The Wanderings of busman7

If you want one word to describe the Korean people “polite” would without a doubt be the one!

As in Panama fate has played a part in my travel plans. I had considered visiting Korea, but not very seriously, but the cancellation of my ferry to Japan & the one to South Korea being available & sailing a day late was a blessing. Firstly by sailing late it gave me a day to explore Vladivostok, Secondly if I had not taken it I would have missed experiencing one of the nicest countries I have seen which would have been a shame.

Landing in Sokcho, 80,000+ & spending a couple days there just people watching & soaking up the atmosphere was a real eye opener. About  the size of Antigua Guatemala (when including the outlying areas) it has a market about the same size but you notice that unlike CA or NA they get business done in a calm unhurried way. No one is rushing about like a chicken with it’s head cut off pushing & shoving there way around. Everything is done in a polite & civilized manner.

Once in a while a taxi driver will blow his horn (probably at someone on a cell phone)but infrequently, the same applies in Seoul with it’s much larger population.

While English speakers are rare you can get sign language directions from most people & major signs are in English so with a map you have to try to get completely lost. However once you reach Seoul there are enough speakers to get on OK, even when using a subway for the first time since the opening of the Metro in Montreal. One thing to remember about tour operators every where is that they go out of their way to get you to the tour bus but once it is over you are on your own from the common drop off point. This means you have 3 choices, taxi out of the question yesterday due to cost, walk a bit far or take a crash course on using the Seoul subway system which with the help of a couple people (non English speaking) was a breeze. Sure nice when people are polite, considerate & helpful.

Makes one wonder just when & where Canada went off the tracks? Not really because it’s pretty evident that the changes for the worse started with Trudeau & the “ME” generation!!

Visit to the DMZ zone was interesting, hearing about the Gaeseong Industrial Complex there where 20,000 North Korean workers earning US $70/month are employed by Hyundai, LG etc under the supervision of 1,000 South Korean managers in the first co-operative move between the governments of the divided country. Also on the way to the tour bus the driver had the US Forces radio station playing.

Also touring the nearly abandoned new railway station at the border was interesting however there are a couple trains a day bringing South Korean supervisors to the complex.

Not sure if I made a mistake or not planning to travel on the weekend but apparently it’s some kind of Chinese holiday & hotels in Busan are full as are the hostels which had no rooms & had no rooms 3 days ago when I booked here, so I booked an extra night here & will try my luck on the bus to Busan then the overnight ferry to Shimonseki Japan where I will make my way to Tokyo via Hiroshima.

Almost forgot, the Koreans are being very careful about swine flu. We were given a medical form to fill out on the ferry asking  if we had had any flu like symptoms such as fever, cough, diahrea etc with the caveat that a false statement could lead to a 5 million Won fine + a 1 yr jail term. Handed the forms to a couple ladies who then took our temperature before we were allowed to disembark. When we reached immigration & customs all the officers were wearing masks (except the sniffer dog, guess canine’s aren’t suscestible).

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 21:05 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.