It's freezing here in Seoul
Dec. 16th, 2009 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
karenedCold!
Seriously, that's all I can remember from today.
It was a -9 ~ -4 degress celcius, and we spent much of the day walking outdoors, visiting Gyeong Bok Gung and Myeong Dong.
My gosh. I wore like two stockings and knee length boots, three layer of clothes and an outer coat, and yet that wasn't enough. I felt cold! Me! Me, who never ever complained about coldness! I guess it was mainly because of my hands and my cheeks. I didn't bring a pair of gloves and had made the wrong decision to leave my cap at the hotel. I never understood the need to buy those ear mufflers. But now I do. My ears and cheeks were freezing!
Then, I recall about the various kdramas I watched recently, meaning those that were filmed recently, under such cold weather. From ILPK, we have the scenes of On Dal being drenched by the sprinklers at the golf course, of On Dal and Pyung Kang being drenched by the heavy rain, and of On Dal being chased by the hooligans into the stream, from which he came out topless. And then from WISOC, we have young Kang Jin and Ji Wan jumping into the river to retrieve Kang Jin's pendant, and grownup Ji Wan being drenched by the rain. Lastly, from Creating Destiny, the scene where Yeo Jun sat in the cold at night after getting drunk at Sang Eun's house.
Poor actors and actresses.
Aniwaes, today, I came back to the hotel with many complaints to make stories to tell.
So here's round 2 of Japan v Korea.
- Toilets in Japan v Korea
Basic standards for a toilet: toilet paper, clean/dry floors, soap for washing hands.
Japan's typical toilet: toilet paper, clean/dry floors, soap for washing hands, special toilet bowls.
What I experienced in Korea: toilet paper, soap for washing hands.
Two complaints I have regarding toilets today, though not representative of every other toilet, are
1) This toilet at the Zara building at Myeong Dong had a really dirty floor with footprints all over.
2) This other toilet at a restaurant at Insadong had graffiti scribbled all over the cubicles. Well, since it was a small restaurant, maybe this isn't really unexpected. But...
I was at the Korea Folk Museum at the palace when I overheard some people complaining in the toilet about how someone had relieved herself in such a way that left the toilet seat in an unsightly manner. T.T Where is my Japan toilet???
- Tour guide in Japan v Korea
I'm usually on free-and-easy for trips to Japan, but occassionally, we got a tour guide to show us around. I remember two, one for Tokyo and one for Osaka. The one in Osaka was full of smiles and he said that Tokyo ones aren't so lively. Which turned out to be true after we went over to Tokyo. The Tokyo one wasn't as warm and friendly.
However, today, in Seoul, we met an even less frienly tour guide. It's not that she was rude or anything. She was just....cold...maybe it's because of the weather? She didn't smile at all, throughout the trip! In fact, there were a few times where I thought she was frowning. In addition to that, service standards. She was always sms-ing and walking around by herself. There was once where we had dinner at BK, and she just disappeared for a whole 5~10 mins, without telling us where she went. Basically, she's not as good as those we had in Japan.
- Driving in Japan v Korea
We experienced our share of traffic jams in Japan, but everything went on very smoothly, in an orderly manner. Today, we experienced jams throughout the day and those jams changed my mind about driving should I get to go on exchange to Yonsei. The driving here is crazy. Cars and buses (buses especially) cut into our lane very abruptly, and it was always a matter of inches before they knocked into the side of our van. Horns, which seemed to serve little prupose in Tokyo, could be heard everytens of minutes. Very seldom do I see people giving way. As reflected in the 'pushpushpush' incident, it seems that Singaporeans' unique kiasuness can be found here. Really, if you gave way, most likely you'll find yourself stuck at the same spot for a long while.
- Food in Japan v Korea
If seafood can be found at almost every table in Japan, beef can found at almost every food item in Korea. Ok, this may be a little exaggerated, but really, beefs everywhere! Although I have nothing against beef, the rest of my family can't eat beef...and so we always had to check before we enter a restaurant.
I didn't really like Korean food because I had the impression that it was all spicy. Well, many Korean food are spicy, but we ate bibimbup today and requested for the spicy sauce to be removed. And so, that became my very first Korean dish! It was quite delicious, surprisingly. =D
I'm on my very own free-and-easy tomorrow, and so I'm planning to return to Myeong Dong tomorrow! Will prepare myself for the extreme coldness and wear a few more layers. Gosh, that means 4/5 layers! I saw alt of things there yo, something like HK's Mongkok. And then I saw like 3 Hallyu stores which I must go, to search for YB stuff!
To end off, the most irritating thing that happened today didn't involve a local. It involved a bunch of Mainland Chinese. We were at the Korean Folk Museum when this group of Chinese tourist started pushing their way towards the exhibits to take photos. It was really irritating because I was standing quite at the front when someon puhed past me to stand in front of me. So, I moved a step back. And then another pushed past me again. And again. And again. In the end I decided to just stand by the side till the group left and to continue after them. Rude. Pure rudeness. Are they rushing to get reborned?
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Comments transfered from vox
Dec 16, 2009
it sounds like you miss japan. ^_^ stay warm!!!
Dec 17, 2009
You can't compare to Japan.. Japan is always better xD
It's really cold.... keep warm ne! <3