Korean Adventure:4 Seoul Day 3

 

Korean Adventure:5

Seoul Day 3: Thanks to Seoul Metro

When I sat down to chart out the itinerary for day 3 in Seoul I realized that it is impossible to cover the remaining Seoul in 9 Am To 6 PM, the timings for places to remain open. But thanks to Seoul Metro I could visit many of them without losing much of time in travel.

Here let me make it clear at the outset that this is not comprehensive guide for travel in Seoul because I had to leave out many places due, most important, to lack of time. Timings of places being second and the last but not the least, personal stamina. Though years of gyming and swimming helped me a lot but after all every body has its own limitations! Including my own!

With 24 lines and more than 500 stations mostly underground, Seoul Metro criss-crosses through Seoul leaving no nook or corner unconnected. I simply wondered when did they develop such mammoth infrastructure after 1952, [Actually the work began in 1971, more praise worthy] [Not only in Seoul but in Busan, Incheon,Daegu and other urban establishments too] when we were busy in nurturing a dynasty and siphoning out the money to Swiss banks. Financial support may be from the West, mostly America, but to build it you require hard work from the locals. [To cite local example, Investors are not ready to invest in Bihar but are eager to, in Maharashtra because the locals ARE hardworking especially those coming from Konkan and Western Maharashtra: observation by none other than Hon.Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar] Koreans have proved that they are not only ambitious but extremely industrious as a nation. 

After breakfast of bacon, dumpling [Momo] with stuffing of seafood and chicken, Japanese tempura, fritters of assorted seafood, mostly shrimps and few western tit-bits I set out for exploration of Gang-nam, actually this is the way it should be written, but everybody joins them together. First halt was at Bongeun-sa Buddhist temple. I got down on station Samseong [on line two, which practically is life line of Seoul. It is a circular line. The line operating in clockwise fashion is known as inner line while the one in anticlockwise, outer] and after taking exit 6 I was at Gang-nam business park. There stood many skyscrapers, housing a lot many corporate/industrial houses. Many of them have Huge LCD displays which were running even at that hour of the day, early morning. One on the COEX mall building was absolutely wonderful, very very eye catching. Most popular one [they change regularly], is crashing of wave, but it was not running when I was there. Walked a few meters towards the temple and I was standing in front of the main gate of most famous mall of Gang-nam COEX mall.

Well, though malls are malls in the end, this one outshines every other not only in dimensions but extravaganza too. COEX means COvention centers and EXhibition halls. I entered through main door [it has so many of them, one even opens directly on Samseong station] and got lost. Because it has the largest underground mall in the world! Again shops and shops and shops of brands absolutely unknown in India. May be we don’t have that affording buyers’ class! Really! I saw one overcoat in Burberry, it was costing Rs.One Lakh Fifty-five thousands [Rs1.55, 000/-] and there were many such on the display! After aimlessly wondering for some time and realizing that even my class of Indians cannot afford the exhibits it’s better to leave before you start feeling really small!

Just outside the mall there is that famous symbol of Gang-nam dance.

Hands folded in a particular posture [? Mudra].
And there were many enthuse who were getting photographed in the same pose in front of it. There is/was another sculpture may be depicting some historical past of Seoul/Korea which was unknown to me. Tangent building, building in the back ground, Hyundai’s architectural show piece that stands on the opposite side of road, much tom-tomed by Lonely Planet writer, turned out be something that looked like a structure in perpetual renovation. So called artistic architecture, so says Lonely Planet author, was nothing but scaffolding with lots of glass panes thrown in. There were so many other modern art sculptures of which I could not make out A from Z.

Just a block ahead is Buddhist temple of Bongeun-sa. My observation, while translating Korean word in English script there are many vowels thrown together at the same time and may be that makes it difficult to pronounce for non Korean speaker.

