Thursdaysd's East Asian Excursion
Nov 3rd, 2010, 06:27 PM
#141
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 834
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I was certainly told the chopsticks were traditional and we used them all over the country. Not anywhere near as easy to use as wooden ones! I saw them for sale all over Seoul and in markets and shops everywhere - often packed in little pouches.
Interesting Thursday, about dipping the loaded spoon in the soup. We weren't told that but were told it was impolite to use the chopsticks in the mouth. That is, use the spoon for rice and pick up little bits from the dishes with the chopsticks to transfer to the rice bowl. However we seldom saw any of the Koreans doing this as they just got stuck in. The only thing that seemed to matter was that you didn't pick up your rice bowl to eat. This actually made it difficult as you are sitting on the floor and don't get really that close to the table and so you need to be a dab hand to get food from the bowl to the mouth without accident!
I'm enjoying your report and looking forward to more.
Interesting Thursday, about dipping the loaded spoon in the soup. We weren't told that but were told it was impolite to use the chopsticks in the mouth. That is, use the spoon for rice and pick up little bits from the dishes with the chopsticks to transfer to the rice bowl. However we seldom saw any of the Koreans doing this as they just got stuck in. The only thing that seemed to matter was that you didn't pick up your rice bowl to eat. This actually made it difficult as you are sitting on the floor and don't get really that close to the table and so you need to be a dab hand to get food from the bowl to the mouth without accident!
I'm enjoying your report and looking forward to more.
Nov 5th, 2010, 04:04 AM
#142
Original Poster
<b>Oct 14-16 - Historic Gyeongju</b>
Taxis are pretty cheap in Korea, so instead of a long limp I took a taxi to the Sarangchae Guest House (http://www.kjstay.com/ ) in Gyeongju. At first I thought I had made a mistake – the place looked a bit worn and tired – but it turned out to be a great travelers’ hangout. Not something I want all the time, but a nice break every now and then. It was a bit far from the nearest bus stop, but the tumuli (or Silla tombs) for which the town is famous were right next door – looming atmospherically over the containing wall at night. I was sleeping on the floor again, but this time, in accordance with Korean custom, the floor was heated! In fact, it was heated so efficiently that several guests, including me, asked for the heat to be turned down after the first night. Once again, I had no problem sleeping, but I did miss having somewhere to put things.
The tombs are basically large rounded hillocks, covered with grass. Originally they held coffins, protected first by wooden and later by stone chambers, which were covered with rocks and then earth. Over 670 of these tombs still remain in and around Gyeongju, the tallest 25 meters high, although some of the contents have been removed to the city's museum. The Silla or Shilla king Munmo was the first to unify the Korean peninsula, in 668 C.E., and the dynasty ruled until 918. Like the contemporaneous Tang dynasty in China, the kingdom developed a flourishing culture and luxurious lifestyle. However, after a while all the hillocks started to look alike - I certainly didn't need to see all 670 of them!
About the time I decided I had seen enough tombs for one morning, I acquired a companion - a man staying at the same guest house. I'm not quite sure why he decided to join me, as I was limping quite slowly, but we did seem to have a similar agenda. My first priority was to locate the intercity bus terminal and try to buy a ticket for my next destination. Once again, I found out how hospitable the Koreans could be. A young couple who were visiting the town put us in their just-parked car and drove us around to find the bus station. People on Twitter had suggested I might have trouble traveling in Korea outside Seoul, as few people would speak English, but I found those who did going well out of their way to be helpful.
After lunch we took a bus to the museum, where we found several large school groups who seemed delighted to see westerners. I have two museum speeds: dead slow, where I read all the labels and/or listen to everything on the audio guide, and super-fast, where I stand in the middle of each room and do a 360 to see if anything catches my attention. This museum rated dead slow, especially the rooms holding the gold artifacts from the Silla tombs. The last stop of the day was a different kind of dead slow. The guide books said that the Bomun Lake area, a few kilometers out of the center, had been developed as a resort area, and it sounded like a good place to get coffee.
Not on an October afternoon, evidently. We finally had the front desk staff at one of the big hotels track down someone to make coffee for us. The next week the finance deputies for the upcoming G20 meeting were supposed to be staying at Bomun Lake, maybe it would be livelier then. Or maybe there'd just be a bunch of security. (I was glad to be leaving the country before the G20 meeting proper got underway.)
The next day I was back on my own, and I took the circular bus out to Bulguk-sa. And I do mean out. None of the maps I saw of Gyeongju were to scale, and the distances were much further than they looked. The first temple on the site went up in the 500s, but it has been rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt several times. The last restoration was completed in 1972, and the result is impressive. And despite the crowds, I got a real sense of peace from the building housing a statue of Gwaneum (the Goddess of Mercy). Unfortunately I was less happy with the Seokguram grotto, on the mountain above Bulguk-sa. While I understand the reason for the glass that blocks access to the main part of the grotto, it also blocks the view of all but a few of the carvings lyrically described in the guidebooks. Since getting there involved a bus ride plus a 1.2 kilometer round-trip hike, I felt cheated.
