Trip to Korea and Japan: Day 7 - Sapporo via Seoul

(Click here for first day, yesterday and all trips)
My week in Ulsan has come to an end, as I am now in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Ulsan was a nice stay and I got what I came for, my IR rock art data at Cheonjeon-ri, and some more. The hot and humid weather may have affected my top list, which was department stores and going to the cinema, but the best day was still the help and hospitality shown me this sunday when I went on my trip to the countryside to find my rock art.

I was unexpectedly given a total six hours of transfer time in Seoul when the Ulsan airport service suggested I could as well go 3 hours earlier when I was already (yes too early) at the airport. ALso, as I lost my luggage on the way to Ulsan due to a uninformed ticket agent at Arlanda airport in Sweden, I was rather supicious this time when the girl at Ulsan told me they would transfer my luggage from Gimpo to Incheon airport. When I suggested I wasn't quite sure if I could trust this, she said something along the lines that when going from local to international flights, *then* its OK. So I took a chance and it later proved to be fine. What to do when stuck outside Seoul with time to kill and no large luggage? Well ofc I took the bumber 5 (purple) subway line to Dongdaemun and my beloved Doota deprtment store. 

If you are the least interested in modern asian fashion at reasonable prices this is the place to go, and the floor for men gets me every time I go there. You can finder cheaper or more international fashion brands, but nothing beats Doota at providing for us in between, that want something extra and different from home, but at the same time don't have to go broke. I actually didnt have that much money at all, but just watching gave me energy. ;-)

Korean Air actually had the best ever onboard magazine I had ever read by far. Reviews, a 10+ page theme number on Kafka, etc, it was actually quite worthwhile to read.

Burgers at Doota...and yes, I did buy one t-shirt, but damn it was so nice. ;-)

At my place of stay in Sapporo, which I booked through airbnb. More on this later on.

(Click here for the next day)

Trip to Korea and Japan: Day 1 - Lost in Transferation

(If you want to follow my 27 day trip from the start go here to Day 0)
Well, my first day of this trip could have started better, or rather, ended better. I got to experience that "classic" feeling at my end destination in Ulsan, when everyone have gotten their luggage from the airplane except you, standing there waiting. Thankfully enough I had some help and came (somewhat) prepared. First I got told what had happened - I should have transfered my stuff from Inchean to Gimpo airport in Seoul myself. The thing is, quite ironically, that I specifically asked the agent there when I got my tickets if this was so, and she was quite sure "You just have to check in at Gimpo airport for a seat ticket, the luggage will be transfered all the way'...I won't make that mistake again. Anyway, the trip by way of Doha, Qatar and Seoul went as smooth as a 22.5 hour trip can be. Both Seoul and Doha airport had free wifi, but not Arlanda, makes me a bit ashamed. Also, nowadays, overnight flights have both usb sockets for your smartphones and often internet sockets too.

They sold these packages in Gimpo Airport in Seoul that looked like moss with some leaves for quite a lot of money (this one roughly 1800 SEK/200 USD)

My header for this day also alludes to the fact that I on my trips to Korea and Japan (this will be my second time around to both countries), the absolute majority of people know or can speak almost no english. It is possible their "passive" understanding is somewhat better, but communicating with the everyday man or woman on the street is a pain to be honest, so come prepared however you may. Korean letters/signs is actually quite easy to learn as they have a phonetic language like in the western countries, so with just a day or two preparation you can be able to translate signs and such to latin letters and then if you have checked beforehand where to go it may help a little.

Anyway, as I said earlier, I came prepared by having snapshots on my Samsung S4 of Ulsan and the bus route to and from the airport, and my hotel reservation receipt, which helped me a lot with both the taxi driver and the hotel. The taxi ride cost about 10000 won (58 SEK/9 USD) which I suppose is OK.

Regarding the hotel, I may be unfair but the name "Venus hotel', the surroundings, and the decor inside actually seems to imply that this may be one of those "romantic" love hotels you  hear are not that uncommon in asia. A funny thing in regards to this, is that the Korean pronounciation of the hotel name sounds like "Hotel Penis" (yes, I am not kidding you)...

