The delicious side of Korea

In Korea they love their food. They love to share their food and it is considered rude and a personal insult if you decline the food that they offer you. When you meet a Korean person it is not uncommon to be asked 밥 먹었어요 (pap megeoseoyo) which when translated means "have you eaten"? In most cases this is just another way of asking how are you, but be careful how you answer because if you say no you may suddenly find yourself being whisked away to a Korean restaurant and being force fed food that you may not want. Meals in Korea are a communal event usually with one main dish and then everyone sharing from the various side dishes that are always part of the meal. These side dishes vary usually with some sort of salad, different vegetables, sauces and always kimchi. The best part is that they come with the meal meaning you don't pay extra and you can refill them as often as you like.





Seriously though, there is no excuse to go hungry in Korea as food is available in abundance. There are restaurants everywhere, ranging from small family run bibimbap places, to Korean bbq's to street food. The small family run establishments are great for a quick meal. They usually have a few plastic tables, limited decorations and you can get a delicious and healthy meal of bibimbap and beer for about $5.00. They aren't fancy and often you have to get your own water from a giant water cooler at the front of the restaurant. They rarely have English menus but usually the menus have pictures on them so you know what to order and most neighbourhoods have 2 or 3 of them. There is a particular one on my street that I am rather fond of, when I go in I get a big smile from the ajumma working there, spend $3.00 on bibimbap and leave full for the night. For those who don't know, bibimbap translated means mixed rice. Basically you get a bowl of steaming, boiled rice, it usually comes out in a cast iron dish still sizzling, mixed in the rice are various vegetables, bean sprouts, sometimes bulgogi or hamburger meat and always an egg. You can then mix in some spicy sauce to make it less dry. It is delicious and one of my favourite Korean dishes.


Probably one of the most popular style of Korean eating, and one of the more delicious, is the Korean bbq. BBQ restaurants are everywhere and some of them specialize in certain meats such as pork or duck while in others you can choose any. At a bbq you sit a table in the center with be a small grill, either heated by propane or hot coals that are placed underneath it. Slabs of raw meat are brought to you along with tongs and scissors and you proceed to grill your own meat. Along with the meat you always get the side dishes mentioned above and usually individual portions of rice. Once the meat is cooked you use the scissors to cut it into bite sixe pieces and the feast begins. The appropriate way to eat bbq meat is on leaves ... yes leaves. You will be given a basket full of romaine lettuce leaves and sesamee leaves. You use your chopsticks to take a piece of meat, place it inside the lettuce leaf, put any sauces, salts etc. as you desire, add any other vegetables and then eat. Although bbq restaurants are more expensive than the bibimbap places, compared to restaurant prices at home they are relatively cheap and you always walk away stuffed.


If you are looking for a really cheap meal then there are always street food vendors. They are everywhere and sell everything from hot noodles, to shishkabob meat to my favourite fishbread. Fishbread is more of a snack and is similar to a waffle with a red bean paste inside. They taste the best when they are freshly cooked and the insides are steaming hot.

On the street where I live there is often a man selling hot noodles from the back of his van. He has a portable propane stove set up with a pot of boiling water and noodles cooking. He opens the back door and the people line up to buy his food. I have never tried it but given the lengths of his lines I am guessing it must be good. Finally lets not forget about the pizza. There are just as many pizza shops here as there are in Canada some are cheap and some are not. The difference here has to do with the toppings. I often frequent a little place on my street called Pizza Maru where I wil order an Italian cheese pizza. This is just a plain cheese pizza with some corn mixed in. I have seen pizza here with such topping as pumpkin, potatoe wedges and bbq'd steak. As well with every pizza you order you get a complimentary packet of pickles.