Back at the guest house I found a small TV crew shooting a travel show and looking for interview subjects. Since I hate having my photo taken, and I much prefer to write rather than speak, I was very glad when someone else volunteered. That night I ate dinner with her and her companion - a good minced beef BBQ (bulgogi) with the usual side dishes at a Lonely Planet recommendation, Pyeongyang. The flexible steel "snake" over the table turned out to be an extractor fan. On the way back we passed an outdoor concert of traditional music, but while we admired the costumes none of us cared for the music. Back at the guest house the owners had started a fire in a metal drum, as the night was on the cool side, and a group of us sat around it sharing travel stories. The heated floor was more welcome that night.
Taxis are pretty cheap in Korea, so instead of a long limp I took a taxi to the Sarangchae Guest House (http://www.kjstay.com/ ) in Gyeongju. At first I thought I had made a mistake – the place looked a bit worn and tired – but it turned out to be a great travelers’ hangout. Not something I want all the time, but a nice break every now and then. It was a bit far from the nearest bus stop, but the tumuli (or Silla tombs) for which the town is famous were right next door – looming atmospherically over the containing wall at night. I was sleeping on the floor again, but this time, in accordance with Korean custom, the floor was heated! In fact, it was heated so efficiently that several guests, including me, asked for the heat to be turned down after the first night. Once again, I had no problem sleeping, but I did miss having somewhere to put things.
The tombs are basically large rounded hillocks, covered with grass. Originally they held coffins, protected first by wooden and later by stone chambers, which were covered with rocks and then earth. Over 670 of these tombs still remain in and around Gyeongju, the tallest 25 meters high, although some of the contents have been removed to the city's museum. The Silla or Shilla king Munmo was the first to unify the Korean peninsula, in 668 C.E., and the dynasty ruled until 918. Like the contemporaneous Tang dynasty in China, the kingdom developed a flourishing culture and luxurious lifestyle. However, after a while all the hillocks started to look alike - I certainly didn't need to see all 670 of them!
About the time I decided I had seen enough tombs for one morning, I acquired a companion - a man staying at the same guest house. I'm not quite sure why he decided to join me, as I was limping quite slowly, but we did seem to have a similar agenda. My first priority was to locate the intercity bus terminal and try to buy a ticket for my next destination. Once again, I found out how hospitable the Koreans could be. A young couple who were visiting the town put us in their just-parked car and drove us around to find the bus station. People on Twitter had suggested I might have trouble traveling in Korea outside Seoul, as few people would speak English, but I found those who did going well out of their way to be helpful.
After lunch we took a bus to the museum, where we found several large school groups who seemed delighted to see westerners. I have two museum speeds: dead slow, where I read all the labels and/or listen to everything on the audio guide, and super-fast, where I stand in the middle of each room and do a 360 to see if anything catches my attention. This museum rated dead slow, especially the rooms holding the gold artifacts from the Silla tombs. The last stop of the day was a different kind of dead slow. The guide books said that the Bomun Lake area, a few kilometers out of the center, had been developed as a resort area, and it sounded like a good place to get coffee.
Not on an October afternoon, evidently. We finally had the front desk staff at one of the big hotels track down someone to make coffee for us. The next week the finance deputies for the upcoming G20 meeting were supposed to be staying at Bomun Lake, maybe it would be livelier then. Or maybe there'd just be a bunch of security. (I was glad to be leaving the country before the G20 meeting proper got underway.)
The next day I was back on my own, and I took the circular bus out to Bulguk-sa. And I do mean out. None of the maps I saw of Gyeongju were to scale, and the distances were much further than they looked. The first temple on the site went up in the 500s, but it has been rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt several times. The last restoration was completed in 1972, and the result is impressive. And despite the crowds, I got a real sense of peace from the building housing a statue of Gwaneum (the Goddess of Mercy). Unfortunately I was less happy with the Seokguram grotto, on the mountain above Bulguk-sa. While I understand the reason for the glass that blocks access to the main part of the grotto, it also blocks the view of all but a few of the carvings lyrically described in the guidebooks. Since getting there involved a bus ride plus a 1.2 kilometer round-trip hike, I felt cheated.
Back at the guest house I found a small TV crew shooting a travel show and looking for interview subjects. Since I hate having my photo taken, and I much prefer to write rather than speak, I was very glad when someone else volunteered. That night I ate dinner with her and her companion - a good minced beef BBQ (bulgogi) with the usual side dishes at a Lonely Planet recommendation, Pyeongyang. The flexible steel "snake" over the table turned out to be an extractor fan. On the way back we passed an outdoor concert of traditional music, but while we admired the costumes none of us cared for the music. Back at the guest house the owners had started a fire in a metal drum, as the night was on the cool side, and a group of us sat around it sharing travel stories. The heated floor was more welcome that night.
