Flight to Seoul via Tokyo
Needed to wake up early to catch the 7am train to NYC.
Amtrak always a comfort if not for the gossiping ladies, I would have also
slept well. Once I reached Penn Station, took another LIRR train to JFK.
Had tickets with American Airlines which was giving me a
nightmare for a few days, then came to know that it is operated by Japan
Airlines which gave some relief. The alleviated situation took a down-turn when
the last aisle seat on the flight(right next to the restroom) was the only seat
on offer. Accompanied by two very old Japanese ladies who kept repeating the
phrase “arigato gojaimasda” which I vaguely understood as “Thank You”. Hospitality of
the Asian airhostess was top class. Tried to sleep for most of the time.
Landed in Tokyo at the right time(talk about Japanese
precision), changed terminals to board the next flight to Seoul and got used to
the people bending over all the time to say “Thank you”. Tried out the Japanese
toilet with bum spray and perfume. Got some pizza to eat and slept for a while
before boarding the next flight.
On the flight met this Chinese guy from St.Louis Missouri
who was on vacation to seoul for 4 days. Exchanged facebook accounts and
promised to hang out with him once in Seoul.
By this time stomach was showing signs of giving up since
all I had was some bread, salad, fruits and pizza the whole day.
Once in Seoul the first crisis was to get to the hotel
without getting lost or spending a ton of money on taxi. But first I needed Korean money. Lucky to find a foreign exchange right outside arrival. $1 is
like a 1000 bucks in Korean currency. Felt like possessing a lot of
money(around 100,000). Asked the help desk lady on how to get to the hotel and
figured there was a direct bus to the hotel.
The bus turned out to be really comfortable and the roads even more so.
If maruti has taken over delhi roads, the same goes for hyundai and seoul.
 |
| Hotel Room |
Downtown looked beautiful in the night. Got to the hotel crashed on
the bed, watched some Asian news and slept.
Sunday, May 20th
 |
| View from the room |
Owing to the jetlag and the direct sunlight in the room I
wake up at 6am. Get a better sense of
the town from the room’s balcony. Grab free breakfast in the hotel and try to
figure out the next thing I could do. After being really impatient till 9 am I
call my ISM friends who happen to be working in Samsung in Seoul just to get
scolded for waking them up so early at 9am on a Sunday.
Getting registered
for the conference and first impressions about the city
My friend reluctantly agrees to get up at 11am and give me a
call afterwards. In the meantime I decide to get a first impression of the town
around me and get registered for the conference. The weather outside is
pleasant and sunny.
 |
| Downtown street leading to COEX |
The convention center which is 20 mins away is a huge
structure of steel and glass covered with granite floors on the inside. It is
located right across a Buddha temple which also looks beautifully decorated
with lanterns. After looking around the huge convention center I realize that
ISCAS is not the only conference going on and that I would need directions.
Once I reach the place where the action is I quickly register and get a name
tag with “Mona Hella” written in bold letters. I guess I would have to get used
to people calling me “Mona” for the next few days as it would be too much
effort to explain who I really am.
I quickly get the registration material and get out of the
convention center to have a clearer look at the city. Seoul from the first look
seems to be a developed city which is clean, has tall buildings and helpful
people in general.
My online gaming
craze
 |
| PC BONG |
While walking back to the hotel I stumble upon this store
called “PC BONG” meaning internet café. I had heard from a lot of my AOE
friends about these being the reason for Koreans being so good at video games.
So, I had to visit a PC BONG while I was in Korea. The experience was
breathtaking. The café from inside was pretty dark and it took my eyes a while
to get used to the low light. I could see cubicles and cubicles of computers
arranged in rows with more comfortable seating than you can ever imagine. I had
to try and see what it felt like playing a game in one of these machines. Two
kids wearing fat rimmed glasses below the age of 10 were shouting at one another while playing starcraft2.
I decided to grab a seat next to them and
login to whatever they were playing only to realize that everything on my
computer was in Korean. After the store manager couldn’t fix the language on my
computer, I decided just to look around and talk to the kids once they were
done with a game. “We play every day after school for 5-6 hours before going
home, when our parents pick us up” ,the kid said, a good alternative to day care I say.
I get back to the hotel at 10:30am and wait for my friend’s
call. The call finally arrives at
11:15am and he tells me that they are going to a racecourse in Seoul and told
me to meet them at the subway station near the racecourse.
