All seemed well for the first block until the bus veered off in an unknown direction. Worried but not ready to make a move just yet, we held out bailing and rode out the detour. About seven minutes later we ended up at our intended destination and the automated PA system on the bus was kind enough to reiterate that we had arrived at Hagye Station!
We jumped off quickly, having already paid the fare with our T-Money cards, and dove down into the station, hoping to catch the next, if not first, train. Uh oh! Once down in the station, a grated gate kept us from entering the ticketing and track area. With no clue how long we would have to wait we began to worry; not too much however as a few stragglers seemed to have gotten to the station before us and were waiting on the steps. Well, we figured, if they're waiting, we can too. . .that, and we had no other option! A taxi to the airport would most likely be over $60 (compared to about $5 on the subway) and take probably just as long if not longer due to morning rush hour traffic!
Finally, at around 5:20am, a worker came and opened the gate, allowing the crowd of a dozen or so that had gathered to head towards the platform. In double checking our intended route, planned out online using the interative Seoul Subway Map, I noticed a slight problem. The Incheon Station that we had planned on as our final destination was in fact not the Incheon Airport but Incheon the city, or Seoul equivalent! We had to quickly replan our route and realized that it would in fact take longer and involve more transfers than we had at first anticipated! Oh well, nothing we could do but move as quickly as the trains would allow! We eventually boarded the first train out of Hagye at 5:33am and headed towards downtown Seoul where we changed to Line 5 at Gunja Station.
Hagye Station at 5:30am!Line 5 took us across the better part of the city as we again transferred, almost an hour later, at Gimpo International Airport. The final subway, the A*REX Express, took us the final half hour or so to the Incheon International Airport, located on a small island just west of Seoul proper.
We were able to find the Asiana Airlines check in desk at the International Terminal without problem. By scanning our passports at the e-ticket self-check in kiosks, having no more than a back pack each, we were able to avoid the inexplicably (for 7am on a Wednesday) long line at the counter. Rushing through the terminal to find food, we were disappointed to find the 'Western Food Court' closed after hauling all the way to the opposite end from our gate. Turning down the subsequent wing of the terminal we were able to grab 'jumbo' subs from Quiznos that anywhere else would be classified as a kids meal! Scarfed those down while walking back to the gate at which boarding had begun by the time we arrived.
The flight went off without a hitch and the emptiness of the plan allowed us to spread out and claim as much leg room as an A-333 provides! I quickly filled out the immigration and customs declaration forms we were given for entry to Japan and closed my eyes. The next thing I remember is being whacked by Nate and looking up to see a flight attendant above me softly pleading, 'excuse me sir, excuse me.' It took me a second but I realized that it was time for me to return my seat back to its full and upright position. No worries, I did so and immediately fell back asleep for the next 20 minutes until the plane had come to a complete stop at the gate.
While we were happy to have landed safely, Nate made the keen observation that it was pouring outside. Great, the information we have said that the consulate is only a 20 minute walk from the subway! Glad I brought a rain jacket! After collecting our only baggage, from the overhead bins (please exercise caution when opening as baggage may shift during the flight), we bolted off the plane only to wait for 15 minutes in the immigration line. Managed to squeak by customs without hassle and head out towards baggage claim.
We looked for a money exchange, as we were again given a 180,000 won (it just sounds cool to say) travel stipend and needed to turn that in to Yen. With only one noticeable exchanger in the terminal we each decided to change enough to get us to a bank where usually the exchange rates are better, or, at least more fair. After Nate gave the woman 40,000 won and was given only 3,000 yen in return I decided not to exchange anything at that particular kiosk preferring to keep, rather than give away, the 20%+ cut they seemed to be taking (this calculation derived from the fact that 10,000 won is essentially $1 and $1 is essentially 100yen). While perhaps financially responsible, this effects of this decision were felt throughout almost the entirety of our brief trip. . .I will explain (just in case you thought I wouldn't).
