So, as a good German I packed my bags and they are waiting in the hallway for me, missing only the toothbrush and toothpaste. The fridge is nearly cleaned out and all the batteries are charged and documents are printed. There was no reason for nervousness then when at 5:30 the (first of three) alarm(s) rang. I also was not upset that I had to get up as the destination was not the office but the Airport.I grabbed the last can of SanPellegrino from the fridge on the way out and off I was.
The bus ride to the airport was pretty unspectacular (aside from feeling excited to be finally on the way) and so was the queueing for the check-in. There was however a small event I wanted to mention. While I was standing in the queue I saw a rough looking rock star guy with a guitar case and tattooed legs in shorts and flip flops strolling up to the Ethiad Ticket counter (where you BUY tickets - no the check-in) and then easy enough walked over to the pearl business class counter with it's red carpet and silk ropes. Not sure why I wanted to mention this in the blog but I thought that was pretty cool.... Rock'n'Roll!
There was still an hour to kill before boarding which I spent strolling along the whiskey shelfs and getting a coffee. I also tried to get a nice book as my ebook reader went missing in Singapore (probably my fault) but couldn't find anything that I liked (they all had so many letters in it...<= this is was Dad is thinking now) - so no book for me today.
On the plane I was first of all pleased by the huge variety of entertainment and chose to watch two pretty good (at least I thought so) films - "Mandela" and "American Hustle" interrupted only by a very tasty lunch of lamb in Date Sauce with spinach and some sort of Arabic rice.
Unfortunately it just got dark when we arrived in Abu Dhabi after the 7 hour flight. The Airport terminal was surprisingly compact and not as show-offy architectural wise as I expected it to be (although it had plenty of Hermes and Rolex shops and the like). I walked around for a while and nearly bought a 7" tablet for 40€ but then I though I can also wait until Korea if I really need one.
Other things were more expensive though. A bottle of Water for example would have costed 4€ (1.40€ for the same size in Dublin), so I didn't get one as I thought I'll get some on the plane. Oh, BTW it was only a 2 hour layover so not really a big chance to explore anything outside the terminal (I will be able to do that on the flight back though).
Aside from expensive water they did also offer free Wifi which I used to update the missing files for my racing game which I planned to play on the plane but couldn't. The wifi however did not allow me to use Kakao talk (Korean version of skype) to call Yuni - this reminded me of Basti's experience in Oman where Skype is not allowed because it is hard for the government to listen in (?!). Maybe it is the same here as well, maybe they want to conserve bandwidth (but let me download the rest of my game? (Sorry, I seem not to be fully in holiday mode yet).
Anyway back on the next plane I now found my window seat (which now has it's disadvantages after drinking all the free water and beer) next to a elderly Korean lady (I really feel on the way to Korea now since about 90% f the passengers are Korean). Actually I am sitting right next to here now ... and she does not speak (and hopefully does not read) any English. I have to help her continuously to find her way through the on-board entertainment system and change the channels and plug in and out the headphones...
But hey... it's all about meeting different cultures and this is not really a burden at all (since I have plenty of time - 8 1/2 hours to be exact. I feel a bit like a modern day boy scout! :-)
The window seat did have a great advantage though. Nicely enough the pilot deviated a little from the most direct route and flow over the Dubai on the Way to Seoul (it's slight north of the most direct route) and I was able to see all the famous sights. The Palm Island, the road with all the tall buildings and of course the Burj Dubai. I think I even saw a few little lights in the see that could have been the world (although this one does still seem to be in progress of being built due to the World financial crisis - apparently they felt it in the UAE as well). What I can say however is, that the streets are unnecessary wide and lit up, and straight and do not have any cars on them (at around 10pm) here in the UAE.
Well this is all I could identify from my window seat, will have to do a closer inspection on my way home.
Now I have also found a new section on the E-Box (the Ethiad entertainment system) with documentaries. One of them with Charly Borman going on his bike through South Africa (Russell this is for you ... while at the same time this is a test to check if you are reading my blog - send me a message if you do :-)) and the other one is about a British Guy going to Germany (and visiting Duesseldorf on his way) to taste some lovely food. This one is a thing all my non-german friends should check out "Rick Stein's German Bite".
Remembering the first warm meal on the flight from Dublin to Abu Dhabi I expected some nice marinated chicken on the second leg but was disappointed as it was just a broth and didn't really fill me up.
Before our decent to Incheon (Seoul's Airport) started I had to get my Boy Scouts Medal of honour by helping the old lady fill out her Korean Immigration, Customs and Health Cards.
After disembarking the plane and passing through immigration, baggage claim and customs no Problem I felt strangely at home. After all it's my third time to Korea now. One disadvantage of this familiarity is however that there was a bit of a lack of excitement when I walked out the terminal and looked for the Bus. Luckily when I got on the bus very Asian bus (they only have 3 seats per row which are therefore wider and lean back all the way) and started moving through the Korean landscape with some traditional Arirang music from the speakers the feeling of being somewhere different came back and I started thinking.
I notice again the large military presence. Apache helicopters soaring above my head and little huts along the coast reminded me that this country is currently only in a truce with it's northern neighbour. No one really is worried about this fact as it has been like this for the last 60 years but as a visitor it is something that you notice.
While driving along elevated motorways that swerved through the hundreds or thousands the tall residential buildings on the way to Donong in the east of Seoul (where the Airport is in the west) I remembered that I never really conveyed the incredible amount of high-rise residential buildings that are build here. And there are many more being built every year. It's like driving through a forest of concrete trees each of which is 30 floors or more.
After about and hour and a half I arrived in Donong and Yuni was already waiting at the bus stop (without ever telling me - she just assumed I would make a certain bus after the plane arrived and knew when I freshened would get there - well done honey!). So we walked a few minutes back to their apartment and I fell on the couch. It was just about 24 hours after I left. Early afternoon in Seoul. I was tired but also excited about being here. Yuni had an appointment to go get some piano lessons and I crashed on the couch for an hour. When Jun (Yuni's brother) came home after school I woke up again and freshened up.
I knew later this evening we would head out for some Galbi (Korean beef BBQ) to a local joint, so I resisted to eat any snacks since I didn't want to waste any available space in my stomach.
When the time came we walked over to the already familiar place and since the sun was still shining and it was about 25 degrees we got a table outside. When the Beef, side dishes and beer and soju (Korean spirit that goes with pretty every meal over here) arrived at the table a really felt like home sitting with friends and family at the table.... It was great.
As our plans were to leave early the next day for Osaka we went back home after the meal and packed our bags. By that time I felt the tiredness sneaking up on me. Should I go to bed? I did change and got ready. was already sitting in the the bed when Jun mentioned he was going to meet a friend of his for a beer down at the local. Well... alright... changed cloths back and off we went. Unfortunately in Korea there is this strange tradition that you cannot just drink a beer on it's own, so we had to order "some" chicken. I think it was about half a row of cages at a chicken farm, but it was tasty.
After first beer Jun's friend (who was by now joined by another friend) regained their English skills and it was a nice evening. - 18 year old guys are the same everywhere in the world, be it Germany, Ireland or Korea :-)
The boys headed off to the PC-Bang (the PC-Room - where you play online games) after our pints (well 18 year old guys are nearly the same everywhere...) and we headed back home. I was wrecked... time to go to bed. Up 34 hours and in less than 6 we need to get up again to go to the airport.
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