A Seoulite beginning

Last week, I told you about my travel preparations and the problems encountered in arriving on Korean soil. With this step completed, we will be able to talk about the organization on site and a little more about my experience. If everything is clear, let’s move on!

After spending a lot of time on the plane and changing planes, I arrived in Seoul. Finally! Not really in truth, the airport is located in Incheon on an island an hour by metro from the Korean capital. New country, new language, alone, that’s a lot but it wasn’t my first rodeo (we’ll talk about that later). The first thing to do was to have some change.

In fact, I had reserved a room in a guesthouse for which I had only paid a deposit. For the remainder to be paid, the owner requested the contribution in cash. It is not uncommon for other guesthouses run by individuals in South Korea to make the same request. So remember to plan a short trip to the distributors before going to your place of stay. For my part, I made a beginner’s mistake, I stopped at a currency exchange office at the airport. This is where the rates are very high and therefore not the most profitable for you, regardless of the country you are going to.

I had my first Wons (Korean money) in hand, I took the subway and dozed off the whole way. We arrived late in the afternoon, I was tired, it was getting dark and the wind was cold. I couldn’t wait to arrive. When leaving the metro, I had to be able to navigate to my destination. 10 minutes wasn’t long though, my large suitcase and my carry-on suitcase didn’t help me enjoy the journey ahead of me. Furthermore, in terms of navigation, be aware that Google Map will be of virtually no use to you. To be more comfortable, install Kakao Map or Naver.

That’s it! I reached my destination. The owner was very nice, the house very charming, the bed more than welcome. I had unpacked my essentials for the night and went to bed early.

The next day, I decided to discover a little of the neighborhood where I had landed. My accommodation was located in Hongdae. This area is very popular especially for the student population, as there are many universities in the area. It is also quite cosmopolitan due to the number of foreign exchange students there. So I went looking for a vending machine. I had heard that you should prefer KB bank for withdrawals with a foreign card. KB distributor, here I am.

I didn’t yet master the navigation tool very well at that time. Even today, I’m not sure I can say that I can cope without problems. Still, I hadn’t chosen the nearest ATM. It didn’t matter, I was exploring at the same time. I had found it but for some reason, I couldn’t get it out. I might as well go see a bank directly, the KB bank that I saw on my browser was very close to my starting point. Too bad! Walking is good for your health.

On the way, I decided to also look for the location of a Catholic church. Being Catholic, I wanted to be able to go to mass the next Sunday. This is how I discover the impressive number of Christian branches that can exist in Korea. On several occasions, I headed to a church marked on my map, the majority of them were not Catholic. My mission was not in vain, however, I had ended up finding what I was looking for. My meager Korean vocabulary allowed me to find the time of mass, I could leave for my next stop.

One of the things to be aware of in South Korea is the way establishments are arranged, especially on a street with tall buildings. I don’t know about other countries, however, I was certainly not used to having a storefront similar to an apartment building but whose floors are occupied by stores, restaurants, banks… I found the bank on the 5th floor. In France, we would say the 4th. It is very disturbing when, for you, there is no zero level or ground floor. Let’s move on!

In the bank, the security guard did not speak much English, however, the ATM paper (after his refusal to distribute) and the body language allowed us to understand each other. It turned out that depending on value of the bill requested, if they were not available, the transaction could not be carried out. So the security man helped me and I left with a little extra change in my wallet.

I write and write and I don’t realize how long this article is already. I’m a big talker, have I told you that before? So here are the first days on Korean soil, I was in my accommodation, I had a little money in cash, just in case. What possibly could go wrong?

See you next week for the following of the adventures. Have a nice week end!