Collecting the thirty dollars that he had just paid forty for, Nate and I headed out towards the curb to pick up the shuttle bus headed towards the domestic terminal in order to catch the subway into Fukuoka. For 290 yen we bought our tickets to Tojin-machi and boarded the train. No more than 20 minutes later we emerged from the subway, to find it still pouring buckets. Not wanting to walk around in wet pants all day, Nate and I went down a flight of stairs so that we were half in and half our of the station so that we could changed. We both quickly whipped on soccer shorts and manged to do so without drawing anyone's attention. I then grabbed my rainjacket, threw my longsleeve shirt in my backpack, tossed it on my back and covered up everything turtle style, with my jacket on the outside of all. Now of course when you do this you cannot zip the jack up but I would rather have a wet chest than a short circuited laptop so. . .it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make!
Not wanting to spend any extra time in the rain, I studied the area map posted outside the station until feeling confident about the direction of the consulate. Once relatively sure where to go, we headed off towards the seaside at Momochi, the ritzy little bay area in which the consulate was located. Somehow we managed to find the place, right around noon, without error only to find it closed, as we had expected. Reassured by the guard that they would reopen at 1:30pm, we headed across the street to the large Hawks Town Mall; a shopping center named after the SoftBank Hawks who play baseball in the adjacent Yahoo! Dome.
The Consulate of the Republic of Korea
The Consulate of the Republic of KoreaWe wandered the mall a bit stopping to spend a good deal of time at the Japanese arcade/casino. Now I had forgotten all about these from our Tokyo trip until again venturing into one. This hybrid of gaming is an absolutely hilarious and addicting way to kill an unprecedented amount of time. The concept is simple. You put a small amount of money into an exchange machine and are, in return, given a number of little tokens. These tokens are then used to play any number of 'arcade/casino' games ranging from slots, to panchinko. The majority of the games however are of the variety that have a slide going back and forth, loaded with other tokens, and, by dropping yours in, you hope to knock out more. These tokens are not worth anything and are not able to be exchanged as for example tickets are at Chuckee Cheese. Rather, the goals seems simply to play as long as possible, trading the tokens that you put in for those that fall out. While it seems simple, the entire process of putting in some coins hoping to get more coins is fascinating! Especially when the coins you begin with are free, because hey, everyone drops one or two here and there, right!
We eventually manged to pull ourselves away from the bells and whistles, or more, Nate managed to pull me away, and we headed to the one place in the mall that served food for under 1,000 yen. You guess it, ole' Ronald's place. I ate my favorite double decker meat, grain, and vegetable loaded power lunch, topped off with a good old fashioned energy drink. . .and Nate had the same. Nearing reopening time, we took back off for the Consulate, located directly across the street. On the way however, Nate suggested that he might have read somewhere that the Consulate only accepts yen, no longer won, for Visa applications. While this seemed odd to me (imagine a US embassy in London telling you that they won't accept the dollar, only pounds!?) I didn't want to be stranded with out payment so we asked the security guard where to exchange money. He showed us a little map and managed to point us in the right direction. . .only another 15 minute walk or so. Not like we weren't soaking wet already by this point. At least I had my trusty Sanuks on to keep my feet comfortable, if not dry (for more information on this fascinating footware product please visit www.sanuk.com)!
We finally did find a bank only to learn that they would not exchange won for yen nor did they have ATM's that would accept foreign cards. Great, a pocket full of totally unusable cash! Hmmmmm. . . . maybe that .774 exchange rate wasn't such a bad idea after all! They pointed us across the street to a Post Office where we could find an ATM to withdraw yen at least. This seemed to solve all of our problems as I have been able to use my card with out problem for withdrawals for the past few weeks. Pushing this that and they other button, it seemed as though I was going to have yen in no time. . .until the machine notified me that the transaction had been cancelled by my bank! What!? Wait. . .I'd seen this before! Thailand! Ahhhhh, no I remember, I had specifically requested from my bank that they unblock my card for use in Korea, that's why it had been working. I had, of course, never mentioned Japan, silly me! Nate gave it a whirl however and managed to suck a 10,000 yen bill out of a near drained account to give us at least a little cushion!
