Touch Down!

Less than 24 hours ago I was just arriving at the airport in Seoul S. Korea after flying 14 hours from NYC aboard Korean air where the flight attendants were beautiful and impeccably dressed women with decent English, striking men and delicious food. My first taste of Korean food was on this flight and what they call bibimbap. They told me it was rice and vegtables but it was so much more. It is delivered with veggies in a bowl and steamed rice and a set of directions. You take the steamed rice, add it to the veggies then add a container of chili paste, my favorite, and sesame oil. You mix it all together and the spicy dish is wonderful. This came served with a side of seaweed soup, not bad for my first meal.

By the time I had arrived at Incheaon airport I had been up for over 24 hours and still had a 4 hour bus ride ahead of me. I left the plane and was immediately stopped by quarantine. Everyone had to pass through a line of medics taking some sort of skin reading. While on the flight I had noticed on average that the Koreans wear a lot more surgical face masks then the average and realized after getting an information card that the Koreans were afraid of Swine flu. They handed out anti-bacterial wipes for everyone and seemed slightly obsessed with national health and the swine flu scare.

Once through immigration I made my way outside to find my bus to Gwangju. I was happily surprised to arrived at the bus and see that they all were like first class. As a confused foreigner trying to read my ticket a fellow bus goer and Korean jumped to my rescue. He showed me my seat and even used his cell phone to call ahead to let my ride know I was on my way.

My Korean bus guide sat next to me during the ride and with his bad English told me his English name was James Chon, like James Bond. He did a nice little gun demonstration so I knew what he was referring to and started asking me lots of questions. He told me all about the baseball we were watching and gave me chocolate and gum. I know its sounds strange, but he was just being friendly, and not looking for a western bride. He was a business professor at one of the University's, and was 49 years old. Telling your age over here is quite normal as your age shows your status and the respect you deserve. After talking the first hour my comfy chair and the baseball game put me right to sleep and I awoke to the Gwangju bus terminal.

I was picked up and brought to my apartment at 11pm where I passed out promptly and awoke in the early morning hour to my first day in Korea...