Seoul, Incheon Airport, August 28th around 8am.
Of course.
The airport was bright, spotless, welcoming, design, high-tech… Quite a few Samsung HD wide screens here and there (broadcasting Star King and others hugely popular talk shows) as well as computers with free internet access, and more.
Going through custom was a breeze and the luggages were delivered in no time.
My guide was (eagerly) waiting for me on the other side, we changed some hard earned Euro into Won (it feels awesome to give 600€ and get back almost 1 Million Won by the way !) and stepped out of the airport.
Wow.
That was a thermal shock.
It probably was 30 degrees Celsius outside, but the humidity was so intense it was like breathing water. If you’ve ever been to the hammam, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
The body gets used to it quite quickly though, and in 24h you don’t even notice the humidity anymore.
Now, what about the boys ?
Yes.
I’m coming to that.
You see, I did my homework.
It’s enough going to Korea without any language, I wasn’t going to get there without watching a few dramas and downloading a couple of albums.
(Yes. That’s the understatement of the year.)
I knew about the Idols, those singers, dancers, actors, models, MC whom you can see everywhere in Asia.
Well, what I didn’t know is that they do mean EVERYWHERE.
So, stepping out of the airport to catch a bus to Seoul, I was met by that nice, big poster for Lotte Duty Free on most buses.
On this add: Big Bang, DBSK, Pi and a few others.
Sure, that’s not unusual.
When you land in Dublin, you must be blind to not see Westlife everywhere.
They don’t put themselves on coffee cups though…
And you wouldn’t see them in every single station of the subway, nor every wagon of every train, giving infos and advice on security. (Yes, I am fully aware that there is no subway in Dublin. Make that the Dart or the Luas and we’re even ).
And the list goes on…
But it’s not only about pictures.
Seoul is full of noise, music and huge screens with lots of adds and MV.
Guess what ?
Idols again.
But when it comes to music Taeyang ruled over Seoul.
He had just released his new album “Solar” and you couldn’t step in the street without hearing one of his songs.
I’ll come back to Kmusic later on, but just to give you an idea…
Funnily enough, it’s actually comforting to see so many well known faces in a foreign and far away country…
I didn’t take that many pictures of those Idols things but they really are everywhere, promoting everything you can think of, from make up, to travels, cars, watches, clothes, food, drinks, fridges (yes, at some stage you actually want to be a fridge !), phones and above all… Korea !
Last video of the day. Super Junior and SNSD 2009 campaign for Seoul tourism.
Enjoy !
Infinitely yours... Korea. 