Nov 5th, 2010, 05:40 AM
#143
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 23,073
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am amused by the comments about the chopsticks. I have used chopsticks since a kid, and the shape of the cross-section makes no difference - round, square, oval, rectangular, triangle. To me, it's the material that I don't like, as metal chopsticks feel cold in the mouth.
Nov 5th, 2010, 10:17 AM
#144
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,521
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I agree with rkkwan re the chopsticks: it's not the shape but the material. Not only is metal cold in the mouth (or too hot if you're using them to move food around in a skillet) but the coefficient of friction between metal and food is typically too low to permit handling of slippery food. Scoring or abrading the metal surface helps, but then you've still got the cold/hot thing to deal with.
Nov 5th, 2010, 10:29 AM
#145
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 6,370
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
According to the wiki people a little about chopsticks:
<i> * Chinese: longer sticks that are square in cross section at one end (where they are held) and round in cross section at the other (where they contact the food), ending in a blunt tip.
* Japanese: short to medium length sticks that taper to a pointed end. Japanese chopsticks are traditionally made of wood and are lacquered. Some chopstick sets include two lengths of chopsticks: shorter ones for women and longer ones for men. Child-sized chopsticks are widely sold.
* Korean: medium-length stainless-steel tapered rods, with a flat rectangular cross section. (Traditionally, they were made of brass or silver.) Many Korean metal chopsticks are ornately decorated at the grip. They are sometimes used to put food on a spoon, which then brings food to the mouth.
* Vietnamese: long sticks that taper to a blunt point; traditionally wooden. A đũa cả is a large pair of flat chopsticks that is used to serve rice from a pot.</i>
Enjoying your report thursdays and loving even more the pics on your blog site
Aloha!
<i> * Chinese: longer sticks that are square in cross section at one end (where they are held) and round in cross section at the other (where they contact the food), ending in a blunt tip.
* Japanese: short to medium length sticks that taper to a pointed end. Japanese chopsticks are traditionally made of wood and are lacquered. Some chopstick sets include two lengths of chopsticks: shorter ones for women and longer ones for men. Child-sized chopsticks are widely sold.
* Korean: medium-length stainless-steel tapered rods, with a flat rectangular cross section. (Traditionally, they were made of brass or silver.) Many Korean metal chopsticks are ornately decorated at the grip. They are sometimes used to put food on a spoon, which then brings food to the mouth.
* Vietnamese: long sticks that taper to a blunt point; traditionally wooden. A đũa cả is a large pair of flat chopsticks that is used to serve rice from a pot.</i>
Enjoying your report thursdays and loving even more the pics on your blog site
Aloha!
Nov 6th, 2010, 12:37 AM
#146
Original Poster
Interesting information on chopsticks. I agree that metal (and to some extent plastic) is more slippery than wood, and that's what makes it difficult for those of us who didn't grow up eating with chopsticks.
Glad to know there are still people reading this!
Glad to know there are still people reading this!
Nov 6th, 2010, 01:28 AM
#147
Original Poster
<b>Oct 17-19 - Avoid Jeonju!</b>
Jeonju made it onto my itinerary because of a brochure from the Korean Tourist Office. Large section of traditional houses, it said. Stay in a traditional house (hanok), it said. Stay in a hanok (Seunggwangjae) owned by the grandson of the last king. Lonely Planet also spoke highly of Seunggwangje: "live like a king at Jeonju's best hanok". Sounded good, although I had remarkable difficulty making a reservation - no English on the web site, no email address on the web site, no response to a phone message left by a Korean-speaking friend-of-a-friend. Finally, a helpful man in the Seoul Tourist Office made the reservation for me, and I confirmed it, as requested, the week before I was due to arrive.
My day got off to a bad start. Although the bus station was closer than the train station to the guest house, it wasn't close enough I wanted to walk it with my pack. But when I asked for a taxi I was told that I couldn't get a taxi because a marathon was taking place. So I walked. Actually, I walked right through the middle of the marathon... Then the bus stopped for a lunch break, but only for 20 minutes. Finally, the taxi in Jeonju had a lot of trouble getting me to the right place (possibly because a festival was in progress).
So, I was very ready to be treated like royalty. Instead, the woman apparently in charge kept waving me away as if I were in the wrong place. After I rechecked the name over the gate (in Korean characters) I made it clear I thought I was in the right place. The hanok's courtyard was full of tourists taking photos and poking into corners (not an encouraging sight for someone who values privacy) and one translated for me: there was a problem with my reservation and I needed to spend the first night somewhere else. The somewhere else turned out to have a shared shower room as the entry way, with a shared toilet in the courtyard. When I said this was unacceptable, a lot of loud phone calls ensued, and I was eventually told my room at Seunggwangjae would be available at 5:00pm. I should have bailed at this point, instead I spent a couple of hours checking out the festival, drinking coffee and finding an English speaking contact at the local tourist office.
