Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Time really passes by very fast. Most of my friends are enlisting this week while I still have around 2 months before I enlist. What do you know, my classmate for 2 years, Tong, is going in on Thursday. It's gonna be funny without him around to tease me about Shuwen. I'm just glad I'm in a normal unit and not a commando. 8 months of bmt is gonna be hell and I can't imagine myself in the jungles of Brunei which is 10 times the size of Singapore.
Instead of lazing around and doing practically nothing for the next 2 months, I've got a couple of interviews lined up for me for the next 2 days. Hopefully I can start work by the end of this week.
Decided to blog about my stay in Seoul first before I forget the beautiful memories. Spent 9 wonderful days in Seoul before flying off to Hongkong for another extended holiday. Spent another 5 days in Hongkong before flying home. Tourism is all about cultural exchange and a form of education, that's how I viewed my stay in both countries. Arrived in Incheon on the 16th December 2004. I realized that the Koreans just built this relatively new Incheon International Airport to cater to the World Cup 2002. Kimpo Airport used to be the major one but now it just handles mostly domestic and some international flights. Being a Singaporean, I think it's only typical of me to start comparing things here and there with Singapore. To think that the journey from my place to Changi Airport only takes me 45 mins and I've already complained. Incheon Airport is built so freaking far from the place I stayed in Seoul. It takes a good 1 hour to travel by airport limo bus or car.
You have to understand why the Singapore government imposed COEs on cars here, it's for a good reason. We know it's to discourage the sales of cars and reduce the possible congestion on roads here. Everywhere I go in Seoul, there's a traffic jam because there's just too many cars. I was lucky on both occasions when I arrived and departed from Korea and there were no traffic jams. It can take between 2 to 3 hours instead of the usual 1 hour to travel from the airport to where I stayed. You can spend 20 mins in a car even though the place you are going to is within walking distance, let's say 10 to 15 mins....
I stayed at this condo at Seoleung (something like the CBD in Singapore) so going anywhere was pretty convenient. I did mention before that the Koreans are very particular about their dress code. Places I went to, I saw men dressed in suits or at least a jacket. Their women counterpart are not lagging behind either. Spent quite alot of time at COEX, the World Trade Centre in Seoul because it's one mega mall that contains everything. They have 1 major Hyundai departmental store and 1 huge underground shopping place (20 times Citylink or even bigger). Yeah, I go there sometimes to use the free internet that Macdonalds offers.
Koreans are fiercely protective of their own produce or should I say, proud. They want to encourage the consumption of local goods and discourage imported stuff. I used to think that whatever stuff I've learnt in school is not gonna be of much use in daily life but it's not totally true. What's the simplest way to discourage imported goods? Raise their prices.... A bar of Dove soap cost around SGD$3. A Heinz chilli bottle which cost like 1 dollar plus in Singapore cost 6 Singapore dollars in Korea. haha.... It's all econs in action! Along the roads, you'll see that most of the cars are Kias, Hyundai and LG.... Imported cars like Mercs and BMWs are much more expensive but still peanuts as compared to buying them in Singapore.
You do not get plastic bags or shopping bags most of the time in Korea. Expect to pay 50 Won for a piece of plastic bag in the supermarkets. Before you guys start thinking that the Koreans are out to cheat our money, they are actually trying to protect the environment. This is something that Singapore can learn from. Trips to supermarkets to stock up on goods can result in the usage of many plastic bags. So imagine how many bags NTUC, Cold Storage and Shop N Save give out daily? I never go travelling without my sling bag and I'm just glad to say that the bag was put to good use in Korea. This saving the environment thingy does not just exist in supermarkets, it's throughout the country, even in Macdonalds. You are given drinks in plastic Macdonalds cups instead of the paper ones in Singapore and you have to clean up after yourself. That means returning the tray, throwing away the rubbish and knowing how to throw them away. Water and ice in 1 corner, paper and plastic rubbish in another corner. Troublesome it might sound but it's for a good reason.
I didn't know that I hafta return the plastic cups and walked out of Macs with it. 2 cups! So what happened to them? They ended up in Singapore with me and it has since become the cup which I drink from at home. The cups are quite nice with simple Macdonalds designs on them and it's something that you can't get in Singapore.
Met a few ac people in Korea as well. Brian Yeong who was in transit in Seoul before heading to the States with his father. My brother in law's colleague's son, Chia Ming Wei was also in Korea with his girlfriend and family for a holiday. How small is this world.... I was at the supermarket in COEX and I saw this familiar looking guy and the rest is history. He was in the same batch as me in acs(I) and went to acjc and became their table tennis captain. I just knew him as fat siew's friend in 4.9 last time. Finally, I got to know Andrew and his wife, Pauline, who are the colleagues of my brother in law. He had worked in Seoul for 2 years and is being transferred back to Singapore by the office and he was in Seoul to settle some stuff. Why did I mention Andrew? He's in his 30s but we hit it off soon because he was also from ac. haha.... He attended the ac back then when there wasn't any (I) or (BR). 1 fun- loving and joker couple.... He supports Liverpool while I support Arsenal.