The pink house in the background is Venus hotel

Entrance through a garage... ^_^

And the suroundings. Looks more flashy in the evening with all the red lights and greek statues on the facades... But a least there is lots of people around so it feels safe.

(Day 2 can be found here.)

Trip to Korea and Japan - Day 0: The big picture

(Click for all trips here.)
I am currently, in parallell with working as an upper secondary school teacher in mathematics and geography (and computer science, but that was some years ago I actually had any of those courses), doing the first half of a PhD at Uppsala University. To sum it up shortly, the theisi is formally done in Geography, but what I am doing is using my background in math and programming to analyze infrared photographs taken of rock surfaces and rock art on these surfaces to see if the sun and heat in general has any effect on them.
As part of that I have been doing measurements in Sweden and in South Africa (and some in Namibia). That could have been enough, but I got a scholarship from SSAG (who in their time has sponsored the first expedition to pass the Northeast passage and the tragic Andrée Balloon Expedition) to extend my data from sites in Ulsan, Korea and Hokkaido, Japan, which is very exiting for me personally.

Roughly my itinerary looks like this:
Thursday 18th - Friday 19th: Travel from Arlanda (Sweden) via Doha (Qatar) and Seoul (Korea) to Ulsan (Korea).
Saturday 20th - Wednesday 24th: Measurements in Ulsan. The measurements themselves will probably be only for a day, but the weather is an important factor that with its randomness creates the need for margins.
Thursday 25th: Travel to Sapporo (Japan) via Seoul.
Friday 26th - Sunday 4th/Monday 5th: Measurements in Fugoppe and Temiya caves at sites outside Sapporo. As above, conditions creates the need for spare days, and also in this case, to allow extra time to handle access to the, in this case, protected caves. This is at the moment looking good as I have gotten some genereous assistance from people in Japan already.
Monday 5th - Monday 12th: Time in Tokyo before returning home. Initial sorting and pre-analysis of data.
Thuesday 13th: Flight from Tokyo via Moscow (Russia) to Arlanda.

All in all 27 days abroad. I will miss my children sorely, but I know they will be reading my blog, and also getting to go to Spain for 10 days, so hopefully we will all manage. It will be a memorable trip anyways, and hopefully I will be able to honor the chance I got from SSAG well. I will be writing about my trip each day (if I can) and I will try to tell of some of the things I encounter, be they trivial or not.

Day 1 is here.

Kpop: Kan Mi Yeon (간미연)

Kam Mi Yeon together with Orange Caramel was what brought me into kpop, and so I will repost this from my last blog as I feel something is missing here otherwise. Anyway, she was the lead singer for Baby VOX  (more of them another time) and then had a solo career which even though it lastet several years didnt give us that many song, but oh so great they are. They are still my favorite songs and I keep coming back to them when I get fed up with some of the newer songs. I also sooo much like it how they have a theme in the three first videos below where Kan Mi Yeon is cast as a stalker or nutter in all of them. Talk about adding extra value and fun. More of this, please, more humor.

1. Kan Mi Youn - Won't Meet You
2. Kan Mi Youn - Paparazzi (live ver here)
3. Kan Mi Youn - Going Crazy
4. Kan Mi Yeon - Good Love
5. Kan Mi Yeon ft JunSu - Sunshine

AHA! I have been here, it is in Seoul! ^_^

Kdrama: Architecture 101 (건축학개론)

Some movies could really have been made a number of places in the world. The details and inflections of the set may be genuinely korean, but at the same time its a classic piece of movie art. This truly holds for the korean movie Architecture 101. It tells the story of two peoples complicated love story over time. The movie takes place when they meet at a introductory architecture curse in Seoul, and 17 years later when the woman seeks out the man who now is an architect. She asks him to rebuild her home at Jeju island, and gradually their common past is retold and makes its impact on the present. Be prepared that the movie is a true asian movie in the drama department, its bittersweet romance told with a gentle hand. All the more touching because of that. The actors you may know from series like Fashion King(Lee Je-Hoon) och Big (Bae Suzy, known from miss A).

