Seoul airport isn't nearly as polite and civilised as the city.
We recieved our fast track passes to get through customs and immigration, only to find that they apparently didn't work today. So we went through the first checkpoint where they scan your ticket and passport. And red warning bells went off. The lady scanning didn't seem bothered, but everyone else was very interested and I was expecting large persons to come and take me away. The lady waved me through and my colleague was scanned - and he recieved the red alarm treatment too.
Now, once we got through customs and immigration it was a perfectly nice airport, but going through the gauntlet was... an experience. There were lots of people of course, many of whom were not Korean - from what I can gather they were mostly Chinese.
And full of sharp elbows when it came to queuing for customs, sneaky pushing in and outright shoving their way through the queue. I've never seen anything like it. I know I'm very British with the queueing and that others nationalities have different views of queuing, but I've never known anything like the bun fight to get through customs anywhere outside post-apocalyptic scrambling for the last Mars Bar in movies.
Immigration was more civilised, although we did pick the queue with the officer who interviewed every person in front of us in depth. Except us. Maybe the red alarm at the beginning was our test instead, because except for a very fast process of our passports, she wasn't in the least bit interested. And no one came to take us away.
Flight back was very civilised, as was the M25 which was surprising for a Friday evening rush hour. Now back home trying hard to stay awake til 10-ish to maximise chance of getting over jet lag quickly.
Friday 30 October 2015
You are never going to get food poisoning in Korea
In Seoul, people are pretty germ-phobic, so you can guarentee that food preparation is of the highest standards, and very lovely, especially the Korean Barbeque. People are also very courteous - if you see someone wearing a surgical mask, it is not because they are protecting themselves from pollution, but because they don't wish to spread the germs they may be carrying if they are not well.
And speaking of pollution, Seoul has a lot of traffic. So much that all the roads look like the M25 in the rush hour - but all of the time. Yet there is no smog and the view from the windows are an unobstructed, natural high definition. There are hardly any smokers either. In fact the city is very clean. One of our hosts - a lady as it happens - remarked that this was because they had a female president.
Arrivng at hotel after being caught in traffic, we were ushered straight into dinner where we were greeted by distictly foreign food.We could tell it was foreign because it came in lots of little dishes rather than one big one, and the only utensils were metal chopsticks and a spoon. I have never used chopsticks for real before - playing around with them at the local Chnese at home really doesn't count, but its a great way to eat, making sure your mouthfuls are not too big, and that dinner passes in a gently civilised manner.
After dinner, we ushered ourselves to our rooms. I had a long hot soak and went to bed, utterly exhausted. I slept soundly for about three hours. At which point I woke up ready for the day. At 1am. I put in three hours work before feeling tired enough that I might sleep, and I did. But that's jet lag for you.
Having aroom on the 28th floor has its drawbacks, none of which detract from the amazing view. Mostly it's the lift stopping at every other floor on the way down, which makes that essential journey to breakfast labout five times longer than you'd think - which may as well be decades when you're desperate for coffee.
We spent the day with our hosts. It was a long hard, but enjoyable day punctuated with very good food. I don't like kimchi, by the way, which is something like pickled cabbage. I won't go into the work day, except to say that this city makes the UK feel like a dirty old backwater island. Everyone is highly educated - which is a problem because its underpopulated and the Chinese are coming in to do the low level jobs that the Koreans consider themselves too educated for - but the Koreans also don't want to be relying on foreigners to do those jobs. Everywhere is very clean and people are constantly looking to the future, how to make things better, smarter.
Seoul is the digital city, and although the technology is no further ahead than what's available in the UK, it's much more widely adopted. The technical toilets are commonplace. Bluetooth devices are used routinely for workers to communicate around larger spacesfor example. Buidings go up faster than it takes for a UK architect to think of an idea - and while the apartment blocks are quite ugly, the commercial buidings are all architectural wonders. The amount of money that is clearly spent on and in the city is phenomenal.
But the business lounge at Heathrow T2 is better.
We had a Korean Barbeque that evening, which, surprisingly, was indoors, with a charcoal burner built into the table and serving staff cooking meat over it - you just helped yourself to some when it was pushed to the edge. It was divine.
Jet lag was pretty much gone by the following day when there was more work and more food. Until we got to Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was beautiful. I don't really know what I expected, something big and stone probably, and it wasn't. It covered a fair area, but it was no higher than one high storey. It's in the process of being renovated, but with every piece of timber being hand painted, its taking a while.
The day was rounded off with dinner in the Top Cloud - a donut floor suspended above its rather tall building, so it feels like you're not attached to anything on earth. The food, as always was beautiful, but its not a place for those who don't like heights. Actually Seoul isn't for those who don't like heights really. Because everything is built high.
