korea recap pt1

Hey everyone!

I just had lunch after my second last lecture at hku, and I've got nothing to do for an hour or so.  I don't exactly have much work (or not that I know of) so I thought I might as well create a new blog post.

As you probably already know, I went with four good friends to Korea about a week ago.  We went for four days, and what a good four days it was!  We left Hong Kong on Thursday evening, and got to Incheon International Airport that night.  It was quite similar to Hong Kong International Airport in the sense that it was very clean and modern:

  They had a rent-a-phone service there which was quite brilliant- much easier than buying a sim card and all that!  From there we took an "airport limousine", which was actually just a bus, into the city centre and near where our hotel was.

From what I could see from my seat, Seoul was pretty much what you would expect- clean, modern and high tech, with people for the most part being impeccably fashionable.  This feeling would persist for the entire trip; indeed I can't recall seeing a single badly dressed Korean!  At a bus stop there was a hilarious scene where there was a young couple.  The guy was being very nice, getting on his knees to adjust the woman's scarf while she was sitting.  However, she was unhappy about something and was hitting him on the shoulder, albeit not very hard.  The whole scene looked like something from a TV drama!

We got off the bus and eventually found our bearings.  Having google mapped where the location was we were fairly confident of locating the hotel.  After making our way towards the place indicated on the map, we found nothing at all- it was all a small residential area!  The place was dark (it was around 1am) and incredibly sketchy looking.  When walking into the alleyway where the hotel was meant to be, I was very nervous and on edge- I had my fist clenched ready to punch anyone who might think about jumping me.  When I heard a bicycle rolling in and I was scared out of my wits!

We eventually took a taxi to the hotel after a nice young couple helped us locate where the hotel actually was (never trust google maps too much, folks).  The plan was to sleep in two rooms, 3 people in one and 2 in the other, but the other room smelt strongly of cigarette smoke.  The solution? Take a mattress from the room, drag it into the tiny lift, go down two floors to the other room and dump it on the ground :D  The triple room could actually sleep four people so that meant that now we could all sleep in the same room which was nice.

The next day, we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace, which in some respects was similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing, but smaller and with a less ridiculous amount of rooms.  It was a really nice place, more so because they seemed to spend a lot of effort into creating a good experience.  The paint detail looked incredibly sharp and fresh, and at the main gate they had authentic looking guards, in complete attire and various weapons and flags.  The palace gardens were very beautiful, with a mix of green, yellow and red trees.

We got chicken soup at what was reportedly the best place in Seoul.  One of my friends knew a local, who recommended us the place.  The soup was full of goodies, like chicken (obviously), rice, ginseng and various herbs.  I also got my first taste of kimchi, the fermented cabbage.  Having heard others in Hong Kong talk about kimchi, I had some trepidation about it, but I was pleasantly surprised!  The taste is quite difficult to describe- it was sour, but also sweet and spicy too.

Afterwards we met up with my friend's Korean friend, who took us around the Hongdae area, which is popular with the youth of Seoul for its entertainment, clubs and karaoke.  There was plenty of street food around, but we ate only a little.  This was because we knew there was a Korean barbecue around the corner!  We went to a pretty famous place, where numerous celebrities have eaten; among the names were Park Ji Sung, Patrice Evra (Manchester United players) and Jason Mraz.


The food itself was great- juicy pork belly combined with vege leaves and various sauces, as well as korean style egg, which is very light and fluffy.  After wandering around the streets and listening to a very good busker (who smoked, like a lot of Korean youth), we decided to head to a Karaoke.  It was my first time at a proper karaoke place, but the combination of good friends and good music put me not only at ease but made me a keen, off key participant.  

The Cheonggyecheon stream which runs through Seoul is quite unique in that it is about 5 metres below street level.  There was a Lantern festival at the stream, which despite the rain was a nice spectacle.  After this we split up: those who wanted to go clubbing and those that didn't.  I was in the latter group, thus maintaining my no-club record, but it is one I slightly regret after hearing about how fun it was!