Kpop: Girl's generation/SNSD (소녀시대)

GIrl's Generation, or SNSD as their korean name 소녀시대 first letters are pronounced, is Koreas most known girl group and with their 9 members somewhat the korean counterpart to Japanese AKB48, though not as influental. They conform to the standard formula of kpop by being an a) large group of b) fair maidens (cough) who c) dances in well choreographed music videos singing d) easy-to-listen-to radio pop.

Just a selection:

1. SNSD - Gee
2. SNSD - Catch Me If You Can
3. SNSD - Mr Mr
4. SNSD - Run Devil Run
5. SNSD - I got a boy
6. SNSD - Beep Beep (Japanese release)
7. SNSD - Visual Dreams (min favorit)
8. SNSD - Seoul (tillsammans med Super Junior)
9. SNSD - Mr Taxi

Trip to Seoul: Day 7 - My personal favorites and tips

The owner of the Ttrek of Bloo Kpop store

[If you want to read my travelogue from the start, it is here.]
The thursday all goes to travelling home via Helsinki to Arlanda, Stockholm (and then train to Sala). This time the time difference means that the 10 hour flight home is reduced to seemingly only 3, and the shorter one takes no time at all (1 hour flight - 1 hour time difference = 0), making it possible to leave Seoul just before lunch and arrive on Arlanda just at dinner-time. Jetlag is something else, but to be honest I didn't adjust so well during the six nights, not being able to go to sleep until after 01.00 in the evenings (and therefore being quite tired on and off since my schedule meant I had to get up at 7.30 in the morning). Nuff said about that.

What was the best then? Well, lets divide it into places and stuff, and remenber this is a personal list, and one made for winter conditions. A summer list would have been different on some accounts.

A) Places

• Dongdaemun and specifically the Doota store. It was just right for me personally in feeling, taste and price level. Probably the most expensive for this area, so there are other price levels too. Doota give you lots of nice Korean fashion to prices still lower than in Sweden. (If you want more expensive, go to Shinsaegae between Myengdong and Namdaemun markets)
• Insadong-gil. This street in the area with the same name is a nice place to go for buying souvenirs, in a good way, its somewhat cosy and relaxed, and it beats the cheap feeling of other tourist traps I have seen in many other places.
• Myengdong market. A relatively international and fresh place where you can shop or just stroll and take a coffeebreak. Here you find my favorite kpop-music-store, Ttrak of Bloo, which is a dearly recommended visit. 
• Coex underground mall. Don't go to the nearby Gangnam just because you heard of it, go here instead. This superlarge undergound mall is still quite a quality place, and has its own movie theatre even.

B) Things

• Clothes in general - take the chance to buy clothes with styles, patterns and looks that are a little different than at home, or same-looking but cheaper. Remember one thing: sizes! Asians usually don't have the same stature as us, and this means that the bigger ones of us have to think of that.  If you are a very long, muscular or curvy person, be prepared to try some stuff on.
• Head-, hand- and footwear. They really have quite a different range of cool and funny headwear, nice gloves and mittens, and funny socks. Agreed, it helps if you like things that are a little more funny or colorful, but thats whats makes it different too. And that is mainly a problem for some men, I'd say. I quite envy the other sex here, "it's a womans world".
• Phone covers. They have a lot of them, you find stores or stalls in every other street corner.
• Kpop collectibles and CD's. I mean, I'm not even sure I can place the CD's I've bought, but the albums and photbooks that go with some of them makes it worth it, at least for when you don't have some already. And then comes posters, calendars, postcards,keyholders, etc

There are of course lots more that are worth visiting or buying when in Seoul on a one week visit, but this was the things that stuck with me this time.

Thanks everyone who have been reading these small accounts from Seoul. Hopefully I will be back with other travel tales next year. Visiting San Diego, South Africa/Namibia and Seoul have been a cool experience, but each time what is the nicest (truly) is hugging ones family back at home and sleeping in my own bed. Yawn.

Then after a while, the will to travel comes back...

Trip to Seoul: Day 6 - Presidential election, vintage and ugly fashion

[If you want to read my travelogue from the start, it begins here]

My final whole day in Seoul I hade 3 hours before the evening to do some last minute shopping. Having some more work to do this evening, I will go directly for the pictures, which I know you like the most.

