5 March 2015
Get Pho
Eating Vietnamese food in Incheon
Tonight I went to get some pho. Of course that wasnt the specific plan, there was no plan, thats the beauty of solo travel in foreign lands, there is no plan.
There are however rules, very important rules.
1. Never eat a meal in the hotel. No hotel restaurants, no room service. Only frightened white people do this.
2. Avoid white people. I need to be the only one wherever I am. So far Incheon has not let me down, I am the only big nosed round eye I have seen. I saw a half African half Korean at one point which was cool. Possibly some Korean war DNA in him.
3. No Taxis. A taxi is another example of failure. If the bus / train / ferry doesnt go there, or I cant walk to it, its not worth going to.
4. No sleeping during the day. I paid to be here, I dont sleep during the day at home, why would I want to pay to sleep?
5. No TV. See Point 4. You are allowed to have it on, as long as its news, but you must be doing something else at the same time. This a rule for me at home to!
6. Dont buy anything! Theres nothing you cant get from home either in store or on the internet for cheaper. You dont need it. You especially dont need to carry it around, and even more so if its for someone else. I am not buying anyone anything, ever.
7. An unexpected public toilet is a sign, this could be your last chance.
8. Shower often. 3 times a day! Its not like theres a water shortage here. Great when its cold outside.
9. Travel to places where its colder than Australia. Pick your season. Your stamina is much higher when its cold.
10. Pointless list is long enough, but every other list on the internet goes to 10, so mine does to.
Now onto the few photos that I took whilst wandering around the place tonight.
Much like Japan, vending machines are everywhere. However there are no beer vending machines.
This one is mostly hello kitty. Adelaide now has a hello kitty cafe, but instead of being pink, its brown. No one seems to know why.
Korean engineering at its finest. From the people that brought us Daewoo (now Holden) and Goldstar (now LG), comes wall reenforcement technique using metal poles and piles of concrete.
This is an entire street of BBQ places.
I wanted to go, but I dont think it works with one person.
The better ones have no exhaust vents, just rooms full of delicious carbon monoxide.
This dude dressed up as a cat wouldnt give me one of the pamphlets he was handing out. So I taunted him with the camera. Eventually he stopped trying to get out of the frame.
He still wouldnt give me a pamphlet though. Must be some top secret Korean only information. Perhaps its plans to assassinate all amabassadors tomorrow.
This is a street restaurant. To operate in winter, they all erect tents around their cart, and burn lumps of coal in pots to generate heat.
Most of them therefore catch fire. Its all part of the fun and excitement of eating on the street.
My Pho. Not too bad. Broth had not enough flavour and the beef was not raw.
Once I loaded it up with fresh chilli and chilli sauce, it was good.
The super hot soup was appreciated, along with hot tea.
I observed Koreans eating theirs, they dont add the bean sprouts, chilli sauce or herbs to the soup, instead they delicately place some noodles and beef in the spoon, then put a few bean sprouts on top, a tiny bit of mint or coriander, and a squirt of sauce.
This whole procedure takes about 3 minutes per mouthful.
They must look at me tip my plate up into the soup and simultaneously shovel soup and noodles into my mouth like I am some kind of animal.
Later on this trip I need to take a bus from Busan to Gwangju. I happened to be going past a bus station tonight so stepped inside for a look. No English.
I stared at the board for ages waiting for it to turn to English like they do in Japan or China, but it never did.
I better learn the Korean text for Gwangju. Either that or convince myself its a walkable distance of 200km.
This hairdresser has a guard dog. A racist guard dog. It did not like me at all. Jokes on the dog though, I dont get my hair cut by a hairdresser, my mother does it!
Yes really. Thats just one way I save money compared to normal people.
This could change though, I might get a perm and some blonde streaks.
This pictre appears here for future income tax claim justification purposes.