In April, my wife, grandson and I visited Korea. This was mostly a chance to visit my wife’s family. She has three sisters and their families that live in and around Seoul. My wife was born during the Korean War, or what they call the Korean Civil War. The country was very poor after the war and dependent on U.S. aid for survival. The change over the last 50 years, is remarkable. This was my first trip to Asia. By the way, Korea means “land of white Kias.” Just kidding, there are Hyundais too.
The country is amazing. With over 50 million people in South Korea, it is very crowded, urbanized and modern. The South Korean GDP per capita is about the same as France. From what I observed; the standard of living is generally higher than the U.S., but that might not be fair. The homes, cars, really everything, are smaller than U.S. counterparts. And things are expensive. Still, they live well.
We saw no homeless people or graffiti. Everything is computerized and wired, much more than the U.S. All the doors were electronic; I never saw a door key. Everything is efficient and everyone is working. There are no locks on the bathrooms and no indication of crime. The air is filthy. The Koreans blame the poor air quality on the prevailing winds from China.
Transportation
Public transportation is excellent. We used the subway, which was great, albeit crowded. Buses and private vehicles work fine except during peak-hour traffic, which is pretty awful. Worse than Seattle. The equivalent of a Good-to-Go pass actually (audibly) tells you how much the toll is as you pass through the toll plaza. These passes are actually good for trains, subways, buses, even bicycles. There is no way to pay cash for transit; everything is through a prepaid card.
Diversity
This is the least diverse place I have ever seen. At tourist attractions, you see people other than Koreans. But at most places, and I was living with Koreans, not around other tourists, I’d say that white people were less than one in a thousand. Black and Indian people simply weren’t seen outside the tourist areas. The country is very homogeneous, regimented and cohesive.
Food
The Korean diet of meat, fish, poultry and vegetables, is very healthy. They rarely eat desert. The people are thin and very attractive. I’d say less than 2% of the Koreans are overweight. At the airport, it was easy to spot the Americans.
When in Korea, you’re never far from the sea. As a result, they have historically eaten everything that comes from the ocean. Often, this is raw; we had a lot of sashimi. Korea doesn’t have breakfast food versus lunch food versus dinner food. They just have food, which is why I found myself eating conch or sea urchin porridge for breakfast some mornings.
The most interesting thing we ate was octopus that was still moving. This was on the beach, where you can buy a live octopus, abalone or conch from the ladies who free-dive for them. We bought an octopus, which the lady plucked from the water, chopped it up, and slid the writhing pieces onto a plate with condiments. When the octopus attached its sucker to the inside of my mouth, I just kept chewing. Life lesson: if you keep chewing, the bigger animal wins.
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