Korea... Part One

Things Im Lovin' about Korea
* The food... its fab!
* Efficient public transport.. believe me, such a change from Melbourne!! And... the subway seats warm your ass,,, what more can you ask for??
* Things never seem to close... You can see a film at 8.00am or eat a decent feed at 4.00am
* Public toilets... they're so CLEAN!!! Some even heat your ass as you squeeze one out!!
* Beautiful hiking trails
* Really really fast trains... They go like 300kph!! Thats fast!!
* Restaurants that have pictures of the food in the menu, or really ugly plastic sculptures of the dishes in their front windows that mean stupid westerners such as myself, can just point at the food they want. You will never starve in this country!!
* Meeting randon English speaking Korean men and being invited to their home for tea (and no, 'tea' is not code for something else)
* Going to a pool hall in Seoul and being given free Yakult!! They care about my guts!!

Things I'm not really lovin' about Korea (and yes some of these may make me look culturally insensitive but hey, I can live with that!)
* Its really cold in Seoul.... it snows!!!
* People are always in a hurry. I've had many a 98 year old nearly knock me out of their way to get to that one subway seat, that I didn't even want!!! Apparently, the older you are here, the more you get to push people about...
* Hostels that think its sufficient to heat the floor and thats all. So if its freezing outside, you can come in and sleep on the floor, and be reasonably warm, but your glass of water on the bedstand will turn to ice overnight.
* Ageing backpackers. Briefly, Antonio, from Italy, who found a pair of my undies on the floor, picked them up and held them for a scarily long amount of time before handing them over. And Louisa... a very heavy breathing French Canadian old woman who ate nothing but oranges. Four, sometime five in a row. I swear, I have never heard anyone eat so loudly in my entire life... and the snoring... dont even get me started!! Oh, and the old American dude who could not understand why anyone would go to Africa or SEA or even South America, because they are 'uncivilised' places (but I guess I cant blame Korea for this one!!)
* Bad bad Korean pop music

Thats all for now folks... you know I will add to these lists... its just a matter of time...