Korea VS Singapore

Ohmien, bummer, the world didn’t end after all T.T boohoo, now I have to rly start getting down to work =-=

Still haven’t finished 49days T.T n relatives coming over soon, meaning I won’t have time for my project, longer meetups with friends, drama etc. haizzzzz n im running outta ideas of where to bring them. Think it’s sad that I can only gush about 49days here whenever I even make a post. Plus the fact that it isn’t useful for me to reminisce on in the future…other memories wld b better. So thought I’ll just randomly note down some differences between Korea and Singapore. Been almost a year since I got back, so I should quickly compare and contrast before everything is deleted from my RAM.

FOOD

Korean food is spicier, more kick. Not in general but like the dishes that are spicy are really spicy, unlike certain dishes in sg which I find alright though they are SUPPOSED to be spicy. Then again, this is all up to personal preferences, cuz I got a pretty high spice threshold. And coming from someone who can take spicy stuff, when I say that Korean food is spicy, it really is. On the same point, they have NO chilli sauce. Nope. Soy sauce with chilli powder (if my guess is right…it was offered in my cafeteria) exists. They simply use 고추장 (gochujang) which is like erm spice in paste form? Used for kimchi, the stews etc.

There WAS very little bubble tea in Korea, but heard that there’s Gong Cha in Seoul somewhere now. I had to rely heavily on Dunkin’ Donuts’ bb tea which costs a bomb, like 3,500won for the hot one, almost equivalent to SGD4+ and it was a small cup!!! *cries* Oh and the locals don’t seem to like the pearls a lot…they drink alcohol (soju, maekju, makgeolli etc) and coffee heavily though. There’s like a coffee shop (not the hawker ctr kind, I shld call them cafes) every other few shops along the street where the youths hang out like Ewha, Hongdae. And you can always find shops called “chicken and beer” and the like lined along streets too.

I didn’t really realize but others pointed out that there were like no veggies. Kimchi is definitely present in every meal and there are leafy vegs for you to wrap your bbq meat and eat it their way.but like the normal cooked leafy veggies were nowhere to be found O.o and then there’s the case of the fruits being quite expensive. Strawberries should be ok when in season but otherwise, I heard they are expensive. Again, I didn’t realize this XD cuz I only gorged myself on bananas for my servings of fruits and I didn’t really think about the prices. Ohoh the grapes! They are pretty different. Got to eat some grapes at certain outings and gatherings, and the skin is pretty tough to chew and leaves a rough feel on your tongue, so you either just swallow after a few chews or perhaps throw them away, but I think that the skin should be the most nutritious one with all the antioxidants etc bah?

They provide water everywhere. Like in those home restaurants, there’s always a flask of water and cups for us, no need to specially ask for iced water. So a water bottle isn’t really necessary in Korea. In Singapore, some places might just even charge for iced water =-=

The best difference that Singaporeans would love is that in Korea they have free banchan반찬 or side dishes, which includes steamed egg (takes a while to arrive) and odeng or fishcake (my fav) and the absolutely necessary KIMCHI~ and……DRUMROLL………..it’s free flow!!! *beams* I haven’t come across a Korean stall in Singapore that really can compare to the side dishes offered in Korea, plus the fact its free flow. I think they are afraid that Singaporeans will really take advantage of this and bankrupt them. I think you can literally order a bowl of rice for like 500won (less than SGD1) and then eat with all the side dishes if you are really out of money for the day in Korea. And in Chinese restaurants in Singapore, they charge a lot for the peanuts =-=

Randomly insert some pictures taken at Manna Story in Singapore. They got free flow side dishes lah, but then for certain ones only (meaning those meat and more ex kind wont have free flow T.T)

PEOPLE AND THEIR QUIRKS

Koreans are more respectful I guess. Actually I think that the use of honorifics in their language plays a big part as well. English doesn’t have honorifics so it’s just you and you, whereas for Korean, you have 너, 당신. French also has tu and vous. So it’s easier to sound disrespectful I guess. But for travelers who learnt their Korean phrases from dramas and happen to use the banmal 반말 version, they are mostly understanding. Unless you look very Korean, then I bet they’re gonna be super offended. They consider your age to determine if they will use banmal with you or not. But that was the only aspect I could witness. Sadly, I couldn’t really see for myself if their respect goes beyond words and encompasses their actions towards elders. Cuz I do know for a fact that the Burmese take actions very seriously too (usage of two hands, bowing the head, sitting at a lower level than elders etc for e.g.), duno if the Koreans surpass them or not.

