Seoul has hills, Shanghai does not

April 6, 2010

I just got back from a 5-day trip to Seoul, South Korea. Here are a few things that I noticed about Seoul:

-Seoul has hills. It feels like it sits in a sort of valley. The hills make it charming and dynamic. Shanghai does not have hills. It is very flat. I didn’t see any bicyclists in Seoul. There are tons in Shanghai.

Have you seen the Korean movie, The Host? You should!

-People in Seoul are soft spoken. When sitting in a restaurant or cafe, I couldn’t hear other people’s conversations. Chinese people yell and yell often. They especially love to yell on their phones.

-Many people in Seoul can speak some English. This is not the case in China.

-Seoul has very large boulevards and highways. Shanghai has small and winding streets and raised freeways.

-Koreans love coffee, and there is an abundance of cafes in Seoul.

Banchan for days

-Koreans are GORGEOUS. They are easily the most beautiful race I’ve ever seen. Men and women.

-Some may attribute their beauty to the popularity of plastic surgery in the country. There are literally vacation tours where women will go to Korea to get plastic surgery.

-Seoul has hipsters. China does not. These hipsters like vintage fashion and they have great style. They really nail it.

-Seoul has street performers including rock bands, tap dancers, and break dancers. I noticed that people were more outgoing and daring in Seoul than in Shanghai. While I was there I went to a risque dance performance. Seoul has an appreciation for the arts that I don’t see in China.

-Seoul has lots of western food. They have On the Border and will soon have Taco Bell.

-There is an area of Seoul called Itaewon, which is considered the foreigners’ district. Its right near the U.S. army base. It was a very strange place to be.

-South Koreans do not want to go to war with North Korea. They want reunification. Right before I got there, a North Korean ship “accidentally” hit and sunk a South Korean ship with a torpedo. 46 died. South Korea does not want to go to war. In this situation, the U.S. probably would.

-Most Korean food has that red, spicy vinegar flavor of kimchi. By the last day I was a little sick of it. I’m still not sick of Chinese food.

Sundubu

-I went to the Korean War Memorial Museum while I was there. It was surprising to see how easily the North Koreans were willing to kill their South Korean brothers in the name of communism. I was also surprised to find out that when the North Koreans first attacked South Korea, the South Koreans were armed with essentially spears, while the Northerners were provided with Soviet guns and tanks. At the time when Japan left Korea, the north was much more industrialized than the South. The South was mostly farmland. I went to the museum with my Chinese friend, Tong. He thought it was weird to be at the museum because he is on the North Korean side and we, Americans, are on the South Korean side. Tong was taught in school that the reason the Soviets beat the Nazis was because communism has a bonding effect between people. In capitalism, you don’t care about your brothers. Its every man for himself, so how could you fight alongside each other successfully? He attributes the success of the North Koreans to this same principle. He also believes that communism is the best system for a developing country.

Passion 5 in Itaewon. Totes amazeballs.

-Restaurants and cafes in Seoul have a niceness, a classiness to them that is not yet found in China. The Chinese right now have so much disposable money that they throw it at things that might seem nice or look expensive but end up looking cheesy. We went to a dessert emporium called Passion 5 in Seoul that was just incredible. I asked my Korean friend, Min about this. He said 10 years ago Seoul was just like Shanghai. Shanghai will get there soon. When I talked about this in front of Tong, he said that I only think this because my standards of “niceness” or “classiness” are American-based, and Seoul is similar to America. Maybe the Chinese have different taste. He is right. I see the world through U.S.-colored glasses.

-Koreans can pay for things with their cell phones. Their cell phones get scanned in stores or taxis like credit cards. Brilliant.

-Koreans like dancing. Their clubs are not crowded with tables of people flaunting their money with bottle service like in Shanghai. There aren’t tables in clubs in Seoul. They like dancing. And they sing. They know the words to many American hip hop songs. It’s so great.

-It is incredibly hard to find public trash cans in Seoul. Apparently, Koreans are afraid of bombs being dropped in trash cans, so they simply do away with them. If you have trash, you can give it to a convenience store owner, and they will dispose of it for you.

I don't care how cheesy this is. We look fantastic!