Being familar with the roads, he droved us around to eat and shop. Pauline said I'm very fortunate to be invited to the house of her Korean friends the first time I was here. She had been working there for 2 years and this was her first visit to Rose and Steve's house. For your information, it's their English names because I don't know their Korean ones. They are staying near the Olympic expressway and houses are very small in Korea. So small that they don't have a fixed table for eating and sofas. Steve is a very good husband who surprisingly can cook very well! It's Rose on the other hand who can't cook.... What a reversal of roles. We were jacking Steve on how he's a disgrace to men. haha.... I'm jacking people all the way from Singapore to Korea. They bought 2 foldable tables which we ate our dinner on. Quite nice and creative, the tables contain legs you can fold back or out if you get what I mean. After we finished our main course, Steve just tooked out another of those tables and we ate our ice cream on the clean table. It feels as if I'm eating on a conveyor belt. One thing about Korean food, it's either there's no chilli or the chilli is really ultra ultra spicy. For someone who can't live without chilli, I was taken aback by the degree of hotness the way Steve cooked his food. It's damn bloody hot.
Don't worry about losing your house keys because doors in Korea are locked by an electronic system. You get into your house by keying the password. How cool man.... The only thing I don't like about the Koreans, they don't believe in saying "Excuse me" when they want to pass through. They will just bang into you and walk off, that's something I wasn't used to at first. I was worried that I would forget my manners upon coming home and start to bang into people. haha.... Overall, Koreans are very polite.
Take the subway was a new experience for me and because I had trouble pronouncing the names of the stations I wanna go, I would buy the tickets that cost the same price as the stations of my destinations. It will get you there anyway, so no worries. However taking to Suwon (something like Pasir Ris) which is probably just another place in Seoul will probably take you 2 to 3 hours by train. I got dizzy looking at the mrt map. There's so many stops and so many interchanges. When I came back home and took the mrt, I was like telling myself, "So little stops only?"....
Not very interested in visiting those ancient places and being a Singaporean, the only thing I wanted to do was to shop and eat! Sometimes we would drive or take the subway to the Namdaemum and Dongdaemum markets. Things sold there are freaking cheap and sometimes in bulk. At Dongdaemum, had the chance to see the Dongdaemum Baseball Stadium as well. Andrew reminded me the fact that the number 1 sport in Korea is not soccer but baseball. Don't be misled by the World Cup 2002. We had authentic Korean bbq food in places like Insa-Dong...we had beef bbq there and chicken bbq in Apujeong. When you taste the real stuff, you might wanna say good bye to Seoul Garden in Singapore, which is really bullshit. Was telling my father, "How come Seoul Garden has yong tau foo?" lol.... It's purely Singaporean bbq....
3 beautiful places that I really liked were Apujeong, Myong-dong and Ewha. It's the place for teenagers like me. Apujeong was like the combination of Heeren and Holland Village (the trendy shopping and eating district for Koreans). Andrew said we are really mad Singaporeans who ate ice cream and ice kachang (korean style) in the middle of winter haha..... Apujeong has this Andersen-like ice cream parlour called Palazzo and they have chains of stores around the world, namely in Italy. I bought this small tub that allows me to put 6 different tastes inside. Some of the good ones were the kiwi, strawberry, pumpkin and the green tea ones.
Myong-dong was the Orchard Road and it's just one mrt stop from Namdaemum. Ewha was the place I liked the most because I really bought alot of clothes from there. Jeans and alot of nice shirts.... I bought my prom top from here as well, saves me the trouble of doing last min shopping when I go back Singapore. I don't wanna risk wearing something that somebody could have bought in Singapore. It's damn jacked. What's the risk of being seen in something I bought from Korea for prom? Near to zero.... It's zero because my school is jjc. It's meant to be bastard joke. As Ewha was near the Ewha Women's University and there were many high schools near by, I get to do some girl watching.... Saw this cute gal (probably 15 to 16 years old) at one of the stores I was shopping at and I had really wanted to go say hi but language problems prevented me from doing so. I'm not a pervert really.... Just trying to extend my social circle in Korea. I can imagine myself saying to her, " Annyong-haseyo, I'm Fabien from Singapore. Ch'onchonhi malhae juseyo? I would probably say Sarang heyo" haha.... I will then run out of things to say.
Korean food was all right but I got sick of some of them.... Kinda missed local food when I was there. Another thing I remembered were the handphones in Korea. Every single person was using a flip phone and because the Koreans don't use SIM cards there, I couldn't buy one home lol.... So many things I could have typed them down but it's impossible to. Korea has been a good host to me and I wished that I've learnt the language before I went. I was surviving there with really basic Korean words. I like travelling free & easy and I don't like going on holidays with tour groups. It's all about exploring the country myself, some of the places that tour groups won't be bringing you to. I don't take cabs when I travel and I wanna keep it that way. Proud that I've learnt how to take the subway in Korea. Oh yah, don't bother taking cabs also, the traffic is damn bad remember?
My sister wants me to visit her in Korea again in Feb but there's no hurry to make a decision now. Left Korea on the 17th feeling a happy and satisfied man. I became an ardent fan of the Korean way of of life and their lifestyle but not crazy to the extent of Singaporean girls. They go crazy at the sight of Korean stars. I'm just addicted to Korean music which has taken over my life currently. So much so that I don't even listen to Perfect 10 anymore.
Watch this space for my trip to Hongkong. Going to sleep now.
