Paul's Experience Teaching English in Japan: A Trip to Korea (Kankoku no Ryoko)

This year a string of three national holidays in September fell on Monday-Wed., leaving a five day holiday for us in Japan to enjoy. These holidays, which include 'respect for the aged day,' 'children's day' and 'green day' are informally called 'Silver Week.' For this year's Silver Week, my friend Jay and I went to Korea - specifically Seoul, Incheon and Busan for 4 days. Here are some recollections:

The ferry ride from Fukuoka to Busan was a puke party. It was a very windy morning and the ocean was extremely choppy. The ferry we took was a 'jet-ferry,' which makes it from Japan to Korea in about 3 hours; this is the fastest ferry you can take from Japan to Korea. It was also, because of the weather, the most uncomfortable and sickening boat ride I've ever had. The driver weaved left and right to avoid large waves and, of the ones he couldn't avoid the ferry just slammed into them. A few times these slammings caused passengers and stewardesses walking in the aisles to be thrown against a seat, probably leaving them sore the next morning. As for me and a lot of others the weavings, slammings, and up and down motion of the ferry on the water forced us to breathe deeply to keep from heaving. Many did heave, and Jay and I weren't able to laugh about it until much, much later.

After arriving in Busan, we took Korea's fastest train, the KTX, up to Seoul. In Seoul we stayed in Itaewon, a place famous for its cosmopolitanism and diversity; it was remarkable to see and hear all the diverse people banter about on Saturday night, when stalls line the sidewalks and a lot of people are out late. We saw people from Africa, the Phillipines, America, England, India and elsewhere, and even more diversity in the restaurants. Though we stayed in Itaewon, we did more exploring elsewhere in Seoul. And we were fortunate to have Jay's friend Beck, a Korean and born and raised Seoulite, show us around the city.

Some of my best memories of the trip were in the trendy shopping district of Myeongdong - not of shopping but of some great meals we had there. On the first night Beck took us to a dakgalbi (pan-fried chicken) restarant. This meal was probably my favorite, and it made me sweat quite a bit. The next night Beck took us to a korean barbeque restaurant that was also quite a feast. The restaurant was filled with Japanese tourists, taking advantage of a meal that costs about $9-15 in Korea and around $35-50 in Japan.

Our bleakest day was in Incheon, a port city an hour and half train ride from Itaewon. Jay and I wanted to check out the Chinatown there and spend a day exploring outside of Seoul. Unfortunately it rained pretty hard on us in the morning and was real gray and cloudy in the afternoon and evening. Though nice weather would have helped a great deal, Chinatown was deserted, and the small seaside village we saw (Wolmido) looked like a broken down circus town. Also going there on a Monday wasn't a good idea, but I think after that trip I needn't ever go back to Incheon.

On our last day in Korea we spent some time in Busan, a port city on the southeastern edge of the peninsula. My highlight in Busan was walking through a market and gazing at all the interesting food and items for sale. Kimchee was in abundance, as were fish, veggies and cheap clothes and nicknacks. In one stall we saw a man scraping what looked like caterpillars or worms from twigs into a large wooden crate. The crate was full of these wriggling grey worms, which I guess were being sold as food? We also saw two different beach spots in Busan. The novelty of seeing so much street food and food stalls as part of the regular marketplace in Korea (not nearly as common in Japan) came alive for us near the beach. We saw plenty of these food stalls as we walked towards a nice beach spot called Haeundae, making our choice for dinner very difficult.

This trip to Korea showed us some real extremes, going from a neon shopping area filled with trendsetters in Seoul to the grittier places and people of Busan. If I return to Korea, which I really want to do, I would like to see Gwangju, the old capital of Korea, filled with temples, burial mounds, a large pagoda and an old star-gazing tower - and also Jeju, the island south of Korea with volcanic terrain, beach and countryside landscapes and a different lifestyle and culture from mainland Korea.