Melbourne to Singapore departing at midnight
Finally, after years of no travel at all due to the GLOBAL PANDEMIC, it is time to go somewhere. The first place on my list of places I like to go that opened up was South Korea, I booked almost immediately, flights were hard to find as there's only limited slots available. But... and its a big but, travelling is not as easy as it used to be.
If there were such at thing as Zero world, I would be in it, because my moaning seems petty, pettier than usual.
Here is a list of things you now need to do if you are me, to go overseas, it all costs money -
Register for a visa for visa free entry into South Korea, you read that right.
Get a COVID clearance certificate that is not recognised in Korea, probably useless.
Get a pre departure PCR test within 48 hours, this is the tricky one.
Get an on arrival test day of arrival (not taken yet, more on that below).
Get a Korean SIM card as you kind of definitely need a local number - read on to find out why.
So in my situation, I had COVID at the end of March. Some people still test positive on a PCR test for more than a month after recovering from COVID. The earliest you can do a pre departure test is 48 hours before departure. The places that do them advise it takes over 24 hours to get a result (for me it took 12). This is the first gotcha, lets say they lose or stuff up your test, they probably wont tell you until less than 24 hours until your flight, so that would just mean you can't go as there would not be enough time to do another test and get results.
Then if you test positive, you definitely cannot board your flight, regardless of recovery certificate, the Korean government is very specific about this, but read on it gets worse. The timing of this means, you will not know if you are negative, until less than 24 hours before departure, which then means you cannot cancel or change your flight should you need to, you just lose everything, which would be really cool.
Fortunately, my pre departure test has come back negative, but... read on.
The rules for entering without Quarantine have been changing weekly, so I have been following a number online discussion things filled with anti vaxxers trying to enter without being triple vaxxed (also a requirement, by far the easiest one, and the only part of this that is free, quit bitching, get vaccinated please you idiots). It seems in Korea their PCR test is more sensitive and more brain piercing than a 'western' PCR test, and quite a few people, especially those who have recovered from COVID are testing negative on departure, but positive on arrival... then what? Well it depends, the ministry of defence gets involved, your hotel can decide to throw you out, in which case an ambulance comes for you, and takes you to a military quarantine camp for 7 days. This is where a couple of people claim their recovery certificate got them out of the camp full of positive cases and into some place on their own. It is also why you want a local number, because if you don't have one, the quarantine police will call your hotel and tell them everything they need to do to barricade you in your room, which they will panic about and throw you out instead which is fair enough, it is not in their interest to be quarantine police. Where as if you have a local number, they will call you directly and tell you what your options are.
So there is a high probability I will be sent off to a military camp soon, that's where North Korea comes into the picture.
In the last few days, North Korea has gone from no cases at all during the pandemic, to 1 case, to 25,000, to 325,000 and now in the millions. They will almost certainly invade the south while I am in a military quarantine camp within artillery range from the border.
So like I said at the top, first world problems, mostly made up, generally exaggerated, that is after all, why we (me) are here.
This was a much longer intro rant than usual, but it has been years since I could get diatribical, plenty more rants to come.
The above rant takes up so much room, lets continue ranting under the most boring photos of the entire trip, the journey from the city to the airport. Do I even remember how to use my camera? time to find out.
It is me on the bus. Nailed it on the first go.
I was at the airport 4 hours before my flight, but the check in for my flight was already open. The business queue had nobody, the other queues already had quite a few people, they do warn you to get here early these days. The check in lady took quite a while to read through and verify and re enter all my covid vaccine info, Korean visa, PCR test etc. She did say that the Korean requirements are the most onerous, and that Singapore now basically has none (I am flying Singapore airlines).
Also as you can see, once through customs, most things are shut these days.
I deliberately made the airport look abandoned by wandering to the very end of all the gates, my favourite thing to do. I have missed going to airports. There were actually 3 x A380s going to middle eastern destinations, mainly full of elderly Australians who would be connecting to Europe. Despite constant blasting warnings reminding people its a legal requirement to wear a mask in the airport, and roaming hordes of BORDER FORCE gestapo, many people were not wearing masks.
Apparently its now illegal to use a phone or anything electronic at the departure gates. This sign was not in the customs area with the eyeball scanning machine, this is at the gates where the cafes are. So now I am breaking the law like the heroes without masks, some of whom had capes.
