Korea sits between China and Japan, and these two countries had and have a huge impact on it. A bit similar to Poland being between Russia and Germany.
At the Incheon airport, it was a very long walk to my bus bay. Good transport hubs make the distance to walk, in this case from the gate to the bus stop, short. In my experience the positive examples are: Tokyo's Narita, Amsterdam's Schiphol, Helsinki... Negative examples: Incheon, Istanbul... After a longish wait, the bus driver did not allow me to board with 2 small suitcases. He said the limit was one and that I should use a taxi. Well, in that case, despite being tired after a long flight, and the late hour, I had to get a local sim card to get an Uber. The bus was empty, by the way.
The Uber drivers (who are native Koreans, not foreigners like in Warsaw) are speeding, going even 92 km/h in a 60 zone.
The 7-Eleven shop assistant had zero English. The "Nice to CU" shop - the same. The sushi shop at the Seoul KTX station - the same. The English language museum guide was very hard to understand, despite living in the US for years. English proficiency among service workers seems to be worse than in Tokyo.
Potato chips are sweet, not salty.
No bins in the streets - same as in Japan.
People dump rubbish in empty lots - not like Japan.
New buildings have gas furnaces and exhaust pipes sticking out from walls.
There are escape hatches and ladders on balconies.
Bike infra is good.
New residential developments are very people friendly: walkable, quiet, with children playgrounds, trees, shops, restaurants, parks, events. I saw a lot of kids and bikes.
Footpaths are not as perfect as in Japan - you can trip and fall.
New streets are very wide: 2*4 car lanes, but there are concrete curb/nature strip separated bike paths on both sides and wide footpaths. Beg buttons seem to work well - short waits.
There are trees on both sides and shade umbrellas near crossings: 30 seconds of green to cross.
People cross on red when there are no cars.
Everyone walks on the bike crossing, because the curbs elsewhere are very high - higher than a staircase step.
Old people, women, kids ride bikes, on footpaths.
Toilet seat had a heater, Japanese style.
Mobile internet is super fast.
State museums are free.
Apartment building lifts are slow.
There is no ground floor - it's floor 1.
The
Dokdo/Takeshima dispute film is shown on the airport train.
The airport train is crowded.
The kingdom ended and the empire started in 1897, one of the reasons being that most of the population gradually became slaves (native, not brought from abroad). Old laws and societal divisions were abolished. The old laws had collective punishment for members of the family. Constitution was introduced. The Joseon dynasty lasting 500 years ended. The dynasty before that (Goryeo) gave Korea its current name (G is pronounced K). There was another dynasty before that, so 3 dynasties.
The museum guide said a strange thing: people were becoming slaves because then they didn't have to pay taxes, life was easier as a slave?
No low floor buses. No trams.
Buses have the system: one door for entry, one for exit. Practically no electric buses.
It takes 1 hour 45 minutes to get to my hotel from the city centre. I think public transport in Tokyo, where it relies more on trains and metro, and less on buses, is faster.
No churches, except Presbyterian. I'm sure they are there, it's just that I did not see them. This is very different from Europe where churches are very prominent. Korea has its native religion, similar to Japan, similar to what Slavs and other peoples had in Europe before the arrival of Christianity, and what since then been called
Pagan.
Playgrounds around residential towers even in city centre. Reminds me of Singapore. Who copied who?
The Seoul city history museum guide said Japan invaded Korea 999 times. Sarcasm?
Korean kids and teenagers behave rather badly in public, very different from Japan.
A/C is way too cold on the airport train.
A bus driver started closing the door before I exited.
Japanese occupation of Korea was similar to partitions of Poland, and also to
General Government, something in between.
The reforms and the switch from the Joseon Kingdom to the Korean Empire in 1897 were similar to the 1791 Constitution of 3rd May in Poland-Lithuania - a late attempt to reform a state. In both cases it was too late, because of powerful neighbours. The Commonwealth was finally partitioned, under Russian leadership in 1795, Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, after Japan won the 1905 Russo-Japanese war. Interesting how things are connected.
Seoul was damaged mainly in 1950-1953 when the bridges were blown up, North Koreans took it (in 3 days), and Americans bombed it.
The Internet works on the train even underground.
There are phrases in English in shops and restaurants, but people still don't speak English at all, or very poorly.
Loud motorbikes at night - I could hear the noise from the 22nd floor apartment.
Used KakaoMap app instead of Google maps. Very good reminders about when to alight, but uses a lot of energy.
Disappointed with Korean food - no vegetarian options. Everything at 7-Eleven was with meat, unlike 7-Eleven in Japan, but similar to Żabka in Poland. Same with restaurants. Even the tofu meal had fish. Survived on ice cream, hard boiled eggs (and brown/sauna eggs) and pizza. Much worse choice than in Japan.
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| Incheon at night |
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| Gas exhausts in new buildings |
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| Rubbish in an empty lot |
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| Fire escape |
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| Walkable and bikeable spaces |
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| The curb height is ridiculous |
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| I wanted to ride this bike, but I could not - see below. |
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| Why make a city bike riding app and not allow international visitors to use it? |
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| Nice smooth bike path along a footpath |
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| So many ads, but also great for livability. |
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| Traditional architecture |
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| Seoul got rid of its tram network in 1968 like Tokyo, Brisbane and many other cities. |
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| Korea demolished the symbol of Japanese occupation - see below for remains |
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| The post-war growth of Seoul is incredible |
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| I liked these characters. Was this a Korean animation? |
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| A presbyterian church |
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| Guards and visitors in traditional dresses (you get free access to the palace if you come dressed like that). |
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| The internal gate - to get past you need a ticket or you need to be dressed up |
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| Change of colours: red for kingdom, yellow/gold for empire |
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| The modern and traditional Korea in one photo |
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| The battle for Seoul |
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| There is a similar photo from the 1970s in Poland |
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| First time I saw something like this: one guy trimming grass, two people holding a protective sheet, plus one person supervising. |
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| National Museum of Korea |
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| Korean KTX high speed train based on French TGV |
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| No level boarding here |
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| Bike paths along the river |
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