At 5:00 I found out that their solution to the problem was to have the man currently occupying "my" room move out, which of course he refused to do. I don't know whether they double-booked the room, or he asked to stay longer and they didn't tell him he couldn't, and I don't especially care. What bothered me was the totally unprofessional way they handled the situation. The "assistant" dealing with me (via phone calls with the very helpful woman in the tourist office) finally offered to comp me a room at another hanok for one night, but by that time I wanted nothing more to do with him or his operation, plus I didn't want to have to move the next day. I wound up instead at the Hotel Hansung, sleeping on the (heated) floor but with actual shelves to put things on.
The Hansung was in the modern Gaeksa shopping and eating district, which I actually preferred to the historic section. Since new "historic" buildings were under construction it wasn't clear how many of the advertised 800 hanoks were original, plus those in good repair were mostly occupied by shops, with the occasional cafe or museum. In other words it was a big tourist trap. At least the Gaeksa district was full of young locals enjoying themselves. I wasn't very impressed with the region's signature dish, bibimbap, either, but perhaps I was just in a bad mood.
(Note: I communicated with the man who made my reservation, who was properly apologetic and who assured me that they will no longer recommend the Seunggwangjae. I still need to send feedback to Lonely Planet, although the last time I sent a complaint (about the "tour guide from hell" in Romania in 2006) it had absolutely no effect and he's still listed.)
Jeonju made it onto my itinerary because of a brochure from the Korean Tourist Office. Large section of traditional houses, it said. Stay in a traditional house (hanok), it said. Stay in a hanok (Seunggwangjae) owned by the grandson of the last king. Lonely Planet also spoke highly of Seunggwangje: "live like a king at Jeonju's best hanok". Sounded good, although I had remarkable difficulty making a reservation - no English on the web site, no email address on the web site, no response to a phone message left by a Korean-speaking friend-of-a-friend. Finally, a helpful man in the Seoul Tourist Office made the reservation for me, and I confirmed it, as requested, the week before I was due to arrive.
My day got off to a bad start. Although the bus station was closer than the train station to the guest house, it wasn't close enough I wanted to walk it with my pack. But when I asked for a taxi I was told that I couldn't get a taxi because a marathon was taking place. So I walked. Actually, I walked right through the middle of the marathon... Then the bus stopped for a lunch break, but only for 20 minutes. Finally, the taxi in Jeonju had a lot of trouble getting me to the right place (possibly because a festival was in progress).
So, I was very ready to be treated like royalty. Instead, the woman apparently in charge kept waving me away as if I were in the wrong place. After I rechecked the name over the gate (in Korean characters) I made it clear I thought I was in the right place. The hanok's courtyard was full of tourists taking photos and poking into corners (not an encouraging sight for someone who values privacy) and one translated for me: there was a problem with my reservation and I needed to spend the first night somewhere else. The somewhere else turned out to have a shared shower room as the entry way, with a shared toilet in the courtyard. When I said this was unacceptable, a lot of loud phone calls ensued, and I was eventually told my room at Seunggwangjae would be available at 5:00pm. I should have bailed at this point, instead I spent a couple of hours checking out the festival, drinking coffee and finding an English speaking contact at the local tourist office.
At 5:00 I found out that their solution to the problem was to have the man currently occupying "my" room move out, which of course he refused to do. I don't know whether they double-booked the room, or he asked to stay longer and they didn't tell him he couldn't, and I don't especially care. What bothered me was the totally unprofessional way they handled the situation. The "assistant" dealing with me (via phone calls with the very helpful woman in the tourist office) finally offered to comp me a room at another hanok for one night, but by that time I wanted nothing more to do with him or his operation, plus I didn't want to have to move the next day. I wound up instead at the Hotel Hansung, sleeping on the (heated) floor but with actual shelves to put things on.
The Hansung was in the modern Gaeksa shopping and eating district, which I actually preferred to the historic section. Since new "historic" buildings were under construction it wasn't clear how many of the advertised 800 hanoks were original, plus those in good repair were mostly occupied by shops, with the occasional cafe or museum. In other words it was a big tourist trap. At least the Gaeksa district was full of young locals enjoying themselves. I wasn't very impressed with the region's signature dish, bibimbap, either, but perhaps I was just in a bad mood.
(Note: I communicated with the man who made my reservation, who was properly apologetic and who assured me that they will no longer recommend the Seunggwangjae. I still need to send feedback to Lonely Planet, although the last time I sent a complaint (about the "tour guide from hell" in Romania in 2006) it had absolutely no effect and he's still listed.)
Nov 6th, 2010, 08:05 PM
#151
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 4,121
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Me too. I'm following this closely thursday. I keep getting this image of you hoiking that bloody backpack on your shoulders and limping down the road, pausing only to scoff a bucket of pig's offal before finding your next inch-thin mattress on some Korean floor.
Your latest little adventure is one that would have had me checking in to the nearest, most expensive hotel I could find. Situations like this are really hellish for the solo traveler, with or without a common language.
So bravo you, thursday - but I too think it's time for you to love yourself a little more and reward yourself with some pampering.