2011, New year, new home

I started 2011 with a dilemma. Do I stay in my tiny, closet of an apartment, or do I move somewhere new. Given the size of my current home you would think that it would be an easy decision, but it wasn't. What my apartment lacked in size it made up for in charm and comfort. I had heard horror stories about other Korean apartments, bugs, noisy neighbours, heat and water that didn't always work. I had none of these problems in my current place and knew that I could regret it if I moved. However, I longed for my space. I wanted to have friends over for dinner without them having to sit on my bed to eat.
After some thought, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to look. If I saw something that I really liked than great and if not then I would be fine to stay put. I set an apartment hunting date with my friend Ally, she speaks Korean and would translate with the estate agent. Between the time that I set the date and the apartment hunting day, I had built in my mind an image of this fabulous apartment that I was going to find. Of course, the image in my mind was based on memories of Canadian apartments, which really don't exist in Korea, especially for the money that my school would pay.
Apartment hunting day arrived and Ally and I headed to one of the estate agent offices on my street. We had plenty to choose from as there are about 10 just on my street alone. In Korea renting an apartment or building is very different from Canada. In Canada you normally pay first and last months rent and then a set monthly rent. In Korea you instead negotiate a key deposit (usually around 5 mil or roughly $5,000) and then the monthly amount is low. You can negotiate to pay a higher deposit and then have lower monthly payments or sometimes no payments at all. You get a portion of this deposit back at the end of your contract. In my situation my school was going to actually make the contract so I had no room to negotiate. The agent took us to look at an apartment near where I already lived and although the building was OK, the apartment was no different than my current place. We then looked at 3 or 4 more places and all of them were the same. They may have been slightly larger, but not much and none were as nice. The image in my mind of this great apartment was starting to fade and I began feeling disappointed.
Just as I was about to give up hope, Ally says there is one more place. It's actually in the building where I currently live and it's 2 rooms. This sounded promising so we went to look. It was actually on the ground floor of my building with it's own seperate door to the outside and as soon as we walked in I knew this was the apartment that I wanted. It had one large livingroom / sitting room in the front and then a 2 other rooms, bedroom and office, off of that. As well it had a small kitchen and bathroom. It was 5 times larger than my current place, brand new, clean and in my same building so moving would be easy. I quickly agreed, we called the administration at my school who promised to come by the next day to sign the contract. I left the real estate with a plan to move at the end of February, plenty of time to pack my things and get settled.
I went home and a few hours later my landlord came by and asked if I would move sooner. Right now is a busy time for university students to be looking for new apartments so she wanted to get my place on the market as soon as possible, so I agreed to move the following weekend. I went to bed excited and happy about my new place, not realizing that the next few days would feel like being on a rollercoaster.
The next day was friday and my school was supposed to go and sign the contract. Late afternoon on friday I get a phone call from Ally saying that they did not go. They were busy and would try and go saturday. I start to worry, will the landlord hold the apartment for me. I am reassured that it will be ok, but still this is Korea and you never know. Saturday morning I get a phone call from Ally saying that the school needs my new work contract before they can sign for the apartment. No problem, I get on the bus and deliver it to the school. At the school I meet the Principal who told me she approved me to move and I leave feeling much better. A few hours later Ally called saying the administartion will not sign the contract until the end of February, as that is when my new work contract starts. At this point I had become very excited about this apartment so the disappointment over this news hit me like a tidal wave. I knew there was no way the landlord would hold the apartment for a month. To make it worse I couldn't express my frustration to the school as no one speaks English. This was one of those rare moments when I really felt the cutlure shock and isolation of living in a foreign country.
Later that afternoon, just as I had come to terms with my disappointment and resigned myself to staying in my current apartment the phone rings. It was Ally again. She had spoken to the estate agent, who spoke to the landlord, who agreed to let me still have the apartment. She would let me move in without the contract being signed, on one condition ... I had to move that day. Keep in mind that it is now 3pm, most of my friends are out of town so no one to call for help. I frantically started putting everything I own into suitcases, bags, anything that I could find and started moving. I worked steady for about 4 hours packing and carrying down the stairs load after load of belongings. At some points I would fill my suitcase up, carry it downstairs, dump the contents on my bed, go upstairs and refill it. However by 9pm, I was sitting in my new apartment eating pizza, surrounded by all my belongings either on the bed or in bags on the floor around me.
As stressful as those few hours were, looking back it was the best way to move. I didn't have the anxious days leading up to the move or the time to feel nostalgic about leaving my old place. Afterall, it had been my home for a year and not just any home. It was my first home in Korea and my safe haven when life in Korea became overwhelming. I know though, that soon this new place will feel like home and I know that I made the right decision.

