Seoul is an amazing city with plenty to offer. Also, being my first time here in Asia there is a little bit of culture shock/weird things to get used to. For the most part these are little things, nothing like stray dogs. But here’s a few things that caught my eye while here:
Hear hear for beer!
People here (men for the most part) love to get rip roarin’ smashed, any night of the week! It’s quite normal on the subway to see a guy in a suit passed out. But what really got me was when I had the pleasure of taking the last train of the night. It was completely stainless steel inside, no upholstery and with good reason! The stench of booze was incredibly strong... Thankfully nobody got sick on the train, but there were a few puddles on the steps coming out of the subway, gross!
Also when it comes to nightlife, there are some really good deals to get YOU rip-roarin’ smashed. One of my nights I went clubbing, walking around I was bombarded by touts trying to get me into their club. The one who was successful was advertising 15,000won cover, admission to 3 clubs, free drinks from 11-12am. It was a fun night :)
Foreigners tend to stick together
One of the interesting things I’ve experienced here while in Seoul is that it seems when walking down the street and seeing another white guy, there will almost always be a smile/nod/wave. While I’d say the culture shock rating for this country is pretty low, the one thing you’ll realize shortly after getting off your flight is that you’re the minority. If you feel homesick, you can always head over to Itaewon which is the foreigner district. While on the subway approaching Itaewon, you’ll notice more and more foreigners boarding the train. The best way to sum up the feeling of walking around the main street of Itaewon (the side streets are scuzzy, notably hooker hill and its gay counterpart) is that you’ll feel like you’re in a Chinatown in North America. You’re still outnumbered, but not as much as before.
Bad...bad...drivers
Yeah I said it... But to be perfectly honest it’s true. While here I’ve seem many close calls, luckily none of them involved me. It seems as though there are no rules against using your mobile device while driving and I’ve seen countless drivers yaking on their phone. The best example is while in Myeong-dong, a very busy shopping district, you have a street which is pretty much a pedestrian walkway as there are thousands of people walking on the street and there are drivers making their way through them...while talking on their damn phone! No wonder this country has a ridiculous traffic mortality rate... Always remember to look both ways before you cross the road! For some of the bigger roads in busy areas, look for underpasses as there are plenty of them as the main big roads have gates separating traffic.
Subway Merchants
One of the weirdest things that I noticed is that there seems to be no rules here in Seoul regarding soliciting passengers on the trains. At any point some guy might come on the train and start yelling about his products. He’ll then start walking around and showing off his trinkets to other passengers. I’ve never seen anything like this and am sure that they’d be kicked off if we were in North America.
Hear hear for beer!
People here (men for the most part) love to get rip roarin’ smashed, any night of the week! It’s quite normal on the subway to see a guy in a suit passed out. But what really got me was when I had the pleasure of taking the last train of the night. It was completely stainless steel inside, no upholstery and with good reason! The stench of booze was incredibly strong... Thankfully nobody got sick on the train, but there were a few puddles on the steps coming out of the subway, gross!
Also when it comes to nightlife, there are some really good deals to get YOU rip-roarin’ smashed. One of my nights I went clubbing, walking around I was bombarded by touts trying to get me into their club. The one who was successful was advertising 15,000won cover, admission to 3 clubs, free drinks from 11-12am. It was a fun night :)
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| This can't be good... |
Foreigners tend to stick together
One of the interesting things I’ve experienced here while in Seoul is that it seems when walking down the street and seeing another white guy, there will almost always be a smile/nod/wave. While I’d say the culture shock rating for this country is pretty low, the one thing you’ll realize shortly after getting off your flight is that you’re the minority. If you feel homesick, you can always head over to Itaewon which is the foreigner district. While on the subway approaching Itaewon, you’ll notice more and more foreigners boarding the train. The best way to sum up the feeling of walking around the main street of Itaewon (the side streets are scuzzy, notably hooker hill and its gay counterpart) is that you’ll feel like you’re in a Chinatown in North America. You’re still outnumbered, but not as much as before.
Bad...bad...drivers
Yeah I said it... But to be perfectly honest it’s true. While here I’ve seem many close calls, luckily none of them involved me. It seems as though there are no rules against using your mobile device while driving and I’ve seen countless drivers yaking on their phone. The best example is while in Myeong-dong, a very busy shopping district, you have a street which is pretty much a pedestrian walkway as there are thousands of people walking on the street and there are drivers making their way through them...while talking on their damn phone! No wonder this country has a ridiculous traffic mortality rate... Always remember to look both ways before you cross the road! For some of the bigger roads in busy areas, look for underpasses as there are plenty of them as the main big roads have gates separating traffic.
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| A busy street in Myeong-dong. |
Subway Merchants
One of the weirdest things that I noticed is that there seems to be no rules here in Seoul regarding soliciting passengers on the trains. At any point some guy might come on the train and start yelling about his products. He’ll then start walking around and showing off his trinkets to other passengers. I’ve never seen anything like this and am sure that they’d be kicked off if we were in North America.
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| A subway merchant doing his thing. |
As I said earlier, the culture shock rating for this country is low. Everyone speaks a basic form of English, and most info is available to you in English as well. Most stuff that we have in the west is available here. There’s gonna be plenty of things you’ll notice that are different, but for the most part nothing major. Have you been here? I’d love to hear your observations.
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