Your latest little adventure is one that would have had me checking in to the nearest, most expensive hotel I could find. Situations like this are really hellish for the solo traveler, with or without a common language.
So bravo you, thursday - but I too think it's time for you to love yourself a little more and reward yourself with some pampering.
Nov 7th, 2010, 12:39 AM
#153
Original Poster
Thanks for all the good thoughts! Actually, the Hansung was the SECOND hotel I tried after the hanok disaster - the first one was just too grim. And the Hansung really wasn't bad - sleeping on the floor has been fine aside from not having anywhere to put things - and being too hot the first night on a heated floor. And I mostly ate well in Korea.
Does foot and body massage in Taipei count as pampering? And a visit to a hair salon in HK? Plus my last two days in HK have been rainy, so I mostly stayed indoors - over a glass of wine, over coffee, and eating Pret a Manger salad and sandwiches in my room - after two months of eating out every night, it was nice to eat in for a change.
Here's the last Korean installment - I'm typing this in the Cathay lounge at HK airport waiting to board my flight to KTM (after a welcome shower), so I don't want to get too many countries behind! BTW dogster, nice to hear from you, where are you now? Istanbul?
<b>Oct 19-21 - Back to Seoul</b>
Buying a ticket for the bus to Seoul was no problem - although I had to move fast to make it onto the 10:00. This time the food stop was only for 15 minutes, and I didn't bother to try to eat. Once I got checked in back at the Ibis (intercontinental comforts again) I had a chicken sandwich in one of the little cafes on the street outside, followed by coffee at Starbucks on the main road (called, oddly, Teheran-ro). Unfortunately, I couldn't use their wifi as I needed a Korean ID number to sign on, but then I didn't really need net access to write a blog post. Dinner was chicken and rice near my friends' apartment, followed by a walk round their upscale Apgujeong neighborhood.
My last full day in Korea was much like my first, except that this time I visited Changdeok Palace instead of Gyeongbok. Built on hilly terrain, Changdeok doesn't follow the usual south-north layout, but is more spread out. I was most interested in seeing the "secret garden" behind the buildings, but when I learned that the mandatory tour would last two hours, I bailed at the half-way point. Aside from not wanting to stress my foot, I was getting hungry, and the grey day wasn't the best for photographs. I do think the grounds would be lovely on a sunny day, though, especially after the leaves changed.
I ate lunch at the same place off Insadong as before (chicken this time), and had coffee and macarons at the same patisserie. I also took a look at a shop selling embroidery recommended in Lonely Planet, but thought the work not as good as that I'd seen in Suzhou, while the prices seemed similarly high. I considered visiting one of the markets, but the map I got from the T.I. said that they mostly sold clothes, so I visited the COEX mall near the Ibis instead. Plenty of clothes for sale there, too, but dressy new ones.
The Korean countryside had impressed me, and I'd like to go back when I could hike, but now I was ready to move on. I ate dinner at the hotel - the beef bulgogi was much better than the nasi goreng had been - and packed. Then I set the alarm for 5:15, which got me out of the hotel and into a taxi at 6:00. CALT, the City Air terminal, was really walking distance, but Korean taxis weren't that expensive. I ate breakfast in the Cathay Pacific lounge, and then again on the flight to Taipei. (Since I figured I could call that brunch, I had a glass of good Shiraz with it.)
Does foot and body massage in Taipei count as pampering? And a visit to a hair salon in HK? Plus my last two days in HK have been rainy, so I mostly stayed indoors - over a glass of wine, over coffee, and eating Pret a Manger salad and sandwiches in my room - after two months of eating out every night, it was nice to eat in for a change.
Here's the last Korean installment - I'm typing this in the Cathay lounge at HK airport waiting to board my flight to KTM (after a welcome shower), so I don't want to get too many countries behind! BTW dogster, nice to hear from you, where are you now? Istanbul?
<b>Oct 19-21 - Back to Seoul</b>
Buying a ticket for the bus to Seoul was no problem - although I had to move fast to make it onto the 10:00. This time the food stop was only for 15 minutes, and I didn't bother to try to eat. Once I got checked in back at the Ibis (intercontinental comforts again) I had a chicken sandwich in one of the little cafes on the street outside, followed by coffee at Starbucks on the main road (called, oddly, Teheran-ro). Unfortunately, I couldn't use their wifi as I needed a Korean ID number to sign on, but then I didn't really need net access to write a blog post. Dinner was chicken and rice near my friends' apartment, followed by a walk round their upscale Apgujeong neighborhood.
My last full day in Korea was much like my first, except that this time I visited Changdeok Palace instead of Gyeongbok. Built on hilly terrain, Changdeok doesn't follow the usual south-north layout, but is more spread out. I was most interested in seeing the "secret garden" behind the buildings, but when I learned that the mandatory tour would last two hours, I bailed at the half-way point. Aside from not wanting to stress my foot, I was getting hungry, and the grey day wasn't the best for photographs. I do think the grounds would be lovely on a sunny day, though, especially after the leaves changed.
