So far, Soju.... 5th Nov 2006

It's now Sunday, and I have survived my first few days and a weekend in Seoul and am really impressed with the place so far.

It's far more Westernised than I thought, and has a Starbucks every 50 yards. There are literally 9 of them if you walk for 15 mins away from here.

I have a nice, if small studio apartment which has the advantage of being able to make your dinner without having to get out of your bed, more or less. Does have a huge TV though and is about 3 mins walk from work so really can't complain, and we are staying in an area which is the equivalent of Bank, so it's pretty posh for Seoul round here.

So far, the food has been pretty good, and if desperate, there is always rice or noodles to cling to(although this is somewhat tricky to do with metal chopsticks!) . Unfortunately, the national food of Gimchi (pickled, fermented cabbage with garlic and chilli) is even worse than I could have imagined - and our fridges absolutely reek of the stuff, so have had to cover the fridge in coffee granules in an attempt to get rid of the smell.

High points so far have been the Seoul Tower where this picture was taken from (it's really, really high - ha ha), Noraebang (Korean Karaoke) which was hilarious - have never heard Dancing Queen so brilliantly murdered and I was even able to accompany with a tambourine, and watching some really good live music in Itaewon, the foreigners area of nightlife. Oh, and seeing Matt having to wear an apron to prevent noodle spillage which looked like a B&Q uniform as pictured.



The reference to Soju is the spirit they drink here in vast quantities... have had to drink every night since arriving so far with the exception of Sunday.

As I am bound to offend someone every week, I thought I would have an offence of the week spot... This week's is a battle between:

1. Asking the Marketing Director if he could sing.
He looked at me in a horrifed way and said of course (everyone sings here - talent is gauged on volume rather than tone I suspect)
2. Us telling every Korean we met how excited we are to be visiting Korea as we thought that it would be polite, whereas it translates as being excited in a rather different way. Oh good.

Thought of the week:
If J-walking is illegal, why is it ok to drive motorbikes and cars (oh yes!) on pavements?!