Christmas in Korea

Since this was going to be our first Christmas in Korea, my 2 friends Andre and Kristina, and myself decided that we should go away. We only had the weekend so we couldn't go far and after some debate we decided on Seoul. We would head up on the 24th, spend Christmas Day wandering and seeing the sights of the city and then go to a restaurant for a great Christmas dinner.

So far this winter hasn't been too bad in Korea, at least compared to what I am used to in Canada. Most days it has been fairly mild with the odd cold day mixed in. WELL ... December 24th I awoke to -12 temperatures and reports that it is only going to get colder over the next few days. At 5 pm I headed to the train station to meet my friends and just in the short distance from my house to the bus stop I was frozen. I decided it would be a good day to splurge on a taxi. At 6 pm my friends and I board the KTX and head off to our first Christmas together in Korea.

When we arrived in Seoul we all looked at the throngs of people waiting for the subway and in unison said the same word ...TAXI! We headed outside to the taxi stand and joined the long of people waiting. The wind there was so cold that in a matter of minutes my hands were numb. Being Canadian, I know how to dress for the winter. I was bundled in sweaters and parkas, scarves and hats and mitts and yet the cold just went right through it. Finally it was our turn. The 3 of us were frozen solid and with a sigh of relief we hopped into the warm car. We told the driver anguk yak (our destination) and he immediately said NO, get out. It seems that we had gotten in the taxi on the wrong side of the road and since we wanted to go in the other direction, we would have to cross the road and find a taxi over there. Cursing all the way, we climb out of the car, back into the cold night, across the road and after some confusion hailed another taxi.

We finally arrived at our guest house, only to be informed that we weren't actually staying there. We were staying at their other guest house further up the road. The young man (Kevin) who was working, piles us all into his jeep and drives us 5 minutes up the road to the other place. He told us not to worry as he sped down narrow alleyways barely missing pedestrians and other cars. Afterall he was a driver in the army.

The place that we had chosen to stay in was called Yoos Guesthouse. We had chosen it because it was a traditional Korean Hanok that had been restored. A Hanok is an old style Korean house built with an outside courtyard in the middle and then bedrooms and kitchens all off the courtyard. This particular guest house was located on the grounds of the former Unhyeon palace.

We thought it would be a very interesting and unique experience, not knowing that it was going to be -12. The room we stayed in was heated but in order to use the bathroom, kitchen etc you had to go outside, and it was chilly. The rooms were traditonal Korean style rooms, which means no beds or furniture. Just a room with a floor and then mats and covers that you lay down to sleep on. Since they use the ondol, or under floor heating, it was warm and comfortable on the floor.

We had decided to spend Christmas Eve inside and given the cold temperature outside, it was a wise decision. We all brought an assortment of foods and beverages and we had a cosy night talking and laughing at all the funny things that we had done and the people we had met the previous year.

The next morning we awoke to even colder temperatures and frozen pipes. There was actually icicles hanging off the tap in the bathroom. We bundled ourselves up and headed to our first destination, a guided tour of Seodemun Prison. The guest house where we were staying had arranged for us to have a tour guide and we thought no better place to spend Christmas Day, then in jail.

At the prison we meet our tour guide, a sweet little girl named Sarah who was all of eleven years old. Her English was excellent and she led us through the prison telling us the stories of all the horrible things that happened there. The prison had been built by the Japanese and many Koreans who fought for independance had been imprisoned, tortured and killed there. At one point we were even led through the torture chambers and shown all the various methods that they used. It was so heartwarming for Christmas day. The first half of the tour was comfortable as it was inside a heated building but the second half was either outside or in the jail cells where there was no heat and by the end we were frozen and ready to go. The tour ended with us standing outside bewildered watching Sarah running away while at the same time thanking us for coming. I htink she was cold too and anxious to get back inside.