I ate lunch at the same place off Insadong as before (chicken this time), and had coffee and macarons at the same patisserie. I also took a look at a shop selling embroidery recommended in Lonely Planet, but thought the work not as good as that I'd seen in Suzhou, while the prices seemed similarly high. I considered visiting one of the markets, but the map I got from the T.I. said that they mostly sold clothes, so I visited the COEX mall near the Ibis instead. Plenty of clothes for sale there, too, but dressy new ones.
The Korean countryside had impressed me, and I'd like to go back when I could hike, but now I was ready to move on. I ate dinner at the hotel - the beef bulgogi was much better than the nasi goreng had been - and packed. Then I set the alarm for 5:15, which got me out of the hotel and into a taxi at 6:00. CALT, the City Air terminal, was really walking distance, but Korean taxis weren't that expensive. I ate breakfast in the Cathay Pacific lounge, and then again on the flight to Taipei. (Since I figured I could call that brunch, I had a glass of good Shiraz with it.)
Nov 7th, 2010, 04:30 AM
#156
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,747
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Parts of your trip sound like they were way beyond "off the beaten track". Hope the rest of your trip has mostly good experiences, no double booked rooms and no cancelled flights.
I am enjoying your trip report and am waiting for more.
I am enjoying your trip report and am waiting for more.
Nov 7th, 2010, 06:41 PM
#157
Original Poster
Wow, Hong Kong to Kathmandu is quite a transition! I wasn't sure the car from the airport would make it to the hotel - it had a squeal like a soul in torment. The Courtyard is definitely a traveler's oasis - but dogster, Michelle and friend would like to know why no wedding as scheduled?
Weird flight - stops in Dakka but you can't get off the plane if you're going to KTM, and you can't get on it there to fly to KTM! Since I was stuck on the plane for a while, here's the first Taiwan piece.
<b>Oct 21-23 - Typhoon Megi and Me</b>
I really am starting to think this trip is jinxed. I should never have complained that my 2004-5 RTW went so smoothly there were no good stories.
The love motel in Danyang had a big screen TV looming over the bed, but no Engligh-language programming. The guesthouse in Gyeongju probably had CNN or the BBC on the TV in the communal sitting area, but I never looked at it. The hotel in Jeonju had a normal-sized TV but no Engligh language channels. And 'net access wasn't great anywhere. So it wasn't until I got back to the Ibis in Seoul on Oct 19, scheduled to fly to Taiwan on Oct 21, that I turned on CNN and heard about Typhon Megi and the death and destruction in the Philippines. And CNN seemed to think that she was most likely headed for Hong Kong, not Taiwan.
Now, I live in North Carolina, where hurricanes are commonplace, (and a typhoon is just a hurricane by another name), and if I were at the beach and was told to evacuate you'd better believe I'd be first in line to get away. But, living a couple of hundred miles inland, we usually just get wind and rain as the outer bands hit. So it wasn't until my plane landed in Taipei, and I saw the tree tops streaming horizontally before the wind, that it ocurred to me that I should take typhoon Megi a bit more seriously. There is, after all, very little inland on Taiwan.
I take no credit for the fact that I was headed southwest, while the typhoon's worst impact was in the northeast, where the coastal highway took a major hit, and one busload of mainland Chinese tourists was swept away (they're still looking for the remains). But heading southwest turned out to be the smart move. I took a bus from Taipei airport to the high speed rail station at Taoyuan, and then the train south to Tainan, where a free shuttle bus took me into town. (The high speed rail stations are all an inconvenient distance from the towns they profess to serve.) Fortunately, I didn't believe the map in Lonely Planet, which incorrectly suggested that the Cambridge Hotel was walking distance from the ordinary train station where the shuttle dropped me. Besides, it was raining. I took a taxi.
The hotel, for some inscrutable reason, upgraded me to a suite. Loads of room. A table and four chairs. An easy chair and foot rest. A desk chair and wired 'net access. A big bed and a big bathroom and a bigger window. In fact, the window was a whole arc of glass, but up on the ninth floor this wasn't as great an idea as it sounds.When the wind really got going it whistled. I always thought that was a figure of speech, but no, it really does whistle, loudly. I also had CNN, but I think I'd have been better off without it, as I watched the projected track of the typhoon turn north towards me.
I normally avoid embassies. I think the only time I'd contacted one while traveling before was in Pakistan right after 9-11 (back then it was the British embassy I used), but after watching CNN I decided it might be prudent to check in. Turns out that in order to keep the mainland Chinese happy the US doesn't have an actual embassy in Taipei. Instead it has the American Citizen Services office of the American Institute. The duty officer on the other end of the email exchange thought I'd be better off in Taipei, but since he said it was raining heavily there, and it was raining only intermittently in Tainan, I stayed put. And really, the typhoon was largely a non-event for me. Some heavy rain, one day, but not sustained. But I did cancel my trip to Sun-Moon Lake up in the mountains and booked a hotel in Taipei for a couple of nights instead.
