My good friend Jo and her boyfriend Matt recently visited me here in Korea for a 3 week vacation.
Once they left, I asked Jo to write a little blog about her honest opinion of Korea and here it is -
South Korea is probably not the most obvious tourist destination on the planet and certainly when we told people we were going we got some puzzled looks, however as a keen traveller and enthusiast of everything Asian I was extremely chuffed to visit Ami in a country she is so fanatical about. Korea may not have the ancient remains of a civilisation like Machu Pichu or the beaches of Thailand, but this is sort of a blessing in disguise. Not only is their tourist industry almost non-existent, save for internal tourism and a few Japanese holiday makers, but we were rewarded at every step of our trip by a culture that surprised and captivated us (and you will notice that I use the word culture a lot in this blog) and a national psyche that you cannot help but fall in love with.
So whilst I could tell you about all the places we went to: a sprawling metropolis that buzzes round the clock, a volcanic island for honeymooners, a rock festival at a ski resort - Korean style, the most rewarding part of a trip to Korea is not something that is so easily conveyed by an itinerary list or some pictures in a guide book because it is a place that you genuinely have to visit to fully appreciate.
One of the best things about Korea is the culture of providing many of the experiences that would traditionally occur in the home within western society, outside of the home.
Koreans tend to have very small apartments and consequently, are very sociable, they will do everything from eating to watching DVDs to meeting up for karaoke outside of the home. And for most of these activities it is simply a case of hiring a room for an hour and adding “bang” onto the end of something (DVD bang, PC bang, Noraebang etc.) and hey presto – instant entertainment at any time of the day or night.
Korea really is a country that is open all hours and this happens to be very convenient given that Korean people hardly sleep at night. This is chiefly because of their insanely competitive and aspirational work culture and means that it then becomes acceptable to nap anywhere and everywhere during the day time – on the subway, on a park bench, in a jimjilbang (public bath). But opening hours are not the only part of Korean life that seem to be incredibly convenient, everything is designed very thoughtfully, from specially designed subway entrances for kids, to plastic bag dispensers for your umbrella when it has been raining, to heated toilet seats in the winter.
The service you get in restaurants and hotels is pretty much the best in the world. In the UK, we have become used to any little extras coming at a premium price and companies that are out to catch us out with the small print. In Korea, the complete opposite is true, taxi drivers will refuse to pick you up when it is quicker for you to walk, people on the street will phone up a friend or pop onto a computer in order to give you directions, hosts can be quite easily taken advantage of (not that I advocate this but sometimes it can happen completely by accident) and restaurants serve you many little side dishes with any food you order. This is said to be how the kings ate and is a sign of wealth. Much can be understood when you realise that 50 years ago Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world however it is now an officially recognised developed country with GDP in the top 10. For a country that has seen such a change of fortune, it is also seen as very shameful to appear poor, it is for instance, insulting to tip and you should always leave food on your plate at the end of a meal.
Some of the best value of all however comes when you visit a love motel. Here, for £15 a night you can drop by at any time of night for almost a 5* experience and everything you could ever desire – from circular beds to steam rooms to robes and slippers, all the toiletries you need, access to a library of porn movies and channels, calling cards for hookers, dildo vending machines and free condoms. These hotels have arisen because most Koreans live at home until they get married and like the west, Koreans are now leaving it later and later to get married. And so for a country that likes to pretend that sex outside of marriage doesn’t exist, this is quite a big cover up. When it comes to sex, the Korean attitude is a huge contradiction. I understand that while education is improving, there is a very high abortion rate (which is ultra hush hush), and for a culture that seems to cherish children and counts their age as one year old upon their birth, the fact that this is occurring seems very strange indeed.
There are a lot of contradictions in Korean culture but when you are caught up in the middle of it all, it is almost easy to miss the biggest one of all. For a race that is so sweet, passive and at all times keen to maintain social harmony and avoid confrontation or difficult situations, you could almost forget that there was a war going on. South Korea, to me, is the most technologically advanced country I have been to, it is common to see people making video calls from the subway, 3D TVs have been on the market for some time, they have robotic vacuum cleaners and the cities are lit up like beacons with advertising and art installations.
Its ex-spouse in the north on the other hand, is one of the most isolated, antiquated and unknown about countries in the world and it’s only 50 miles over the border from Seoul. At a time of heightened tensions, our trip to the DMZ was a most incredible end to our trip. Whilst Korean people have been living with the same fears for over 50 years and are simply resolved to carry on with their lives in the face of international hostility, we couldn’t help but feel as though (as the guidebook put it) we were in the eye of a storm. Strangely calm on the frontline but we were constantly reminded about stories of incidents; from the Russian who tried to escape across the border on a tour from the north, resulting in a shooting firing episode, to the two Americans who were killed when a tree cutting incident got out of hand. Perhaps the most extraordinary story was of the POWs from both sides who, at the end of the war, were given the choice between crossing into the north and the south – which one would you have chosen I wonder?
And so that’s it, I could go on forever but why should I? You should just go visit! I hope at least I have given you a little flavour for Ami’s life in Korea. A big thank you to her for all of the effort she put into planning our trip, showing us around Seoul and Busan, taking us to awesome places to eat, explaining how everything works and even washing our clothes. And to all of the sweet, humble people of Korea who were so eager to please and made our trip something that we won’t forget - a big thank you. Especially of course to Tae Sun, Ami’s boyfriend, who was kind enough to do all the barbequing in Galbi restaurants and even to wait for us at our hotel (when he should have been at work), when he realised that he’d given us the wrong airport name when we flew to Jeju island.
Anyong Ka Seyo Korea!
Jo.
* Thanks for this Jo - as always, you write very well and it was my pleasure to have you both here! ^^ x
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