We had planned to spend the rest of the day going ice skating and shopping but quickly decided that it was too cold. Instead we headed back to the guest house where we sat huddled under blankets until it was time to go to dinner.

We finished Christmas Day with a meal at La Cigale Montmartre, a french restaurant in an area of Seoul called Itaewan.

This place was truly french and the food was superb. I dined on mussles cooked with ham and garlic and a lime dacquiri. We lingered over the meal, enjoying the food and each others company. It was a relaxing and comfortable night.

It truly was a memorable Christmas and as Kristina pointed out, a Christmas with an international flair. You have a Canadian, and American and a South African celebrating Christmas in Korea at a french restaurant. It doesn't get any better than that.

The new men in my life

So I was recently informed that I was doing a poor job at keeping up with this blog. Frankly I wasn't sure if people were still reading it, but apparently they are, so I promise to start writing more frequently.

About a month ago something happened, which at the time I thought was a little strange, but it turned out to be a huge blessing. One day I was standing at the bus stop, waiting for the bus to go home from work, when an older Korean man approached me and speaking in very good English, asked me if I was a teacher. This in itself isn't unusual as here people often speak to you in strange places and they usually fall into one of two categories a) someone who is curious about you and wants to practice their english skills or b) someone who wants to recruit you to their church. The first group of people I am more than happy to speak to and, well with the second group I usually quickly pledge my allegiance to Satan and make a hasty retreat. This man, however, proved to be neither.
He introduced himself as Mr. Bak and told me that he is a retired Engish teacher who volunteers at a nearby seniors center. He teaches an English class and explained that he had an American girl helping him but she returned home so now he is looking for a replacement. Although he never actually came out and asked if I was interested, it's not the Korean way to be that direct, I knew that was what he was wanting. I immediately thought that this might be an interesting experience but also wanted time to consider the idea so I asked him to call me the following week so that I could check with my school. It didn't take much thinking for me to realize this was an opportunity to befriend some older Korean people who I was sure would have some interesting stories.
I agreed to spend an hour every saturday there helping with this class. On my first day I arrived not really sure what to expect or what the students reaction would be to me. I went into the clasroom and met my students, 8 men ranging in age from 70 to 84. Most of these men spoke decent English, enough for us to have a simple conversation, and they immediately started asking me questions about Canada and my life in Korea. I was expecting things to be uncomfortable because age is a big deal in Korea and usually when you have someone younger and older together things get very formal. Not with these men though. Right away they started joking around and teasing each other and bragging about who has the most girlfriends.
I felt instantly comfortable with these men and they started telling me stories about their lives. They all fought in the Korean war and one man told me that during the war they were all taught to say 3 words "I am South Korean", and this saved many of them from being killed by American soldiers mistaking them for North Koreans.
After the class finished they took me downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch where many of the other seniors in the building came over and started talking to me. At one point one man came over and started naming all the American states and which point one of the men in my class became angry and said "She's not American, she is from Canada". Without blinking an eye the man stopped in midstate and started reciting all the provinces instead.
Since that first class, I now go every saturday. What was supposed to be only 1 hour has instead turned into 4. All the men in the class put their money together and bought me a good Korean text book. Every staurday after our English class, I eat lunch with these men and then 2 of them spend 2 hours helping me learn Korean.
Meeting Mr. Bak that day at the bus stop was truly a blessing. I look forward to my saturdays with these men. They have become my friends, they have let me into their circle, and allowed me to see Korean people in a different light. I feel like I have 8 grandfathers and they have made it very clear that if I ever needed anything, they would be there to help. They even promised to be at the airport on my return from Canada, holding a sign with my name on it to welcome me back to their country. I have been given a unique opportunity that many westerners here don't get and for that I am very lucky.

Beijing part 3 - The Great Wall

It was my last day in Beijing and I had only one goal in mind - to visit the Great Wall of China. Afterall, that was the main reason that I went and I couldn't leave without seeing it. From Beijing there are 3 sections of the wall that you can travel to. The 2 closest and more popular are Badaling and Mutianyu and then further away was Jinshanling. The jinshanling section is more rugged and is better for the hiker and more adventurous sort and I heard that Mutianyu wasn't as scenic as Badaling, so my decision was made.

