Korea

Here are a few notes from a trip to South Korea. My main motivation for the trip was to see autumn colours of Korean mountains. The mountains were indeed spectacular and definitely were the highlight of the trip. Other aspects of the trip were less interesting or downright challenging (particularly eating). Korean food is very spicy, so just pointing at a menu at random and hoping for the best was not really an option as there was no guarantee that what you'd get would be edible. The culinary aspects of the trip involved a lot of pointing and gesticulation, which, while having kept me fed, nevertheless produced a few rather baffling results: a 1.5 litre bottle of undrinkable fermented rice wine instead of what I thought was a bowl of soup, a drink made of corn straw (similarly undrinkable), and a few other oddities and curiosities that generally fit quite naturally into the WTF category.

It is clear that few foreigners visit Korea outside of Seoul, so very few museums and exhibitions have English translations. It is unfortunate, as it reduces museum visits to just looking at exhibits and photographs. There are few people speaking any English, so communication involves a lot of pointing, using Google Translate, and guesswork on both sides. Deciphering Korean English was a challenge in it's own right. It appeared that Korean words rarely have two consonants together or end in a consonant, so Koreans tend to insert a vowel sound whenever they encounter such an English word. As a result, simple words like "fork" and "spoon" end up sounding like "foruku" and "sopoona" - it took a few tries to get my head around it.

Koreans are absolutely crazy about hiking. It seems that on any given day half the country jumps out of hundreds of buses in Korean national parks, stretches (as a group), takes a group photo holding a huge 10-metre sign with the name of their hiking group or club, shouts some kind of a slogan, and starts hiking up the nearest hill or mountain. In Korea, it is imperative for a hiker to be dressed in the latest and greatest gear of all colours of the rainbow. Colour combinations and intensity that would be considered the definition of visual insanity in the western world are the norm in Korea. I couldn't resist the temptation and bought some clothes at the end of the trip (and I was as daring in my choices as my fashion sense and the reluctance to undergo involuntary psychological evaluations back home had allowed me), but what I purchased would be considered khaki by Koreans. Korean hikers are always totally overdressed and over-equipped for the occasion. IMHO, an average Korean hiker wears at least three layers too many and $1000 too much for a walk he or she is doing. Quite a few of them were openly astounded by my shorts-and-tshirt attire (and what else would one want or need for an hour stroll in sunny +23 weather??? )

Overall, Korea turned out to be an interesting place to visit (especially to hike) and had beautiful mountain scenery, but was somewhat disappointing in terms of food and culture. It's definitely worth a separate trip if you are into outdoor pursuits; otherwise it's probably better to visit it as a stop-over on the way to Europe if you happen to fly via Seoul.