Asia Pt II: Korea

Wednesday 1st Feb (cont): Difinitely more comfortable arriving in Korea this time - hopped the limo bus to the city (13,000 KRW versus the 90,000+ I payed for the limo taxi my first time here). Given the limited choice (with a summer bias) of clothing that Kelly and I have while we wait for the right time to have our container unloaded it is hard to prepare for -12 degrees C. The half mile walk from the bus station to the hotel was no fun.

Thursday 2nd Feb: Happy Birthday Ruminson! Got my mum to call me for her birthday after Kel had given her a present this morning. Drove to an offsite meeting about 80 km's north east of Seoul with one of my MS Korea colleagues - he explained the etiquette of Korean drinking to me along the way. I knew I had a night ahead of me.

Being the only non-Korean in a meeting that is conducted in Korean is tough. All of the MS people speak partial English and a couple speak great English so I rely on them totally. Lunch was traditional Korean food, most of which I couldn't identify but it was good - plenty of vegies and very spicey. I was asked if I had ever eaten dog food (which I clarified to mean have I eaten dog meat), I immediately confirmed that unless the unidentified meal I had just consumed included dog (it didn't) I hadn't. Although most do not eat it regularly every male at the table had eaten dog meat. Dogs are specially bred and raised for eating (the same as cows and pigs), and it seems there is currently a shortage so in poorer areas the regular dog population has been on the decline. I told them about the crocodile pizza (see "An Aussie Christmas" blog December 2005) that Kelly and I had and they thought it was crazy - it's all about perspective.

Seoul was cold but the area northeast of the city where the Hotel Chereville, (http://www.cherevillehotel.com), is located was at least another 2 degrees colder... and I'm running around in a cotton business shirt and a light sweater. It was wicked.

The dinner was again traditional Korean and this time everybody sat crossed legged on the floor to eat - I lasted about 15 mins until my legs went numb. The hard part for me was that because of my inflexibility the mats that are provided are too small and I end up with my ankles crossed on the hard ground.

We were drinking soju (fermented potato and onion varieties) - it is about 20% proof. In Korea there are many ways to show respect and for bonding while drinking. One thing that can be done to build a relationship (it takes a bit of getting used to) is to give specific people the glass you have been drinking with and pour them a drink, they drink from your glass and then pour you a drink and return the glass. Everybody was really cool and as usual the more drinking that was done the less language presented a barrier. After dinner we continued a "casual" drinking session back in the hotel, which involved sitting cross legged on the floor again but this time the drinks were scotch (no single malt here) and beer. When the shoes were put back on at the end of the night some people's had definitely been replaced by wobbly boots. I slept well.

Friday 3rd Feb: Back to Seoul - lots of work to do.

Saturday 4th Feb: Caught the subway to Insa-dong - Seoul has a great subway system. Today was really, really cold - I brought a wool hat from a street stall to get me through. Insa-dong is great, lots of small shops selling tradional Korean handicrafts and antiques and a number of art galleries, both traditional and contemporary. I went to a great robot exhibition at one of the galleries. I spent about 4 hours all up in Insa-dong and if it wasn't for the cold I would have stayed longer. Riding the subway back (and having thawed out some) I decided to take a detour to Itaewon - it's where most of the westerners hang out in Seoul. I could have done without it - seemed pretty seedy in the day and there was stall after stall of fake brand name clothing. In all a fun day of exploring. I was ready to sleep all the way home on the plane.