Seoul: traditions and modernism

As mentioned before, Paul and I were following different routes after Vietnam. The original plan, to go to Japan was crossed out by the severe events at Fukushima, so I decided to give a visit to Korea instead. So it happened to be that I arrived to Seoul without my sidekick, but I met here our friend and fellow traveller, Eunjung, who we had already met in Peru and Argentina. She did a great job introducing me to everything, that’s Korean, especially helped me a lot with eating only the best Korean food:) I have also met here Zoltan, an old friend and colleague of mine from Hungary …talk about a small World!
Arriving to Seoul one can not help but notice the modernism, the advanced infrastructure, and the number of big and small bridges. The current president, formerly the mayor of Seoul has strong connections in the construction business, the explanation can be. He was also the youngest CEO in Korea at the age of 35 and he consults with Chuck Norris on a daily basis.

Apart from the modernism, Seoul also puts great emphasis on the traditions. A number of temples can be visited and traditional costumes are worn at changing of the guards and other occasions. If you are lucky, you can also catch some tunes played on the traditional Korean gayageum.

A funny tradition in Korea that you take off your shoes before entering someone’s home. The first hostel I stayed happened to be in one bigger house, so the shoe store facility was right outside the front door. It was not that funny to take off your shoes in 5 degrees Celsius. Korean homes traditionally had neither chairs, nor beds: you were sitting on the floor and sleeping on the floor. On the plus side however, their floor-heating technology dates back quite some time, so once inside the house, you won’t be cold.
Korean cuisine is great, especially if you dig spicy food. Traditional Korean meals consist of a number of shared side dishes and one or two main dishes. Amongst the side dishes you can almost always find the ever-popular kimchi, a spicy kind of cabbage. Korean barbecue is made right at your table and Korean pancakes are a cheap and yummie alternative if you don’t feel like eating anything complicated. Soju is the local “sake”, and men and women are not afraid to get a bottle, even if they can not handle the alcohol content of it. Unique in Korea that they are using steel chopsticks. Originally the royal family started to use them, being afraid of food poisoning, but later on it became the number one utensil of the common people as well. I have to say, it feels much better to eat with them, than with their wooden and plastic brothers.

Korean writing might seem Chinese at first, but it is actually based on a standard alphabet. In a matter of days you can start reading out loud Korean words, even though you will have most of the time no idea what they mean:)

Being a Korean teenager has it’s own peculiarities. Young adults keep living with their parents, they are spoiled with technology, but dating a boyfriend/girlfriend has some very rigid rules. Couples have hardly any place to go if they want to spend some time together. That’d where DVD rooms come into picture. Originally these are small private rooms, that you can rent to watch a movie with your friends, but they are mostly used as a place of romantic encounters. No need to say, DVD rooms are not difficult to find anywhere in Seoul.
Youngsters are also flooded by hundreds of teen boy and girl bands. The recipe is always the same: a group of 6 or 7 teen stars, converted by excess plastic surgery, sings stupid songs on the TV all day long…literally … and they are popular.

One of the last days I stayed in Seoul, I hit the local fish market. Normally it is full of merchants and customers, but those days consumption dropped to a minimum as people were afraid of radioactive leakage at the shores of Japan. The local authorities did their best to tell people that the fish is safe and it is being monitored 24/7.

Ha Long Bay

From the very moment you arrive to Ha Noi, Vietnam, you will be overwhelmed by the numerous trip offers to Ha Long bay. The offers differ greatly in price, but from the pictures they show, you will have hard time to judge the quality. The rule here is do NOT take a one day trip! Take a 2 or 3 night trip, where you sleep on the boat, and try not to take the cheapest tour. Mid-priced tours offer okay cabins and delicious food on board. For the drinks you will have to pay a bit higher price onboard, but there are always plenty of little commerce boats around the main boat, where you can buy drinks and snacks. The tour-boats themselves are called “junks”, and from the outside they all look pretty much the same, but on the cheap ones you might have to inhale exhaust from the engine or have bad service on board. To sum up: don’t take the cheap tours!

