Traveling Applejax

*Clickbait title courtesy of Mike

Now that we’ve been in Japan for a while, I’m looking back on some interesting/surprising/unique things about Korea. These notes are based on observations and very little actual research, so if anyone cares to add context or nuance in the comments, those are welcome. In no particular order, here are some things that Mike & I found fascinating:

1. Park golf. This is a fully developed and popular sport in Korea. The courses are everywhere. When we first spotted them, we referred to the game as “croquet golf” because that is what it resembles. Players use a single club (similar to a wood in golf) and a ball that is roughly the size of a croquet ball. They hit the balls on courses that are in between mini golf and regular golf sizes. If I had to guess, I’d say each hole is roughly 100 meters. Koreans, especially middle aged and older, take this seriously. They’re usually in groups of four, and they almost always have matching jerseys, visors, gloves, etc. If you want to try Park Golf, we read about one course in the U.S.—just outside of Buffalo, New York!

2. Housing. We were fascinated by housing and cityscapes in Korea. As you would expect, Seoul is a huge metropolis with endless high rises and apartment buildings. After all, it has a population of 10+million. Once we started crossing the country, we realized that there aren’t really suburbs or many single-family homes outside of the cities either. Sure, there are rural areas with little farmhouses next to rice paddies, but these quickly transitioned to full-blown skyscrapers once we hit anywhere with a population over 100,000. It’s bizarre to see 20-story apartment buildings just across the river from a small family farm. The only real exceptions to this dynamic that we found were in historic neighborhoods like the Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul and on Jeju island, which seems to have more single-family housing.

3. Exercise machines. Along any developed bike path in the country, it is common to see several exercise machines every few miles. They don’t have weights but look like the type of machines you’d find in most American gyms. They appear to be designed for stretching/mobility rather than building muscle. There are devices that will twist your torso, swing your hips, and even invert you to stretch out your spine. Most of them are in good condition and are heavily used by retirees especially. This demographic also enjoys early- morning walks and seems quite health conscious. We even saw one man doing rapid hip bridges on a platform while his dog sat next to him, yipping with every thrust.

4. Jeju haenyeo. The haenyeo are female free divers who live and work on Jeju island. They don wetsuits, fins, and masks and bring sharp tools and orange pouf-shaped buoys with attached nets that dangle in the water. They dive up to 10 meters without oxygen tanks to harvest abalone, urchins, and other sea creatures. There are many haenyeo in their 80s still diving in this manner. When they surface, they call out. Mike & I saw many of the orange buoys off the coast of Jeju, and we watched a group of divers for quite a while one day.

5. Beaches. I don’t know if we went to the wrong places or visited at the wrong time of year, but we did not see much evidence of Koreans enjoying their beaches. This is a country with 8,640 kilometers of coastline—a ton for a geographically small country. There are more than 3500 islands. While we didn’t see many amazing beaches, there were a lot of nice ones that were almost always empty. When they weren’t, there were a few people wearing hats, gloves, full sleeves, pants, and face masks “enjoying” their opportunity to soak up the sun and walk along the sand. We saw even fewer people in the water (other than the Jeju divers).

6. Olive Young. Korea is a very beauty-conscious country. The sun is the enemy, and Olive Young is the store that provides all of the weapons against aging and ugliness. It is a cosmetics store that is insanely popular. We have never gone past one that wasn’t packed. Apparently, it is a huge tourism driver, and most women leave with suitcases full of products. Some visit Korea mainly to go to these stores. On a related note, Korea has the highest number of plastic surgeons per capita in the world by far—twice as many as in the U.S. and 150% more than in Brazil (the runner up).

7. Snakes. Wow, there are a lot of snakes in Korea. Apparently there are 4 venomous varieties, but I couldn’t tell you if I saw any of those. I did see at least 5 live snakes and 20 dead ones on the bike paths throughout the country. That’s more than the number of rattlesnakes I’ve seen in 19 years of living in Phoenix and hiking/biking in the desert!

8. Coffee & dessert. I’m convinced that you’re never more than 2km from a coffee & dessert cafe in Korea. They are everywhere. Everywhere! However, I don’t think we found a single coffee shop open before 10:00 AM outside of Seoul. Same for bakeries. It wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be getting breakfast in the mornings. We did very much enjoy getting lattes and frappes and bubble teas from the shops in the afternoons, though. Cafe Bom Bom was our favorite.

9. Squid. When we first saw squid strung up on fences, we both thought they looked like macrame decorations. Then, we realized they were the day’s catch drying in the sun. They didn’t smell or attract flies, which was pretty impressive. Alongside the squid were the squidding boats, or squid jigging vessels, which can be distinguished by their strings of lights. Apparently these are used to attract squid at night.

10. Dol hareubang. These are statues carved out of volcanic basalt, and they are everywhere on Jeju. They are phallic and somewhat comic and always hold their bellies. The other symbol of the island is the Jeju tangerine, and it is possible to pick up a dol hareubang statue wearing a tangerine hat in any gift shop worth its salt.

11. Photo ops. In anyplace remotely touristy, there are lots of staged photo opportunities. Are you biking along a river? Stop and get a photo with the city’s name and mascot! Did you spot a beautiful field of poppies? There’s a frame already set up to stand in! Are you on a ferry? Dress up in a captain’s uniform and vogue! In addition to these staged spots, many touristy streets have a collection of photo booth-like businesses where you can make memories with your friends and props!

12. Hand towels. After our Airbnb stay in Seoul, we never saw full size bath towels—not at our Daegu Airbnb, not at any sex motels, not at any hotels. Instead, each stay came with 4 hand towels and maybe a robe. A hand towel will do the job when drying off after a shower, but there’s no wrapping up in these towels. I’m sure fancier hotels that cater to more international tourists have all the western amenities like bath towels, but nowhere we stayed had them.