Public Art in Momochi, FukuokaWe slogged back to the Consulate, getting wetter and wetter as we went. By the time we arrived, almost an hour after heading out to get money in the first place, everything was open and running again fortunately. The application process involved no more than filling out a form which I then turned in to a woman behind a desk along with my passport. She took the passport picture that I had provided, affixed it to the form, and handed me a bill for 5,400 yen. . . uh oh! Nate had only been able to withdraw 10,000 yen and we had only a few coins left over from what was initially exchanged at the airport. We indicated to the woman that we needed a second to figure this out while Nate gave her his documents to process. Discussing what could be done and how short we were, only a few dollars, a young man behind us in line stepped forward and offered to cover the balance of whatever we needed. He explained that a similar thing had happened to him on his first visa run and it sounded like he had received quite a substantial amount of financial assistance, as he readily offered us. Turned out all I needed was 200 yen (a mere two dollars) that I tried to pay him back from in won but he refused! I thanked him profusely and agreed to pay the favor forward, just as he was then doing for me!
Having paid in full, we were told to return the next morning to pick up the processed visas. We left the consulate with wet clothes, no yen, no hotel, and no clue where to go next! By this point however I had remembered my emergency cash stashed away in a pocket of my wallet...$100 USD! Without enough money to even take a subway anywhere we trudged another 15 minutes back to the bank where we were told they did not exchange won. Showing up this time however I proudly held up my good 'ole greenback to which I received a greeting of smiles and nods! I sat down across from a teller, excited to finally get some yen and chip in for our rather pricey venture, for which I had contributed nothing!
Handing the teller my bill, I was immediately asked for my passport. . .which of course I left at the consulate. I explained this as best I could and gave him my Michigan drivers license instead, assuring him that it was government issued identification. My license went with the man in to a back room where they remained for at least the next ten minutes. Upon returning, I was asked if I had a drivers license as mine indicated that it was an 'operators' licence. I attempted to explain that operator meant driver and that the person on the ID truly was me! I emptied the contents of my wallet on the counter drawing connections between my credit card, Tulane ID, airplane tickets and license, hoping that somehow this would be more reassuring to the man. Eventually he did comply and I was able to cash in my last American dollars for yen, at a much better rate than was offered at the airport I might add!
After at least a half 'n hour at the bank we were finally freed from the institutional grasp of monetary exchange and headed, again, back out in to the rain. With the downpour ever increasing in strength, we darted carefully from building to building trying to stay under overhands and off the slicked sidewalk (which proved to be a seriously problem for maintaining ones footing). Dodging under an overhang that appeared to be connected to a fire station, we were eagerly approached by an elderly man. He too had just come from the rain but was certainly fairing much better than us due to his protective umbrella. Seeing Nate sitting soaking wet he offered his umbrella outwards towards us, insisting that we take it. Nate tried to refuse as the man would clearly need the umbrella later in the day, however he was relentless in his giving. Showing us how the tip of one support was broken, he conveyed the fact that it was simply unusable to him and that we should take it. We proved unable to deny the gift and again set off, this time with a slight defense against the rain. . .from above at least!
Back at the subway station I took another look at the posted map in hopes of gaining an idea of where to stay. The seaside area that we were in, Momochi, did not seem very welcoming or accommodating to travelers, which seems odd as those visiting the nearby consulates would seemingly provide a great market for the service sector. In scanning the map, I noticed that a short walk in the other direction from the station would land us at the local U.S. consulate. Now I have never been to, that I can recall, a U.S. consulate or embassy and, in all honesty, I'm not exactly sure what services they provide. However, tired, wet and relatively discouraged we figured going to ask around for direction on a small piece of sovereign soil couldn't do anything to hurt our situation . . . .so we did!
At first glance the consulate appeared closed as the front door was locked and only a single guard stood outside in a rain shelter, either unaware or indifferent to our arrival. Just as we were beginning to turn away, and elderly security guard came running to his post inside the building and buzzed us in. We tried to explain to him that we were American citizens (without passports) hoping to get some information on accommodations in the greater Fukuoka area. He smiled and nodded, clearly not understanding the majority of what I was saying. Rather than trying to figure it out however, the man picked up the internal phone, dialed a number and handed me the receiver. On the other end was a young woman who spoke English, albeit with a slight foreign accent. I explained our situation to her and she readily ushered us in. . .although to do so I had to give the phone back to the security guard so she could grant clearance. He then took us out back of the small pavilion through which we had entered, through a covered courtyard and up the steps to the main building where we took a seat in a sort of bulletproof lobby. Accompanied only by two stellar photographs of our fearless (or heartless?) leaders, Dick and Bush.
