Seoul is best described as expectation vs. reality.
Expectation…
1. Original expectation was a day of sightseeing (FAILED – new expectation in works)
2. Next expectation – Get Visa for China as follows:
-Arrive at airport at 6am-Find way into town (90 minutes by bus) and find China Embassy
-Get visa for China
-Get back to airport by 4pm for flight to China-FAILED
– China stopped issuing Visa`s same day.
So my Reality of Seoul was much different. After I realized I wasn`t going to fly to China same day, found a hotel and got into a groove, I really liked Seoul.
Shopping:
I spent my first day in the Fashion district, which was good as I realized I should buy some new clothes since all my stuff was left at the airport left luggage and I couldn`t wear the same clothes for 3 days.
After looking at the map of the stores, it was like home. Gap, American Appeal, Nine West, Guess and many more local stores. After going into the Gap, I was saddened by a few things….it`s cold in Korea so everything is for the winter and I really didn`t need that. Plus, the price was much more expensive and exchange rate didn`t help. Finally, I just wanted some basic shirts, but they didn`t have any – it was all quite fancy stuff for the Gap, so I walked out without anything.
I finally got some new underwear (since I was staying for a few days). I felt just like a good friend of mine (that will remain nameless) that tends to not do laundry until this person has no clean clothes, runs out of underwear all the time and has to keep buying more. I thought of this person as I had to buy some as I didn`t have any with me. Hee hee
After looking at some local stores, I did get some new tank tops and a long sleeve shirt (since it was cold there). Funny part, when I went to try them on (as all the Koreans are so much smaller than me), the dressing room girl came in and told me I couldn`t try on anything and took my clothes away from me. That`s not very good service. She said in fewer words, no try…just buy. I didn`t want to buy anything without trying it on, so that ended that store. It was an interesting experience as so little fit me as a large in Korea would be a size 0 or maybe 2 in the US. Ha!
Food:
– I was looking for Korean BBQ, but sadly didn`t find it. There were some local soups that you cook on a table in front of you, but they had chicken feet and other beef organs (or tongue) and I didn`t want that…so I continued on to the next place. I didn`t realize what a melting pot Korea was. There was more Chinese and Japanese restaurants than Korean. I was able to find one Korean place that had traditional meats that were battered and fried in some sort of straw/coconut like mixture. Then I was told to mix up sesame looking seeds with some brown sauce and dip my battered chicken into that. It was an experience and quite tasty.
– Since all this trouble happened in Korea, I figured I deserved Benihana and this may be the last time I would find one in 2008 so I was off. I was able to call and get directions…sort of and figured I would find my way or ask someone. What I didn`t realize when I called was English is not really spoken by the locals. So once I got off the metro and started to follow my directions, I couldn`t find it. I stopped in 3 western chain places to ask (assuming they would know the area and speak English as more tourist would go there), but alas, no one know where it was.
I almost gave up and walked the other direction. I came across a computer store and figured they would be younger guys and there were computers there with maybe Internet connections and I could ask them to help me. BINGO! I found a nice guy who looked it up online, showed me a map and also wrote it out in Korean in case I wanted to take a taxi there. So helpful! I was able to walk there and found it. I was on the right track the first time…just didn`t walk far enough.
Benihana
– Sadly, this was one of the most disappointing Benihana experiences in my life.
-When I looked at the menu, it was so different. It was either order a la carte (and weird options, or order the set menu that included the entire kitchen sink).
-It was so much food, and so much money, I couldn`t image anyone eating it all…but alas the couple next to me did. I`m talking they got soup, salad, shrimp, tiger prawns, oysters, beef, abalone, lobster and scallops, plus 5 types of vegetables and fried rice. It was crazy.
-The chef was boring, there was no show, but he tossed the salt and pepper behind his back once. No onion volcano, no shrimp tails tossed around and he didn`t even speak to any of us.
-Lastly, the couple next to me were so wrong in many ways.
1. I HEARD them eat everything from slurping the soup, the chomping on every bit of food and then I saw all the food as they chewed with their mouths open.
2. They were rudely talking on their cell phone during dinner – and I`m talking about 5-8 calls each! They rarely spoke with each other and they were screaming into the phones. As soon as one ended a call, the other started one. Why go to dinner with someone if you don`t want to talk or enjoy the experience together?
3. They both smelled so bad with a mix of body odor and bad perfume/cologne. It was magnified as we were in a private room with the glass doors closed.
All in all, a sad and expensive experience at Benihana – but I will continue to try others for a better experience. I guess it will make me look forward to my next Benihana trip that could only be better. I should have know it was a bad sign when this location was no longer on the main Benihana website. (Maybe they got delisted for being so different from the chain?)
Anyways, on the walk back to the metro, I found a Coldstone Creamery and got a yummy ice cream which made me feel all better so it was all right.
Sightseeing:
-I did manage to see a few sights. I hiked up a mountain to get a cable car to take to the “N Seoul Tower”. This was 234 meters high (shorter than the Stratosphere in Vegas), but really gave a great view of the whole city. I could see the temples and palaces from up there along. Plus, the leaves were changing colors, so I feel like I was experiencing the changing of the seasons, which I missed in New York this year.
-Afterwards, I thought I should go see a palace and managed to take the metro cross town to see one. There are so many, I went to one of the largest.
By the way…do I look Korean? As 2 different people stopped me and asked directions and thought I lived there. What gives?
All in all, Korea felt like a major metropolitan city and had so much western fashion, food and influence. I even found a California Pizza Kitchen (CPK), but decided I should have Korean food instead. It was cold and such a wake up call to me as I`ve been in such heat for so long. Makes me a little worried to get to China in a week as it`s freezing there at night. Yikes again!