so cold.... so very cold...

A new month, and a new country to explore. We left Hong Kong on the 2nd of February, headed for the chilly shores of South Korea. How chilly? Well, Kate and I were left speechless on the plane as the captain announced that we were soon to arrive, and the local temperature was MINUS 4 DEGREES CELCIUS. There I was, in my singlet top, starting to wonder if we had taken a wrong turn and ended up in the north pole.

Korea is totally different to any other country we have been, not just in Asia, but anywhere. And im not just talking about the weather. The culture here is remarkable; signs of progress are everywhere, though old traditional ways are still evident as well. For example, there are neon signs, internet cafes and ultra modern subways, but at least half of the restaurants here have you sit on the floor to eat your meal. The fashion here is really trendy, with everyone looking pretty good considering they are all trying not to freeze at the same time, but then there are women wearing hanboks (traditional garbs) in shopping centres, marking the coming of the new lunar year (this weekend actually). The most striking and perhaps confusing combination of new meets old is the contrast of rudely illegal driving mannerisms on show by pretty much anyone in a car, versus the Confucian, interpersonal respect amongst people who are not in control of a vehicle at the time. Basically people have this great calmness and respect for each other when they talking or doing business, but give them a shiny car with darkly tinted windows and they turn into Mad Max, running red lights, mounting curbs and generally honking rudely until whatever is in their way moves out of it. People say and do the craziest, meanest things when they are certain that their identity is safe and they have no face to face contact with the people who they offend. I mean, just look at any internet forum and you will see what I mean.

We stayed a week just north of Seoul with our mate Andy, who we first met in Laos a year or so ago. He is here teaching English at a local school, so it was a good opportunity to catch up. Andy; his roommate, Sam; and Andy’s girlfriend, Megan all showed us a good time in their town, introducing us to some local specialties such as Kimchi, which is pickled cabbage mixed with pepper paste. We also visited some local bars, and went out for some classic Korean meals. The best meal was when we had a huge steaming bowl of broth put in the middle of the table, with platter upon platter of meat, seafood and vegetables piled up around it. The idea was to chuck a bunch of ingredients into the broth, and slowly work your way through all the food. When all that was done, the broth was topped up and a stack of rice was poured in and boiled away for a few minutes to make a kind of porridge/risotto dish, combining the flavours of every ingredient enjoyed so far. Great night. Pretty sure that style of eating is called Shabu Shabu, but no matter what you call it, it was damn fun and tasty.
We moved on from northern Seoul two days ago, heading down to the quiet seaside town of Uljin, on the east coast. The bus stopped halfway there, in the middle of the first snowstorm I have ever been in. Amazing how everything just looks cooler when covered in snow. Oh, and throwing snowballs at Kate was fun as well.

Uljin is nice and quiet, but we haven’t really been able to make much headway into exploring the town, since we just cant get that far thanks to the ongoing snowstorm. As I am typing it is still steadily coming down, and the whole place is covered in a really thick blanket of fresh snow. Despite that, Kate and I are grabbing our snow shovels and heading out, determined to see the rest of what this place has to offer.

More when we have it. Till then!

//Brendan