It was really difficult to locate the temple in that jungle of concrete. But it stands majestically on the slopes of some mountain [Sudo, Wikipedia Knowledge] with its entrance just in front of yet another gate of COEX mall. Though the popular belief is, Korean to be a Buddhist state it’s not so. More than fifty percent of population does not declare their religious affliction. On the contrary Buddhist and Christians, mostly Protestants are equal in number but together too did not pass the majority of atheists. Religious rituals are mixed. Weddings are solemnized in Christian manner while the funerals are totally Buddhist.

There are statues of monsters at the main gate that are guardians and are supposed to drive away the evil spirits, a concept common in far Eastern mythology. The ambiance of main sanctum sanctorum was very pious and quiet. Many disciples were offering their prayers in most earnest fashion. I too offered my respect by bowing down in typical Korean way. The ceiling of the hall had many Chinese paper lanterns. Some were in intricate floral pattern that might have required hours of skilled work to make.

Outside the main temple there is a big statue of Buddha, known as Maitrya Buddha, a concept taken from Hinduism. To offer prayers to the lord there are other ways too. Just near the statue there is this couplet of huge bell and drum, by beating them one invokes the blessings of the lord.

Surprisingly it has many restaurants on the premises which offer meals from different Diaspora. Temple itself serves special meal known as Baru,  it is a rice dish but  I went for Parisian bakery on the premises to have freshly baked stuffed croissants.

Korea especially Seoul is known for its plastic surgery clinics. And they really abound. It’s said that Korean parents keep money aside to gift their wards plastic surgery of their choice, whether it’s removing the double eyelid or going under a knife for nose job! I saw many such around the hotel BWP where I was staying.

By the same subway line 2 I got down at Dongdaemun Culture and History center station to visit design plaza by the same name. After taking the exit one what stood in front of was mind boggling. Absolutely futuristic structure totally in contrast to the one had visited just a few minutes ago.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza or in short DDP stands where once stood the Seoul Fortress. And the transformation is so profound that you hardly believe that it stands on the relics from the past. And it’s not that old, started just 8 years ago making Seoul ‘World Design Capital’.

I do not know how to describe the structure, it’s so intricate and beyond imagination.  Looks like UFO from outside .It has curves at so many places that I wondered how they could have designed it but more, how the builder did execute it?The building is equipped with diverse public spaces including exhibition hall, conference hall, design museum, the design lab, the academy hall, media center, seminar room, Dongdaemun History and Culture Park, the designer's lounge, and the design market. It promotes newer talents through holding workshops and making the platform available for the sale of their finished product. There is a huge shop inside again designed futuristic-ally that sells these artifacts.  

The road outside is one of the busy thorough fares of Seoul and has Mega stores run by Hyundai the one which we relate to cars only, but here in Korea they have diversified a lot and have finger in every pie, retails, building construction, malls and many other. But that’s the story with every big conglomerate including Samsung and local oil company SK.

There stands a statue of a woman in many split layers [?Schizophrenic] I could not decipher the connotation. To mourn the recent tragedy at Itaewon Town all the Korean flags were furled half mast.                 

I don’t know and I still regret why I selected the next stop, again a palace, Changdeokgung. It’s supposed to most beautiful of the lot but it turned out to be just another palace. With verandas, gates, ramparts and chambers. Only redeeming feature is Huwon or the secret garden where Kings used to relax for a cup of coffee, recite poetry and read books from the library nearby. Unfortunately my camera said goodbye as the battery showed zero. I am going to borrow the photo from archive.

More than the palace Bukchon Hanok village was more damp squib. Imagine, if the lanes of Bhuleshwar from Mumbai, Kasaba Peth from Pune, Mahal from Nagpur or any such old locality from any big town/city is refurbished and presented as cultural heritage, one would easily see through it. It’s just a marketing gimmick. It became very contrasting because the shops in the next lane, Insa Dong, are ultramodern with salons and cafes and shops of the famous franchises.