Final pic before flight, plenty of time for dinner in the Silver Kris Singapore lounge. It actually seems to have more food than I remember from previous visits, 4 hot meal choices, I had some middle eastern beef thing with nuts in it and couscous. Might have an ice cream next. It is 7.5 hours to Singapore, then 2 hours wandering around the still relatively abandoned Changi airport, then another 7 hours to Seoul Incheon, before I have to get my next COVID test and maybe be sent to quarantine! So at least 36 hours with no sleep.
Between flights at Singapore airport
First time going on a plane in 2.5 years after averaging 2 flights a week for the previous 15 years. A few things have changed.
First, you have to wear a mask on the plane, and it actually is enforced, people came around constantly telling the same people to put their mask back on. I would have airlocked them.
As a result, the backs of my ear lobes are sore, I remember seeing photos of nurses with scabious lobes when covid was still newly minted, that's me soon. I prefer it to getting sick though.
Another change, its a 7 hour 50 minute flight, I have done it a few times, they normally serve a second meal of some kind just prior to landing, now they just bring you a cup of water. I would prefer the opposite, serve me a meal on landing, don't serve me one at 1AM in the morning.
I am now in the Silver Kris lounge in Singapore, this is a positive change that ends next week, due to less passengers they have temporarily closed the crap lounge they normally send partner airline status holders to (that's me, I am really special), instead everyone gets to go to the fancy lounge with chefs making a full cooked breakfast to order.
It is quite humorous reading complaints from first class passengers who used to get this huge place to themselves who are now fighting for a croissant with plebs like me who somehow still qualify for entry due to years of laborious work flights.
Another 7 hours to Seoul, departing soonish, I better wrap this drivel up and start preparing my nose to pass the invasive arrival COVID PCR BRAIN SCRAPING.
Changi airport in Singapore. One entire terminal is still closed, most shops are closed, but that could be because its 5:30AM. However I have been here before at this time and it has never been this quiet.
The above mentioned Silver Kris Elite lounge for all echelons of elites. Probably still some more boring airport photos once I get to Seoul later today, sorry.
Prepare to have your brain pierced nasally
The second flight was not as long as the first flight but still pretty long. Made longer because some peopled did not board and so they had to take all the bags out again to find the bombs they put on board.
I am pretty tired now, so not much of this will make sense. That is a warning.
The part of coming to Korea during this era of the world that has been bothering me the most is the second covid test. The process to get one is easy, you make a booking on a website called safe2go, follow the signs and brace yourself for the worst pain you have ever experienced in your life. At least that is what I have read.
So many people have described how getting a PCR test in Korea is the most pain they ever felt. I don't know if it was just my pig nose, but the girl that did mine barley scraped around the rim of one nostril, far less invasive than an Australian PCR test even. But, now I have to wait for the results.
You are allowed to take the train to your hotel, which seems silly, because the special airport train is not running as the airport is operating at less than 20 percent capacity, so you get on an all stops train and stand up for an hour on the ride into the city with Koreans coming home from work while potentially spewing terrifying white guy COVID into your mask.
I got off at the main station and walked a long distance to my hotel, thinking it might be the last decent walk I get in case my test comes back positive! What a holiday that would be, you get to see the abandoned airport, the inside of the train, and the only bit of the country you get to experience is the walk from your train to your hotel before you test positive, are locked up for a week and then deported.
Hopefully my test comes back soon, I want to venture out again before going to sleep! Or pass out trying.
I think this was in Singapore still, that is my plane, a dreamliner for this leg, previous leg was an a350, they are basically the same thing except one is French.
First photo in Korea. Despite describing all kinds of things you need to do to enter as a tourist above, I photographed none of them.
And here is my hotel. This is the same hotel I stayed in the very first time I came to Korea. It is cheap at the moment despite being in the middle of the tourist part of town, there is a clue there as to why it is cheap, read below to find out! I specifically chose it because its a western brand and caters to people who speak English, in case I need to convince them about my previous covid recovery to prevent being shipped off to North Korea.
Myeongdong is dead as there are no tourists
Test is negative! I am free to start my holiday, now lets talk about how dead the place I have chosen to come is!!
Most people who come to Seoul stay in Myeongdong. On this trip I will split my time between 2 Seoul locations, but first up, the tourist area of formerly comprising millions of cosmetic shops and cat/owl/porcupine/meerkat/baby seal cafes called Myeongdong. It is dead.