They bring along their toothbrush and toothpaste everywhere they go and brush their teeth after every meal. They aren’t really super clean freaks. I asked a Korean friend and the answer I got was that because kimchi, garlic etc in their food usually will lead to bad breath and they didn’t want to be disrespectful to others. Sounds legit, no idea if that’s really the truth for all or not though heh heh.

Despite all the above that seem to suggest that they are really nice people who respect others tremendously, do not be fooled. On the streets, they often just knock into people and just brush it off, totally not bothering to say sorry as we most probably would in Singapore to stay out of trouble. Seems more prevalent in big cities where people are always in a rush. And oh man does it hurt sometimes.

Korea is super safe and they trust people a lot too. Again, I think this has to do with our culture. I keep recounting this incident in Busan where one hotteok seller has a pail full of money and expects customers to pay and collect their change (if any) on their own. Seriously, if this is in Singapore, I think the owner would have lost quite a lot of money, like people pay lesser than they should be paying or collect back more than the change they ought to get.

TRANSPORTATION

Very very convenient and very very confusing. I had an app that helped to determine which stops to transfer at and to transfer from which line to which, otherwise I most probably would be stuck for half a day staring at the subway map of Seoul. A LOT of lines. I’m afraid that’s what Singapore is gonna be like soon, if the leaked future MRT plans are any indication. Like there are 12 different routes one can take to get from point A to B. Honestly, I don’t see the point. Makes it confusing for not only the locals but also tourists. But I guess it doesn’t beat Australia. I remember that their trains at the same platform have different stopping points, so before you board you have to make sure that you are boarding one that DOES stop at where you wanna go, or you’ll end up staring at the station whiz past your window.

The buses and busstops are pretty awesome too. The busstops have like the route planned out, kinda similar to what is at Singapore’s bus stops now too. But the buses, wow. City buses read out the stop name in Korean and for certain important landmarks and stuff, in English as well. This in addition to the stop name scrolling across the screen at the front of the bus, similar to trans island buses in Singapore. Still called trans island hor? And the bus fare is like flat fare and you pay once you tap your card to board the bus. Oh yeah, they use ezlink card system too, except that the “cards” come in the form of cute handphone accessories too, shld be using NFC technology or sth I guess. You don’t have to tap when you alight, unless you are intending to board another bus after this in the same direction. Flat fare for the same direction. I asked my Korean friend before about this and apparently, you can change 3 buses in the same direction if I remember correctly (in my city at least, not sure about other cities).

OVERALL

There are those recycling bins everywhere, need you to separate your rubbish into the various types and dispose of them. When you see these bins almost everywhere I think it becomes a habit. Add that to the fact that the Koreans are doing it too, so as a foreigner you feel even more obliged to do so. They also clear up after themselves at fast food restaurants. NOT just school cafeterias. And Korea is considered pretty clean. I remember Sydney being terribly littered, and the strong winds didn’t help =-=

One thing I dislike about Korea is the cheap prices of cigarettes and the ease at which you can obtain them. They are sold in vending machines, for goodness sake. And frigging cheap. I think Singaporean smokers would find Korea a totally heavenly place. Now that I think of it, the reason they brush their teeth so much might also be because they are afraid the tobacco or wtv inside e cigarette would stain their teeth =-= erm.

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Wow. I never expected this kinda reflection would be so long a post hahahah

maybe ill update this post again with photos taken in Korea when I have the time to spare.