Just like in Canada and the US, Japanese students and teachers have a winter vacation but unlike their Western counterparts, the Japan winter holiday is based around the New Year. This year, the holiday ran from the 27th of December until the 8th of January.
With all this time off, my friend Alana (who is an ALT with the JET programme in Kochi prefecture) and I thought it would be a good idea to do some travelling. As we both had close friends teaching English in Seoul, it seemed like the logical choice (it also helped that the Yen was incredibly strong to the Won at the time--nothing better than making a profit in a money exchange!)
As Alana lives in a different prefecture without an international airport we had to schedule our trip around her being able to make it to Fukuoka. From the 27th until the 31st of December we spent our time exploring the downtown area (Hakata-Tenjin) and shopping/eating out until our feet and stomachs nearly exploded.
After some... bureaucratic difficulties, we were able to leave Fukuoka for Seoul on December 31st. The flight was amazing; not only were the flight attendants supermodels, but they also spoke Korean, Japanese and English (and probably Chinese!) with effortless fluency. The in-air time of the flight is extremely short--so short that immediately after take-off the flight attendants were dashing around, trying to serve the meal and clear it up before we landed.
In total the flight was a mere 51 minutes. An hour if you factor in taxing around the airport!
(Alana and I in the Fukuoka airport, relieved we were able to make our flight to Seoul)
Alana's friend Erin met us at the Incheon International airport and escorted us (via some very fancy subway systems--including bum warming seats!) to her apartment. The first night was fairly uneventful, due to our being tired and not getting there until suppertime anyway. We did venture out for some food (quelle surprise), which was an experience. In that, none of us had any idea what the waitress/bar-maid(??) was saying.
After some confusion and items on the menu that apparently you are not ACTUALLY able to order, we ended up with this absolutely delicious traditional Korean meal. Tragically, because it was all in Korea, I have no idea what it is called. However, I will say that it was spicy. Very spicy.
(Our spicy meal was... very spicy)
The next day we pottered around Seoul, trying to take it all in (a city of 20+ million people is ... slightly overwhelming...). Eventually we made our way to the Gyeongbokgung (the Gyeongbok palace, of which there are actually 5 in one compound).
(The private meeting place of the king which used to be obscured by large walls and was only accessible to the upper echelon of the king's court)
It was exquisite. Truly. In the middle of this extremely busy, metropolitan city is this sanctuary of past times. Although a lot of it has been reconstructed (due to damage caused by Japanese invasions), the feeling and serenity of the palaces remain intact.
After that we spent a couple of days purely shopping. It seemed to us that Korea was the warehouse of Asia; underground markets and non-descript vendors littered the streets. It was hard to walk half an inch without hearing a sales pitch or being led by the arm to view some more tantalizing merchandise.
While we all suffered casualties to our wallets, it was a worth-while experience in haggling/acquiring new things.
One of the most interesting discoveries is that Korea has essentially no copyright laws and so their dvds and books are all significantly cheaper than in the Western hemisphere. Indeed, we even found textbooks from our university years at a mere 25% of the cost that we paid...
Another interesting thing about Korean malls is that they are rated based on their foodcourts. We went to this fancy looking mall, and decided to take a break and find something to eat. There was an escalator leading up to the food court floor at the top of the building and waiting for us were two ladie on either side of the exit. The moment we became visible they started screaming. And yelling. And pointing. Trying to get us to go to their restaurant. Well, this happened with every unsuspecting person that came up the escalator and eventually, I guess some not-so-nice things were said and the two ladies actually had to be separated by a security guard. I wish this was not a true story. But it is.
(One of the scary ladies, being scary)
On Saturday, the 3rd of January, we gathered our courage and went out clubbing. It was looking like it might be a sketchy situation (gauging from the area we are in, which was close to "hooker hill") however, we eventually came across the foreigner-club part of time (coincidentally, just down from "hooker-hill"). In the end it turned out alright and we actually had a good time. It turns out that Asian bars are very similar to Western bars, only everyone stays out (except for the military people who have a curfew) until 5:30am, when the subway starts to run again.
The next day, when we awoke at suppertime, we met my friend Caroline for dinner. We had Mexican food, not so exciting. After that, Alana and I stayed at Caroline's apartment which was totally awesome and had a great view!
On our last full day in Seoul, we went to the largest mall in Korea, the Coex Mall, and we (shopped) visited the amazing Aquarium they have. I myself am not that much into fish (especially not reptiles) however, I will vouch for this place and say that it was well worth every penny! My favourite part, besides the otters, was the panoramic fish tank that included sharks as well as their.... food. I felt inspired enough to work for the Discovery channel.
(Beautiful)
(Scary)
But soon enough that desire passed and we continued on our merry way. We completed our trip with an evening of fine dining at the local Vietnamese noodle restaurant.
Overall, baring a few blips of awkwardness here and there, I would say that the vacation was a complete success and I look forward to visiting other places around Korea in the future.
P.S. Koreans have this thing where they like to hawk phlegm and then spit it out. So while you might feel inclined to purchase nice shoes while you are there, my suggestion would be to keep them safely packed away until you leave.
