Category: Travel

Wayfinding without Internet

Thanks Alibaba, very helpful! (NYSE: BABA)

As soon as I was in Korea, I plopped down in a seat and logged into the free Wi-Fi. I have international roaming available on my phone, but at 1 RMB per MB, that can get pretty expensive. Though there is a lot of “free” Wi-Fi around Korea, most of those Olleh/KT signals require you to do something in Korean. Getting a local prepaid SIM card is on the top of my to-do list.

The other top priority is getting non-Chinese apps installed on my phone. It’s not just the convenience of having Twitter, Facebook, or Youtube in app form, it’s that Chinese apps are somewhat useless outside of China. For example, all the map apps are great inside of China, but have zero information about anywhere else. Even if you just want to see the name of city, the world outside of China is just a blank.

I can’t believe how much of a pain in the neck it is to get Google Play up and running on my Huawei phone (as yet unresolved). It was a fairly trivial matter to install all the Google services on previous Chinese smartphones, but I spent two hours in the International Port arrival hall repeatedly searching the Chinese app stores for the necessary components and attempting to install them. I equally blame China and Google for the situation. If Google would just let me download apks from play.google.com, it wouldn’t be a problem, but Google insists I have my device registered to my device which requires 4 separate pieces of software.

Anyways, I found an apk for Naver Map from a third-party site, which at least allowed me to look up how to get to the Airbnb. Frustrated with Google and feeling hungry I set off in search of food in the direction of where I could also hop on a bus.

I had a nice “army hot pot” and popped into a 7-11 to see if I had any T-money on my “Tour Korea” card. I had enough for a bus, but loaded it up anyways. Compared to China, buses and subways in Korea feel pretty expensive (typically starting around 1250 W), but it is wonderful that one card works all over the country.

Hello Korea!

My Korean is definitely not good enough to read a bus schedule, but it was easy enough to figure out when to get off the bus, and the Naver map keeps working in an offline state, so it was easy to find the apartment.

I didn’t explore much after dropping my bags off, only getting an overpriced coffee and later a simple dinner at a 7-11. The convenience stores in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand are so freaking amazing. I don’t know what is wrong with China.

Army Stew7,900 Won
T-money Recharge50,000 Won*
Airbnb (2 nights)190.85 RMB
Twosome Coffee (Mocha)5,100 Won
Curry Rice (7-11)3,400 Won
Total:592.5 RMB (USD 88.33)

Running Total: 1732 RMB (USD 258.4)
Daily Average: 577 RMB (USD 86)

*I don’t want to have to track every single bus/subway fare, so it only seems like today is an expensive day, but I expect that should last about a month.


Landing in Incheon

Much worse air in Incheon than in Weihai

Check-in for the ferry began at 3:30, which didn’t leave me any time to explore Weihai. I took a run in a park and spent the morning on my computer in the hostel common room. After checking out at noon and making sure my electronics were fully charged, I decided to walk over to a well rated Sichuan restaurant in a mall, from where I could easily catch the bus to the International Port. However, I took a wrong turn and found myself in Weihai’s “Happy Korea Village” and I stopped at a vegetarian buffet for lunch. I need to write a post about buffets and this was certainly something unique.

The process of actually picking up my ticket, going through security, going through Immigration and Customs, and boarding the vessel were all straight forward, except the slow pace of it all. Boarding is between 3:30 and 4:30, but the ship did not push off until about 8 pm. The Korean-operated ferry far exceeded my expectations. Even the economy class fare put me in a very comfortable 8-bed dorm, where each bunk had privacy curtains. The ship had a restaurant, karaoke rooms, a duty-free store, a cafe, and a convenience store. I also wasn’t expecting the showers and a (free!) laundry room. The ship was also well-heated.

I stuck to coffee and water, though it seemed like everyone else on the ship (I estimated a 20-80 split of Chinese-to-Korean and an average age in the 60s. I was the only white face on the boat) started breaking out the beer, soju, and baijiu. It turned into quite a party, but I kept my head down. I was so full after lunch, I made do with a bowl of Korean instant ramen from the convenience store.

맛있어요 (Delicious!)

In the morning, it felt like forever before we berthed. The ship had to pass through a lock to get into the inner harbor. I was expecting some questions from Korean immigration (i.e. “What’s your job? When are you leaving?”), but they stamped me through so quickly, they didn’t even mark an exit date in my passport. I assume that means I can stay forever.

Vegetarian Buffet Lunch20 RMB
Bus Fare1 RMB
Kimchi Ramen1,500 Won (9.08 RMB)
Total: 30 RMB (USD 4.48)

Running Total: 1139.5 RMB (USD 169.7)
Daily Average: 569.75 RMB (USD 84.9)

The Journey Begins

Well, I’ve started my trip with an overnight train from Beijing to Weihai, and am waiting around for a ferry onward to Incheon, South Korea. Weihai seems to be a lovely coastal town on the north coast of Shandong, and I wish I could stick around a few days to hike some of the mountains and enjoy the beaches, though it would be better to come in the summer when the lows aren’t below freezing.

I think I’m ready to leave China given how easily the minor annoyances of travel really grate at me. From trying to sit down in the waiting hall of the train station (“No, I can’t let you sit in this seat because I want to put my coat there”) to stowing my luggage on the train (“Sorry, all the under bunk and overhead spaces are full, you’ll just have to leave your suitcase in the alley”) and waking up in a sauna (“Could you not set the A/C to 34 degrees?”).

On the other hand, I’m going from somewhere where I am perfectly comfortable in the language to somewhere where I am going to be a foreigner again. Even if I get some decent conversational Korean under my belt, it is still going to be a constant mental strain to understand and be understood. I am starting to have some doubts about the utility of this journey/nomadic lifestyle. It would probably be better to just pick somewhere, settle down, get a job. That would be a lot more pleasant than traveling, which is mostly a mix of boredom, loneliness, and stress. Though, that sounds like the typical life for most people anyways.

Since I am without income, and it is my habit to do travel bookkeeping, I will keep a running log of my expenses.

Train Ticket (Hard Sleeper)244.5 RMB
Ferry Ticket (Economy)*788 RMB
Bus Fare1 RMB
Hostel26 RMB
Dinner** (Bulgogi + Noodles)50 RMB
Total:1109.5 RMB (USD 165.20)

*Direct flights from Beijing to Seoul cost about 1100 RMB. With the train ticket, I’m not really saving any money, but this should be more fun.
**Forgot to take a picture of dinner. Will need to remember to write about what I eat as well.