Seoul Searching: A Comedy of Errors

Washington DC to Seoul: 6945 miles and 14 hours. Jakarta to Seoul: 3287 miles and 8 hours. Meeting your brother half way around the world: priceless...well, mostly.

When my brother announced that he would be paying a visit to South Korea in September, it seemed like our one and only opportunity to do some world traveling together, even if it could only be for a few days. I arrived at the Incheon Airport early Friday morning, and the (mis)adventures began.

I was armed with a bus number, hotel destination, newly exchanged money (won), and the look of an experienced traveler (ha!). Despite the fact that nearly all of the airport personnel had a passable level of English, they all told me - with emphatic hand gestures - that neither my bus number or destination existed. Puzzle. Finally, a helpful woman directed me toward a special desk for military personnel since I'd mentioned that I was going to a military base. On the way to the desk, I was intercepted by a kind-looking, elderly gentleman. Battle-weary from my own experiences with unsolicited help in Jakarta and just plain weary from looking for ground transportation that didn't exist, I gave the man a wide-berth to try to dodge his advance. As it turned out, though, the man was as kind and genuine as he looked. He set me up on military transport to the base (for free!), and then chatted me up about his experience in Ohio many years ago for pilot training. I decided it was best to look for cute, elderly men when in distress.

Mike gathered me at the visitor center of the base, and we got my base pass squared away. The first thing that hit me was that the weather was just like Ohio fall, which makes sense since we share the close to the same parallel. I haven't experienced fall for at least two years, so I loved every minute of the crisp air. The second thing that hit me was that I was that everything else was just like Ohio as well: organized roads where people followed traffic laws, fast food chains, Chevys, potable water, clean air, greenbacks excepted everywhere, and, well, Americans. There was an adjustment period for my Jakarta-minded self. Mike continually had to hold me back from crossing the road at any old time I felt like - there are crosswalks for that - and I had to remind myself that taxi drivers weren't going to pull U-ies in the middle of the road to pick me up. I decided it would be best to stick to the side walk and appreciated a little more my life in Jakarta where everything comes to me.

First on my agenda was to meet up with a former boss who happened to be stationed in Seoul, so I left my brother and went walking around the base to find the USO, which I thoughts was near by our hotel. Wrong. After walking in circles - safe circles, obeying the Walk/Don't Walk signs - I finally learned I needed to get in a taxi to reach my destination. The scenery outside my taxi window transformed very quickly from America to Korea as we entered streets lined with Korean signs and heavy traffic. I found my former boss and enjoyed a traditional meal with him and his staff to celebrate his retirement from the Foreign Service. When we wrapped up, I climbed back into a taxi and directed the driver to the military base. He did not know the base name or any English at all. Since I knew equally as much Korean, I could see this was going to be a problem. Remarkably, the driver drove to the American Embassy and found a random Korean man who just happened to be bilingual. We made it back to the base, where I then learned that I couldn't actually get on base without Michael. Another hour and taxi ride later, my brother collected me at a different gate. We decided it would be best for me not to leave base without him again.

With that kerfuffle over, we headed out to Gyeonbokgung Palace, an immense palace built in 1395 that was set just on the edge of the city. The palace, complete with over 7,700 receiving halls and concubine rooms, had been destroyed during the Japanese occupation and is still being restored to this day. After we climbed out of the taxi to enter the palace, Mike realized that his cell phone was no longer in his possession. Helpless to track down our orange taxi...one of thousands just like it...we continued on to the palace. We decided it would be better for us to not leave our cell phones in taxis. 

Mike phoneless.

Royal Chicken

Throne room

Turtle Dragon

Concubine house

We decided Mike should be shorter.

We made it back to the hotel without losing anything or ourselves. That evening's events went like this:
1). Tell the front desk staff what happened with the phone. They give us a taxi number to call.
2). Report the missing phone to the taxi company, that we think might be the same company we rode in.
3). Try to call Mike's phone from my cell and cannot connect.
4). Download special software to my cell so we can reach Karrie in Virginia.
5). Get through to Karrie to tell her what happened.
6). Karrie calls Mike's phone and has the following conversation with the cabby:
"Hello?"
"No Ingrish! No Ingrish!"
7). Mike and Jackie run to the front desk to find a bilingual person to help talk with cabby.
8). Learn that front desk cannot make international calls.
9). Purchase international calling card.
10). Purchase the right international calling card.
11). Try 10 to 15 combinations of international phone codes.
12). Hotel staff reaches cabby!
13). Cabby negotiates for a returner's fee.
14). Fee agreed upon and cabby is directed to bring the phone to the hotel.
15). An hour later, Mike is reunited with the phone.
16). We decide that the hotel staff and Koreans in general are awesome.

The next day, we decided, would be better. Our plan was to go to the Seoul Tower, the highest point in the city. We started off well, getting a discount on tickets from our hotel. We tried to walk to the tower, but ended up in a taxi after losing confidence in our directional abilities. The area surrounding the tower is a beautiful metro park complete with walking trails and outdoor gyms. While climbing the wooden staircase to the tower, we enjoyed the flora and fauna that was remarkably like what we would find back home in Ohio. We also learned that our tickets had fallen victim to the same mysterious taxi vortex and were no longer in our possession. We decided that we should maybe not get into taxis anymore.

View of the city from the lower-base of the tower.

The tower area was surrounded by fence on which visitors put locks to symbolize their love for their significant other.

After the tower, we got lost, watched an archer shoot an arrow, and caught up on life. We eventually found our way back down and spent some time roaming around a shopping district. Here we were handed a mysterious green goo-cake by a woman dressed in traditional clothing, I bought traditional Korean candy, and Mike bought some squid in a bag (probably) and some traditional liquor called Soju. We decided alcohol could not hurt our luck at this point.

No, you are, Seoul.

Through a series of seemingly unfortunate events, Mike and I were still able to explore a new city and even learn a little bit about its culture, history, and people. Its organization and gracious people were both very forgiving to two bumbling tourists such as ourselves. In the short, two-day visit, the city left a warm impression on our hearts, and we decided - despite our inadequacy as travelers - that we should come back again some day.