My first trip to Asia was to China, and there is something about Chinese culture that says "Asia" to me at a visceral level that other cultures don't quite match. And Tainan said "China" to me very loudly. In fact, you could say it was more Chinese than China. It was the capital before Taipei, and has a number of historic temples, and those temples looked to me the way I imagine mainland Chinese temples looked before the Cultural Revolution. Just as Myanmar feels like southeast Asia a few decades ago, Tainan's temples felt like China a half century or more back.
I just visited one of Hong Kong's major temples, which you would think would give me the same feeing, but compared to Tainan's temples it was positively plain. Every inch of the main temples was decorated. Dragon columns galore. Wall carvings everywhere. Heavy, smoke-darkened embroideries over the altars. More gods than you could reasonably remember. Of course, I took photos, but I also joined the locals in making offerings in a couple of temples where I thought it might do the most good. I chose the Jade Emperor at the Altar to Heaven and the oldest temple to the sea goddess, Matsu. They weren't very big offerings, just a 100 NT worth of goodies and incense at the first, and 10 NT worth of incense at the second, but I figured that at this point I could use any help going. Besides, it felt good to do something other than watch. At the Altar to Heaven the woman who sold me the offering explained that I should light all the incense sticks at once, and then leave three for each god or goddess I was honoring. And when I finished she handed me a bottle of water. Still don't understand that!
The colonial remains in the Anping secttion of town were much less inspiring. True, I visited them the day the typhoon came closest, and had to dodge a couple of downpours, but I got only slightly damp. The authentic remnant of the Dutch fort consisted of a short section of brick wall, although the reconstructed building, in use as a museum, came in handy as a shelter during the worst of the rain. The overgrown and rather eerie English "tree house" was even less worth seeing, although in clearer weather the views of the river might have been better. The most interesting sight was the rapid removal of water from the nearby Matsu temple when the rain temporarily stopped. The front courtyard wasn't covered, and was sunken, but had drain holes. The forecourt was swept dry.
When the rain started up again I grabbed a handy taxi and retreated back to town and the upmarket Shin Kong Mitsukoshi mall. After lunch in the "Thai" restaurant (more Vietnamese dishes than Thai), I did a little browsing, but was shocked by the prices for Gore Tex, and for luggage. Aside from the mall I didn't eat particularly well in Tainan, Lonely Planet being enamored of street food, while I wanted a sit-down restaurant out of the weather. I ate some local specialties at a small place across from the hotel, but while the shrimp rolls were fine, the seafood toast was bizarre (a hollowed out chunk of bread with pieces of unidentifiable seafood in a cream sauce) and the pork tended too much to fat for my taste.
Weird flight - stops in Dakka but you can't get off the plane if you're going to KTM, and you can't get on it there to fly to KTM! Since I was stuck on the plane for a while, here's the first Taiwan piece.
<b>Oct 21-23 - Typhoon Megi and Me</b>
I really am starting to think this trip is jinxed. I should never have complained that my 2004-5 RTW went so smoothly there were no good stories.
The love motel in Danyang had a big screen TV looming over the bed, but no Engligh-language programming. The guesthouse in Gyeongju probably had CNN or the BBC on the TV in the communal sitting area, but I never looked at it. The hotel in Jeonju had a normal-sized TV but no Engligh language channels. And 'net access wasn't great anywhere. So it wasn't until I got back to the Ibis in Seoul on Oct 19, scheduled to fly to Taiwan on Oct 21, that I turned on CNN and heard about Typhon Megi and the death and destruction in the Philippines. And CNN seemed to think that she was most likely headed for Hong Kong, not Taiwan.
Now, I live in North Carolina, where hurricanes are commonplace, (and a typhoon is just a hurricane by another name), and if I were at the beach and was told to evacuate you'd better believe I'd be first in line to get away. But, living a couple of hundred miles inland, we usually just get wind and rain as the outer bands hit. So it wasn't until my plane landed in Taipei, and I saw the tree tops streaming horizontally before the wind, that it ocurred to me that I should take typhoon Megi a bit more seriously. There is, after all, very little inland on Taiwan.
I take no credit for the fact that I was headed southwest, while the typhoon's worst impact was in the northeast, where the coastal highway took a major hit, and one busload of mainland Chinese tourists was swept away (they're still looking for the remains). But heading southwest turned out to be the smart move. I took a bus from Taipei airport to the high speed rail station at Taoyuan, and then the train south to Tainan, where a free shuttle bus took me into town. (The high speed rail stations are all an inconvenient distance from the towns they profess to serve.) Fortunately, I didn't believe the map in Lonely Planet, which incorrectly suggested that the Cambridge Hotel was walking distance from the ordinary train station where the shuttle dropped me. Besides, it was raining. I took a taxi.
