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)
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.
