Lingo in Transit

Not exactly the right time to visit Gangneung, I decided it was time to go and booked a quick trip to sit by the beach. Gangneung is located on the east coast of South Korea, a beach side town with what I imagine would be a great summer destination. It takes 2hrs on the KTX train to get there from Seoul Station. Accommodation just by the beach, seafood restaurants and cafes too many to count, I was hoping for a relaxing time to stay still.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Gangneung, was how much more scarce public transport was. Regardless, it was still ok to move around without a car although it would have been easier with a car.

My accommodation was near the beaches so I headed there to find lunch and walk along the beach. My travels were aptly timed to a cold wave so the day time temperatures were between 12 to 15 degrees C. There weren’t that many options but I found a burger place for lunch (which was not good) before walking along the beach and finding some benches to sit on.

After checking in and resting a little, I decided to find some sort of seafood after searching for restaurants and having to scroll past all the king crab and raw fish places which appear to be catered for groups. I found a Japanese place nearby called Rui that sold individual dishes which was exactly what I was looking for.

After dinner, I did another beach walk to watch the skies change to night and the building lights come on. I went to a cafe to have some dessert (because holidaaaays). Walking back to my hotel, there were families and friends letting off fireworks on the beach.

The next day, I found myself a brilliant brunch place called 카피 밀 (Coffee Mill) which served up the type of breakfast I was looking for. I decided to then walk towards the Arte Museum and passed the Heo Gyun Heo Nanseoulheon Memorial Park. Not wanting to just pass by, I entered the Memorial Park to have a look around. Heo Gyun is a Korean novelist and politician during the Joseon Dynasty and author of Tale of Hong Gildong.

The Arte Museum is a multimedia exhibit with different rooms with different projections. It was interesting but I’ve seen something similar elsewhere so the only room that got my attention was the room with laterns and mirrors. I wished they had seats around so that we could sit down to enjoy the different projections.

It was so nice to slow down for this weekend and it was much needed.

I previously wrote about the 6 things that surprised me about South Korea and today, I’ve put together a list of things that I don’t like.

1. Online Banking
Banking here is what I imagine the pits of hell would be like. Bank books are still used here and with what they like to called added security, a simple task like transferring money is not that simple.

Being able to transfer money is a set up of its own, includes the download of security programs and an annual certificate number that allows you to transfer. I haven’t managed to get it to work so use my banking app which only works on the Korean version.

2. How everything is linked
Your name and number on your resident card is what you need to put on your phone bill, internet plan, banking services and services to order online. Everything online is connected here so you need to usually verify yourself in the first instance. I’m not sure why, but verifying yourself is a task. Sometimes your name order works and other times it doesn’t. You need to select which phone provider you’re with before you can be sent your text with a code to enter. If your phone company made an entry error, you’ll be going in circles until you figure out where the error it. If you have a long name, goodluck.

3. Air quality and dryness
There is not much more to say apart from the air quality sucks most of the year. There is a nice outdoor culture and plenty of things to do outside here but it just not enjoyable when you’re struggling to breathe or are constantly clearing your throat.
In winter and shoulder seasons, it is very very dry. I’ve gone through 2 tubes of hand cream in winter alone and 1 whole lip balm. If you wear contact lenses, I suggest eye drops throughout winter and these shoulder seasons. Many homes and workplaces also have humidifiers for these dry months (and you’ll also potentially need a de-humidifier in summer). Humidifiers and filters are easy to find and are reasonably priced.

4. Conformity
I think I touched on this elsewhere but everything is very samey here. Same style. Same make up looks. Same hairstyles. Same natural colours everywhere. Being different in any sort of way leaves you sticking out amongst the sea of same. This is something that I miss. More individualism and a more multicultural society.

5. Clothing material
Fast fashion is quite big here and I’m not sure the rejection of fast fashion is as big here as it might be in other countries. I’ve been thinking if this is linked to how appearances really matter here. As such, finding decent quality clothing for affordable prices has been more of a challenge here than back home. I’ve just been sticking to going to Uniqlo here if I needed anything and have found the odd nice piece in random stores. But from my experience, nice to wear fabrics seem so hard to find here. A lot of what you’ll see are polyester or poly blends. I guess it’s been good because then I haven’t felt the need to buy much.

