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[I wrote most of these the night of whatever day it says it is. I was there for two weeks but only did this for the first week. I’ll probably summarize the second week in some way. I hope it’s enjoyable.]
It’s a long flight from Seattle to Korea. I watched Disturbia, Bridge to Teribithia, half of Wild Hogs, ate two meals and a snack, and slept for four hours. I sleep well on airplanes. Except there were a few disturbances, like the baby a few rows up crying like she was giving up on life. All the stewardesses look like they’re from Asian cell phone advertisements. Not a complaint. There’s also the oddities of translation. Tim Allen would be in the middle of a joke, then the screen frrezes and says “passenger message”. The intercom comes on and a lady speaks in Korean for a good minute. Then she switches to English: “Buckle your safety belts.” Food was really good on the flights, but the lady was killing me with the refreshments. I’m used to getting the rest of the can with whatever is poured in the cup. Or at least having the cup filled. Not really a trip ruiner though.
The airport in Seoul is huge. I thought it was a bitch to walk to different terminals in San Francisco. This was a whole new level. Then the shops okie doke you with the exchange rate. No coins, so if you give $5 for something that’s 4.01, they keep Mr. Washington. I had a big appetite so we searched for a good food spot. There was a noodle joint and #6 on the menu was Snail Soup for Hangover. I’m not gonna lie, it didn’t look that great. Like a lot of airports, there are a lot of huge glass walls. If you walk up right next to them, you’ll see hundreds of spiders between the glass panes. They’re not tarantulas or anything, but I wouldn’t want to find them crawling around my house. The airport reminded me of Narita, so that’s always nice.
I can’t say too much about the flight from Korea to the Philippines. I fell asleep a few seconds after seating. I opened my eyes, saw a tray in front of me, said Sprite please, scarfed down food, and was back to sleep in like five minutes. May as well have been a dream. I woke up in time to fill out customs forms for landing. Customs and immigration will take a while. More lines.
We skipped immigrations and customs with no more hassle than a few handshakes from my Uncle Rene, who was here to pick us up. All the employees smile when he’s around. Me and dan got an answer: “We’re friends with the vice president. All courtesies will be extended.” He means vice president of the airport, not the country. But it works for me.
I remember thinking when I arrived in Hawaii, wow this sort of feels like a different country. Wrong. This feels like a different country. The air is musty, and it sort of brings me back to when we last came a decade ago. My uncle is honking at a lot of cars trying to turn. Unlike America, horns seem to be used mostly in a polite manner rather than a road rage symptom. Street lights are few and far between. A truck just passed by with a guy hanging off the side. The highway seems relatively dangerous. It’s one lane each way and nobody’s shy about passing multiple cars.
We were welcomed with some plates of crab and shrimp at my grandma’s place. It’s hot right now – – 2AM. I could be wrong but I imagine it’s gonna be slightly hotter in the day.