Korean men are no strangers for taking care of their skin or other parts, and why should they? I'm not there yet, but its probably just a question of time before (even) more men in the west goes beyond aftershave and deo in their morning duties). BB Cream above, but what is the other thing? Snail Cream! I will probably pass on that in the future too. ;-)

And again, some scandinavian culture makes it mark, at the COEX underground mall

Where I today found a record shop with lots of kpop. Orange Caramel was sold out but they had a lot of signed stuff for reasonable prices I think (like 48000 Won (320 SEK/48$) for a signed Girls Generation picture).

Yes, the election. Here we have thos student activists again with their peace-symbol looking rallying ... symbol.

So, yes, even though there is almost no snow, there is more than cold enough, -10 degrees Celcius, windy and sooo cold (I guess its the moisture).

Low fashion?

So, I may have implied, especially at home, that asian and korean fashion is just soo fine all the time, but actually thats ofc not true. There seems to be a rather thin line between high and low fashion. Rather scary things that looks like something your grandmother would have worn in the 60s 70s(?) isnät unusuall at all at street markets och the lower price range. In Sweden we have this cult of youth resulting (which is often nice but can be narrowminded) in people not stopping to trying to dress youthful after they get family or pass their 30s/40s. My imression is that in asia (yes very simplified and probably wrong) there is still a more general generational divide in styling. For a comparison sideways - the most usual election analysis have read before election day is that the 20- and 30-year-olds will wote for leftwing Moon, the 50+ for Park, and the 40-year-olds will decide. That kind of reasoning wouldn't happen in Sweden, at least not in such broad terms. Thoguh media often groups 65+ but that is more connected to their common interest as retiree's.

At Insadong, Ssamziegil, they have workshops you can participate in for a fee, one stair down.

Prices

View of Ssamziegil from second floor

Koreans love their head-,hand- and footwear. Especially in winter I am guessing.

And backbacks, god I saw a lot of nice ones. Lycky for me that I already ordered one from Yesstyle.com before I left for Seoul

Actually I did visit two new city districts, Itaewon and Hongdae. The first one is the (in)famous forigner living spot of choice, which ofc makes it both alluring and disliked by natives. You get all the kinds of stuff you get at such places all over the world. One the one hand, prostitution and such, on the other hand a thriving cultural life with many restaurants and shops you don't see in other places. JY Park sjöng om detta i sin retrostylade låt förra året. The thing is, I came there during daytime, I really couldnät have told it was a specially un-korean neighborhood beyond maybe a few more bars with european names. But it was 98% korean(looking) people on the streets, so Itaewon have nothing on some swedish suburbs I know of, that I promise you. Good or bad, I don't know, but I think this again reminds us how important cultural and national identity are for the Koreans, which somewhat reminds me of our sister country Norway. They also have a rather recent independence from day and are surrounded but bigger nations.

So, anyway. I went on to the city area I live next to, Hongdae, which is an area with lot of students from Hondik University, and naturally then has a lot of nightlife, shopping and not so pricey stuff but preferably a little different then your usual "Mart stuff". I found it to be a very nice area for small shopping, and found lots of fun stuff for very affordable prices.

Design galleria with very nice and different presents. Sadly I couldn't decide on what to buy, finding this place at the end of my walk, already having ticked of all on my list.

So, sorry sister, but these bees on a iron hexagon grille (for notes) didnt make it past the cut

Just out of coincidence I found this store in a besement which sold vintage clothes

and heres the logo, Divineshop

There I found a really nice leather jacket, which read "McGregor" and made in korea, but the shop owner said Japan, and when I googled it seems to be a replica of WWII A-2 flying jacket, a real find for the same price you buy a sweater at home. It really completed a kind of biker-yakuza look I had been imagining, haha. It looked somewhat like this but not as original, instead more lika a fantasy of world war two, with some stickers on it (flyer related but clearly of a more "war romantic" and recent origin). I'd guess my one is from 70s-80s.

It also finallly forced me to realize I have to give up my idea of only having hand luggage on the flight back to sweden, so now I will have to let the slightly broken one serve as bearer of extra clothes and such, and I will fill my new one (another very nice find) with the more precious stuff. I will look like a Himalyan Sherpa. ;-)