Getting into trouble
at the subway
Unlike NYC where I could use my iPhone to get directions to
wherever I want in real-time, I had to plan this trip out meticulously by
looking at the directions on the subway map that I had printed out before
making this trip. I was starting to regret not renting out a smartphone at the
Seoul airport.
 |
| Seoul Metro |
Getting to the nearest subway was a breeze thanks to the
directions on Google maps. Once I got there, however, it was a herculean task
to get a ticket and figure out which train to get into. So I stand there
staring at the subway map and the ticket counter and then back again till a
lovely Korean lady comes up to me and asks me if I she can help. It turns out
that I need a T-money card to travel on subways which can also be used in
buses/departmental stores. I get one and thank her by saying “Kamsamhida”, one
of the few words I picked up before making this trip. Got through the ticket
checking counter which looked quite similar to the Delhi metro’s just to
realize that I had gotten into a wrong route. Had to come out but couldn’t and
pressed the emergency button that made a random guy come and open a backdoor
for me and also pointed me towards the right direction. I finally get into the
right platform and get a look around while I wait for the next train. The
platform is quite splendid better than I have ever seen. There are big 50”
touch screens which have all sorts of tourist information about the whole city
and how to get there by subway, the station and the train is connected by wifi(
yes underground subway has wifi, ever heard of such a thing?) . The train
arrives and I get in. Samsung TVs inside show important information and of
course the train has wifi. No wonder everyone around me was glued to their
smartphones. I get down at the right stop and stare at the map while waiting
for my friends. During this time 4 people come up to me asking me if I needed
help. I guess my backpack foreigner staring at the map look gave them an
impression that I was lost. So I decided to put the map away and sit in a
corner to wait for my friends.
Gambling at the racecourse
Finally my friends arrive and we reach the racecourse. The
view from outside resembles any market in India with roadside vendors shouting
and selling some notebook that shows the races of today and wagers. Having
never gambled at a racecourse before we looked around for information on the
notebook which was in Korean and not at all helpful. One of my friends decides
to find out more about the race while we try to get something to drink. He
comes back with the advice from the ticket counter that you shouldn’t gamble
much if you don’t know Korean. Nevertheless, he buys wagers for $1 for each one
of us. We try to figure out which horses we need to root for and get inside the
arena.
The arena is huge and crowded and it seems that people are
quite serious about the whole gambling thing. Meanwhile I lose my wager ticket
and realize that my horse won. My friends curse me for having donkey’s luck and
we get out of the arena dejected losing not a lot of money.
Chenggyoenchen stream
We figure out the next thing to do and I bring up the idea
of visiting the above stream which runs through the middle of the city. We take
the subway and reach the place called “City Hall” and get a first look at the
stream. It’s a beautiful sight, a clear stream not more than 5 meters wide is
flowing through the center of the street with walkways around it and fountains
and lights along its path. We decide to walk along it and see how far it goes. It’s
a hangout spot for all ages; people relaxing after a hard days work, couples,
tourists and kids. It is also the time of the year when a Lantern festival is
organized and the whole stream is lighted with lantern strips across it. I want to just sit there and massage my feet
with the flow of the stream.
A random observation
about couples around us
While sitting there along the stream my friend shares a
random observation that he has made of couples around. According to his theory,
the similarity in the couples clothes are directly proportional to the intimacy
level in their relationships. He showed us some examples where couples were
wearing almost the same clothes and holding hands and smiling at each other
while there were others whose clothes were completely different and they were
walking as if they were complete strangers. There were also examples where only
part of their attire like shoes were similar.
After our feet are really cold and our bellies hungry we
decide to get out of this stupid game of judging couples and get something to
eat. Seoul is a pretty cosmopolitan city in terms of cuisines it offers. We
decided on pizza as a safe bet for vegetarians and grabbed a bite.
After we are done eating, we decide to get a look at the
stream at night which now looks splendid with all the lanterns shining
brightly. We also give our final comments on couples in Korea and put the
matter for rest forever. It’s time to leave and I obtain travel instructions so
that I don’t look like a lost tourist on my way back. Luckily I get back to the
hotel without any further events and crash on the bed.
Monday, May 21st
Have to attend the conference today and thanks to the jetlag
I get up at 6am again. Take the customary shower, get dressed and go down to
the lobby to get some free breakfast.