I knew this before coming from watching youtube videos of guys wandering around live streaming how dead it is. There are other parts of Seoul that are less tourist focused that have reopened, and apparently even Myeongdong has opened up substantially from when its death was at its peak, but it used to be a wall of people buying ridiculous lamb fetus creams and stickers to make your nipples a better shape, which are currently all closed. RIP my nipples.
OK I really need to go to bed now, lets finish this up quickly and probably re edit it tomorrow! Update: I did re edit it, but changed very little. I am kind of disappointed that in my sleep deprived state I did not type absolute nonsense.
The main street, my hotel is on this street. Some street vendors have returned.
There are apparently some incentives to make shops return, but when China and Japan are both basically closed to tourists, and Korea is restricting incoming flights to 20 percent the previous capacity, it is a mystery as to where they think the people wanting to buy this stuff will come from. If all their eggs are in my basket, they will be sorely disappointed.
There are still some busy areas full of people eating. Mainly mystery sea creatures. Officially you do not need to wear a mask outside anymore, as of about a week ago, however everyone does, unless they are crammed into a tight space sharing communal hot pot bbq things and blowing vape fumes on each other.
There are currently 4 comments - click to add
bobule on 2022-05-20 said:
distinct lack of beef broth meals
elz on 2022-05-19 said:
still no gps tag ? :(
drude on 2022-05-19 said:
When are we going to get some food pics and step counts?
jenny on 2022-05-19 said:
I expect weather and temperature updates every day
Hiking across Bukhansan National Park from Bulgwang to Bukhansan Ui
Lets get going with this.
The main National Park within the suburbs of Seoul is Bukhansan. It is huge. There are lots of subway stations for hikers and too many trails, really too many, it is easy to get lost. I am using the excellent Naver app on my phone which is Korean google maps but also has all hiking trails with elevation data and distance markers, because every retired or unemployed Korean person must go hiking by law every single day of their lives.
So it took me all of about 10 minutes to get to the start of the hike, about 5 stops on the subway to Bulgwang station. It is then just a short walk after stocking up on water at the 7-eleven before you start the hunt for the actual start of the hiking trail, there is no sign, as you will see below, just some random steps.
The actual hike took longer than I expected, I hit a wall about half way, after which it got easier, read on to find out how hitting the wall is a hilarious pun, intended. Oh and get ready to scroll past a huge number of boring shots of mountains. Also since it was requested, it was about 22 degrees, no humidity, but lots of pollution, too much, China is shut down and yet still there is pollution, everyone is surprised pikachu.
On my way to the subway I passed this nail house, still here wedged in between shiny glass buildings, the tenants probably pay a fortune to rent a place that looks this shittily trendy.
I mentioned it above, here is the completely un-signposted start of the hike, between 2 residential apartment complexes.
Finally, after 2.5 years, a chance to twist my ankles on jagged rocks.
Oh look, it is the apartments between which I located the start of the hiking path that I discussed way too much already. Also, lots of pollution. A great thing about Asian cities is you go from density to mountain, immediately, no rural bullshit hobby farms for 25km, no urban sprawl with people that need room to park 3 boats, just steps between 2 x tall apartment buildings to the start of a 6 hour hike across mountains.
The view starts as soon as the hike does. The pollution was causing a bit of a twilight glow, causing these rocks to look orange.
The first couple of hours were very technical, not much progress was made due to very rocky terrain. I had to use my hands a lot, if my test had not come back negative I could have been spreading COVID all over every rock I touched. I still do not know if I am supposed to capitalize COVID or put a z or an s in capitalise.
Here is the first summit of sorts, I do not even know what it is called, something Korean probably. I got lost here and wasted a lot of time, I tried to find a path down the other side, as it turns out I was not even supposed to climb up here, it is a dead end unless you want to abseil.
Nice view of the upcoming journey, but no way down, I looked everywhere. The other people on the summit looked concerned.
Old grey beard makes his first appearance. I keep my hair long and straggly to fend off the Korean girls who otherwise would think I was a US marine and be no doubt clamouring all over me to turn me into a baby daddy and extort me for those mega dollars the US pays meatheads. One previous trip I got into a lot of trouble for something I wrote about Korea, this comment may be the equivalent for this trip. NO FILTER.
OK, back to business, here you can see across the way, the peak I tried to find a path down. I was trying to find a path down that sheer rock face. No wonder everyone looked concerned. I probably wasted half an hour.