In one of such shops I had my first Rice Tteok-bokki. A Korean specialty made famous by the K Dramas. The food stall though was more like a ‘Dhaba’ it was extremely clean and hygienic. The cook and the owner, a husband-wife team, wore spic and span clean aprons and used gloves to cook and serve the food. It again is a recipe of glutinous rice but served in spicy sauce for a change. Though it looked angry red, it was hardly pungent and I could eat it without any hiccups. [I get hiccups immediately if the food is even little bit more than pungent].I tried with chop sticks, I was using them frequently so far, but could not because they were made of stainless steel and not like in China or Japan where they are  either made of bamboo or soft wood. Wooden chop sticks have better grip. After trying for N number of times with steel chop-sticks and failing in to hold the rice cake and taking it to the mouth, I asked the cook for wooden chop-sticks. Instead she gave me a big wooden skewer, a big tooth pick and asked me to eat, like we eat the fruits. And I could finish it. Chewy to the core I had to bite and chew every morsel at least 100 times. A passable recipe, but won’t stand in Indian markets!

Being above the tropic of cancer and due to winter it gets dark earlier in Korea. Hardly was it 4-4.30 PM and it was dark like 6-6.30 PM in India. I had decided to visit Jongmyo-sa another Buddhist shrine that was not far off but by the time I would have reached it was sure to be closed. So dropped the idea.

As I said earlier it’s not possible to cover any city in just few days and definitely not Seoul, it’s huge! I could not visit Olympic park, Lotte tower, Han River side though they were not far from my hotel and those far away like Itaewon that became famous due to recent Halloween tragedy and Korean War memorial there, South city wall, oh so many! It seems that Seoul has kept them in waiting for me so that I can visit Seoul again!

Korean adventure: 3

 

Seoul Day 2: N-Tower and Cheong-gye-cheon :Urban river.

There are 10.6 million Kim s, also pronounced as Gim, in Korea amounting practically to 22% of population. Out of so many at least few have to be cranky, this time it turned out to be one Kim from North Korea. He fired some ballistic missiles against Japan but they fell in South Korean sea. Naturally South Korean army went on alert and cancelled all the tourist activities near border. Unfortunately I was booked on one of such tours, Visit to Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, DMZ in short.

The outcome had various possibilities and mixed feelings. Bad, because I missed the opportunity and was told to reorganize the dates or cancel. As my entire program of Korea was tightly scheduled it was not possible to re-date. So it was as good as canceled.

I was very angry at my tour designer for cancelling the tour. But on inquiring with the local tour operator it turned out that its Army’s order and no tour operator can do anything about it. I too could not do anything apart from saying, “Hey Ram!”

On the happier note, I was to get two more days in Seoul to roam on my own because the other, Day Tour to Nami Island with Gangwon-do which was coupled with the first one was also canceled !

On lighter side I came across a reel by Mykoreandic on ‘YouTube’, it showed how South Koreans look at such pranks by North Korea.

A South Korean is asked,

“North Korea has fired missiles which fell in your sea, how are you going to retaliate?’

South Korean answers,

“We too would launch missiles which will fall in their seas!”

As the rush to catch the tour at 5.30 AM was no more I got up little late. Today’s breakfast had some greens named ‘Kale’. I had heard the name of vegetable but never eaten before. It was nothing but raw fiber. Suppose, you don’t clean the spinach and cook everything, with stems and all, how would it taste? It tasted exactly same. Fibers and more fibers. For the same reason I don’t like bean sprouts and bamboo shoots. Nothing but Xylem and Phloem for those who have learnt botany!

To reach N Tower, also known as Namsan tower or Seoul tower, the route by subway was very tedious. From Sinnonhyeon to Dongjak, after changing the line, get down at Myeong dong and walk for few minutes to catch a cable car to tower. I don’t know why I did not do it at that moment but felt like seeing Seoul passing by so I took Taxi to the base of Namsan Mountain. Namsan Mountains are Guardian Mountains of Seoul on the northern side. Atop is Seoul or Namsan tower which offers panoramic view of Seoul.

