Seoul & Hong Kong

I was very excited about visiting South Korea and had no idea what to expect. All the developing asian countries have slogans they use to market themselves to tourists and investors on the international tv channels. There is 'amazing' Thailand, 'incredible' India, Malaysia 'truly asia' and even 'remarkable' Indonesia. South Korea calls itself 'dynamic' Korea, although I think 'ambitious' might be more accurate. Seoul is an industrious mix of old and new, rich and poor. I imagine it is unrecognisable from 20 years ago and in 20 years time this will be true again. Skinny pensioners in dilapidated suits rub shoulders with fashionable smartphone-wielding youths (Samsung of course). We happened to be in Seoul at the peak of k-pop sensation 'Gangnam Style' which was fascinating.

After easily navigating the immaculately clean airport and english-signposted metro, we were left on our own as everything was in Korean. We'ed downloaded the tripadvisor city guide which turned out to be useful as I could match up the Korean symbols in there with signs on the buildings. We had a reservation in the cheap 'Jongno-Cutee' hotel fairly near Insadong, the main touristy road. The hotel was in fact a 'love hotel' where you can book a room for a few hours vigorous karaoke/massage. Someone had attacked the bathroom with astonishing amounts of chlorine (not sure what they'd found?) but thankfully the smell cleared. Oddly, the room came with a proper desktop computer, plasma screen tv and dvd player, along with every kind of toiletery known to man. It was also an amazingly badly-done french chalet theme. It served us fine for 3 nights.

After the incredible food in Japan, I found Korean food tasty, although comparatively bland and peasanty. We'ed had Korean BBQ once before in New York, and I didn't think it was any better in Seoul. Amusingly they always refer to it as korean BBQ as if it is fundamentally different. We also tried a stew restaurant where instead of cooking your own BBQ on the table you cook your own noodle soup. Now in my mind it's a great novelty to be able to cook your own food in a restaurant, but I don't want to have to do it all the time. After all that's what chefs there to do, not to just stand there disapprovingly when innocent tourists cook things in the wrong order. They also provide you with flat, metal chopsticks which only ninjas can use. Korean food inevitably features Kimchi and Banchan, the awesome range of accompaniment dishes:

A selection of banchan

Kimchi is traditionally made in bathtubs

korean bbq

We walked to Gyeongbokgung, the old (or rather, reconstructed) royal palace. It was uninspiring, although the ceremonial guards with their stick-on beards were quite amusing.

We also attempted to find an old, traditional tea house, but failed and ended up in one themed as some kind of weird 80s primary school:

Apparently a trip to Seoul is not complete without a trip to a Jimjilbang. These are basically insanely big sauna/day spas. After some research on the internet we decided on the Dragon Hill Spa in Yongsan. Here's how it works:

You register, take your shoes and socks off and leave them in reception, where they also give you some loose shorts and a t-shirt. At this point, men and women go into separate lifts, to separate floors.
In the changing room, you hesitate briefly before removing all your clothes and entering the spa. Here there are lots of naked people of various ages moving between the various things to do. There was a sauna, steam room, hot floor for lying on (?), various bathing pools from 16°C (very cold, hope no-one is looking at your bits when you get out) all the way up to 45°C (unbearably hot, stifle a yelp and move on). After this it's time to brush your teeth (?), shower and see the rest of the place, remembering to put on that t-shirt and shorts they gave you.

The rest of the building is mixed-sex and comprised a couple of restaurants, a games arcade and quiet rooms of various temperatures (from freezing to sauna). There was also a large central room full of people lying on the floor in various stages of sleep. After you're done here, you go back to the changing room for your proper clothes, pay at reception and leave in a state of bewilderment.

The next day we were flying to Hong Kong. We logged on to the Cathay Pacific website, chose our seats and got to the airport in good time. At check-in there was some confusion as the date on our tickets didn't match the reservation (apparently these are 2 separate things, who knew). The ticket desk needed to call BA's office in Hong Kong, which is empty on Sunday, so they sent a fax, warning us that they couldn't guarantee when they'd hear back. Er, NO SHIT SHERLOCK. They politely did nothing about my protestations for 2 stressful hours, by which time we missed our flight. Luckily someone competent turned up to end the insanity, putting us on the next flight. Now that wasn't so hard was it.

We arrived in Hong Kong that evening and made our way up the hill on 'the escalator'. Our friend Michael had offered us to stay in his apartment for our stay, which we gladly accepted. We arrived and immediately set about abusing his washing machine while he was away motorcycling around Vietnam for the weekend. (this is how the HK expats roll.)

After Tokyo and Seoul we were pretty citied-out and Cath was not feeling well so we took it fairly easy in Hong Kong. We took the insanely steep tramway up to the top of the hill, and took a bus around to Stanley on the other side of the island. On our last day we took the ferry across the harbour to Mongkok, on the mainland side. I also dropped into my previous employers' office to say hello to some familiar faces, before going out for a few beers with Michael.

Hong Kong somewhere behind the smog

And that was the end of our 4 months in asia. Hong Kong is a weird cross between a historic colonial town, a western financial centre and urban China, it is a bit of a melting pot with no clear identity. Good place to fly around asia though. You can even check-in for flights in town and make your way to the airport without bags. Very civilised.