Day 01 –
We’re here! In South Korea, in Seoul to be exact. We are going to spend a week at António’s, Doo’s friend. Right from the start, at the airport, we are impressed. Everything is super clean and there’s cutting-edge technology everywhere. It’s like we’re in the future, in the year 2050 at least. At the customs, the machine taking your fingertips is speaking your mother tongue. When you pay the parking (António came to pick us up even though it’s 5:30 in the morning), there’s a picture of your car, its parking spot and even the way to get there. And António’s car… well, there’s an automatic trunk (boot for you Brits), heated seats (even in the back), digital dashboards, the car can drive itself, etc, etc… Night and day compared to our Vietnamese scooter. We soon discover our first Korean landscapes. António lives in a very modern neighborhood. The view is superbe. There are skyscrappers with mountains in the background. And it’s fall (autumn for you Brits)!!! It feels sooooo great!! We had not seen this type of scenary and these cool temperatures for far too long. It’s like a rebirth. We’re in awe in front of every tree with fall colors, as for the temperatures, Doo is delighted! At long last, we can put on our jackets, sweaters (jumpers for you Brits 😁) and jeans we have been carrying around in our backpacks for two months (now they’re light and almost empty).
António’s place also feels like an appartment (flat for you…alright, we’ll stop that now) from the future. There’s cutting-edge tech everywhere and everything is well thought of: the lights, entrance door (without any keys), screens in the living-room and kitchen. By the way, the appartment talks to us from time to time, especially when we’re cooking. It’s in Korean so we couldn’t figure out what she’s saying, most probably: “your cooking smells delicious, you’re an awesome cook…” or something like that. So we take an abondant breakfast with António and we’re off to bed for a few hours. After a 5h nap/night, António, who’s working home today, cooked a delicious lunch for all of us with some elements of Korean food (small eggs in a can, seeweed and radish carpaccio). It feels great to rediscover the pleasure of a life in a home. Once full and bundled up, we go out for a stroll in this nice neighborhood. António told us where we could find a gigantic supermarket and a mall not too far from his place. So we eagerly check the supermarket out. What kind of products do the Korean eat? Well, we’re not disappointed in the slightest! There are huge bags of dried seeweed, all kinds of roots and tubers and lots of product from the sea (dry fish, octopus neetly packed, breathing fishes and weird looking molluscs still alive too)… What are we going to eat?!? Joke aside, there are also obvisously all the products we can find in our supermarkets. The only difference is that here, everything is very neetly packed, even the fruits and vegetables, like each apple and grape (alright… we’re kidding about the grapes but we’re being totally serious about the apples though).
After the supermarket, we head to the mall. It’s huge and super clean in spite of the dogs… Yes! Small dogs are allowed on a leash here, even in most of the shops… Can you imagine that in Paris ?! Anyway, we’re enjoying strolling down the aisles. We discover Korean fashion. Very cocooning. We like it a lot. We see out of the ordinary objects. A stroller for the whole family: the baby of course, but also the brother and the grandpa (we’re barely exaggerating 😄). Clothes for dogs matching the owner’s but also strollers for dogs. We venture ourselves trying a cream waffle despite António’s warning about Korean sweets. Well, he was right… even Côme finds it yuk! António meets us there and we all go to the restaurant. We feast on fried chicken wrapped up in a thin sliced radish. It’s really delicious! Our first day in South Korea was calm and peaceful. It feels good.
Day 02 –
Today is our first day exploring Seoul. In the (obviously) super modern subway, we make our first acquaintances. The Koreans are adorable with Côme. We share smiles and all kinds of interactions with them. They often speak very well English and when they don’t, they still talk to us in Korean as if we understand. We find it really warmhearted. We love it! A nice woman even offers Côme a present: a hairclip. She must have thought he was a girl. Of course, we put it on Côme in front of her and thank her very much. Côme is bummed out. We tell him to look happy, smile and thank the woman. Poor boy! We don’t tell him, but he definitely looks like a girl this way. We can’t show you because we swore not to take pictures so he won’t be ashamed in front of his friends from school (they follow our blog). But for the whole ride he’s asking us: “Can I take it off?” – “No Côme…” – “When can I take it off?” – “When the woman gets off the train Côme, when the woman gets off the train…”. And finally, after about 10 stops, the woman gets off the train… Côme is free!
We end up in a neighborhood called Meyong Dong. We take an immense pleasure rediscovering the reds and yellows of autumn leaves. So we take many pictures of trees. Alright it’s not very typical of South Korea but we’re just so happy to see them… In the morning, the streets are rather empty and most stores are closed, as if the city is a ghost town. António told us that Korean people opened their shop pretty late. We alternate between streets with rather low and old looking houses and streets with modern skyscrappers but the atmosphere remains the same: very calm and always very clean. Around a church, classical music is playing on the speakerphones. On the sidewalks, it is indicated that it is forbiden to smoke. We like Seoul very much. We meet agents with red coats distributing the map of the neighborhood and helping tourists to go around (we will find them again in many different neighborhoods). So today, Côme is learning how to read a map and he is the one guiding us. And if he doesn’t manage, that’s ok. We’ve already noticed that the cops here are super nice and always ready to help someone who’s lost. So we stroll down the beautiful streets of this neighborhood all day. We find humorous socks, arts and crafts, sweets in really funny packagings… In the evening, the atmosphere is quite different. Street vendors are filling the pedestrian streets. They are selling lobster skewers, waffles, caramelized fruits and many other delicacies.
We go back home not too late because tonight, it’s crepe party!! But before we take the subway, we have to buy a mask for Côme. He will hate it, almost worse than he hated the hairclip, but here, it’s mandatory in public transports and indoor public places. Arf… We had forgotten about the mask. We really didn’t miss it… Alright though, in a couple of days we’ll deduce that Côme doesn’t have to wear it because he is not 6 yet (at least in France…). In Korea, age is counted differently. Koreans add one year to everyone. They consider that when you’re born, you’re already one (pretty much like the first day on the Vietnamese visa). So here, Côme is 6 years old!!! But not for us, we’re counting the French way so no more masks for Côme. He’ll be delighted!
These first days, Côme:
Did not understand: why the children have to wear a mask.
Learnt: that he could drink from the tap once more.
Loved: to receive money from the subway card (here, subway tickets are cards containing a deposit you can claim when you give back the card. The timing of this was incredible because Côme had been trying to withdraw money with this card all afternoon in the ATMs and we discovered that in the evening).
Julia:
Did not understand: how to say hello in Korean.
Learnt: that Korean people liked to eat spicy and enjoyed bean deserts.
Loved: the kindness and altruism of Korean people.
Doo:
Did not understand: why the last stop is not indicated in the subway to choose which one to take.
Learnt: that Korean people queued to take the escalator out of the subway and that they respected the order in which people arrived (it’s just amazing!).
Loved: everything. The leaves in the trees, the cold, the Koreans, the cleanliness of the city, the architecture… everything.