Dude. Korea.
Aug. 27th, 2004 01:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanToday I managed to fanangle a visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace, which, in a word, ROCKED. The place is massive - courtyard after courtyard, loads of pavillions, lots of kickass stonework and gorgeous painting, which I think is called 'danch'eong'. It's interesting because the architecture is so similar to Japanese Buddhist temple architecture, but there are differences.
The whole place is surrounded by mountains, and it's just gorgeous. The grounds are huge - it was sort of amazing to realise that all that space was basically devoted to an extended family and their attaches.
They have a changing of the guard ceremony, which I got to see twice. Lots of photos and video was taken. I could have kicked around there for hours. Expect loads of picspam when I return to Japan.
I spent the entire two hours there being trailed by two adorable Korean girls who would hide behind convenient pillars/boulders/statues whenever I turned to look at whatever that was in the corner of my eye, but who popped out like clockwork every 20 minutes or so to ask me a question in this Korean-English creole. They were darling.
Culture shock!
-I couldn't believe all the rude people I was seeing on the subway, just chatting away on their keitais. Then it occurred to me that perhaps this is not considered rude in Korea. Face, meet Palm. And also: how come I can't get reception in Japanese subway tunnels with my state-of-the-art keitai, but guys in Korea can?
-Likewise, I must conquer the urge to address everyone in Japanese. This is tough. I've been conditioned against it for three years. The flowchart goes something like this:
In foreign country-->foreign country is Asian-->JAPAN!!!
Oops!
-Eating rice with a spoon I can handlebecause I do that in Japan when no one's looking. But flat chopsticks? It isn't as if they're more difficult to use, but still. They're flat.
-Taxis are affordable. Likewise, I haven't paid more than 90yen to ride the subway. It's like my wallet is having an erotic commuter-related dream.
-Where are the combini? And I can now say with confidence that there is something to Japan's 10:1 population:vending machine ratio. It's harsh when you've walked a block or two in the heat with no Pocari Sweat at the ready.
-They'll sell you anything. While we were walking around the night market, several people called out to us, in Japanese, "Hey! Brand name fakes! Brand name fakes!" In Malaysia they try to pretend no one knows what they're buying and selling. Korea's way is cuter.
The whole place is surrounded by mountains, and it's just gorgeous. The grounds are huge - it was sort of amazing to realise that all that space was basically devoted to an extended family and their attaches.
They have a changing of the guard ceremony, which I got to see twice. Lots of photos and video was taken. I could have kicked around there for hours. Expect loads of picspam when I return to Japan.
I spent the entire two hours there being trailed by two adorable Korean girls who would hide behind convenient pillars/boulders/statues whenever I turned to look at whatever that was in the corner of my eye, but who popped out like clockwork every 20 minutes or so to ask me a question in this Korean-English creole. They were darling.
Culture shock!
-I couldn't believe all the rude people I was seeing on the subway, just chatting away on their keitais. Then it occurred to me that perhaps this is not considered rude in Korea. Face, meet Palm. And also: how come I can't get reception in Japanese subway tunnels with my state-of-the-art keitai, but guys in Korea can?
-Likewise, I must conquer the urge to address everyone in Japanese. This is tough. I've been conditioned against it for three years. The flowchart goes something like this:
In foreign country-->foreign country is Asian-->JAPAN!!!
Oops!
-Eating rice with a spoon I can handle
-Taxis are affordable. Likewise, I haven't paid more than 90yen to ride the subway. It's like my wallet is having an erotic commuter-related dream.
-Where are the combini? And I can now say with confidence that there is something to Japan's 10:1 population:vending machine ratio. It's harsh when you've walked a block or two in the heat with no Pocari Sweat at the ready.
-They'll sell you anything. While we were walking around the night market, several people called out to us, in Japanese, "Hey! Brand name fakes! Brand name fakes!" In Malaysia they try to pretend no one knows what they're buying and selling. Korea's way is cuter.