What have I learnt so far?

Before I arrived here I had no idea what Korea was going to be like. I had the usual preconceived ideas, that Koreans ate dog, they made cars and cheap goods. But with regards to weather, food (other than dog), language, culture or even where it was in the world I was completely blank. I maybe had them too much confused with Japan, and yet while Japan is seen as an exotic, possibly even cute destination to many Brits, I hadn't come across anyone with a knowledge of Korea let alone a desire to add it to their holiday destination list. So what did I expect when I got here? Maybe that Korea would be one giant factory complex, churning out cheap plastic imports for the West. The people would be inscrutable, even a little harder faced compared to their "cuter" Japanese neighbours. I couldn't have been more wrong. Well, I've been here a few months now and of course that isn't any time to really get to know a place, but I've been learning some things...

Korea is a peninsular up in North Eastern Asia, with Japan, China & North Korea next door and I don't know enough about geography to know how that affects climate but the winters here are bitterly cold with temperatures dropping to -9 in some areas. The skies are cloud free and the days fresh but very cold. The summer will get humid and Korea does have a rainy season and a typhoon season which are two things I would have associated more with SE Asia.

Imagine getting your entire monthly salary in £5 notes. I almost rolled around in it on the floor I felt so rich.......

Modern Korean history has been tied up with Japan from when they invaded 500 years ago up until Korea gained its independence following the defeat of the Japanese in WW2. There still is a lot of anti Japanese sentiment kicking around and diplomatic issues pop up in the press from time to time. Many of Korea's historical buildings are now reproductions of the originals. If they weren't destroyed by the Japanese invasion, they were razed during the Korean war. The Independence Hall near Cheonan is an interesting day out to learn about Korea's struggle with the Japanese. I admit to have been entirely ignorant of how "new" an independent country the current South Korea is.

South Korea is the Republic of Korea. North Korea is the Democratic People's Republic of.

DPRK. There's no border crossing between North and South, so if I was to have any chance to see the Hermit Kingdom while I was here I would have to get there from China.

Korean currency is the won. It's quite easy to work out the exchange rate to the pound as £1=2000W. Some sample around town prices: a haircut & shampoo costs 7000W, the 1&1/2 hour bus ride to Seoul costs 7200W, Internet access in a PC bang costs around 1000W per hour. A single journey on the Seoul subway costs as little as 900W. Fruit & Veg can vary from cheap, big bunch of bananas 1700W - to expensive, an avocado for 3500W depending on the season and availability. Eating out is cheap and tasty. A kimbap "snack" is 2500W. You can get a decent meal in a restaurant that costs between 3000-8000W. The largest demonination bill is 10,000W. Every month I get paid, in cash. My first pay packet was just that, a packet of pay.. Imagine getting your entire monthly salary in £5 notes. I almost rolled around in it on the floor I felt so rich.......

While it is true about Korean dog eating, the dish I think is called bosintang, dog soup, it is not true that people eat this all the time. It's revered as a dish for hot weather and most Koreans will tell you that it is mostly elderly people that eat it to give them strength and see them through the summer months. The most common meat dish here is pork or chicken. Beef is a more expensive meat but is still popular. There's no worry that you would end up eating Fido for dinner by mistake. Korean people actually love their dogs. A lot of people have them as pets and the worst thing that will happen to the pet is to be dressed up in booties, jacket or hat.. or have their ears dyed a bright pink or blue colour. (They mostly own small fluffy dogs that can fit in handbags, not a golden retriever or labrador...obviously..)

Koreans love their cars. They are proud of their success in the car industry and Koreans buy Korean. One thing that struck me almost immediately is that everyone's car is new, or new looking. No-one drives around in anything that remotely looks second-hand, held together with ducktape or is vintage. And they are crazy drivers. They rarely stop for pedestrians, even at pedestrian crossings and are known to go straight through red lights if they feel they are waiting too long for them to change to green (this is mostly the taxi drivers). There isn't enough parking space so cars just park anywhere, even blocking other roads. Each driver has their mobile number displayed on the dashboard of their car so if they are creating a blockage they can be called back to move the offending vehicle... Drivers like to use their horn. Very often taxis will beep at you to let you know they're there if you want a ride. Two beeps means "thank you" if you let them through. Young-Hun is always putting his hazard lights on, again this can mean "thanks", or "watch it" depending on the other driver..