Though I was aware of availability of cable car, Taxi man dropped me at the base of steps which take you to the tower like a trail. I tried to converse with him about it but as usual we drew a blank. I was happy to take taxi as I could really see real Seoul which normally you miss while travelling by underground subway, though you reach faster. While reaching the N tower we crossed Han River on the way. It’s an example to cities with rivers, ‘How to beautify the river banks?’ Long stretches of lawns, parks, cycle tracks by the side of river with jetties for river cruise. Unfortunately for want of time I could not take one.

I may be, had to take the trail due to lack of conversation with taxi man, but it turned out to be both, bane and boon at the same time. It went at times through deep forestation and as it was season of fall, the colors of trees which we normally don’t see in this part of India were exhibited in full glory. Yellow, orange red mixed with still ashamed to change, green!

The plethora of colors was really wonderful for the eyes to see. That never before show made my taking the trail worth the efforts. It at times was accompanied by the relics of old ramparts those protected Seoul in past from invaders.

On the negative side my body told me, ‘You are young at heart only, whatever you may say but I am seventy years old, well almost!’ I used to lose breath every few tens of steps and had to rest before continuing. I really don’t know what I am made of, but never did I feel like giving up ever,so went on climbing the steps, nonchalantly. I must have taken much more time than the usual but I made to the tower in one piece! It not only tested my stamina, strength, endurance but above all perseverance. And I must say I proved it to myself on my first solo trip!

The plateau on which it stands with full, tongue strictly in cheek, erection has a ground looking like skating rink with Buddhist style canopy in the corner.

Few food stalls and kiosks selling little-big souvenirs. Replica of any American hoopla at any American attraction! There are fences which are full with locks, typical western culture having the same connotation. It shows South Korea’s inclination towards West, unabashedly!

The technical details are available on net very easily so I am not going to state that it is 776 feet high and was built in 1969 as communication tower, opened to the public way later in 1980. [Oops I did it, please pardon me!] There are two decks open for the public. The lower deck has a photo studio, a compulsory ritual at such tourists’ spots, [I too fell for the bait is another matter] and a chamber with psychedelic lighting while the upper deck has observatory offering 360* view of Seoul.

I always loved such views so it was sheer ecstasy for me. Seoul with its umpteen numbers of skyscrapers and River Han dividing it in to North and South. 

Journey to the base was much easier because I took cable car ride. In short I made fool of myself by climbing up the steps and coming down by cable car, exactly the reverse which in normal course is expected!

The road from cable car station practically ends at Myeongdong subway station from where the largest and most famous market of Seoul, Namdaemun starts within a walkable distance. I don’t like crowds, nor did I want to shop for anything so I just had a cursory round but I ate something delicious and totally Korean at one of the Korean street food stalls, there. Dou Sha Bao. It’s a bun with outer covering of gooey, glutinous rice and the stuffing of Red bean paste. It’s either steamed or fried. I had the steamed one. It tasted like chewy ‘Ukadiche Modak with Puran inside instead of usual Coconut stuffing.’ Indians like their rice cooked with every grain separate, like Basmati Biryani, while Koreans and Japanese use rice which is extra sticky[glutinous] after cooking, which then is pounded in to chewy rice dough. That’s the base for their many recipes, TTeok-bokki, Dango, Kimbap, Sushi, Sashimi and so many others. I had one of them, Rice bun with Red bean paste!

The next stop was Cheong-gye-cheon : Urban river.

In fact it was sewage water disposal brook that flew through the center of the most commercial sector of the city. From Myeondong changing lines twice, first at Dongdaemun and then at Sinseoldong, I got down at Jonggak station. I walked a few meters down and saw a rivulet. My first impression of it was absolutely negative. It turned out that it was not the main stream but tributary. After walking along the tributary, which too had well built banks on either side with tracks for cycles and jogging, I came at the confluence where I got faint picture of what was in the store. Bio-ecological transformation of the sewage stream was so perfect that I saw many birds frolicking along, Ducks in groups along with few egrets and herons. Transformation is so complete that now it has become rendezvous for the young Korean couples to meet.

A passing remark. I did not stay with any Korean family and whatever Koreans I interacted with were total strangers so I really don’t have right to pass a profound comment. Still!

