Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Hi-tech everywhere, South Korea & Japan

Things are sophisticsed in Korea. Even toilet is as intelligent as your smartphone. :)
Similar things in Japan!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Hospitality in South Korea

Koreans are surprisingly friendly and helpful while meeting foreigners. People were asking me where I’m going, advising on the best station to get out of the subway and even asking other passengers to look after me as there were getting off before. Surprisingly, most of them couldn’t speak any English, but still were eager to help.
After getting out from subway with a map in my hand, I met even more people willing to direct me to my hotel without being asked. Most of directions was in Korean or completely wrong, so it took me almost one hour to find the place. Thanks everyone for organizing for me a “lovely” walk carrying my luggage. ;)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Seoul subway trap, South Korea

Coming to South Korea I arrived at Incheon international airport and decided to take airport express to Gimpio and than change to subway. Funny part started while I wanted to change. There was no ticket desk, just ticket machines, and I discovered in my wallet only high denomination banknotes. Coins were not enough to buy one. I couldn’t return, as going through gate also required valid ticket. So I found myself trapped. :)
I discovered, that Koreans don’t speak as much English as I expected, so explaining someone to break 5k won was a kind of challenge. Finally one nice guy, not speaking English at all, bought a ticket for me and helped me to settle in train.