Dearth of character and kimchi overload

I know I was only in South Korea for a mere two action packed days, so let me first say that there may well be something interesting and spilling with character I simply missed completely. From what I did see though, I am far from intrigued by Seoul and don’t see any compelling reason to return. Yes, the technology adoption is awesome, other than that, well what else is there?

We apparently were in the heart of the nightlife area at the jazz bar we popped into last night (ok true it was Monday), and the only thing I remember was the memorable image of this teeny trendy Korean woman twisting through the crowd atop her moped in impossibly high heels. There was little sign of the abundance of hip restaurant, bars, and clubs one expects in a major city.

What I was most struck with in Seoul was the expanse. A friend mentioned it’s really hard to get around and I didn’t quite get it. Turns out it takes an hour to two just to get across town. This morning we went to do some touristy things but instead spent an hour and a half of the two we had just getting from a to b and back. Traffic is horrible.

I could not help but compare the lights and quirks of Seoul to Tokyo, but a much less interesting version. If Tokyo is on steroids it seems Seoul is just barley making it across the finish line. I felt wrong drawing such parallels so I jumped in with Jennifer, one of the associates from the team who is Korean. I learned that Koreans are much less restrained and formal in social interactions, and are instead very in your face and opinionated. Ok so, Japan with a dash of China. I know there are subtleties I am overlooking here, but you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Then there is the food. We ate three traditional Korean meals. I have determined that kimchi is good the first one and a half times you have it, and then…well, you can’t do much other than just look at it. By meal three, the usual litany of kimchi, radishes, noodles, spicy soup, salad, and a few other surprises comes before the main course. I took one bite of each, if that, and looked down at the plates in front of me and said, I’m hungry but there’s nothing I want to eat here. Might just be like the two week Caribbean trip from 2001 – enjoyed rum while I was there but never saw it the same since. And so it may be with kimchi.