I am sitting on a high-speed train as I write this, en route from Seoul to Busan. I flew into Seoul last weekend and spent most of last week at a conference hosted by Yonsei University. I’ve been staying Sinchon, just a few minutes walking distance from the university. During the day, Sinchon is busy, full of restaurants and cafes and people and stuff, cluttered to the point of looking messy. At night, it’s something else entirely – the signs light up and the streets fill with crowds of people. There is live music and dancing on the street corners every night of the week.
This is my first visit to Asia. It is as much another universe as Australia was when I first rocked up to Sydney back in 2009.
This is my first visit to Asia. It is as much another universe as Australia was when I first rocked up to Sydney back in 2009.
Motorcycles ride on the sidewalk here. Try even taking your bike down the sidewalk in Vienna. You’re liable to be shoved off.
The subways here double as bomb shelters. Metro stations are all outfitted with cupboards containing gas masks and emergency rations in case of chemical/biological/radiological attack. Also noticeable in the subway is the extraordinary number of people going about with their face buried in their phone. Easily 90-95% have a phone in hand. (Photo: gas masks on top; relief goods on bottom. Next to a movie vending machine.)
The subways here double as bomb shelters. Metro stations are all outfitted with cupboards containing gas masks and emergency rations in case of chemical/biological/radiological attack. Also noticeable in the subway is the extraordinary number of people going about with their face buried in their phone. Easily 90-95% have a phone in hand. (Photo: gas masks on top; relief goods on bottom. Next to a movie vending machine.)
Everything tends to be very neat here, well-organised and symmetrical. From the gardens and the architecture to the way the food is arranged onto trays in restaurants. Speaking of food in restaurants. This is the meal I enjoyed Friday evening with some Aussie friends (who were also in town for the conference). The resturant was a Japanese-Korean fusion sort of deal, with tables set into the floor in curtained little booths. Featured on this tray (from top left) was salad, the ubiquitous kimchee, some mystery veg that tasted like detergent, salmon sashimi that I tried and then gave away, onions, mystery sauce and washabi, ginger strips, omlette slices, more mystery veg, pork cutlet covered in garlic shavings, rice, and soup. (Photo taken on my friend's iPhone because I didn't have my camera with me.) All this food was for me. I ate most of it.
[Continued later...] I'm in Busan now. Upon arrival this afternoon, I went for a late lunch of bulgolgi fried rice, then took the subway into the city center to visit the fish market. I think I'll go back for dinner tomorrow night (I pinky-sweared with one of the shop ladies that I'd come back). Probably I will not go for the spiky sea urchins or sea cucumber, but I might be brave and try the grilled eel.
Bedtime now. More later on temples, palaces, and pig feet .
Bedtime now. More later on temples, palaces, and pig feet .