It seems that Korea is a land of young couples, beautiful at that. You see them everywhere, hand in hand making PDA very obvious! May be due to competitive society everybody tries to remain fit and keeps oneself suave. Neatly dressed men with equally smartly attired women you come across at every and any corner of Seoul, so much so that most might be good model material. Men with sparse facial hair making their complexion ultra smooth and silky, straight sharp noses[ Don’t look at mine to compare!] and faintly done make-up [Sale of Cosmetics for Men is highest in Korea] and surprisingly with good round eyes [? Plastic surgery. Most popular/common is widening of the eyes and nose job] sometimes beat their counterparts, women, squarely! Women too are equally dolled up[Literally], in the end, every other one looking like Korean Barbie doll!             

Back to the stream. It’s lined by malls and commercial establishments on either side giving it Nouveau Rich look!There are small waterfalls and cesspools in the stream where Seoulites come to relax in the evening. On special occasions it is decorated with lanterns and is illuminated with flood lights in different colors. A story of "Village belle turning in to city lass!"

It was time for back to pavilion. Minor hitch, the usual one. To find the nearest subway station to ride back. I got 17 different advises but in the end a road sign helped me out. Confusion arose because of the similar sounding names of the stations. One was Sangwangsimni and the other was Wangsimni , ‘Sang’ taking exit for the good, may be like ‘Khurd’ and ‘Budruk’ in Maharashtra, meaning Proper and smaller!  On the way I passed through Gwangjang Market but by that time, curiosity had taken the toll, so I did not venture in!  

Second day turned out to be blessing in disguise due to cancellation of day tour to DMZ. I made most of it!

Korean Adventure: 2 Seoul: Day 1

 Gyeongbokgung Palace

BWP, Best Western Premier was in one of the poshest areas of Seoul, Gangnam. Room was  specious for one person and had bath tub and Japanese toilet in the bathroom.

After a sound sleep, as I was damn tired after spending entire 1^st Nov in travelling, I got up for morning ablutions bit late. And let me assure you nothing pampers your bums more than the Japanese toilet. I was using it for the first time and the experience was more than pleasant. Water jet gives you nice clean enema like washing and following it, is warm breeze of air that caresses your bums to dry them in most gentle way! Almost a feather touch! I got so used to it, that when one of the hotels in the journey next, did not have it, I felt like missing the most joyous ordeal in the early morning!

Before venturing out for my first day in Seoul, it’s pronounced as ‘Soul’ by the way, I had sumptuous breakfast of everything made in Korean style. There was porridge of sea food and rice cooked in soupy style, some fish fried with Korean batter, Pilaf like rice, cooked with some vegetables and pieces of pork, chicken, and may be some other meat I could not recognize. There was Kimchi soup, surprisingly it was not sour and tested very good. Kimchi is fermented Chinese cabbage in rice paste over months and/or years and normally tastes too sour,[ I had it before] All in all rice is the main grain in every meal with meat of everything and anything thrown in to auger the food value. Just to be on safer side I had Jeju mandarins’ juice also.

First things first. To get T Money Card. I was not able get it previous night on the airport so that was the first thing on the agenda. It’s normally available in any convenience store like 7-11 or Nice to CU and you can charge it with whatever amount you want. One travel on any mode normally costs K-won 1150/- You have to swipe it at the entry and exit of metro station and according to distance you travel money is cut, showing you the balance. On day one I put Kwon 10,000/- on the card.

Seoul as everybody knows is capital city of South Korea but intriguing fact is staggering 50% of S Korea’s population stays in Seoul alone.  Naturally it’s very crowded. Hardly 10-20% population stays in rural areas if you consider other very urbane cities like Busan, Daegu and Ulsan. To start with Korea [Both North and South] was agrarian society, mainly thriving on farming and associated industries, like dairy products and meat. Today S Korea is most developed industrial conglomerate having brands like LG, Samsung, Hyundai, Fila and Kia ruling the world. So you hardly see any Korean in plebeian attire or shabbily dressed. Everyone  dresses smartly and is smartly behaved, unfortunately for us, score zero on English Language front.

