Hello! I'm writing from Seoul...am having a good time exploring the city, eating and doing touristy stuff. I'm staying in a traditional Korean house called a hanok near the area called Insa-dong. It's a lovely area filled with small shops...pictures to come after I return to Singapore.
Meanwhile, after some observation over the past week and a half, here's why you can tell I'm not Korean:
1) I don't have long hair - every Korean woman seems to have long hair. Very few have short cropped hair.
2) I'm not fair. All Korean women seem to be fair of skin. I think they must think I come from the countryside or something...I spend my days in the field farming hence I'm so tan!
3) I'm not thin nor skinny. I think all Korean women and men are born with a skinny gene. They can eat a lot (in fact I've noticed that most can really eat) and yet remain so thin! It's amazing...I'm jealous. Maybe it's all the chilli keeping their metabolic rate up.
4) I don't own or carry around a pocket mirror. It's bizarre...Korean women love checking themselves out in mirrors. The phenomenon is so prevalent that it is even mentioned in The Rough Guide edition for Korea. I've noticed that they all carry a pocket mirror in their bag and they take it out after a meal to check every corner of their face at the table. Even the subway stations have big mirrors along the pillars...I guess it's for people to check themselves out (and they actually do so) as they walk past! I think it's rather bizarre...this obsession with looks. But hey, this is the land of plastic surgery, so I guess i shouldn't be too surprised! I propose that the Korean Tourism Board make the mirror the quintessential Korean souvenir.
5) I don't dress girlishly...every woman is so feminine. I'm like a total tomboy. I hate all those frilly dresses and skirts that the women here are so fond of.
6) I don't put on a lot of make-up. Been noticing that many slap on lots of foundation, powder, mascara etc. But OK, still nothing compared to Japanese women!
7) Korean women love taking photos of themselves with, most commonly, their mobile phone. They are posing for pictures left, right and centre. According to a Korean friend, one of the most important features of a mobile phone is the camera feature. That's the first feature they test out when buying a phone. It's known as 'self-camera' but in Konglish, they call is 'cel-ka'.
Anyway, am enjoying the foreign-ness of the place and what the city has to offer. More when I'm back! ,
For those of you who adore this tuber, here's an ode I came across. Personally, I don't really like potato. I don't eat French fries, chips or crisps as the British call it. Don't like baked potato either. It's ironic that sometimes I'm called kantang (Malay term for potato) by some Singaporeans I meet, by virtue of the fact that I come across as so English-speaking and Westernised. Anyway, not a big fan of potato in general but like this cute ode to it.
Ode to the Potato
by Barbara Hamby
"They eat a lot of French fries here," my mother
announces after a week in Paris, and she's right,
not only about les pommes frites but the celestial tuber
in all its forms: rotie, purée, not to mention
au gratin or boiled and oiled in la salade niçoise.
Batata edulis discovered by gold-mad conquistadors
in the West Indies, and only a 100 years later
in The Merry Wives of Windsor Falstaff cries,
"Let the skie raine Potatoes," for what would we be
without you--lost in a sea of fried turnips,
mashed beets, roasted parsnips? Mi corazón, mon coeur,
my core is not the heart but the stomach, tuber
of the body, its hollow stem the throat and esophagus,
leafing out to the nose and eyes and mouth. Hail
the conquering spud, all its names marvelous: Solanum
tuberosum, Igname, Caribe, Russian Banana, Yukon Gold.
When you turned black, Ireland mourned. O Mr. Potato Head,
how many deals can a man make before he stops being
small potatoes? How many men can a woman drop
like a hot potato? Eat it cooked or raw like an apple
with salt of the earth, apple of the earth, pomme de terre.
Tuber, tuber burning bright in a kingdom without light,
deep within the earth where the Incan potato gods rule,
forging their golden orbs for the world's ravening gorge.
'You're crazy!' / 'Mad!' / 'Nothing's changed with you. The flighty horse.'
So these were some reactions I got from a few friends when I told them I had booked myself on a flight to Korea on the spur of the moment. I had the thought Monday night before going to bed. By Tuesday afternoon 3pm, I had redeemed a ticket with my KrisFlyer miles to Seoul. I couldn't not make use of the SQ 50% discount on miles redemption.
For the month of May, the cities eligible for the 50% promotion are Zurich, London, Auckland, Seoul and Sydney. The first three were out 'cos they are too expensive. So it was a toss-up between Seoul and Sydney. I decided on Seoul because I had just enough miles for it, whereas for Sydney I would have had to top up with money (seeing that I have at least 70% of the required miles) or redeemed my credit card points for miles.
Sydney would have been the easy and cheaper option actually. I would have free accommodation and it's a city I call my second home. I'm familiar with it, I have family and friends there. But Seoul won out because I decided I needed a bit of adventure. I need to see something new, discover new places and cultures. I need the challenge of being in a place where I don't speak the language. I want to be put out of my comfort zone and have my senses heightened. I need to feel alive.
So this is another one of those last minute, on-the-spur-of-the-moment decisions that my friends have grown accustomed to me making. It's going to be solo travel and I'll probably find myself lonely often during the trip, but nevermind, I'll deal with it. I'll survive 13 days on my own. I just desperately need to get out of Singapore. I haven't been out since end October. I'm going insane.
Actually I know NOTHING about Korea. And as of now, I have no clue where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do, or where I'm going to stay. I'm shitting in my pants. Haha. But nevermind, it'll work out somehow. I'm sure.
If anyone knows any cool people I can possibly contact to take me out, or have any suggestions as to what I should do, go, where I should stay etc, please drop me a note!!! ANY help is appreciated 'cos this crazy dolly's agenda here is like a blank canvass at the moment and is completely open to suggestions! I'll be in Korea 12 - 24 May.
Thank you!!!