Seoul Searching in South Korea, Part 1 #10

From May, 2015

Arriving at Incheon Airport in South Korea I felt fresh and excited for a completely spontaneous trip booked just days before to see an old childhood friend on the same day he moves to Seoul to teach English. I was also feeling quietly confident in myself as I had really upped my game from Horrible Bosses 2 and watched the Oscar-nominated The Imitation Game on the flight. After just a few seconds with immigration without any bag checking, I got some Won exchanged and waited for the bus direct to my friend’s accommodation in the east of the capital. The bus driver was neither overjoyed nor repulsed by my presence as he monotonously asked for 15,000 Won for his airport limousine bus. I screeched: ‘Are you ‘avin a laugh?’ He somehow hadn’t heard the Korean businessman use the popular catchphrase in When the Whistle Blows so I begrudgingly excused his ignorance (or was he Japanese…?). I worked out the exchange rate to be £9 so it was actually fairly reasonable.

At a supermarket, I realised the vegetarianism would be even harder here as the lack of bread and high cost of cheese was not favourable to me. It was incredibly surreal seeing my friend as I thought a change in circumstance just two years after we met over a decade ago was going to end our friendship. Then he said he had six beds in his room for me to choose from and there's free breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday – my eyes lit up – and suddenly I felt like he was a best friend again.

I hadn't seen a school like this before. Pupils ranging from elementary to college were living in the same building as teachers and parents. It was a kind of camp where children would attend for roughly a week to practice English and experience alternative activities. Later that first night our lack of Korean was obvious. We went from one restaurant to another, showing them ‘vegetarian’ in Korean on a phone with no prevail.

My friend and I spent our only day together with an early morning breakfast (free of course) and then we took the train to Northern Seoul and saw the wonderfully detailed Gyeongbokgung Palace in the beautiful sunshine. We witnessed the recreation of past battles as three army’s competed in spectacular fashion. Upon leaving – although nothing compared to the streets of New Delhi – I heard more car horns beep in one crossing than I had heard in the previous five weeks in East Asia. A breakdancing competition was being held in the city centre and it showed some pretty remarkable talent. We also solved the mystery of the missing sorting hat...

Against my friend’s desires, we trudged to Inwangsan Mountain in central Seoul. At 338m it certainly wasn't too out of reach for our capabilities – or so I thought. I knew that he wasn't one for the great outdoors or sport, but his choice of jeans and stylish trainers for hiking was understandably questionable. The hike was simple – mainly steps with a few ‘steady hand on ground’ moments – nothing the hundreds of grouped OAPs couldn't manage. I'd never seen a struggle quite like this and it was amazing he wasn't putting an act on. So many times I heard ‘go on without me’ as he panted for his dear life every ten minutes. When we were just meters from the top he finally said ‘enough is enough’ and collapsed, so I went to the top alone. The extraordinary view of Seoul was not to be missed, and after seeing my photos he dragged every ounce of energy he had left in his body to get to that heavenly peak. And he saw that it was good. Meanwhile, I shared some delicious cucumber with a generous Korean couple (not a euphemism) and spoke to the kind man about his time working in the UK in 1976 as a mechanical engineer. A delight, he was.

After a Nutella and ice cream waffle and a two hour walk, the sun was beginning to set. My most difficult time of the day had arrived – dinner. We searched far and wide and were eventually recommended somewhere by our next destination – Seoul Tower. We later got the cable car up to the highest point in Seoul on a hilltop at 237m (777 ft) and saw exceptional night views of one of the world’s most impressive cities. And – more importantly – for an extra 1500 Won (90p) we got a drink, popcorn and cheesy nachos.

Anyway, I inspected the sole vegetarian dish on this menu, and after confirming that no other restaurants on the road had English menus, we entered. The waitress confirmed there was no fish or meat in the dish and within about two minutes our food had arrived and my four plate meal looked good enough to eat. With that in mind, I tucked in, and it was delicious (as delicious as vegetables and rice can be). My stomach couldn't believe it's luck that it was getting a half-decent meal for a change, that is until I saw a cheeky hidden prawn smile at me. Put me right off that did…