with her husband very quickly, despite the lack of language skills (she will often do interpretations for me. In fact, I've known them for so long that she is maybe the only Korean outside of work that I will call by her English name (many Koreans take English names during their language classes in school and at work we are all supposed to use the kids English names, but outside of that environment it seems a bit silly. I admit that I usually have to ask a Korean name a few times, but I usually feel that you can't build a relationship with someone if you can't even be bothered to learn their name, unless they specifically say to use the English name, which a few do. However, in your first few weeks it's a bit of culture shock and you just use whatever name they give you to use, thus I'll call her Jenny even though I should call her Hyun sim... but I digress). Anyway, they came with their baby, who last time I saw was barely moving and is now running around and talking. She's a cool kid and seemed totally unafraid of me (which is unusual in that age range, but maybe it's just cause they live in Seoul where there are so many more waegookin). The museum itself was great and holds so many pieces of Korean history. Kwang ho is also very knowledgeable about Korean history and culture and I learned a lot.

However, I had not booked a KTX ticket back which never used to be a problem, but I guess more people are travelling and I was very worried that I wouldn't be able to get a train back, as they were all sold out online. I began to think about a bus back but then I was worried that I'd miss Bobby altogether, which would have been a real shame. I went to Seoul Station and did manage to get a ticket back. 1040 KTX to Daejeon, transfer to slow train. 90 minutes to Daegu station getting in around 130. Perfect, off to Yeonshinnae (in northwestern Seoul) to see Bobby.

Bobby was having dinner with a coworker and friend named Megan so we all went out to a gogi jip for meat and makkeoli. We hung out a few hours, found a decent makkeoli place near his house and caught up. Although it turns out that he'll be back in Daegu this coming weekend and will probably be staying at my place, so I guess we'll have lots of time to catch up then as well :P


As a city I find I like Seoul, but I'm glad I dont live there as it's just so congested (who'd have thought 15 million people in one place would seem congested?) and I find the people, well much more rude a lot of the time. As an example I had a cabbie who couldn't understand my directions to Korean National Museum (even though I had it in Hangeul and the directions drawn out) and when he started going the wrong way I asked what was up and he got really upset, like angry. I just got out and walked away as he was carrying on. Never had that in Daegu or Ulsan, ever.

But there's also stuff that I love. When I was at a table with five people who's different native languages are English, Korean and Chinese and who were all speaking in more than one language (even me) no one cared. In Daegu you start speaking anything but Korean and people stare at you, but in Seoul the white guy is speaking a bit of Korean and the Chinese girl is speaking some Korean and the Koreans and Chinese are both speaking lots of English and no one cares. The diversity with stuff like food is also amazing. Indian, Thai, Italian, German, Chinese and all right there.

In fact, I'd argue that Seoul feels so different from Busan or Daegu or Ulsan that it's like going to a different country. Those are all big Korean cities but Seoul is truly a world city. In many ways Seoul is its own city state much like Singapore to malaysia, only without the obvious border. It is its own entity with different politics, culture and even society than the rest of Korea. I'm sure the Japanese feel that way towards Tokyo or the British towards London but it's a wierd thing that I think can only exist in countries that have so called "world cities". Whatever the reason it's a cool place to visit, but I must admit to being happy to be back in Sangin :P