Once we landed in Incheon Airport, there was a 3-hour process of waiting in lines and going through several immigration checks (I think I counted 5?) to ensure our COVID paperwork was in order and our regular immigration forms. Those who weren't quarantine exempt were shepherded to a blocked-off area to wait for the quarantine bus. Luckily, I was allowed to continue my travels. Unfortunately, I wasn't done traveling to get to my destination.
I had to take a
90-minute subway ride to Seoul Station from the airport, where I would grab a
2-hour KTX train. The
conference was in Daegu, a large southern
town coined as the country's water hub. I
grabbed a gimbap surprisingly
loaded with wasabi and got on the night train south. After the train ride to
Daegu, I immediately got my PCR test that would confirm my quarantine exemption
in 24 hours and shuttled off to my hotel. To wait.
I like to stay in hotels that are not big traditional chains like Marriott and Hilton because I feel like I lose some of the experience of immersing into a culture. I had chosen to stay downtown at the Toyoko Inn. It felt like a hotel geared towards Koreans, which I enjoyed experiencing. It wasn't super fancy, but I wasn't looking for that - I just wanted a bed and a toilet. The hotel had an electric bidet seat (to my delight!), and breakfast was a bunch of Korean items like kimchi, seaweed soup, and rice. People wore the hotel's slippers in the lobby and canteen area (I also observed a lot of slipper wearing on the plane). They also had a lobby locker that offered hotel-owned pajamas, though I didn't use them.
Once I got the PCR all-clear, I went out on my second night to walk around downtown Daegu. Daegu has about 2.5 million people, so downtown was full of people shopping in stores and walking the chilly winter streets. Daegu is a traditional herbal medicine center, and I walked around the city and saw a mix of flashy shops and humbler herbal stores.
While I was walking around, I stupidly realized how much Korean script would be everywhere, which meant I really had little idea where I was, what I was doing, or what urgent instructional signs wanted me to do. The Koreans with whom I interacted mostly struggled with English (fair enough, I was in their country, after all), which often meant I was on my own to figure out if (and pray that) I was complying with rules and customs.
I was cloistered off at their large conference venue for much of my time in Daegu, supporting the conference. Frankly, the conference was kind of sucky for many reasons I don't want to get into. I questioned why I was in Korea a lot during the conference. What I will share from the conference I'll share was their struggles with food. On the first day, they had forgotten to provide vegetarian lunches - a lot of us international people were vegetarian, so this became a problem. My food restrictions are medical, though (I'm intolerant to land meat now). When they found out mine wasn't a choice, the conference team began to panic to figure out how to feed me. Coming up mostly short for over an hour, they came back to me with a bowl of canned tuna on rice. They also gifted me a surprisingly heavy brass goblet to apologize for the flub, which they explained was a traditional point of pride for Koreans. So now I have a brass goblet.
I ended up hanging out with many Africans during the conference - most of them are studying in Korea for their PhDs, so they were used to the seemingly confusing and complicated systems and protocols. I had mentioned my surprise with how confusing things felt in Korea. One Tanzanian guy (who wasn't studying in Korea) lamented that he felt he was basically dumped in the country and left to figure it all out. The students acknowledged that, sadly, that is a Korean feature - there seems to be some unspoken assumption that everyone will just figure out how to get by in Korea, alone. Much of the conference's downtime included comparing notes about what worked, what didn't work, and what not to do from our experiences. I suspect this could be cultural, which means Koreans also have to learn to fend for themselves. This could explain why Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the OECD nations, since young people may be left to their own devices and struggle.
I did get to escape the conference for a day to attend a Christmas Fair in the conference center. It was fun to walk around the stalls and see what kinds of things Koreans were buying for the holidays. They had bidet seats (yessss), dog outfits, gadgety toys, and lots of dried fish. My favorite find was an orange sweater that said "Montana - Pinot Noir". I don't associate those words together ever, but sure!
On the last day of the conference, we went on social tours of the region. I picked the temple food cooking class at Donghwasa Buddhist Temple. It was fun! The temple has been around for over 1500 years, and we got to see a very old Buddha carved into a rock wall. The place was very peaceful, and though there were more stairs to climb than we had expected, the location is surrounded by beautiful natural sights.
