We are having a little break from the norm today…it’s tangent time again!

As we are moving into phase three of my South Korean travels (Seoul, Jeju, and now an epic road trip), I feel now is a good time to provide a slight update on my thoughts of Korea and its people. I also want you to know I am writing this post a full week and a half ahead of what you are currently reading – therefore, some of my observations are a result of things I have done or seen, but you haven’t participated in just yet. Sorry. And I appreciate your patience with my dearth of blogging.

Please also be aware these thoughts are randomly flowing onto the page and not necessarily in any type of coherent or logical order.

But I am going to start on the theme of travel – because I have just taken charge of this…

Yup. I’m on the road!

But before we get to the car, can I just give a rather large shout out and general woo-hoo for Korea’s public transportation system at large from a traveller’s point of view. It is totally possible for you to traverse Korea solely using public transportation if you wish. Some places may be a little harder to reach, but the point being is that it can be done and with less hassle than you would imagine, so therefore the country at large should be commended for this.

Seoul (as one would expect) has a first class transport system of subways (metro), trains, buses, and taxis. You can get anywhere in, around, or just outside of Seoul easily and quickly and with no command of Korean required (just a dose of common sense and a smidge of internet preparation). I am particularly fond of the subway which I have always found to be clean, brightly lit, well signposted, spacious, on time, functioning, and with a jolly tune that plays when your train is arriving.

I would not hesitate to ride this any time of day or night safely. Just don’t expect any type of communication with anyone, they are all too busy…

The bus drivers I have found to be 100% certifiable (both inside and outside Seoul). I would desperately love to know what training they are put through and what they are told by superiors. The drivers pull no punches. You best be prepared and moving at speed to hop on and off the buses. You should have full use of your physical faculties in order to not be thrown down the aisle, through the windshield, or develop a case of whiplash from the breakneck take-off speed or sudden slamming on the brakes to stop. Be prepared for plenty of honking and irritability as the driver navigates the roads, as well as a good deal of swerving and overtaking cars (including on single lane roads which I question the legality of as well as just the safety aspect of it). But, they run a tight ship and have been 98% on time when I have used them. Also, generally the bus shelters are clean, covered, and in more urban areas have the electric information boards which are excellent (and also speak to you to let you know when the bus should be approaching in case you aren’t paying attention).      

As for driving…having now driven in cities, moderately urban, and rural areas I can confidently say that Korean people appear to have no desire or ability to demonstrate basic common road courtesy or adhere to the rules of the road unless in front of a speed camera. Very much like the overall perception I have of the hustling, non-stop, paying no attention to anyone else culture here; the same attitude extends to the roads. If you decide to hire a car, do some research on the basic meanings of road signs and rules, and you best be prepared to be defensive when you drive.

My experience includes the following:

Having a heck of a time working out the speed limit in each area – it seems to change frequently and there are about 3,264 speed cameras for every 10 miles of road. My main tactic here is that I lump generally for 50 or 60kph if I can’t see a sign and hope for the best. Most motorways are well signposted and usually either 80 or 100kph. I don’t mess about with the children/school zones, 30kph on the dot and screw anyone behind me. Having said this, I suspect I have already been caught unknowingly a handful of times by speed cameras just by not having any idea of the limit – can’t wait to see the bill at the end of my trip *rolls eyes*

My general driving tactic is to sit in the right hand lane at all times unless I need to turn left – people can overtake me to their heart’s content – though this doesn’t stop any number of jerks simply running right up to your bumper, flashing their lights, before then whipping around you. Cars swerving in and out of traffic is very common. Trucks and buses scare the living daylights out of me as they seem to adhere to no speed limit either and bear down on you with startling speed and force (which I find odd because in the UK certain big vehicles are speed restricted).  

Korean cars appear not to be installed with turn signals. Not just the BMW’s either.

I have seen with my own eyes drivers plough through red lights without a care.

I have had a driver behind me lean on their horn in order to pressure me and the driver in front of me to go through a left hand turn without a green arrow signal (illegal over here – you have to have an arrow, clear of traffic or not). The driver in front of me caved. I didn’t. Eventually he stopped beeping and sat there, though I half expected him to swerve around me.

There is a constant onslaught of speeding drivers followed by brake lights, as their GPS informs them of an upcoming camera. There is no steady flow of traffic.  

I have a love/hate relationship with my GPS. It is amazing for preparing you for things on your route – “follow the green/pink marked road ahead, moveable speed camera in 700m, right turn ahead and be careful not to take the wrong turn (which I have done once when they were close together), there is a speed bump ahead (how does it know this? Every single bump without fail!)”. However, trying to program an address into it requires some level of technical skill I am not familiar with. It seems to hate both English and Korean. It insists addresses don’t exist when I know they do. It has a habit of letting me input information and then wiping it blank before I can get it to search. Programming it requires me to add an extra 30 minutes to my estimated travel time. I frequently tell it “thank you” and “what the hell is wrong with you?” within the space of 5 minutes.

Tunnels in Korea make me laugh. There are a large number of tunnels where I have been driving, given that the Koreans decided to plough right through the base of the mountains instead of going up and over them. Some of these tunnels are long – several miles in some cases. I went through at least a dozen on my first day and couldn’t work out why I was hearing random noises as I drove. I heard what sounded like 100 PE teachers blowing whistles, some type of emergency siren sound which scared the living daylights out of me, and…a musical tune played through my tyres by ridges on the road. It was after about half a dozen of these that I could only surmise they were methods employed to keep you from spacing out in the tunnels. Additionally, you get an array of coloured lights in the centre of the tunnels – another stay awake ploy I am sure.