I had map of Seoul metro, fortunately it had names of the stations in English. After studying the Lonely Planet’s book on Korea, local available pamphlets, and Google maps [I worked for me in Korea excellently with few mistakes here and there. But the experience is otherwise] I decided to visit, Gyeongbokgung palace. I never myself tried to utter it, as it is obvious tongue twister [ all the names in Korean for that matter] never did I ask any blue blooded Korean for its pronunciation because what they say, goes well above your head. As Korean like Chinese has different meanings to words depending on their pronunciations., it has that many ups and downs in tone. Pronunciation of languages in their own flavor is not a dish for someone, whose mother tongue is different!

Gyeongbokgung is very old palace built by Joseon Dynasty in 1395 [Not my own knowledge, from pamphlets and Wikipedia, because I hate to remember historical details, even of our own history, Joseon, what’s that?]. It was destroyed by invaders mainly Japanese many times in the past and is being restored to its majestic self. Korean govt. is leaving no stone unturned.

It’s the largest and the most beautiful of five palaces in Seoul and I would whole heatedly agree with it. Mammoth, magnificent, well spread out and reasonably well restored. It had more than 7700 rooms and some 500 buildings over 40 acres of land. Now at places only relics are seen.

It has many gates, the main gate known as Gwangwamun gate was at the center of capital city of Seoul once but now the city has much expanded beyond that. Gates to inner sanctum are 1. Heungnyemun gate and 2. Geunjeongmun gate. Try pronunciations at your own risk, I guarantee they would definitely be wrong!

From the main gate runs Sejongno Street to Gwanghwamun plaza, at the end of which there are statues of King Sejong and his associate Admiral Yi Sun Si. Unfortunately as the square is undergoing some construction I could see only barricades and barriers and could not appreciate the full grandeur of the plaza.The changing of the guard ceremony is still carried out even in that cramped space with full regalia ,well almost.

Main Throne hall: Geunjeongeon Hall. The royal chair is still in its original regalia, and sits magnificently at the center of the hall.

 

After entering the palace you walk, walk and walk. There are numerous buildings which are still intact[?After restoration] and stand with full magnificence. Important ones are Sajeongjeon, first on the right was used as main executive office by king.  while the one below is Gangonjeonnye where king and his family used to live. It has king's bed chamber too.

The Gyeonghoen, banquet hall in the picture on the right is built surrounded by serene  cesspool of water that reflects the image of the hall in almost picturesque post card fashion. There are many other buildings used for different purposes for want of space it is not possible to describe each one.

The atmosphere is so charged that visiting tourists whether Koreans or others, dress up in historic Korean attires known as Hanboks and parade through the premises grandiosely. Imagine boys/men   attired in Mawala dress and 

girls/women draped in Nine yard saris, parading on the forts in Maharashtra in typical Maratha fashion!, I too did not want to lag behind so here I am in Joseon warrior Hanbok!

Whatever, age started telling and feet were too sore after prancing around on the palace premises for more than four hours so it was backward journey to hotel.

Gangnam itself has its share of posh buildings,malls, multiplexes and restaurants. Had a stroll on the main road which was quite near to my hotel and found a good looking restaurant for dinner.

It was 'Sushi Sangamu'. A Japanese sushi bistro. 

The dishes were mixes, Korean ans Japanese so I too decided to try my hand at both. Ordered Salmon and Shrimp Sushi along with some bowl of Korean Soup,Jan chi Guksu !
When the order was spread on the table there were 4-5 more dishes which I had not asked for. They are known as side dishes and are not charged for. To give it company there was Japanese beer,Kirin Ichiban,which turned out to be premium beer.The side dishes consisted of pickled onions,radishes and jack fruit marinated in cinnamon, it's known as Umami. The taste though totally alien for my Indian tongue was absolute yummy. They also served some brownish black noodles, probably made with whole buck wheat flour.I tried to ask what the dishes were,but  only one person, the chef girl, knew bit of English.What she was babbling I could not understand and vice a versa.In the end we both gave up. The food was really tasty and sumptuous but I could not finish as the portion was too big for me. With beer the bill was around Kwon 16000/- around Rs,.900/- not much!