On the same day, I returned to Seoul and went to bed early at the hotel. I had things to do!
On my only free day in the country, I hired a car to drive me around. The first stop was Suwon, a 40-minute drive out of Seoul. As we drove to Suwon, I realized how densely packed the country is. I saw clusters of high-rise apartment campuses everywhere, especially outside the city. Korea is one of the most densely-populated countries globally, but I hadn't realized it meant that people even living in the suburbs had to live 30-40 floor complexes.
In Suwon, I visited the Mr. Toilet House (read the blog about that here). It was a really neat family museum about toilets, and I enjoyed walking around in a quiet area of the country before getting back into the thick of people. While I was in Suwon, I also visited the UNESCO heritage site that is the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. Suwon was a big fortress in the 18th century, and the wall around the original city was huge. I enjoyed walking along the wall, seeing dogs playing around on the old steps, and peaking into old fortress huts with elaborate green-pink floral designs. I also visited the Temporary Palace for the king in Suwon, which was neat; instead of European fortresses all inside heavy stone walls, this palace was a bunch of modular wooden rooms connected by large outdoor walkways.
I returned to Seoul for the rest of the day after that. I did some shopping before walking through the old Bukcheon Hanok Village (a traditional Korean village pre-Japanese occupation) and visiting the Changdeokgung Palace during golden hour. The palace grounds were similar to the temporary palace I saw earlier in the day, but it was much grander (unsurprisingly). The shopping was ample; I had to remind myself that I didn’t have the luggage space, though Korea is a very affordable place and has ample handcrafted and beautiful things.
Before I left Korea the next afternoon, I also visited the Cheonggyecheon area, which is a revived stream that they made into an artistic walkway for people to enjoy. It was really beautiful - I highly recommend visiting it if it's not too cold near the water. I wish I had had more time (and energy) to see more before I left, but I feel like I got a good crash course in Korean culture and sightseeing before I left.
Some of my other general observations when walking around Daegu and Seoul:
- MASKS: Everyone wears masks in public spaces, even when walking outside. Korea's mask mandate seemed pretty strict and likely enforced, and people dutifully wore their masks properly and without fuss. Honestly, it made me feel very safe while in the country, and I was happy to oblige with wearing a mask all day.
- MEAT: People gush about Korean food, and I can see that it probably is heaven for people who can eat meat. For me, the food was tasty and fine, but I wasn't super enthralled by everything I ate. Temple food is vegetarian, of course, but I found there weren't many temple food restaurants available during my visit. Those were booked up weeks in advance.
For example, I went to one restaurant and requested several times to make a cheese bibimbap with "NO MEAT." They happily confirmed "no meat" on the dish I ordered. Once the hot pot came out, I saw a pile of ground beef on the top. When I asked them why they included meat when I said no meat, they said, "Oohhh we thought you meant no raw meat!" They held a bowl for me while I scooped the meat off of the dish. - FERMENTED: Most of what I noticed with the food I could eat was that the vegetables were mostly served pickled or fermented with chili pepper (hello, kimchi for every meal!). It makes sense, considering Korea has a history of sandy soil that isn't always the most nutrient-rich. I suspect the vegetables they do have they need to ensure are preserved - hence, fermentation. Still, I really missed fresh veggies by the end of the trip.
- SENSORY OVERLOAD: When I walked around in the commercial areas, Korea felt overwhelming to my sense. The shopping areas were full of flashing lights from different storefronts. Different shops blasted music or audible welcomes on the streets, competing for sound space. This was compounded by the additional Christmas displays shining and singing everywhere. A lot of the big displays I saw around shopping areas contained cartoon teddy bears, too.
- SUGAR: I also smelled sugary baked goods everywhere, which makes sense considering Korea may have one of the higher diabetes rates out there. Being a celiac, I couldn't try any of these sugary treats, but they smelled really decadent.
- UNDERGROUND: I was surprised to see that, while there was a lot of shopping happening outside on the streets, a lot of the shopping was available underground in subway terminals. This ranged from bakeries to electronics shops, fashion shops, and bookstores. I like the idea, especially as the weather continued to get colder over the days of my visit.
Would I go back to Korea? I wouldn't mind it if there were other conferences there I needed to attend. However, I would rather see other places again before seeking out Korea.