6. Couples
Being in a couple here is such a big deal. Weekend cafes are filled with couples on their dates and even on the streets you will see couples with their matching outfits (also a thing here), taking selfies together and a bundle of flowers. It’s so noticeable more than back home. I guess because a lot of people live with their families, the only way to hang out with their significant other is to be out and about. Sometimes it’s cute but most of the time, a little too in your face. As a solo traveller most of the time, if you’re not the awkward one eating alone in a culture where half the restaurants are catered for groups (hello kbbq), then you’re the one awkwardly in a cafe alone surrounded by….couples.

7. Solo eating
This brings me back to my next one. A lot of the food and restaurants are catered towards groups of people. Sharing a skillet of chicken, pork trotters, traditional Korean meal, seafood bbq and Korean bbq are all delicious sounding food that can only be eaten when you are 2+ people.

8. Hustle culture
South Korea has one of the longest work hours in the world and recently even wanted to increase the hours per week to 69 (to much protest). The Korean work culture has also long had Hoesik which is after hours drinks/meal to boost team bonding. I’m not sure how widespread this is now since the pandemic but I have had 1 team lunch prior to work. As someone, who likes to clock off on time and not a huge fan of out of hour work functions, I was hoping my workplace would not have many of them. Working overtime and on weekends is not foreign from what I’ve seen in my workplace and hearing from friends. Add this to the very limited number of annual leave days (11 days for me on a 1-year contract) which is 15 days of annual leave granted after 1 year of working.

If you’ve lived or travelled to South Korea, is there anything that stood out to you as something that you didn’t like?

From living here, some of these were immediate and others were observations that occurred over time. I have rounded up 6 things that have really taken me by surprise in Korea. I’m sure this might change over time but for the moment here is my list.

1. How big coffee is here
You can’t walk more than 1km without passing a coffee shop here. There are so many coffee chains here and independent coffee shops. I actually thought tea would be bigger here being in an Asian country, but coffee is more popular and easier to find here. The coffee drink of choice seems to be an iced americano. As an Australian, I’ve not really seen americanos on our menus but I think it would be a long black. And cold coffee?? What is that? Whilst I still very much like my coffees hot and with milk, I don’t mind a cold latte every now and then.

2. How little English there is
Ok ok, a bit of an English snob to even be thinking this but I thought that as there is a big influence from the US here, English would be more widespread. Plus, the booming international trade scene and Korean culture wave. Even in Seoul, I think I give it 50/50 when picking a place to eat whether they will have English on the menu or if you will be using your translator. At least the metro stations and signs have some English. Quite popular here is also using a touch screen to order food/drinks and sometimes there is also no English or you select English and most of it is still in Korean. Yes, I am the one holding up the line trying to translate the screen.

3. How expensive fruits are
While there is a variety of fruits available, they are so terribly expensive compared to what I was use to back home. Expect to pay 9,000 won for 3 peaches or more than 20 000 won for a watermelon. 15 000 won for a bunch of grapes and I’m sure I’ve not even seen the more expensive fruits. I think I had read before that this was due to production and land required to grow them although I’m not really sure on this.

4. How quiet buses and trains are
There is this unsaid rule to not make so much noise on public transport. You will be stared at or even told off if you are speaking too loud. This is obviously such a blessing because there are times back home when someone has decided that everyone else in the carriage should listen to their abysmal taste in music. There’s none of that here and definitely no-one chowing down a burger on the metro.

5. There are CCTV camera’s everywhere
This is the country where you can leave your bag and laptop at your seat and go to the bathroom and still come back to everything there. You can even have picnics and leave for a walk and come back with everything still there. There is so much trust in no-one taking your stuff because they know they can easily find the person stealing through all the CCTV camera’s around. There’s even camera’s where the apartment trash is. This high level of trust in the community does mean that they can have nice things. Nice metro stations, heated bus stop benches and kids freely walk themselves to and from school.

6. Fashion forward or fashion same
I thought that Seoul would be a melting pot of styles. Just as London is or even what I’ve heard of Tokyo. But everyone dresses within the same confines and in the same style. Don’t get me wrong, everyone dresses very well here and takes a lot of care of their appearance but I thought I would be seeing more different styles. I think this fits into the larger cultural norm of not standing out and fitting into society’s “standard”.

Are there any other things that you would add to this list?