The bay itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and 2 days ago it was also elected as one of the new seven natural wonders of the World (so actual our blog is:)). The islands and the little hidden bays greatly resemble to the ones you can see in Thailand and the Philippines, but here, you can also see a number of holy caves. Your imaginative tour guide will most likely tell you what kind of animals you can see, formed by the stalagmites and stalactites (most of them are actually “monkey”), but don’t worry if you don’t see the figures yourself. Try to take a tour that offers a stop at the Ti Top island. This island was named after the second cosmonaut who was entering the orbit around the Earth: Gherman Titov. (Apart from having an island named after him, there is a crater on the Moon named after him, and he holds the title “Hero of Labor of Vietnam”.) The view from the top of the island is magnificent, especially if you arrive before the flood of tourists and the surrounding islands are just about to wake up from the embrace of the morning fog.

Prezi presentation

...back in June I made a little presentation for my brother's English Club in Hungary. I slightly changed the presentation and now put it here as well. Of course without any commentaries it is not that much enjoyable, but maybe some of you find inspiration from it:) Enjoy!

Simply Around The World - prezi presentation on Prezi

Hanoi: it’s different!

I like Hanoi. It is so different from other Southeast Asian capitals!

Going for a walk on a misty morning might just feel like a journey back in time. There are no tall buildings or skyscrapers or metro lines in the city. Strolling down on one of the wider French-style avenues, you catch a glimpse of key military and government buildings left and right. All of them having the red star or the hammer and the sickle, or all three. The buildings are protected by dish-hatted sharp-looking soldiers and you can’t help but wonder if they will shoot you if you snap a photograph. In fact they try to look strict, but the badminton court lines painted on the asphalt in front of their guard posts reveals what they really do when no one is watching. 

Apart from the colonial buildings built during the French rule, the architecture of common buildings has a fascinating resemblance of Dutch architecture in terms of façade width: these guys, just like the Dutch, used to pay taxes according to the width of the façade of the building. No wonder most houses you will see have a distinct brick-shape, the width being the smallest dimension.

Services are also more limited than in other capitals around. In Bangkok for example we got used to be able to find a place to eat all around the clock. In Hanoi old quarter we had a hard time finding anything to eat at 22:30! In fact most places MUST close at midnight, a few stay open later, but they switch off the neon lights outside.

Another distinct feature of the city is it’s traffic. By the time we landed in Vietnam, we have been to a couple of traffic-crazy cities, but none of them came close to Hanoi. Take all the motorbikes from Jakarta, multiply them by three, combine them with all the horn-pushing freaks from Peru and oblige them to sound their horn constantly: that’s when you get something like the traffic in Hanoi. There is flood of motorbikes everywhere. Not just on the roads, but the common thing is to park them on the sidewalk. As a result the pedestrians are forced to walk in the middle of the road, surrounded by the bypassing other motorbikes, cars and pedicabs. Traffic lights are not very common, thus for a pedestrian to get to the other side of the street the required steps are the following:

1. take a deep breath
2. watch out for incoming traffic, but start the crossing
3. don’t slow down, don’t speed up, walk in an even pace
4. you are on the other side: celebrate:)

People are so attached to their motors that it is not uncommon to see drivers eating or sleeping on them. In the evening it is customary to take the so far outside parked motorbikes inside the houses. Even fancier hotels do that, so don’t get surprised when you get greeted with a couple of vehicles in the hall when you perform a late night return.

Motorbikes can officially carry maximum two people, but everyone knows it is a joke. The empirical limit is 5 people plus a couple of flat-screen TVs and a medium-sized chicken.

Apart from the crazy number of motorbikes, Hanoi also features the worst car drivers I have seen on the trip. Breaking is kind of a last resort when the horns don’t have the desired effect. Passing from the right is OK. Even if there is no paved road on the right. Passing from left with oncoming traffic is also OK, the passing is the important thing!

You will find a large number of cyclos or pedicabs as well. They are vitally the same as the tuktuks in Bangkok, except that they are pedal operated, and tourists sit in the front. The rule is the same here: never take them, or take them once for the feeling but bargain hard before. And above all, don’t wet your pants if the driver decides to take you against oncoming traffic (remember: with you being in the front).

If you like embalmed bodies of great leaders, pay a visit to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Visits are allowed on most mornings but be prepared that you cannot take anything with you, you have to wear proper shoes and long trousers and no way that you can speak, put your hands in your pockets or show any other signs of disrespect in front of the plastic-like corpse of Ho Chi Minh.