Alright, its time to go and you're all probably sick of listening to me ramble on.  I'll try to fill in the rest of the Korea trip in another post!

mid-exchange update

So according to the records, this is only the third post of the year from me.  I have been intending/hoping to post some more because of this whole exchange experience, but I guess I have been busy/lazy (pick a word).  Eventually the pressing need to post became so much that I couldn’t sleep, which explains why I am writing this at 11:55pm hk time :p

In case you were wondering how I am, I am good :)  I have settled in to life at hong kong uni, and hong kong in general I think.  I can’t say exactly how different it all feels, because I think I’m just one of those people who for the most part accept my surroundings.  However, for the most part it isn’t too different to Melbourne: uni five days a week, roughly 1 hour commute to and from, taking subjects different to most of my friends, and having dinner cooked by a family member.

There are distinct differences though, with food being the primary point of difference.  As I have said before, it is, by Melbourne standards, ridiculously cheap.  Now instead of bringing sandwiches from home, I buy lunch for about $20HKD ($3 aussie?), which can get you a decent char siu (pork) and soy sauce chicken with rice.  Pearl milk tea is only about $12HKD.  

As you probably know, I went with a group of friends to mainland China during reading week (mid sem break).  In short, it was incredible.  There were the classical tourist attractions, like the Bund in Shanghai, West lake in Hangzhou, Yellow Mountain in Tunxi, and the Forbidden City and Great Wall in Beijing.  Then there are the more…unorthodox experiences, such as getting surrounded by about 30 taxi drivers upon entering Hangzhou, the 28.5 hour train ride from Beijing to Shenzhen (was half an hour ahead of schedule!!), watching all the local girls go crazy over a certain Australian friend, storming out of the snack bar of the most famous peking duck restaurant in Beijing and the best one of all, the three hour train ride from Shanghai to Hangzhou with no seats.  Hopefully I will have the time to elaborate more on these in later posts!

If you asked me a week or two back whether I miss Melbourne, I probably would have answered ‘not really’ or perhaps the more polite ‘a little’.  To be honest I haven’t given it a massive amount of thought.  Not that I do not think about you individuals; you can be assured I think of a lot of you a fair bit!  I’m talking about the whole ‘Melbourne in general’ thing.  However, last week, Wednesday afternoon to be exact, when I was studying for a test I just found out was that evening, I did something I had not done in two months: I listened to Australian radio.

I was streaming it from the internet, and while enjoying the new music, it really hit me how far away from Melbourne I was.  I remember looking up and around, at the HKU library with its massive numbers of HK locals speaking Cantonese, and a smattering of international exchange students and thinking of how different to home everything was.  All the while, Fifi was swooning over her dates with Jules’ mates and I heard distinctly Australian advertisements, transporting me across Asia back to  drives to and from work, soccer training, futsal matches and weekend trips to box hill with the family.  Even just writing that sentence stirred up some nostalgia.  I suspect when the time approaches for my return to Melbourne the feeling will be much stronger.

It is probably the same for me with regards to soccer.  At the moment I’m not too fussed about not playing regularly, but last week when I organised a casual 5v5 session I was ridiculously excited from the day I booked to the day we played.  Admittedly this only spanned one day, but I do not remember having that kind of excitement since…the last time I played a proper match.  When I return to competitive matches I’m sure that excitement will return again.

For now though, I’ll just enjoy life as it is.  While occasionally I wish or dream of having this or that, if you asked me if I could become/live the life of whoever I want, I would pick myself.  Every single time.  As some would say, ‘surely someone has a better life than you’.  However, these things are subjective, and in my opinion, the overall combination of what I have is pretty good.  The above also applies more specifically to my exchange.  I am not getting the experience as advertised in the brochure.  I am not living in a country I have never/rarely been before, or living by myself, or learning a completely new language.  I have not been racking up local and international friends, or getting completely new cultural experiences every day, or partying and getting wasted every weekend.  Do I care?  Not one bit.  I came to get my own experience, to write another chapter in my own story.  I don’t think the brochure will argue with that.