twobjshelbys Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 This is the first I've been "online" since last Tuesday. I've been in Seoul since Thursday. This is my first time here and a few observations. 1. Seoul looks like a large American city. I was amazed and in some ways disappointed. I was hoping to see eastern architecture and all there are are American style high-rise office and apartment buildings. 2. They do drive on the same side of the road as we do. 3. There are more SUVs on the roads of Seoul than in the US. I'm amazed. Hyundai and Kia small SUVs everywhere. Hyundai makes some nice looking cars that we never get to see. Including a line that rivals Lexus. 4. Back to Americanization. The roads look just like in the US. Freeways and everything. Heck, the freeway number signs even look like ours. If it weren't for the Korean printing on everything you wouldn't know where you were. Most signs are in both Korean and English. 5. Yesterday was "Yellow Dust" day. This is the Gobi Desert dust storms gone supersized. The sky was hazy all day. It rained today. It's been long days - I still have time shifted so I'm getting up at about 4AM local time and not getting to bed until after midnight. Today might be different. So far the only thing I've seen is a hotel and office building and the only scenery on the way and looking out of the hotel. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to play tourist and post some photos here. From Seoul it's to San Francisco for the rest of the week in meetings there. P.S. The forum is really slow from Seoul! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twobjshelbys Posted March 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Observation 6: Coffee isn't very common here. But there is always Starbucks. Starbucks is the McDonalds of coffee. Tastes the same no matter where you are. 7. Almost everyone speaks English. Some better than most Americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0201212 Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Have a good time hope you get to play tourist. I have been to Korea a few times and the farther you get away from the big city the more you will see the eastern culture. Don't forget to find a nice place to eat some beef on a leaf. That's what I call it anyways. They have some restaurants that they bring thin slices meat and different veggies to your table for you to cook. There will be a little BBQ grill in the middle of the table then you put it all together in a piece of lettuce. Also need to get some bulgogi on some rice it is very good as well. Enjoy your trip!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY500SS Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Have a safe trip Tony.....................and get some vacation time in bud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twobjshelbys Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Observation #8: Shipping test equipment overnight by UPS only means it will arrive at the far end UPS depot the next day. Getting things through customs is yet another hurdle that can take several days even with the most carefully professionally prepared paperwork. My box of gear beat me to Korea but I waited almost a day and a half for it to get out of Customs, and only some diligence and discovering that parts could be bonded got them out of Customs after they were closed on Friday night. It would have been a useless trip without the gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twitch43 Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Hope you get some vacation time. I've been to Pusan several times, I've yet to make it to Seoul. If you get chance, try to make it to the DMZ. I believe there are tours that will take you there. Jessie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twobjshelbys Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 They have some restaurants that they bring thin slices meat and different veggies to your table for you to cook. There will be a little BBQ grill in the middle of the table then you put it all together in a piece of lettuce. This is exactly the plan - "Korean BBQ" is what a fellow co-worker referred to it as. It fits my diet since rice (carbs) is not the primary ingredient. We'll see I at at the customer's cafeteria Friday-Sunday, and that is about as "native" as you can get. Unfortunately it's very carb'd. One day that had a salad with salmon (sushi style) and it was excellent. Another day was a local fish - quite bony but very tasty. Yesterday was a beef and cabbage also quite good but needed some of the red pepper hot sauce because it was kind of bland. I wish more sight seeing was possible. Saturday the "yellow dust" came from China (Gobi desert dust storms), Sunday it rained and cleared the sky a little, but today it's back again. Not very good light for photographs. Have some more work to do today and dinner tonight so I'll leave a little early and get one of those "My Husband Went to Korea and All He Hot Me Was This T-shirt" t-shirts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twobjshelbys Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 I leave Seoul Tuesday at 17:30 to San Francisco then in the Bay Area for 4 more fun packed days of meetings. it's a good thing I cleaned out the flower beds last week. I just left the office to go back to the hotel and there was a Mustang in the parking lot! There are very few American cars here, the Mustang and a Chevy are the only ones I've seen, and not a single American style pick up truck (American or otherwise). The passenger cars are almost all Hyundai and Kia, and the trucks are small short cab delivery trucks, most with open beds.. No "18-wheelers". The buses look like ours though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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