Finally, let’s talk tolls. I have opted mostly to use the expressway here so far as they are not only quicker, but just generally straight-forward in terms of driving. They come with tolls though. Not massively expensive (the most I’ve paid so far was ₩4,100 in one go – about $3.50 maybe?), but frequent enough that they add up. The big issue though is of course driving at speed, approaching a toll both that has only Korean writing on it and with 4-8 lanes to choose from. I’m going to be smug here – I did prep for this. I knew what I was facing. Or so I thought. The first two tolls – easy. I stayed out of the blue ‘hi pass’ lane and aimed for the cash sign (in Korean, but I can read that at least). My GPS is pretty good at warning me how much to prepare for the toll and at each booth I found someone waiting to take my money. However, after that point Korea just started screwing with me. I ended up approaching toll booths with no cash signs visible and panicked (turns out you go through truck weighing lane instead), I wound up at a booth with no person and just a touch pad and was only saved by a bit of quick thinking and my T-card close to hand – I tapped it and hoped it might work…and it did! And finally got to yet another booth with no person and no touch pad, instead it had a machine that spat out a ticket at me, but with no clue what I was supposed to do with it (turns out when you eventually exit the motorway you will find a manned booth and the lady calculates how much you owe after you give her the ticket – don’t lose it!).

Needless to say, my car adventures so far have been many and my driving skills have taken a quick upward learning curve for sure. I would also like to take a moment to point you to the following website should you be visiting Korea and needing to brush up on driving tips – https://10wontips.blogspot.com/ – this is ‘10won Tips’ and has been a godsend for information on toll booths, filling up with petrol, and speed cameras (but has lots of little snippets of Korean information that might be useful or interesting to you).

Right, other random and completely unrelated notes.

I like the fact at pedestrian crossings you sometimes find coloured lights on the floor that change from red to green, for those of you busy staring downwards at your mobile phone – you won’t miss the lights changing.

I really love food stalls. I am getting braver at trying things. And it isn’t really the trying new foods thing, I am all up for that; it is the approaching and knowing what to ask for, how it’s going to be served – given to you/take for yourself, and how you physically eat it (with fingers? Chopsticks? Dipped in something?). But I love them. For meals or snacks. I love that they are everywhere.

I also love food markets, there are so many daily fruit, veg, spices, fish, and everything in between markets everywhere I go. They are stocked to the brim with every item a hardcore Korean cook (or just a normal everyday cook here) could possibly want or need. I personally would never be able to buy anything in a market place because I can only identify about 1% of the produce I am looking at, I have no idea how to use any bar a handful of the items, and I have no idea how these things are sold – there appear to be no scales or measuring devices to hand and no prices; I wouldn’t even know what to ask for – ₩1000 worth? Number of things? A Korean halmoni handful? Not a clue. But I love the fact these markets exist, are a used resource, a daily occurrence. The only markets I see like this at home tend to be posh farmer’s markets that stock upper class speciality organic type goods, and that is nothing like the Korean markets I am talking about.    

I am enjoying seeing wildlife here. Though not plentiful as such, I am seeing things that are maybe new or a little more uncommon to spot at home. My collection below (though you might not get it from the blurry pictures) includes: black squirrels, chipmunks, kingfishers, fish, nuthatches, and snakes. I spot a fair number of small birds (LBJ’s – little brown jobs) and am fairly surprised by how unfazed by people they are – it might just be my imagination but birds here seem less skittish than at home.

And last, but certainly not least, I would like to update my general thoughts of the sociability of Korean people, specifically towards myself. I am quickly learning that people in Seoul are different from people in other parts of Korea. The general invisibility I felt in Seoul and the overwhelming feeling of being isolated by having no interactions with people is melting away bit by bit as I travel.

I have found more people attempting to talk to me, mostly to ask where I am from and if I am traveling alone, but I like at least being able to understand their questions and be able to respond in a simple way. I had one gentleman stop me on a beach to talk to me and he looked so excited about the fact I was visiting Korea and he was able to meet me. He even whipped out his phone to use a translator to ask me if I liked rice and if I was a teacher here. His overwhelming enthusiasm actually made me so comfortable that it was the first time I didn’t feel a rush of panic when someone spoke to me, it was clear we were both struggling to communicate but the fact he was happy made me feel at ease.

I’ve been complimented more times than I can count for being able to speak Korean, even if it is literally to say hello, thank you, or where I am from. My most successful conversations to date have been with my AirB&B hosts on Jeju, again receiving smiles and compliments for being able to ask about ordering breakfast and explain my plans for the next day in Korean.

In the national parks I have visited (outside of Seoul), people frequently say hello to me on the trail and often smile. I have reached mountaintops and, without fail, each time have been offered fruits and chocolate bars by different people (including my first try of jujubes!), and without fail this makes me well up inside that people are so kind and thoughtful to approach me (though I am seriously wondering if being foreign and alone makes me look a bit lonely and pathetic). I routinely have people offer to take pictures for me when they see me struggling to take a selfie on a mountain top.

I even had a lovely lady on Jeju Island give me a small Dol Hareubang statue that I admired outside the front of her house. She held it up to me and told me ‘seonmul’ which means gift. Yeah, I walked around the corner and cried a little at that one. My point here being, the longer I stay here, the more I travel, the greater number of people I meet; the more kindness I see and am shown and my fondness for the people here grows.

I’m about half way through my Korean trip now, and every day I am thankful for the fact I am able to have this opportunity. I am happy that I made the decision to travel to South Korea, and that I put the effort in to make this trip a reality for myself. I am so very grateful for every day that passes where I experience something new and end the day happy and safe. And as always I have such a deep felt appreciation for my family and friends who support my crazy dreams and keep in touch every day, letting me share my stories with them.

I hope I remember this feeling of happiness and contentment always.