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Rendezvous #1 -
Hongkong
Rendezvous #2 - Bali, Indonesia
Rendezvous #3 -
Singapore
Rendezvous #4 - Malaysia
From Kuala Lumpur, I took Malaysia Airlines
for the 6 1/2 hour red eye flight to Seoul, South Korea. It was just
perfect timing that my Air Canada colleague, John Lim was in Seoul with his
girlfriend, Jessica. John knew the area since he was a Korean himself and I
was grateful that the couple toured me around.
At the arrival area of Incheon Airport, John
suggested that I rented a cellular phone so I did not have to roam when I
needed to get in touch with them. Phone rental for 2 days was just KRW
6,000 (US$5.50). From the airport, I took bus #8A Gyeonggi to Ilsan (a
district in South Korean) for about KRW 8,000 (US$7.00) and ride was just
about 30 mins. John met me at the stop and the 3 of us went to
Insadong for some
shopping, sightseeing and authentic Korean lunch.
From Insadong, we went to
Namdaeumun Market. The flea market was simply packed with vendors
and local shoppers. It was overwhelming to realize that from the
outlet stores in the United States, to the flea market in Seoul, South
Koreans had a lot of disposable income for shopping.
After shopping and some coffee, we went to
Gyeongbok Palace and it reminded me of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The Gyeongbok palace was evident of the rich influence of Chinese culture.
At the palace grounds, we had photos with the corresponding animal based on
the Chinese calendar. I was born year of the rat, John was year of the
snake and Jessica was year of the rabbit (I think).
From the palace, we had Korean BBQ for
dinner. John introduced me to
Soju which was like sake,
just stronger and it tasted better. The excellent dinner went well with
Soju. After dinner, we went to another bar for some more night cap and
we called it a day.
First thing on March 7, John and I went to
DMZ and took bus #100. When we reached the area, we took the cab to
the
Imjingak Resort which was one of the areas where you can partly see the
division between North and South. Parts of the area had barbed wires
so unauthorized people will not be able to cross through the DMZ.
From DMZ, we went back to Ilsan and had our
last meal since my flight back to Toronto was that afternoon. At the
airport, there was a Korean cultural exhibit and some Koreans dressed up
during the olden days and stood there like statues.
South Korea was one of the most interesting
travels I had. I do not usually go back to places I've been but South
Korea, just like Buenos Aires, Argentina
were the only places I would like to visit again. The culture and
hospitality of the South Koreans were very pleasant and the food was
fantastic. Also, I was very surprised with the prices of
transportation, hotel and food in South Korea. For a highly developed
country, I was expecting the prices there to be comparable to Canada or USA.
However, prices in South Korea were comparable to Philippines yet my own
country was still classified a third world to developing.
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