There are many companies offering tours to the wall, most of them were expensive and included stops at shopping districts and other attractions that didn't interest me. With the guidance of the people at my hostel I opted to find my own way there. Keep in my mind it was a 2 hour bus ride away but it seemed easy enough to find that bus.

I headed out early in the morning, hopped on the city bus over to the bus station where I was told to get on bus 902. Well, when I got there, there were about 30 buses in the parking lot all with the number 902. After asking a few people I finally found the 902 bus that I needed, got on and sat down. Slowly people started to get on but it wasn't too busy and I thought this will be a nice 2 hour bus ride. We stopped at the next staion and more people got on, and more people and more people until eventually the bus was so crowded that people were practically hanging out the windows. Many of them looked at me strangely as I was the only foreigner on the bus. All I could say was that I was thankful that I had a seat. Eventually we arrived and I disembarked with the other cattle and followed the crowds up to the front gates. I had to walk past all the tacky souvenir stands selling the t-shirts saying I climbed the Great Wall and I couldn't resist buying a memento.

I could see the wall off in the distance and it was exactly how I expected it to look, a crumbling stone wall meandering through the hills for miles into the distance. It was beautiful. I climbed the steps up to the wall (about 1000) until eventually I was standing on it. I couldn't believe that I was there. I started walking and at times it was very steep but I was motivated by all the old people running past me. I stopped often to take pictures, more to catch my breath than anything else. The place was very crowded but not so crowded that you couldn't appreciate where you were. The view were stunning and the weather was perfect. I climbed for about for 2 hours before deciding to head back down and try to find my bus home.

I knew where I had gotten off the bus but I wasn't sure if that was where I got back on. There were many people standing there and andit seemed that there was a continous stream of 902 buses coming but nobody was getting on them. Then I noticed on the side of the buses was a sign with the final destination on and I knew the name of the staion I wanted to go. Eventually a bus came with that station written so I took a breath, climbed on and hoped it was the right bus. I wasn't lucky this time to get a seat and had to stand in the aisle jammed in with half the chinese population. I start looking out the window desperate to see something familar so that I know that I am going in the right direction. Slowly people start getting off at various stops so after about 45 minutes I am able to get a seat. At this point I have seen signs indicating that I am headed back to Beijing so I figure evenn if I don't get to the rights station I will at least be in the city and can find my way home. I didn't need to worry as I arrived back to where I started exhausted but relieved. It had been a great trip to Beijing but I was ready to go back to Korea.

Beijing - Part 2

Having arrived at my hostel I was now faced with the dilema of what to do with my time. It was late afternoon, so too early to call it a day, and yet I was exhausted from the early flight and the stress of finding the hostel. However I felt the need to make the most of my time in Beijing so I sucked it up, headed back out the door and walked towards Tiananmen Square. Halfway there I came upon an entrance to a park, Zhongshan Park and decided to spend some time wandering through it. It turned out to be a really beautiful park with some lovely gardens and these giant rock formations. On top of that it wasn't very busy. It was a peaceful and tranquil spot in the midst of a bustling city. At one point I could hear the screams and shrieks of children and as I wandered towards the noise I found myself at a pavillion with kids riding on bumper cars. It was a little strange in the middle of this beautiful park but it reminded me of my childhood at the local fair. I wandered the park for an hour and exited to find myself on the edge of Tiananmen Square. I decided not to enter the square and save it for a day when I was less tired and could appreciate it more. I headed back to the hostel figuring I would spend the evening poring over my lonely planet making plans for the rest of my adventure.

Back at the hostel there were a few other patrons wandering around so I sat at one of the tables, ordered some noodles and started making some plans. Within a few minutes 2 older women sat down with me and we started chatting. It turns out they were 2 sisters who were on a 6 week journey that had taken them to India, China and then Singapore and Australia. We ordered a bottle of wine and sat there late into the evening laughing over stories of our various adventures. By the time we said good night we had made plans to spend the following day together and I went to bed feeling exhausted but happy.

