I Get Around

round...round...round...I get around

Public transportation in Korea is easy. It is comfortable. It is efficient. It is reasonably priced. It reliable and it is well organised. Why then has it given me a few headaches? Could the problem possibly be me?

Surely not...


The first of my Korean bus rides was on teh very day that I arrived. The Airport limosine - which is just a fancy name for a bus. Having said this, considering it is a bus, I was very impressed. Reclining seats, lots of leg room and porters! I missed the first bus, trying to work out which ticket I needed, how much it cost ("why does the currency involve spending high denominations - this is scary!") and where I actually have to catch it. Yes, there are english signs. However, these are difficult to spot. Or at least were. It's very easy now.


I got to where I needed to be. Little to no waving and gesturing required. Soon I was ready to take on the subway. This is far easier. Work out where you are and where you need to go. Follow the coloured lines and *swish! you're there. Except I keep going in the wrong direction and having to catch the train back. Or I go down onto the incorrect platform. This involves either running back up, along and down some stairs or risking deportation by jumping over the railings! (okay, probably not, but since my gripe of the day is measly transport and my inability to grasp it, I am allowed to make it sound hardcore!)

For the most part the subway suits me fine. Excepting that it closes at midnight. The train does not go to the end of the line (thank you Travelling Willbury's.) Nope, it drops you off right where you are. This in essence is not a problem. The problem is trying to work out where exactly this is and how to get home!


Korea is home to a few varients of trains that travel across the country. There is the super fast KTX that shoots across at a high speed and a high price. There is also the 'slow train.' Wanting to see more of the Korean landscape, I opted for the slow train. However, it is not possible to book tickets online unless you are a citizen. Foreigners either buy at the station or at an agent. Being the thoughtful person that I am, I checked out the seating potential online and then arrived well before depature time. There were no seats left.


This does not mean that one cannot travel. Instead one qualifies for "standing seats." The only seating that happens with this substantially cheaper ride, is the floor. The area between carriages and the steps and doorways house many a traveller. It is hardly comfortable but completely bearble. It is quite a bonding experience. I did not know any of my travelling companions, but felt incredibly close to them. Literally.


Getting to Daegu was fine. I was quite proud of my unassisted venture south. he return trip howefer was not quite as calming.

For some reason I was running late and ended up having to 'catch' the train. My ticket said platform 4. But When I looked at the signs there was a platform 1, a platform 2, a platform 3 and a platform 5. Oh dear...

I quickly asked a Korean couple, who read the ticket and started to run with me, neither of us knowing where we were actually going, just knowing that we had to go fast. The couple were arguing with each other but no platform 4 could be found. Looking at teh time, the train should have left! We spotted the Seoul sign and I shouted a thank you (yes, one of the 3 korean words I am fluent in) and raced down the stairs.

A train

No time to see if it is correct.

Jump.

sit

think....


Is this the train? Do I care? Maybe I will see the other parts of Korea. I had no clue if I was going in the right direction. I was exhausted. But hopeful. Amazingly it was the correct train. For some bizarre reason it was running 5minutes late. I am grateful for it, although am still keen to see the other side of Korea.


This takes us back to the bus. The bus is cheap and easy, but the bus stops have very little english information. Numbers are easy - but only helpful if you know where the numbered bus goes!

This brings me to my adventure tonight. I was clever. Knowing where the express bus home leaves from, I thought I would ask tourist information how to get to that bus. In other words I planned to take two buses. This way I could stay out a little later on the Saturday in question, only make one transfer and not worry about being dropped off somewhere random. Or so I thought.

So much for tourist information...


I waited for the comfortable hour of 23:30. I then went to a taxi and asked where the Crown Hotel was. This, you see, is where my ingenious plan begins and my bus collects me. A lovely gentleman, fluent in english (always greatly appreciated) directed me precisely where I needed to be. So, I ventured off. New territory. New bus. It's late. I'm alone. I'm confident.


Bus 730 drives right by me as wait at the bus stop. Hmmm..."Perhaps this is not the bus stop." Still confident (since I now have confirmation that this is the correct route) I walk a few hundred meters further and find the correct bus stop. Its quiet and nearing midnight which is when some of the local buses stop. But there are otehr people waiting. No problem. Confidence level high. Even the empty buses driving past did not deter my great plan of avoiding the taxi and making it home alone from a new area.


Eventually, with one minute left until the new day ticks in, bus 730 arrives, just as tourist info said it would. Gangnam and bus home - here I come!


This bus was also full. Obviously many people have the same idea. It drove past a few familiar suburbs of Seoul. This must be part of the loop. I am impressed by my recollection of the area. Although, if memory serves this bus should be crossing a river soon. And the river should be on the other side. Hmmm...


It was only when the passengers were thinning and the bus seemed to be no where near the city lights, that I realised this is not going where it should be. Of course, no one speaks english and can redirect me, so I remain hopeful that the bus is simply turning around. Turning around....turning...turning....turning into a bus parking lot?

Oh dear.

I jumped off - last passenger of course and started to walk along the road, where ever this road may be. No clue! Some wierd industrial, back of beyond place where only the bus driver's cars are parked. No help there.


Why this particular taxi driver was in this paticular road, I do not know. As there was certainly no one else around. It must have been women's intuition. She was the first female taxi driver I have seen and the only taxi driver I saw for a good 10 minutes. Stupid tourist information people!

So this angel in a silver cab drove at the speed of bullet. I was fortunate enough to see the "Welcome to Seoul"

sign. Where on earth had I got to?

She spoke no english and it was debatable at one stage whether I would actually get to Gangnam. But I did. At the measley cost of $20. So much for my $1 bus ride.

The taxi takes me to Gangnam, where seemingly every other taxi in Seoul is. Three lanes of gridlock. 1am. Seoul central. How bizarre. I was dropped off right by my bus pickup! Yay!

Although, being 1am, will the bus still come?


Well, the good news is it did. I had a very comfy, airconditioned seat. And this, the final bus of the night, dropped me mere meters from my door step at 2am. Normal price.


I have never had a problem with direction. Yet I still keep walking across into traffic, forgetting they drive on the opposite side of the road. It is perhaps not a coincedence that the one and only time I drove ended in the car breaking down.


Maybe it makes sense then that I was given the smaller of the ATV quad bikes to ride (resulting in a personal mud festival.) Maybe it is suitable that when holidaying I took the mountain bike and not the scooter.


I maintain that I have a good sense of direction and am completely keen to travel, even if by trial and error. But perhaps, it is

I'm not a worrier...I'm a warrior!