The hotel, for some inscrutable reason, upgraded me to a suite. Loads of room. A table and four chairs. An easy chair and foot rest. A desk chair and wired 'net access. A big bed and a big bathroom and a bigger window. In fact, the window was a whole arc of glass, but up on the ninth floor this wasn't as great an idea as it sounds.When the wind really got going it whistled. I always thought that was a figure of speech, but no, it really does whistle, loudly. I also had CNN, but I think I'd have been better off without it, as I watched the projected track of the typhoon turn north towards me.
I normally avoid embassies. I think the only time I'd contacted one while traveling before was in Pakistan right after 9-11 (back then it was the British embassy I used), but after watching CNN I decided it might be prudent to check in. Turns out that in order to keep the mainland Chinese happy the US doesn't have an actual embassy in Taipei. Instead it has the American Citizen Services office of the American Institute. The duty officer on the other end of the email exchange thought I'd be better off in Taipei, but since he said it was raining heavily there, and it was raining only intermittently in Tainan, I stayed put. And really, the typhoon was largely a non-event for me. Some heavy rain, one day, but not sustained. But I did cancel my trip to Sun-Moon Lake up in the mountains and booked a hotel in Taipei for a couple of nights instead.
My first trip to Asia was to China, and there is something about Chinese culture that says "Asia" to me at a visceral level that other cultures don't quite match. And Tainan said "China" to me very loudly. In fact, you could say it was more Chinese than China. It was the capital before Taipei, and has a number of historic temples, and those temples looked to me the way I imagine mainland Chinese temples looked before the Cultural Revolution. Just as Myanmar feels like southeast Asia a few decades ago, Tainan's temples felt like China a half century or more back.
I just visited one of Hong Kong's major temples, which you would think would give me the same feeing, but compared to Tainan's temples it was positively plain. Every inch of the main temples was decorated. Dragon columns galore. Wall carvings everywhere. Heavy, smoke-darkened embroideries over the altars. More gods than you could reasonably remember. Of course, I took photos, but I also joined the locals in making offerings in a couple of temples where I thought it might do the most good. I chose the Jade Emperor at the Altar to Heaven and the oldest temple to the sea goddess, Matsu. They weren't very big offerings, just a 100 NT worth of goodies and incense at the first, and 10 NT worth of incense at the second, but I figured that at this point I could use any help going. Besides, it felt good to do something other than watch. At the Altar to Heaven the woman who sold me the offering explained that I should light all the incense sticks at once, and then leave three for each god or goddess I was honoring. And when I finished she handed me a bottle of water. Still don't understand that!
The colonial remains in the Anping secttion of town were much less inspiring. True, I visited them the day the typhoon came closest, and had to dodge a couple of downpours, but I got only slightly damp. The authentic remnant of the Dutch fort consisted of a short section of brick wall, although the reconstructed building, in use as a museum, came in handy as a shelter during the worst of the rain. The overgrown and rather eerie English "tree house" was even less worth seeing, although in clearer weather the views of the river might have been better. The most interesting sight was the rapid removal of water from the nearby Matsu temple when the rain temporarily stopped. The front courtyard wasn't covered, and was sunken, but had drain holes. The forecourt was swept dry.
When the rain started up again I grabbed a handy taxi and retreated back to town and the upmarket Shin Kong Mitsukoshi mall. After lunch in the "Thai" restaurant (more Vietnamese dishes than Thai), I did a little browsing, but was shocked by the prices for Gore Tex, and for luggage. Aside from the mall I didn't eat particularly well in Tainan, Lonely Planet being enamored of street food, while I wanted a sit-down restaurant out of the weather. I ate some local specialties at a small place across from the hotel, but while the shrimp rolls were fine, the seafood toast was bizarre (a hollowed out chunk of bread with pieces of unidentifiable seafood in a cream sauce) and the pork tended too much to fat for my taste.
Nov 8th, 2010, 03:45 AM
#159
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,111
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've been following along, hoping your foot/ankle problems would improve. You are one touch cookie!
Your Anglicized Korean spellings=My Anglicized Korean spelling:
Gyeongju = Kyongju
Bomun = Pomun
Seokguram = Sokoram
Bulguk-sa = Puhlguksa
We got up in the middle of the night in order to see the sun rising from the East Sea shine its light on the Buddha at Sokoram. When we got there, there was a huge scaffold over the front of the grotto. Quite a let down!
Your Anglicized Korean spellings=My Anglicized Korean spelling:
Gyeongju = Kyongju
Bomun = Pomun
Seokguram = Sokoram
Bulguk-sa = Puhlguksa
We got up in the middle of the night in order to see the sun rising from the East Sea shine its light on the Buddha at Sokoram. When we got there, there was a huge scaffold over the front of the grotto. Quite a let down!
Nov 8th, 2010, 07:09 AM
#160
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 33,288
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ah, you are in Kathmandu! I'm looking forward to your adventures. When the crush of Kathmandu gets to be too much, there is a lovely little haven on the edge of Thamel, the Garden of Dreams. We loved wandering there. They do have a cafe that offers lunch, but we didn't try it.