The next morning came early and I woke up excited about the day ahead of me. After a hardy breakfast I headed out the door with Sherry and Carol, headed for the Beijing Zoo to see the Pandas. We decided to take the local bus and I was a little apprehensive about what the buses might be like in China but figured they can't be any worse than the ones in Korea. They actually turned out to be much nicer, the bus was hardly busy and the drivers were very competent and respectful. It was very different from Korea, where you sometimes feel like you are risking your life every time you step aboard. After about 20 minutes we were there and we followed the throngs of people into the zoo. It was holiday in China so everyone with a child had decided that a day in the zoo was in order. My only concern here was to see the pandas and I had no interest in the other animals so we headed straight to the panda pavillion. It was packed with people but we manged to fight our way to the front of the crowds and peer through the glass. It was worth it, they were so adorable. We spent about an hour here, taking pictures and staring at these cuddly creatures.

We finally decided to head off to our next location - the summer palace. I had been told by many people that this was a must see in Beijing and it definitely is. This was the summer hideout for the those at the Imperial Palace seeking refuge from the summer heat. Located on the shores of Kumming lake it was like a giant park consisting of temples, palaces, gardens and pavillions. Of course today it also consisted of thousands of people but that didn't take away from the beauty of the place. We wandered for hours marvelling at the architecture and the scenery. At one point we climbed high atop a hill to the Buddhist Temple of the Sea of Wisdom, which was about 1,000 steps up but worth it for the views. After a few hours wandering here it was late afternoon and we were all exhausted and felt it was time to head home. We made it back to the hostel, changed our clothes and headed out to the night market in search of food. When we hit the night market we all knew that we would not be eating here as the smell alone was enough to make you vomit. The night market consisted of various stalls selling a variety of snack items like, octopus and scorpions on a stick, bug larvae and giant shishkabob beetles. It all looked yummy. It was fun to wander and look at all these interesting foods, knowing that never in a million years would I eat any of it. After a while here we headed to a normal restaurant and had a lovely meal of duck and rice. Day one was finished and I hit the bed, thoroughly exhausted.

The next morning I woke, ready for another day in Beijing. I headed out alone this time and decided to visit locations closer to the hostel ie. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I hopped on the bus to Tiananmen Square and emerged from it to yet again, giant crowds of people. I made my way through the security checks and stepped out into the square. The square itself had little to see but was still impressive as it was surrounded by 1950 style soviet buildings - communism at it's best. It was an overwhelming feeling to stand in that square and think back to the events of 1989 and the bravery of those people who stood up for democracy. Unfortunatly the crowds here were stifling, which made it difficult to appreciate the significance of where I was standing.

I slowly made my way across the street to the Gate of Heavanly Peace with the giant picture of Mao and into the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was given it's name because it was off limits to commoners and foreigners for over 500 years. It is the site of the Imperial Palace where at one time the Emperors ruled the country. I followed the crowds through the main gate and walked and walked and walked. I kept looking for the ticket booth but somehow missed it. I started following a tour group, went through a turnstile and ended up in the main courtyard. Somehow I had gotten in without buying a ticket. I found out much later that the tickets were rather expensive and the security was fairly tight - you needed to show your passport to buy your ticket. Somehow I bypassed all this and got in for free. The place was huge and the avid enthusiast could spend days exploring it. I did it in 3 hours. It was overwhelming, filled with courtyards and temples and gates. I had rented an audio guide so I was able to hear what the various buildings were used for. It was definitely worth the money to get that. After 3 hours of being transported back into history I exited the Forbidden City and made my way to my next locaton Jingshan park.

Once again this was a small but peacefuly park at the the edge of the Forbidden City. The park sits on a hill which was created from the earth that was excavated to make the moat around the Forbidden City. Legend has it that the park was built to act as a shield for the palace from evil spirits and also as a barrier to the dust storms from the north. In the center of the park was another pavillion with about 1000 steps up to it. I made the climb and was rewarded with fantastic views over the Forbidden City. The park was peaceful break from the crowds and at one point I came upon a group of older people practicing Tai Chi. I left the park feeling refreshed and ready to face the crowds again.

