Korea Revisited

Heh.... Another travel trip. This time to Korea. Hmmm... Maybe I should change the title of the blog to Travel trips instead!!

Well, it has been, what, 6 days since my arrival at Seoul on Sunday. It's my final night before flying back home again. Actually, it's like morning now... Nevermind; whatever it is... I'm typing from teh desk in the Executive Level room of Grand InterContinental Hotel. This would be the 2nd time where I got a free upgrade from the normal room that I usually stayed in. Nice... Either the Korean and Japanese culture have some common ancestors or they are just using the Japanese style kind of interior design... Nice wooden design, like I am staying in the wooden house, despite the fact that it's about 31 floor up from the actual ground.

The reason for that comment was... Well, there are some similarities between them. Take for example, their normal style of sitting during lunch/dinner. If you go to most restaurants, they would have low tables where you have to sit either cross legged or stretch totally in front under the table (that's my style of sitting as I get pins and needles very, very easily on my legs) - same with Japanese. Not sure if Japanese has these, but the seat that you are sitting on, has a backing, so it's almost like you are sitting on a chair except that it has not legs!

Then look at the dishes that they have... The side dishes, they have almost similar taste, take the vinegared gourd or was it radish (you know, the crunchy one in yellow colour) for example, that's another dish that you will find in Japanese food. Of course, both countries, if I recall correctly have their own version of kimchi; but the Korean ones are more famous. Which reminds me - have to make a trip to the Kimchi Museum tomorrow, since I won't have much time (approximately around 2 hours) before needing to get to airport. Mother did mention about getting some back for her and aunt. Hmmm... Wonder if I can take pictures there... If there is anything worthwhile to take... Then again... Ignore what I just said

The other noticeble similarity is that they tend to bow a lot! When you enter the place, there is a greeter who bow and greets you, when they show you to the seat, they also bow before they leave you alone with the menu, when you foot your bill, when you leave the place, etc, etc, etc. You know, even at the supermarket, they have stalls that set up for tasting, those manning those stalls also bow when you walk by and look at the products or after tasting it, and also when they pass you the item that you request for... Even the car park traffic person/attendants will bow when you drive into the car park! Oh, and if they see someone of high position in the office at the lift or outside the office, they will bow to them as well. I would say, this is the same for the Japanese.

Oh, don't ask me about the touristy places. I have not stepped into anyone of them. I was in GwangJu, about 3 to 4 hours drive, south of Seoul. In fact, I only stepped into the hotel for rest after 12 midnight after that long drive from GwangJu back to Seoul. Left the project site late today, despite the fact that we wanted to leave by 3pm. We were delayed by 5 hours! So by the time we got back to Seoul, it's past midnight... Sad, but true. I have not seen the sun, other than when we were driving toward the project site and during lunch time. Other than that, I was holed up in this room with the servers' humming as companion.

Oh the last thing that I think they have in common - they work till very, very late.

That's it... time to sleep... Cannot endure any further....

Till the next time.....

Oh... yeah... Guess what, I am getting static shocks everywhere!!! Somehow I seems to be a magnet for statics... They just love me. I get static even from the laptop, must be some materials that tend to hold static and rubbing that off my hands.... Sigh... That's one thing that I hate about this weather/humidity.