In The Heart of Seoul
Today is part of a week-long celebration of the P.R.C. very much like July 4th in the U.S. As a teacher I got the week off so I took the opportunity to travel to South Korea with two friends and to visit a Korean friend who was my roommate for one month in Thailand while we were doing some student teaching for our masters program.
My roommate and his daughter.
My roommate and his daughter.
The one day I got to see him he was in Seoul for his father's 70th Birthday and to move some more stuff to his new home about 3 hours from Seoul. This was a very busy day for them so I was blessed to end up watching their adorable daughter most of the afternoon. At his father's house she woke up from a nap and came out into the living room walked over to me and snuggled up next to me. I was hers from that moment on. Only at the end of our time together did I find out that she doesn't usually like men.
Here she is with her mom trying to do the Asian
"Happy" sign. We were sitting on mats on the floor
with the Asian short table. We don't use these in China.
The food was amazing here and everywhere we
went in Korea.
I was completely in love with Korea and we only saw Seoul which has the second largest population of any city in the world with 24 million. We took an overnight train with sitting tickets to Shanghai and flew out from there.
Everybody was trying to sleep on our 12 hour
train ride from Nanchang to Shanghai. If you get up from
your seat then somebody with a standing ticket
will sit down in your place until you ask them to get out.
Although it is a little bigger than Shanghai, Seoul felt a ton less like a rat race. When we stopped for a drink at Starbucks in Shanghai it was like a shouting contest once it was busy inside ( and it got packed out ) while people in the Korean subway were covering their mouths when talking on their cell phones. I was shocked!
Shanghai's Nanjing Road totally packed.
Prices are much higher in Korea and especially Seoul but they had every American or European chain store I could dream of. Pay in Seoul is of course much higher as well. One guy doing the same job and same amount of teaching as I am can send home $2000 every month and live like a king in Korea. How many Americans can save that much each month?
We walked about 10 minutes
and saw 3 Starbucks shops
My traveling buddies
Trying out the Korean street food.
Korean BBQ and one of our
hosts (along with his wife).
Here she is with her mom trying to do the Asian
"Happy" sign. We were sitting on mats on the floor
with the Asian short table. We don't use these in China.
The food was amazing here and everywhere we
went in Korea.
I was completely in love with Korea and we only saw Seoul which has the second largest population of any city in the world with 24 million. We took an overnight train with sitting tickets to Shanghai and flew out from there.
Everybody was trying to sleep on our 12 hour
train ride from Nanchang to Shanghai. If you get up from
your seat then somebody with a standing ticket
will sit down in your place until you ask them to get out.
Although it is a little bigger than Shanghai, Seoul felt a ton less like a rat race. When we stopped for a drink at Starbucks in Shanghai it was like a shouting contest once it was busy inside ( and it got packed out ) while people in the Korean subway were covering their mouths when talking on their cell phones. I was shocked!
Shanghai's Nanjing Road totally packed.
Prices are much higher in Korea and especially Seoul but they had every American or European chain store I could dream of. Pay in Seoul is of course much higher as well. One guy doing the same job and same amount of teaching as I am can send home $2000 every month and live like a king in Korea. How many Americans can save that much each month?
We walked about 10 minutes
and saw 3 Starbucks shops
My traveling buddies
Trying out the Korean street food.
Korean BBQ and one of our
hosts (along with his wife).
2 comments:
I miss you guys! I miss traveling with you and hanging out with you guys. It sounds like you guys had a great time! Wish I could have been there.
Ditto that my friend! We miss having you around so much. I still hold the Thanksgiving you were here as one of my most treasured times in China.
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