The food in Vietnam is generally delicious. Can be spicy at times, but nothing you can’t survive. The most famous dish is the pho bo, which is essentially noodle soup with beef, often served as breakfast. Many locals sit outside on tiny plastic chairs while enjoying their lunch or evening meal, or just a drink. Vietnam has the largest number of these little plastic chairs, and in total they are estimated to reach until the Moon, if they are stacked on top of each other. Talk about Vietnam space program!
Dogs and snakes are also commonly consumed, but you need to go to special places to get them. In fact there are certain cities around Hanoi that are specialized in certain things. In one city you go to eat snake meat, in another you go to have a cheap suit tailored to you, in a third one you go if you want quality silk dresses. Hanoi itself has also streets specialized in certain goods. You will find silk street, gold street, veggie street, shoe street, food street, etc.

Let’s steer finally to the silk dresses. The traditional wear for women is the so called ao dai. It is an eye-catching long sleeved, long-legged silk dress, and it is not uncommon to see girls wearing it. The plain white version also serves as the official school uniform.

The capital of Thailand…

Let me start with a classic, that always cracks me up:

So Bangkok it is!
The full name of the city is actually Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit, which roughly translates to “The crazy big city with lot of Buddhas, emeralds, tuk-tuk drivers and prositutes”. It is officially the longest place name of the world, and the city is statistically the hottest city as well, with temperatures over 30C throughout the year.

The city is well known for its crazy nightlife and prostitution. And let’s face it: Bangkok and prostitution come hand in hand. While nudity is officially forbidden, this is nowhere enforced, and you must be blind not to come across bars with go-go dancers or ping-pong shows. (If you don’t know what is a ping pong show, stop here, google around a bit, and come back later:)) Be prepared to see a lot of westerners enjoying the services of such places, and although I haven't seen it yet, Hangover 2 might be a good guide what not to do in the city:) Also be prepared to see quite a few white daddies (mostly German pensioners) hanging around with their probably-just-over 18 sweethearts of questionable sexual identity.

(Once we are at the topic, please note that funnily enough the …porn suffix is quite common in Thai surnames. This does not necessarily mean that the person works in the sex industry, and for example the surname Pandaporn does not imply anything abusive of the animal rights of the Pandas:)

The good news is, that apart from the above, Bangkok has much fun to offer. One of the most frequented areas by tourists is the Khao San Road. This street not only has a number of bars, discos, restaurants, street sellers 24/7, but you can simply shop for some fake ids and diplomas also. We were seriously considering to purchase a French press id and a Master of Business diploma issued by the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The whole city is so alive, that it is really easy to find something to eat or an open internet-café almost 24 hours a day. To get around, you can use the modern subway and monorail system, taxis, tuk-tuks or motortaxis, or, due to the high number of channels criss-crossing the city, you might even consider motorboats. Now a word of warning about tuktuks. Even though they look fun and cheap, they are NOT. Your guidebook will also tell you not to take any, unless you want to be ripped off or have a lot of time to waste. Tuktuks are NEVER cheaper than taxis, nor faster, nor comfortable. Take it once for the feeling, but bargain a lot and never let the driver take you to any shops. In fact you can get a free ride if you visit three or more shops, simply because the driver gets commission if he takes you there. Motortaxis are simply motors, which will take you on their back seat. They are safe in terms that the driver will not mug you, like in Colombia could happen, but the speed can be too fast and the distance of other objects from your knees too small. Take it for short distances, if you know where you go, otherwise always opt for a taxi. Now taxis are also not that easy to navigate. Taxi drivers hardly ever speak English or able to read maps. At night time in front of popular tourist places they simply refuse to use the meter and overcharge you by 400%. Very often even with clear directions they will take you to one hotel they know asking if this was the destination you wanted? That is the time when you have to consider if you take another chance with them, or send them to the holy Buddha and look for another ride.

Talking about Buddha, if after a few days you still haven't seen the golden, the emerald, the smiling, the reclining, the giant, the small, the big, the black, the wooden, the normal Buddha along with several thousand other meditating Buddhas, you probably spent too much time out in the night, not focusing on the cultural values of the city:) There are a number of great temples and religious sites you can visit, and most places you will have to remove your shoes and careful not to point your toes at Buddha. Some places though don’t require you to remove your shoes, and after all it will be a total confusion.