It is snowing.
It may be that this is the first snow of the winter, or at least that at does not snow here all that often, because the locals seemed quite excited about it, but did not seem to be particularly well prepared for it.
I am here for a few days on my way to Australia for Christmas. So far Seoul seems to be very modern. The new Incheon airport is superb – a wonderful contrast to the horrors of Heathrow yesterday. Like Tokyo, it is a fine city to discover on foot, as there are all kinds of interesting little restaurants, shrines, and all kinds of things down little narrow streets.
More from me over the next few days…
…At least, I hope so. Due to the fact that Korea uses some of the world’s weirdest electricity (220V 60Hz), it did not really occur to me that they would use a standard (continental European) type C plug, so for some idiotic reason I failed to bring a type C adaptor, although I brought most other adaptors known to man. Therefore, until I find an adaptor or a power cable with a different plug on it or something, I have only the small remaining amount of electricity I brought with me from England to power my laptop. In the morning I will go to what my guidebook describes as “the largest electronics market in Asia” where I can hopefully solve this problem. I will also see if it is genuinely larger than electronics markets I have been to in other parts of Asia, and I shall also contemplate the question of where any other bigger electronics markets that are not in Asia might be.
Blimey, you get around Michael!
Some of the Korean women are very beautiful. One of my colleagues has the sort of looks to challenge any Vogue model.
Have a great time Michael. I guess you will be celebrating soon as it appears England have lost the Ashes. grrrr.
I thought you were in Australia mate? Echoing Perry, you don’t half get around.
You brought electricity with you from England? Wow.
Looks like Myeong Dong in the second pic. I was there only last month. Seoul is an amazing place, and for such a large population, it’s very quiet. I only heard a police siren once in five days.
Incheon was great – it really highlights the filth of Heathrow.
Bringing foreign electrons? Ha, good! I’ll have to use that the next time I want to torture my science disabled lefty friends. Electron pollution, and what to do about it. How British electrons don’t fit in the Korean wires, build up and cause a sort of electron plaque. CIA, Big Power and all that. I’m sure I can get some to fall for it.
Pearce is right. Get the camera ready, because Korean women are gorgeous.
– Josh
Jonathan and WP are quite right. My last girlfriend was Korean, and she never went anywhere without men coming out of the woodwork to ask her out.
I’m in Korea as well. I got here late Thursday night. Seoul is very, very modern. More modern than some big US cities, in fact. You’ll find the subway is spic & span clean…compare that to the Dust Tube of London! I love this city. Button up, it’s going to be chilly from here on out. Be sure to eat some san gyup sal! It’s superb Korean BBQ. Also, budae chigae is wonderful. Echoing a previous comment, I too rarely hear sirens. I was here from mid-May to mid-June of 2006 and never once heard a siren. I’m here for another month again and I expect to hear little noise. I just wish they’d put the toilet paper on the inside of the toilet stall in the public bathrooms.
If you think Seoul is quiet, you should hear it during a political demonstration. They’re not very quiet then. They cut their fingers off and scream and wail and shoot flaming arrows. Among other things.
Yes, Korean women are lovely, but remember two things: (1) live in Asia for a while, and the exoticism factor wears off, and (2) Korean women have an extraordinarily high rate of cosmetic surgery performed.
I was there too last night! Not the first snow of the winter, actually, but the first for a couple weeks. I know there’s a few weapon nuts on here, I don’t know if you’re one of them, but if you are, have a look for ‘Knife Gallery’ in Insadong (big street with lots of souvenir shops and restaurants – maybe 15-20 minutes walk from Myeongdong). Lots of knives, swords and other such things to look at. And buy, if you so desire.
The only complaint I have about Seoul is that the subway shuts. Seems a shame in a city where you can go shopping at 4am if the mood takes you. I’m probably still just pissed off that I missed the last train last night and walked a few miles in the snow, before getting fed up with my wet, cold feet, and got an overpriced taxi instead.
Doesn’t the UK also use 220v 60hz ?
Graham: No. There are essentially two common electrical standards in the world: 220-240V 50Hz and 100-127V 60Hz. (The exact voltages vary from country to country and don’t really matter). 220-240V 60Hz and 100-127V 50Hz are much rarer, but both exist. (Nice map here.
“…and got an overpriced taxi instead.”
Try visiting Brighton! You can get a 20 minute taxi ride in Seoul for the same price as just getting into (i.e. minimum fare) a taxi in Brighton.
Mind you, you could well have got into a top-fare cab. The lights are different colours and indicate the quality and therefore the price – I think the yellow ones are cheapest, white mid-range and blue top-far. Not sure… Ask someone.
The different cab fares in Seoul, I think, indicate hiring a cab exclusively for yourself, or hiring a (cheaper) cab whose driver will pick up other fares en route to your destination.
“Try visiting Brighton! You can get a 20 minute taxi ride in Seoul for the same price as just getting into (i.e. minimum fare) a taxi in Brighton.”
The prices are wonderful during the day, but not so wonderful at night when they turn off the meters, in my (admittedly not very extensive) experience. I probably got a bargain compared to Brighton, or most British towns for that matter, but I’ve been here since the summer and am growing accustomed to reasonable prices!
Yes, it would seem that the law of supply and demand applies for taxi fares in Seoul. When there are few other ways of getting home, prices go up. Why does this not surprise me?
Sadly. though, 24 hour subway services are just not possible in most cities. Subways require a lot of maintenance and cleaning rubbish out of tunnels, and this requires them to be shut down for at least a few hours a day. The only city in the world that is able to get round this is New York, because it (uniquely) has four tracks on almost all lines. One set of tracks can be used for services while the other set is closed during the night, and in the day one set is used for local trains and the other for express trains. The best question you can ask is “Does this city have good (or any) night buses. For cities I have lived in recently, the answer is yes for London, and “sort of” for Sydney. For Seoul I have no idea. (Still, both Sydney and London have higher cab fares at night than during the day. In both cities meters are turned on – they just charge more).
Aha. I do realise why the taxi fares go up at night, I’m not a socialist or anything silly like that. But I didn’t realise why the subway had to shut at night, I always thought it was because the people running it assumed there wouldn’t be enough users at night. Thank you for enlightening me!
Anyway, my real point was that I can’t think of any better complaints about Seoul and that I do quite like it!