On that sweet note my first day in Seoul ended!

PS: As i did not get correct angle and certain spots were not available I have taken one or two snaps from the archives ,rest have been shot by me!

Korean Adventure 1

 

Mumbai to Incheon [Seoul]

Via Delhi and Hong Kong

Vistara services were excellent as expected because it is by Tata’s. Food was good and the staff, courteous.

Flight landed on the Delhi airport few minutes earlier than the scheduled. As it was not continuation of the journey I was to collect the bag and drop again at Cathay Pacific bag drop counter. If the airline is same you don’t have to do it. After collecting my bag from the conveyer belt at around 10 PM, I went on searching for International departures. After few jolts, ‘Go this way. Go that Way, Don’t Know’ I finally caught the correct escalator. The queue for bag drop at Cathay Pacific counter was mile long, because only two counters and carrier carries around 300-400 passengers on the board! Travelers from India to Hong Kong are a weird lot. Mostly businessmen having small ventures in Hong Kong but showing it big, labour but better than the Middle East, but nonetheless labour at the core and holiday makers, as Hong Kong is well known as a ‘Shopping Paradise’! [In today’s times it actually hardly matters, because everything is available everywhere through umpteen malls]. So everybody carried oversized bags with more than allowed weight. So the minor tussles at every counter! It took me practically one and half hours or so to drop my single, weighing much less than the stipulated weight, bag!

If Cathay Pacific’s Bag Drop line was one mile long, immigration had double the number. Delhi being capital of India flights taking off from Delhi are much more in number than any other metro city of India including Mumbai. Immigration clearance took yet another hour, but less than the expected because the personnel behind the glass were really efficient.

Boarding gate was at another end of the terminal three and Cathay Pacific counter is at terminal two! Ground hostess had cautioned that it’s too far off so start now only! And she was so true. I reached the gate only 15 minutes prior to boarding! I was apprehensive about ‘Passing the Time’ at Delhi airport but three hours went in a jiffy just standing in different queues, bag drop the first and immigration being the other one!

Here I would like to profoundly declare that I am Indian and proud one at that. But sometimes it makes me wonder, are these fellow Indians really my brothers and sisters as was taught in the school. All the air lines request the passengers to board according to the seat numbers [For Economy Class] so that it becomes easier to take the seats. But in India they always rush, whether they have seats in the front or in the back of the plane. Result, all aisles are blocked, overhead cabins are hanging on your head and God forbid, if you have seat at the farthest corner of the plane, you reach it just before the flight takes off! Always, as a rule it’s chaos and more chaos!

The plane to Hong Kong was wide bodied Boeing 777 with ten seats in a row in economy class. May be to occupy more seats for commercial purposes, the seating space is cramped and for a person like me having more than average height it becomes difficult to stretch even when air line itself advises the exercise to prevent the deep vein thrombosis. I somehow managed to be comfortable in my seat. To eat with such a limited space is another ordeal. To manage those tiny plates in that truncated space is really a circus. If you open the main course dish, the other dishes start falling apart. With meticulousness of a society lady you have to open all the dishes very delicately. I was listed for ‘Hindu Non Veg meal.’ But what they served in the name of Hindu Non Veg food was beyond my comprehension. The fruits were probably hybrid and did not have any taste, bad or good, only insipid. One has to sustain so I made myself eat those dishes almost compulsorily.

Hong Kong air port is/was another damp squib! We had been to Hong Kong almost a decade and half ago. At that time the new air port was under construction. As advised by the hosts we had visited the construction site. It then appeared that something huge, extravagant is in the making, almost in the sea on reclaimed lands of acres and acres, around islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau. The old one, Kai Tak was just an extended land strip as a runway in actual sea. Plus the landing was at an angle, so many experienced pilots too found it difficult to land. So, the new airport.