I'm on my way to the airport as I type. It's been a brief visit, and largely taken up with work, but this is a country that is far advanced , bigger and better than you would expect, and filled with a people that work fantastically hard, and are gracious, friendly and accommodating. South Korea is not smewhere I had ever thought of as a holiday destination, but is now firmly on my list.
And speaking of pollution, Seoul has a lot of traffic. So much that all the roads look like the M25 in the rush hour - but all of the time. Yet there is no smog and the view from the windows are an unobstructed, natural high definition. There are hardly any smokers either. In fact the city is very clean. One of our hosts - a lady as it happens - remarked that this was because they had a female president.
Arrivng at hotel after being caught in traffic, we were ushered straight into dinner where we were greeted by distictly foreign food.We could tell it was foreign because it came in lots of little dishes rather than one big one, and the only utensils were metal chopsticks and a spoon. I have never used chopsticks for real before - playing around with them at the local Chnese at home really doesn't count, but its a great way to eat, making sure your mouthfuls are not too big, and that dinner passes in a gently civilised manner.
After dinner, we ushered ourselves to our rooms. I had a long hot soak and went to bed, utterly exhausted. I slept soundly for about three hours. At which point I woke up ready for the day. At 1am. I put in three hours work before feeling tired enough that I might sleep, and I did. But that's jet lag for you.
Having aroom on the 28th floor has its drawbacks, none of which detract from the amazing view. Mostly it's the lift stopping at every other floor on the way down, which makes that essential journey to breakfast labout five times longer than you'd think - which may as well be decades when you're desperate for coffee.
We spent the day with our hosts. It was a long hard, but enjoyable day punctuated with very good food. I don't like kimchi, by the way, which is something like pickled cabbage. I won't go into the work day, except to say that this city makes the UK feel like a dirty old backwater island. Everyone is highly educated - which is a problem because its underpopulated and the Chinese are coming in to do the low level jobs that the Koreans consider themselves too educated for - but the Koreans also don't want to be relying on foreigners to do those jobs. Everywhere is very clean and people are constantly looking to the future, how to make things better, smarter.
Seoul is the digital city, and although the technology is no further ahead than what's available in the UK, it's much more widely adopted. The technical toilets are commonplace. Bluetooth devices are used routinely for workers to communicate around larger spacesfor example. Buidings go up faster than it takes for a UK architect to think of an idea - and while the apartment blocks are quite ugly, the commercial buidings are all architectural wonders. The amount of money that is clearly spent on and in the city is phenomenal.
But the business lounge at Heathrow T2 is better.
We had a Korean Barbeque that evening, which, surprisingly, was indoors, with a charcoal burner built into the table and serving staff cooking meat over it - you just helped yourself to some when it was pushed to the edge. It was divine.
I'm on my way to the airport as I type. It's been a brief visit, and largely taken up with work, but this is a country that is far advanced , bigger and better than you would expect, and filled with a people that work fantastically hard, and are gracious, friendly and accommodating. South Korea is not smewhere I had ever thought of as a holiday destination, but is now firmly on my list.
Tuesday 27 October 2015
How the other half live
I've flown business class before. Many, many years ago when it basically meant a bit of extra leg room and a glass of bubbly. Nowadays it's something completely different.
Proper glass, china and cutlery for meals makes dining an exceptionally civilised affair when all about you are disposable containers housing near-plastic food. Only the incongruous plastic knives spoil it, a nonsense, as apparently no one ever used a broken glass or fork to injure and maim.
14 inch personal TV screens, armchair that convert to beds, sockets to charge ipads and mobile phones and supplied slippers, bedding and headphones complete the ensemble on an Asiana flight.
But best of all, and the reason I am dreading going back to cattle class, is that my nearest neighbour is four feet away. Socialising is all well and good, but I'll pay the loss of that price to gain space where I don't have to share spit, overhanging flesh and/or body odour.
Sleeping in a pod bed is not the most comfortable in the world, but with the help of the supplied earplugs and eye mask, I actually slept about four hours. I might have slept more if it hadn't been for the turbulence announcements.
It was also very dehydrating, but I cannot fault the attentiveness of our stewardesses. Around one stewardess for every ten people, maybe less as a few seats were empty. The moment I decided to wake up and watch a movie, coffee arrived just for me.
For most of the flight it was either dark, or above cloud. One of the few gaps in the clouds showed mountains in the region of Ulan-Ude, Mongolia.