Walk to the convention center and wait for the keynote speech to begin.
Was looking forward to this presentation by Samsung President about present and
future mobile solutions which is pretty impressive. Rest of the presentations
during the day are monotonous and not the least bit exciting but I slug through
them nevertheless to get a feel of what kind of questions I might expect when I
present tomorrow.
Samsung’s cool
products
Samsung had a organized a booth to showcase its upcoming
products during the conference which was pretty impressive. Saw some
Utradefinition TVs, transparent and flexible OLED displays and its processors
with 22nm technology, all in all top class.
After spending most of the day attending lectures in the
conference my new made Argentinean friend who looks nowhere close to Messi
decide to get back to the hotel and get some dinner in the business district of
Itaewon.
Evening in Itaewon
This place is near the US army base and has a variety of
dining places to offer from Indian to Mexican to Italian etc. The streets are
also full of shops catering to the American population, I can see
Footlocker,Burger King, Outback steakhouse etc. We settled for asian food and
my choice was chilli tofu rice and some lemonade to go with it.
After the dinner I realize I have no money left and none of
my debit cards are working and washing dishes or begging on the streets of
Seoul briefly passes my mind. It’s a mini crisis of sorts because it turns out
that I also cannot pay for my hotel if my card is not working. I do have some
money stashed up in the hotel which might pay to satisfy my hunger. I write an
email to my sister about this crisis and sleep hoping that it won’t come to
begging.
Tuesday, May 22nd
My own talk and the
preparation behind it
After I sort out my brief financial crisis, I start
preparing for my talk. Since I have only a few slides I seriously had to
practice talking really slowly saying each word clearly, be discrete and use
hard to understand words like eco-system so that people cannot come up with
random questions which made me feel like an MBA. The presentation went fairly well and could
answer the few questions that did arise.
Conference Banquet
and the performances
The conference had organized a banquet at night along with
some traditional dance performances. There was a Korean orchestra type thing
played with all traditional instruments which I had never seen before but the
performance was excellent. Post dinner I went to the hotel and put myself to
sleep on some Asian TV.
Wednesday, May 23rd
For this day I had decided not to attend any more lectures
and do some sightseeing as this was my last day in Korea. I decided to visit
the King’s palace and get some souvenirs for my friends.
Gyuongbokgung Palace
This palace was huge in terms of area it covered. All the
architecture was typical Asian style with structures fully made of wood. One
weird thing I noticed about the palace was that there was a path reserved for
the king between any two structures and you are forbidden to walk on it to this
day. The Koreans believe that the King’s soul still walks these paths and no
man should come in his way.
Another thing about Koreans is their peaceful way of life.
These palaces did not have any defensive structures like walls or drawbridges
with crocodiles or places from where you could drop hot oil etc. No wonder
there walls were penetrated and their kingdoms eradicated not once but twice by
the Japanese.
The Palace had several structures for King’s court, his rest
areas, prince’s palaces etc ; all in all a good historical place to see.
Insadong shopping
This place is the Korean equivalent of Delhi Haat. As soon
as you enter the market area you see expensive shops where nothing is available
below $100. But then you walk a bit and see the typical chaotic Chandni Chowk
type market where shopkeepers are shouting to sell you their stuff and you can
haggle to get the best price.
Museum and farewell
party
After finishing my shopping I went back to the hotel to rest
my bones a bit before I could go to the conference farewell party and the
museum visit.
We visited the Korean museum which had old age Korean
artifacts which bored me to death. Exhibit after exhibit showcased old pottery
and chinaware and budhha. So I comfortably settled at a nearby coffee shop and
surfed the internet while I waited for the farewell party to begin.
The farewell party consisted of some performances by Korean
fusion bands accompanied with good food and camaraderie. Returned to the hotel,
packed all the luggage to leave the next morning and crashed on the bed.
Summary of the trip
I was skeptical about this trip before I came to Korea
because I did not know how I would manage being a vegetarian and not knowing
any Korean. After spending my 4 days here I realized that sign language is
enough for human beings in general and language is not a barrier at all. In
general Korean people were really helpful and compassionate. I could get around
the city fairly well without knowing a bit of Korean.
I would love to be back here if possible and even learn a
bit of Korean beforehand.