But to my utter surprise new airport, CLK international Airport has not turned out to be what it promised to be. It looks from outside like built by Indian PWD. Utterly drab! Well interiors too are not exceptionally astounding. Miles and miles of passages/corridors without travelators. Ninety percent of the shops were closed. Hardly any, serving food. Food court was at the other end and as expected, steeply priced. The airport tom-toms that they serve food at the rate prevalent at the restaurants from city center but it’s hardly true.

                                                                                     

Only redeeming feature of CLK Hong Kong airport is Sky Bridge, and it’s really astronomical. It’s the largest air side bridge, [Sky Bridge] in the world allowing the largest passenger aircraft, A380 to pass underneath. The side passages are totally made of glass and when one looks down it’s more than ten storeys deep and weak hearted people may get vertigo.

On the top of boredom I had my next flight to Seoul after six hours. I landed at 10 AM and flight to Seoul was at 4 PM. To cut the time and as one has to eat something, I ordered Duck Sandwich and that turned out to be second redeeming feature at Hong Kong Airport. The flesh was so tender and the bread was so luscious it just melted in the mouth. Contrary to my belief ‘Duck’ turned out to be extremely delicious and not chewy what I was going to eat for next 14 days! 

Flight to Seoul was most memorable next to flight from Santorini to Athens. Out of the three to three and half hours of the flight for the 2/3rds of the time, plane faced air turbulence. It shaked continuously so vigorously that it made pit of the stomach filled with unknown fear. It became so unenduring that at one point I felt, let there be an end to this, either way! 

But it landed at Incheon, Seoul without any hitch. It was around 10 PM and all the time I was dreading about the timing of landing. Because by 11-11.30 PM all the services, Bus, Limousine Bus, Metro and Air port express from the airport to city centre stop plying. And one has to take taxi that costs $ 90 to $100 while one way ticket is only $3.Fortunately for me every mode of transport to Seoul City Centre was still available. But the airport was deserted, all the Money changing kiosks, banks were closed and though I had enough money on person, cash in Dollars and three international credit cards I was the one without a penny on the foreign land!

To travel you have to buy T money card which works on any mode of transport all over Korea. Every time you have to refill it when balance becomes zero. Only hitch is you have to pay it in cash! It does not accept credit cards.

Luckily the station master at the airport metro station came to my help. With his help I could withdraw cash of Kwon 100,000/- [making me instantly millionaire] with HSBC credit card [that only works in Eastern Asian countries for cash withdrawal, CITI and Standard Chartered credit cards are rejected]. After securing the necessary one way ticket [T money card was unavailable at that hour] I boarded Express Line to Seoul City.

After changing the line at Hongik University and taking Line 2, I got down at Gangnam Metro station at around 11.30 PM. And again I was at large. Gangnam is like Dadar. It’s huge with many transfer lines and numerous exits. If you don’t take the correct exit you land up on the road exactly opposite to where you want to go. I was absolutely confused as there was no ‘SOUL’ to guide me on the roads of “SEOUL”! Man on the street does not understand English at all. Six out of ten I asked for the direction, were dead drunk, and the rest smelt of alcohol! Luckily ‘Google Maps’ work in Korea too.[Contrary to what I had learnt on YouTube!] I could get out by the correct exit and luckily a police van was patrolling at the same square. I did not expect Police to know or speak English [they are counter parts of our folk] but I had the address in Korean alphabets. After discussion with his colleague he instructed one taxi man passing by to drop me at the hotel. Taxi-man showed that he understood everything but it was not so. After circling around for two times in the same area, I got down ultimately and enquired on the front desk of another hotel in the vicinity. He was sure to know the ‘Fellow’ hotel! And the puzzle got solved. We were searching for ‘Best Western’ which is known in the area as ‘BWP’ Gangnam hotel! And it was not Gangnam proper but was Sinnonhyeon, part of Gangnam a next metro station!

Taxi-man charged Kwon 10000/- and I felt rich again! ‘It is correct fare’ front desk person ascertained and I happily retired for my first night in Seoul!