Next I have to get up there. The path was just follow the rock flow, or, follow this guy with his hiking poles who has been here before.
The top has some nice rocks to try and push over.
A view of pollution and some other mountains dotting around the Seoul skyline. I have climbed most of them.
An opportunity to get crushed by a precariously placed boulder.
That is the direction I am going, but I have to go down to get up again, that was a feature of today, up down up down rinse repeat, I didnt slide onto my ass at any point though which is surprising.
A gate to a castle, but no castle.
Bonus shot similar to the one above, but a bit clearer. Everything is rocky.
This one was taken inside the rest hut, someone planted a different tree to make the view slightly more interesting. There was a lot of shade on today's hike but as I type this I am deciding if my eyelids are burnt even though I wore sunscreen.
And then I hit the wall.
More wall, I appreciated the sections with the hessian mats, this made progress much faster. Despite there being people all day, this area with the wall is right in the middle of the park and the furthest from any entrance and has the least people.
There were a number of these gates through the wall at different points, I estimate the wall was about 3km total length. It looks new, and other bits closer to the city are bright white and very new, however the scaffolding is here because the wooden tiles are falling off the roof, suggesting it is not as new as I might have thought, either that or Hyundai made it in the 80's before they became the worlds most reliable car company.
The second half was much quicker than the first half of the hike, not so much up and down, no chance of getting lost, once I exited the park there was this place, I dont think its open to the public, might be for weddings and functions, cosplay parties, dance rehearsal, that kind of thing.
Last pic of the day, those are some of the peaks in the background, squint to see through the pollution. The street leading up the entrance is full of hiking gear shops, a common feature at all national parks in Korea.
Avoiding the crowds of Insadong
Apparently, Joe Biden just landed in town to take a nap, he likes doing that. It is live on every electronic billboard and every tv channel. In all seriousness, he is here to try and broker a peace between Korea and Japan, so he landed and immediately went to a Samsung factory to ask them if they could make a phone with bigger writing on it so he can see it.
Actually I do not know why he is here, but this guy is too old and frail to be president.
I am constantly getting public alert warnings on my phone in Korean today, I suspect some of them might be due to the Biden visit, there is speculation North Korea will do a nuclear test tomorrow to honour his visit here.
So I thought I better go and have one of my favourite things to eat, in case I get nuked in the morning, so off I went to Insadong. This is a very lively part of town just North of where I am, hundreds of fried chicken and beer halls filled with mask-less people, even quite early in the evening. Out the back, lots of business men smoking in groups talking shit about me as I walked past to impress their boss by bravely insulting the foreigner who cannot understand a word they are saying (really, I think that is what they do).
Flamboyant dinosaur, oh my.
Hmm, I do not think this park was here last time.
Mother, take note, this is the sewer that I always photograph, that you asked me to photograph this time. Feel free to look at the same photo taken on my 3 previous trips.
These were delicious.
I also like to take a photo of this building each time I come. The buildings to the right of it are new, I will do forensic analysis later with the photos I took previously. It is very important I find out if those buildings are new or not!
Insadong. Already quite busy.
I found a shop that sells everything people like to eat in Japan, including a really good and actually quite spicy, spicy ramen. I believe it was $5. The spoon however was useless, how do you eat soup with this? I was happy with the price, location, and lack of other people, the inside of the beer and chicken places look terrifying from a you will get covid 100% for sure perspective. Do you think I will stop saying covid soon? Probably not.
Here is a street full of these tents, they love to cram as many people inside each one as they can to keep everyone warm. It is important you do not let the smoke from the bbq out.
Back in Myeongdong, and it is very busy. Too busy to even walk through. I had to do a retreat to somewhere less busy. Also the guy playing the guitar on the right is making farm animal noises.
Since you can no longer see actual clouds in the sky through the pollution particles, they have put a cloud art installation in a box outside my hotel. I sat and pondered for a while, what even is the point of clouds?
There are currently 4 comments - click to add
Patricia on 2022-09-18 said:
Enjoyed your post. I am heading to Korea in 12 days for several weeks. I will try to find the steps to the hike.
on 2022-05-20 said:
What is the temp. there.
mother on 2022-05-20 said:
there is no guy on the right playing a guitar
shanxue on 2022-05-20 said:
ni hanliujiabei
There are currently 2 comments - click to add
bobule on 2022-05-18 said:
can't wait to see the broth pics!
jenny on 2022-05-18 said:
short hair and more wrinkles