Day 236

Day 236 - 28.06.10

The tough life of a tourist.

KTX is like the TGV... only thousands of kilometers away

My day yesterday was spent in transport and with CSers. Almost felt like being back home as the train was French technology and I see plenty of CSers back home. There are so many trains going to Seoul from Busan (one every twenty minutes) that they have a system where no one waits close to the tracks, you're let in about 15 minutes before the train leaves. Buying tickets is also amazingly easy on their machines... that made me think, are the SNCF machines also in English or only in French? I really can't remember, or more likely I never paid enough attention to remember. I'm quite glad I paid more and took the fast train (not just because it felt good seeing that "Alstom" written in big on each wagon) but because I already felt bored after four hours... if it had been seven hours I would have gone out of my mind. The scenery isn't really idyllic, it's just those tall buildings with huge numbers written on them, rice fields, construction works and mountains in the background most of the time. ( more of the same and then some more and trying out some more random food ) I also happened to arrive back in Seoul right on the day of the monthly CS Seoul meeting. I finally got to go into one of those suburban tall buildings with the huge numbers of them. It was a set of "Hyundai" buildings. It was a very, very, very long way away by metro. I'm talking at least an hour. I really don't know how people do it who have to commute daily for hours, that's the main reason why I really think that a flat in Toulon would definitely beat commuting there from Marseille every single day. Anywho, I was the only recently arrived and short term traveller there but everyone was lovely and there were two absolutely adorable doggies! Actually attending such events really shows the differences that exist among CS communities. In Seoul and South Korea they seem to have more bigger events (retreats, etc.) rather than smaller local events. Back in Helsinki we mainly have the weekly meetings and the local events that just focus on going out for coffee or things of the sort. And both communities rock, so everything can exist! Also, if I could give one advice, it's that it's best to bring an international credit card along rather than cash. It's much easier in some places outside of Seoul to find "global" ATMs than a place that would change currency. For example, the closest place to Busan Station (the main train station in Busan which is the third or fourth largest city in the country) is a good twenty minutes' walk away. Actually in Seoul also it's not all that easy because those official looking change bureaus and banks that will change currency all have funky working hours.

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The palaces of Seoul

There are five palaces in Seoul which are considered wonderful touristy places. As it happens I live close to three of them... The first one I went to, Changgyeonggung, was obviously closed on Mondays (as are three of them) and even on the days it's open you can only go with a guided tour. I then went to a second one, Geunjeongjeon, this one luckily turned out to be open on Mondays (but it's closed on Tuesdays) and one can walk freely there and not rely on tour guides. From the structure it's like the Forbidden city in smaller and in Korean. They have a change of guards a couple of times per day. I do hope those guys in the costumes are getting paid a lot because it must be hell being dressed up like that! ( guards, buildings and statues ) After a while I decided that since I was already in the area, I might as well check out a third palace, Jeongjeon, it was open on Mondays but only visitable with a guide and I had missed the last English visit by five minutes or so. Oh well, perhaps those palaces and I were not meant to be! I did see tons of grandpas playing board games and just sitting around talking. It's an area that's really much better seen through the backstreets. There are no sidewalks so it's up to you to try to avoid cars and oncoming people. Every couple of streets there are the local food stalls, there are ajummas making kimchi, etc. For an even weirder experience it's worth going a tad closer to the .... which is an uncovered river. It's the local equivalent of the City, there are people clad in business suits everywhere! I was sweating like mad but they seemed rather content just walking along and talking. Just how long would I have to live in Seoul to get used to the heat and the humidity?

Tea, tea and more tea.

No matter how rave reviews are, you really can't bake a good pie on a large scale. There is this bakery, Tartine, in the "foreigner" part of town that's supposed to be one of the best Western style bakeries but really I could bake a pie with better crust and less starchy filling than what I'm eating. But hey, this is all done in the interest of science! Finding the best spots in Seoul where to bum around... and from what I can see this bakery has its regulars who already know the specials and damn I should have gone for today's special instead of rhubarb pie! It was one of those pot pies! This brings to today's main subject: I've made the decision to only go to touristy places if they're on the way. Otherwise it's just walking around streets and looking for good places where to sit. I'm starting to develop "jambes lourdes", I'm definitely starting to get old and feel the heat. I'm tired all the time, even though I'm drinking a lot I always feel that bad dehydration headache (the hangover kind of headache but without the alcohol). I will learn one day just how people around here survive, I will! Earlier, along what is possibly the most touristy street in the Anguk part of town I saw a sign for a "tea museum". Like I could miss that kind of thing! The sign ended up showing me down this shady street but the place was pretty awesome. It wasn't really a museum, just a place with lots of tea and I happened to arrive right before brunch hour was over. I got a plater of stuff, from the description I understood it would have red bean stuff and ice cream. It ended up being green tea ice cream, a little cake thing filled with red bean stuff and covered in jelly, some sesame rice cakes and whipped cream... and a cup of herb tea, I figured that if I was going to ingest huge amounts of tea, I might as well have some of the healthy kind. ( tea and some more tea because visiting tea places is serious business ) Tomorrow I'm going to be a total grown up and I'm going to go to Lotte World which is the local DisneyLand and it's indoors (except for one part). Let's say it's my way of putting off acting my age. OMG LOTTE DAMN WORLD! I haven't been to an amusement park in years. Like literally years. I can't even remember when was the last time. And this is like just ten metro stops or so away. Just look at all the stuff they have! I've been on that site for about an hour and I can't wait to get a map tomorrow and to explore. I'm thinking of going somewhere around 11am so that I can get lunch there (yes, in the overpriced places, I am silly like that)... I'm not sure if I'll be able to hang in there till the 9pm light show but who knows! OMG OMG OMG OMG *squee* (Korea is getting to me. I've never been excited to go to a huge structure like that. It must be the heat.)