10 impressions about Korea & Koreans

ok, i "was" back last wednesday night. touched ground 7pm and damn drained out. Korea is okay, i have had so many wonderful experience and have done some soul searching too. so, all-in-all this trip is worth every single cent that i spent. i'll definitely go back again, maybe end of 2007 or 2008.

10 impressions about Korea & Koreans

1. They are driving in the different direction, so Malaysian license holders cannot drive there. and i have a hard time accustom myself to "look left" rather than "look right" when walk across roads! (nearly got banged few times)

2. Koreans are so good looking!! okay, apart from the surgery thing, they go out wearing great attires!! men wear formal tie with suits, girls all make-up and wear fancy dress... the view on the street is nice and eye-feasting.

3. Koreans are nice people. I'm not surprised if it's one of the countries with lowest crime rate. the atmosphere is so peaceful. even if you leave your laptop or handphone on the table, no one is going to steal it! stealing and cheating are just not any part of their lives.

4. Another prove is no one is going sit on the seat for handicaps or senior citizens on subway trains... i mean none!! unlike malaysia. even if the trains are totally full, the young and trendy and hip teenagers will not even sit on those seats!! i'm genuinely impressed!

5. They are really helpful people... ok, although most of them are of no help because they can't speak a word of English, but they are STILL helpful people. even if you have made known to them that you don't know Korean, they will still try to help you by speaking non-stop Korean, as if you somehow will miraculously understand them! hehe...

6. They are really warm people. Most time when we met a group of unlces and aunties, they ill extend their friendship, hand you some food and drinks, give you a ride, bring you personally to the place you ask for eventhough it means walking away from their work for 10 minutes!!!

7. Their food is always red in colour!! hehe... okay, and most of the food are vegetable, they seldom have meat. and Koreans love spicy and hot food!! some are so hot, i as malaysian also have to admit "kalah"... and yes, most of the food are also fermented... my sister on the way back told me that "the whole country has this fermented smell" and too much of the smell makes her sick!

8. cosmetic and facial masks are really cheap there!! no wonder people there have so beautiful and translucent skin texture! okay, i've bought a lot of facial masks too! :P

9. Korea is not a "friendly" place for foreign travellers, especially backpackers... cause it's really really hard to navigate around Korea for there is NO english words at all!! no english on road signs, billboards, notices, public transportation, ticket counters... and to make it worse, most Koreans don't speak English at all!!! so you better bring along your english-korean dictionary, or follow tour where the tour guide will do the job for you.

10. It's FREAKING expensive in Korea... bring a lot of dough or you shall starve to death!! one proper fried rice in Korea is close to RM20 per plate. a bottle of mineral water is about RM2.50. BBQ set for 2 person is close to RM200. youth hostel or even homestay are about RM100 per small room. proper hotel room cost about RM200 or more!!