Watched the Theory of Everything. It was good. Imitation Game was better, but I totally understand why Eddie Redmayne got his Oscar. Also Night At the Museum 3. Popcorn movie, but I love the first one. Also enjoyed breakfast in bed. Hee!
Arrived at the hotel - Intercontinental, very nice - just in time for dinner. Had some lovely people from Malaysia and Korea for company, and learned that Myanmar is apparently the best place in the world to visit.
The rooms here are lovely, and the loos are technologically baffling.
Off to bed now, so I'm hopefully bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning.
14 inch personal TV screens, armchair that convert to beds, sockets to charge ipads and mobile phones and supplied slippers, bedding and headphones complete the ensemble on an Asiana flight.
But best of all, and the reason I am dreading going back to cattle class, is that my nearest neighbour is four feet away. Socialising is all well and good, but I'll pay the loss of that price to gain space where I don't have to share spit, overhanging flesh and/or body odour.
Sleeping in a pod bed is not the most comfortable in the world, but with the help of the supplied earplugs and eye mask, I actually slept about four hours. I might have slept more if it hadn't been for the turbulence announcements.
It was also very dehydrating, but I cannot fault the attentiveness of our stewardesses. Around one stewardess for every ten people, maybe less as a few seats were empty. The moment I decided to wake up and watch a movie, coffee arrived just for me.
Watched the Theory of Everything. It was good. Imitation Game was better, but I totally understand why Eddie Redmayne got his Oscar. Also Night At the Museum 3. Popcorn movie, but I love the first one. Also enjoyed breakfast in bed. Hee!
Arrived at the hotel - Intercontinental, very nice - just in time for dinner. Had some lovely people from Malaysia and Korea for company, and learned that Myanmar is apparently the best place in the world to visit.
The rooms here are lovely, and the loos are technologically baffling.
Off to bed now, so I'm hopefully bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning.
Monday 26 October 2015
Flying high
It's been a while since I lasted posted to this blog. Three years, apparently - how time flies! One new job, two new kits and a brand new second hand car, and we're all caught up.
Today I'm going on one of the work-related magical mystery tours that tend to be proliferate every spring and autumn. This is one of the more exotic trips - destination... well, that's a surprise for now.
I arrived at Heathrow ridiculously early. Purely because the M25 is generally clear when you've left ridiculous amounts of time, but the minute that the M25 thinks you might be only a bit early, on time or late, it throws enough 'long delays' into the mix that the traffic jams make it look like the snake that eats its own tail.
I'm the kind of person that worries she's got the wrong date. Or airport. Despite checking everything every half hour for the previous three days. So you can imagine the internal meltdown I had when the automatic check in declared that it had no booking under my passport, eticket or booking reference number.
The helpful supervisor of the automatic checkins directed me to a very nice young lady at a check in desk who was completely unphased by my slightly panicky enquiry as to whether I'd got the right day. Yes, I had, and as I was flying business class I could use the fast track through security and the United business lounge. Wait, rewind. Business Class? Highly unexpected and totally awsome.
The security fast track wasn't. Although that was primarily because my bra set the alarms off. Yes, you read that right. My bra. It's a good classic M&S bra, nothing special or kinky, just robust underwire. Very robust apparently, and full of metal.
The United lounge is very lovely. With armchairs. And complimentary food, drink, electricity and armchairs.
So I'm sitting in my airport armchair with a glass of something nice and speculating as to what the next few days are going to bring.
Today I'm going on one of the work-related magical mystery tours that tend to be proliferate every spring and autumn. This is one of the more exotic trips - destination... well, that's a surprise for now.
I arrived at Heathrow ridiculously early. Purely because the M25 is generally clear when you've left ridiculous amounts of time, but the minute that the M25 thinks you might be only a bit early, on time or late, it throws enough 'long delays' into the mix that the traffic jams make it look like the snake that eats its own tail.
I'm the kind of person that worries she's got the wrong date. Or airport. Despite checking everything every half hour for the previous three days. So you can imagine the internal meltdown I had when the automatic check in declared that it had no booking under my passport, eticket or booking reference number.
The helpful supervisor of the automatic checkins directed me to a very nice young lady at a check in desk who was completely unphased by my slightly panicky enquiry as to whether I'd got the right day. Yes, I had, and as I was flying business class I could use the fast track through security and the United business lounge. Wait, rewind. Business Class? Highly unexpected and totally awsome.
The security fast track wasn't. Although that was primarily because my bra set the alarms off. Yes, you read that right. My bra. It's a good classic M&S bra, nothing special or kinky, just robust underwire. Very robust apparently, and full of metal.
So I'm sitting in my airport armchair with a glass of something nice and speculating as to what the next few days are going to bring.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