From Jingshan park I headed over to Lake Beihai and Beihai park. This place was mostly filled with picnicers and families. There were people on the lake with rented paddle boats and at one point I even saw 2 men swimming. At this point a kindly old lady approached and in very poor english asked where I was from. I said Canada and she said that she lived in Australia but was from Beijing, then she gave me a big smile and walked away. It was very sweet. I stayed an hour in Beihai park before heading to my final destination - Bouhoa bar street.

This area is a long street that runs along the edge of the lake and contains over 200 bars and restaurants. I had been going all day with very little to eat and thought I might find something here. Most of the places that I passed were either very busy or looked really dodgy. I had been prewarned about the cleanliness of restaurants in China and was reluctant to enter many of them. After another hour of walking I gave up on finding somewhere to eat. I was tired of being constantly harrassed by the rickshaw drivers and I was exhausted so I made my way back to my hostel where I knew the food would be good and there would be someone to talk to. I had a lovely plate of noodles and headed to bed early ready for my next days adventure to the Great Wall.

Beijing - part One

I've decided to break my posts about Beijing into a few different blogs because there is to much to say in one sitting.

DAY ONE

I stepped from the Beijing International Airport into grey clouds, a slight drizzle and with a vague sense of apprehension. I was apprehensive because 1) I didn't know how I was going to get from the airport to my hostel and 2) I had heard various stories about the dodginess of China. I didn't know what to expect but thought it would be a harsher version of Korea. I was right - it was a MUCH HARSHER version of Korea.
I solved my first problem by hopping onto the express train from the airport which would take me into Beijing and one of the subway stations. I knew that my hostel was somewhere near Tiananmen Square so figured I would take the subway there and then walk. I had no problems using the express train, it was when I exited the train and attempted the subway that the problems ensued. I could see where to go to get on the subway but didn't know where to buy the tickets or how much they cost. There were some automatice ticket machines, all in Chinese and no one around who spoke English. After 5 minutes of standing around feeling lost, I finally found a ticket booth, bought 1 ticket and hoped it was for the subway. It was.
I had a subway map so I knew where to go and I knew that I had to change to 3 different lines. The first line was only 2 stops and when I got on I thought - no problem. The train wasn't that busy and it was a piece of cake. I got off and switched over the next line for another 2 stops. This train was a little bit busier but still not too bad. Then I switched for the line to Tianamen Square. It would be 5 stops and this is when the insanty began. The crowds waiting to get on the train were scary and they had guards waiting at the doors trying to control the traffic. When the doors opened it was like a vacum sucking you in, you had no choice but to move with the crowd. Somehow I arrived at my stop and managed to fight my way backt through the crowd and out the door. I was at Tianamen square.
I thought my hostel was close by but really it was 2.5km away. Armed with my trusty Lonely Planet I found the road I needed and walked and walked and walked. Just when I thought that I had to be going in the wrong direction I saw a little red sign with my hostels name pointing down a small alley. I must have looked confused because this little old Chinese lady tapped me on the shoulder, pointed at the sign and pointed up the alley. So I headed up the alley and within 5 minutes I was standing at the gate to my hostel.



My hostel was located in one of the old hutongs of Beijing. Hutong is the name given to the alleyways that crisscross throughout the city. There are over 360 hutongs in Beijing, all with seperate names. Each hutong is like a little community. Within the hutongs are the buildings or Siheyuan - which is what my hostel was. Bascally each Siheyuan has a door that leads out into the alley, when you step through the door you enter the courtyard of the building. When I first arrived at my hostel I questioned where I was staying but as soon as I stepped through the door it was like I had entered another world. It was breathtaking.

The main room of the hostel was the original courtyard of the Siheyuan. A roof had been put over it with a fountain in the middle along with tables, chairs, couches and 2 computers, typical hostel lounge. It was all decorated with Chinese art and decorations and along the sides of the courtyard were all the rooms. It had a very cosy, homey feel and definitely one of the best hostels that I have every stayed at.