5 days in Seoul

Back in March, I took advantage of my weird visa to exit the country to spend some days in Korea. Here's my take on Seoul from five days. 

My first impression of Seoul was that it was how I would expect Japan to look. The way the Koreans dress and act, in a more polite and reserved manner than the Chinese, along with the public toilets with heated toilet seats, reminded me of Japan. In terms of language, I encountered very few people on the streets who could speak English (or Chinese which I also attempted) but I was able to get by fine. I had expected more people to speak English (or people to speak better English) but Seoul was comparable to Beijing for English levels i.e. most people are willing to help and will speak to you in their native language. Many of the young people who I attempted to talk to were too shy to speak anything. Even the people at tourist information spoke quite abysmal English; my theory is that because of the high volumes of Japanese and Chinese tourists, they hire people who can speak all 3 languages. 

So, the next big aspect of Korean culture that hit me was the makeup. Korean women always leave the house looking impeccable with perfect hair and makeup. (I imagine they look impeccable when they don't leave the house as well, whereas I personally hang out in a tshirt and sweats. Hmm, who am I kidding... I wear that out of the house too.) Because of the makeup, it's absolutely impossible to tell a woman's real age, or true skin tone, as they all seem to use the same beige coverup. When you bring plastic surgery into the equation, Korea is really in its own category. I read that about 25% of Koreans have had plastic surgery. It’s become such an ordinary part of Korean society that it’s scary. Ads are plastered all over the city, even the buses and the subway station. The women (and men) who undergo plastic surgery sometimes come out looking like a completely different person, from a completely different age group. Sometimes even a different ethnicity. Check out these ads:

who said plastic surgery is only for women?

many women slice their jaws down for a more flattering face shape.  owwww?

Seoul is an extremely modern city and has sadly lost much of the traditional Hanok houses. Seoul has its share of temples, palaces, and museums, but many people come to Seoul for the shopping. There was an entire area dedicated to wholesale goods: household items, clothing, and socks. Many many socks. Dongdaemun is another famous shopping area with skyscrapers dedicated to apparel.   

all the newest fads!

As always, the people can make or break a trip, and thanks to social media and a bit of fate, I was lucky enough to meet some very nice travel companions and also see a couple friends.

I actually decided to make a list out of this one. So, if you’d like to run into an old classmate or meet some unique people on your next trip, just follow these rules!

1. Don’t be shy. This is the obvious rule for meeting anyone, whether you’re traveling or not. Sometimes it just takes a hello, smalltalk, or a clever comment to start a conversation. And who knows where that conversation will lead? Sure, it could lead nowhere. But it just could lead to a travel companion for the day or even a lifelong friend. (Remember my friends D and S I met in the bank in Valencia? They were some of my best friends in Valencia, and I’m actually going to see them again next month! And to imagine that it all started with small talk in the bank.) In my Seoul trip, I was wandering around by myself in the Bukchon (a traditional Hanok village and one of my favorite places in Seoul) and I didn’t have high hopes for meeting any strangers as the Bukchon seemed to be the place for a date. Eventually I made it to must-see #10 on my tourist map, and asked another girl to take my photo. I thanked her, we chatted for a bit, and then we went our separate ways. As fate would have it, we just couldn’t stay away from each other, and it was probably the third time we ran into each other when we decided to walk around together in the neighboring area, filled with hip cafes and shops. Since I didn’t have a Korean phone number, we exchanged wechat accounts to meet up later in the week. Oh, who was she by the way? R turned out to be a Singapoean student who studies food science, who loves Korean culture and just arrived for her half-year study abroad in Seoul. She spoke in a soft, lyrical way that (from my experience) is characteristic of Singapore, and loved snapping away on her DSLR. 

Bukchon's traditional houses

2. Maximize what you get out of couchsurfing. There were some pretty active threads on the Seoul group in couchsurfing, and several people had posted that they were going traveling in Seoul and open to meet up with other travelers. Unfortunately I didn’t end up meeting with one guy for the DMZ tour which basically takes you (if you’re not a Korean citizen) to the Demilitiarized Military Zone that separates North and South Korea. I think you can see the famous conference halls where talks were held, tunnels, etc. Anyways, apparently these tours fill up very quickly and I missed my chance. I hung out with another CSer, C, who is Chinese and studies journalism in Macau. True to her journalistic roots, she was inquisitive and loved to ask about relationships (I guess it’s hard to get your head away from your thesis topic, and her thesis topic happened to be interracial relationships). Even though I tend to get very annoyed by nosy questions, C was actually interested and also willing to share her own experiences and preferences (important if you want you conversation to be an actual conversation rather than an interview).

3. Dig and have no shame! Going back to rule 1 again, except with acquaintances, old friends, i.e. people you already know. Just because you haven’t seen someone in a few years doesn’t mean that you can’t let them know when you’re passing through their city. Chances are, they’ll be flattered that you thought of them and asked for their advice. Well, my shameless moment came with Ar, who came to study in LA as an Ambassadorial Scholar almost four years ago to study cosmetics marketing. I didn’t understand fully what that meant until I saw with my own eyes what the Korean cosmetics industry does. After getting back to the U.S. Ar was reluctant to find another job just because of her previous experiences in the cosmetics industry… pressure, stress, and long hours. When I met up with her, she had just started another job with the Body Shop. I guess looking perfect is even more important when you sell cosmetics. Once when Ar showed up to work without makeup, her boss asked if she was sick. No, she replied. Of course her boss knew that she wasn’t sick. At least go put on some lipstick, he said. Anyways, it was great to catch up with Ar, especialy because she could hardly speak English when I had first met her, and now she’s virtually fluent.  

4. Social media, social media, social media. But really. How else would I find out that A (a classmate and floormate at UCLA who is a really nice person but I don’t know very well and who I hadn’t talked to in over two years) was in Seoul? I was in W’s living, scrolling through facebook (still a tad elated that I could freely do so, having escaped the Great Firewall), and lo and behold, I see A’s new facebook album of Seoul photos. What were the chances? Maybe he’s uploading photos from months ago? I contacted A, and found out that he was actually in Seoul for a week to visit friends, for almost the same exact week that I was there! It wasn’t easy to meet up as I was without a Korean number, but thanks to the occasional wifi that I would stumble across, we managed to meet. One thing that really surprised me was when I found out that A was staying in a hostel in the Hongdae area, especially since he was back visiting friends he had made when he studied abroad in Seoul. Seoul apartments are small, but I’m sure someone could have spared a couch. A explained that some of his friends live in the outskirts of Seoul and it would have been inconvenient to stay with them. He also has lots of female friends, and it would have been entirely inappropriate to stay with them. I guess that just came as a shock to me, since Seoul seems so so modern.