Guilty as charged. I have been putting off posting about Korea because I honestly have no idea where to start, and I’m afraid that I’m going to leave something out. These Korean posts are probably going to be rather lengthy, so be warned! Luckily this week I have very few classes because my school’s sports day is on Sunday, so lots of classes have been canceled so that the kids can practice for that. For example, there are absolutely no classes today….just practicing…which gives me plenty of time to blog!
We left for South Korea on Sunday April 28th. We went to bed the previous night around 11:30 and were up bright and early at 3:30 AM to leave Melissa’s house. We had to leave that early because our ferry departed from Fukuoka (about two hours from Hitoyoshi) at 8:30, we weren’t exactly sure where the port was, and we had to check in and go through immigration/customs before boarding. While it was difficult to wake up that early, I was actually one of the lively ones. I sat up front to keep Melissa awake, and we babbled and chatted the whole way up. Much to Ian and Mollee’s chagrin, I was hyper and bouncing off the sides of Melissa’s tiny car. We made it to the port a little before 7 only to find out that the building doesn’t open until 7 and the counters don’t open until 7:30. *sigh* So much for waking up so early! We passed the time by sending last minute messages to our families, grabbing breakfast, and chatting with each other.
Our ferry was really cool. It was a jet foil ferry, and I’ve never ridden on one of those. It’s basically like an airplane on water. Once we were out of the main port area, the jet engines kicked in, the foils made the ferry rise out of the water, and we were cruising at a very good pace. The ride was so much smoother than a regular ferry since the body of the ferry wasn’t actually in the water. Something that made me laugh was the guys a few rows ahead of us. They were older men and celebrating a weekend trip to Korea, I guess, because shortly after the ferry started, they cracked open a couple of beers. It was 9 AM. Ha! All four of us rested a bit on the three hour ferry ride before arriving in Busan port. As I stared out of the window admiring the view of the second largest city in South Korea, I asked Ian, “Are you nervous about getting around?” He wasn’t.
We went through immigration and customs and immediately realized that we weren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto. None of us knew Korean, so it was like being back in Japan on Day 1. (However, most Koreans spoke some English, or we were able to get by with gestures.) We found the bus that would take us to the train station. It was only a short ten minute ride, but in those ten minutes we found a theme that became common throughout the week: I never thought it was possible, but there are worse drivers than the Japanese…SOUTH KOREANS. Whereas the Japanese are passive, (and if you pull out in front of them, they will kindly tap their brakes and allow you to do so) South Koreans are AGGRESSIVE. Our bus driver was swerving all over the road, honking and shouting at any cars or pedestrians that dared to get in her way. Let’s not even talk about merging. It was CLEAR that her bus was king of the road, and if you didn’t give way, she would roll right over you. Throughout the week, we realized that it wasn’t just her….that’s how Koreans drive. *shudder*
At the train station we bought tickets to Seoul. For a three hour bullet train in Japan, it costs about $200-300 ONE WAY. For the same high speed train in South Korea it cost us $50. GASP! Another theme that we found throughout the week was that South Korea was MUCH cheaper than Japan. Ian and I laughed and said, “Why didn’t we come here to teach instead of Japan??”
By the time we finally arrived in Seoul, we were all dog tired, hungry, and snapping at one another. We decided the best thing to do was to check into our hotel and then grab food before crashing for the night. Finding our hotel was a little difficult since it was tucked away in a back alley of Seoul, but it was worth it. The hotel was recently remodeled, and everything was new, bright, and clean. It was perfect! It even came equipped with power converters (South Korea has the same plug at Europe) which was good because none of us had thought to check out the power situation before leaving Japan!
Once we set our stuff down, we wandered out into the streets in search of food. Our last real meal had been a Subway sandwich that we’d bought at the port in Fukuoka and eaten on the ferry. We chose a place close to our hotel that served bibimbap, a traditional Korean dish. It’s sautéed vegetables, meat, rice, and a raw egg. Usually it’s served in a hot stone bowl, and you mix all of the ingredients together to create this fried rice dish. The hot bowl cooks the dish as you mix it together. Then you add kimchi (fermented cabbage….don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!) and mysterious spicy red sauce to it. It’s a really great dish. All of us ordered that, and after a loooooooooooong and tiring day of travel, it was the PERFECT thing to quench out appetites.
And that, my friends, completes day one of our travels in South Korea! More soon!
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