South Korea
- First time
- Second time
South Korea is very surprising to a European. My first impression was a feeling of being lost in a chinatown like those we see in Hong-Kong movies, or in, for example, Blade Runner: I couldn't understand anything, but the city was sending me so many visual stimuli (all was full of flashy neon signs) that I was a little bit overwhelmed. But don't despair: in some days (seven?) I started to get used to it and feel more at ease. So it is important to have some patience: don't get prematurely to the wrong conclusion that Korea is a terrible mess. And don't be afraid, Korea is a very safe country.
Even if almost nobody speaks English (10% in Seoul, 0% in some smaller towns...), Korean is easy to read (you only need to learn some 20 letters, it's not pictograms as in Chinese, even if Korean writing sometimes looks like Chinese to the untrained eye), and people really make a lot of effort to help a foreigner. Understanding Korean is an entirely different matter, though. I strongly recommend prospective visitors to learn hangeul (Korean alphabet), which is useful to get on the right bus and to follow directions on maps and street signs. I also recommend you to buy a travel guide containing some "useful expressions" translated to Korean. Most road signs are in English, but their usefulness is, well, limited. Don't hesitate to communicate by gestures, drawing on a notebook, or plain handwaving. Also, nobody will complain if you mix, completely ignoring Korean grammar, the few useful words that you'll find translated in your guidebook.
Food deserves some words, too. It's strongly based on chili pepper, or paprika. It's extremely spicy, which may give you some trouble at first. You'll get used to it. In the meantime, you can always ask the waitress to make your meal less spicy, or get a non-spicy dish. Also, Chinese cabbage fermented in paprika is the standard side dish (gimchi) -- you'll get that with every meal. You can smell gimchi everywhere in Korea --on the street, in houses, ...-- and that feels very strange when you arrive there. In just one day, you won't smell anything. However, when you get back to your country you'll realise that your country also has a typical smell. A good meal costs 3 euros, a magnificent meal 9 euros, and a simple meal 1 to 2 euros. With these prices, it's not really worth it to cook yourself or to prepare some sandwiches! And, once you've passed the paprika cabbage test, you'll find that Korean cuisine is rich, healthy and very varied.