The woman I had spoken with on the phone arrived moments later with a handful of papers. She offered us a number of different maps, both of the Fukuoka island and the greater Fukuoka (city?) area. She also gave us a great list of inexpensive hotels in Fukuoka, courtesy of the U.S. Consulate! While comforting, this ended up helping us little as we had no idea how to find addresses or makes phone calls within our foreign, foreign country. She gave us instructions to head towards either Tenjin or Hakata in search of food and lodging. We thanked her, put back on our rain gear and once again plodded through the waters back to the subway.
A short ride later we emerged from Tenjin Station to the sights of a bustling downtown; quite different from the near emptiness of the Momochi area. We wandered for a half 'n hour or so until finding the Green Hotel, one that was actually recommended to us, according to the Consulate's printout. We stopped in to ask about availability and amenities. While their price was reasonable (we quickly came to learn that shooting for anything under $100 for a double in Japan is essentially trying to 'priceline' it in real life), we decided to wander for a bit more to check our options. It didn't take us long to realize that simply having a place to rest our legs was worth whatever we had to pay, especially if it meant avoiding any more hiking around. . .so we returned to the Green Hotel. We informed the receptionist that we would like a double room for one night and she handed us a small form to fill out, asking us in return for our passports. Uh oh, we had left them at the Korean Consulate as we were expected to do, we said. I again tried passing off my drivers license as a valid form of international ID but the Green Hotel was not having it. According to them, it is Japanese law that foreigners must leave a copy of their passport at the front desk when checking in. Extremely discouraged, we reshouldered our bags and turned again towards the street.
It would be hard to explain how irritating the next few hours were unless you can imagine walking through the rain all day only to be turned away from a comfortable accommodation because your passport is being processed for a visa, by a foreign country, in another foreign country. What's worse is then wandering for another two hours through the streets, unable to find a hotel that is sufficiently comfortable, a reasonable price, and shady enough to accept our reservation without a passport, as Japanese law stipulates must be done. Nevertheless, we did not manage to find a place that fit these requirements in the Tenjin area. We eventually found ourselves taking a rest in the lobby of a bank we had entered, hoping that they would be able to exchange some of our won. While they could not extend us an exchange, we did gain insight into our accommodation situation. It was suggested to us that we go to Hakata Station where we would be able to find much less expensive and more readily available places to stay. So, back down into the subway we went!
Only a few minutes later, we again emerged from the subway, this time in a much more heavily populated, bustling area: Hakata. According to the numerous maps we had collected throughout the course of the day, the area in the station's immediate vicinity was littered with hotels. With a much greater concentration of lodging, we were able to better carry out our inquiries of price and passport requirements. Having checked a number of places, some too expensive, others full, others having similar passport demands, we continued to wander in hopes of something that would work. Walking south past the station, I realized that we were in the area of a Hostel that had been suggested on Dave's ESL Cafe for Fukuoka travelers. Having been on our feet for hours I figured it couldn't hurt to check the place out.
We took off in the direction that the map print out, which I had remembered to bring, seemed to indicate. Although the proprieters of Khao San-Fukuoka Hostel suggested it would be an eight minute walk from the station, we managed to find the place about 20 minutes later. . .with out taking any detours! Though not entirely sketchy looking, the place was far from the quality of Tokyo Towers where we had found a relatively decent rate posted outside. . .though we had yet to check for availability.
Inside the Hostel we inquired as to availability of a private double room, as was suggested online. Although one was clearly open and unoccupied just off the front hall, we were informed that it was reserved for guests arriving later in the evening. I tried offering double the price for the small room with two bunk beds simply to get off our feet and out of wet clothes. . .unfortuantely my request was denied as "this is not China!" Oops!
We were given (another) helpful map that pointed us in the direction of a bus, guaranteed to take us back up to Hakata Station. A gas station corn dog later, we were on the bus and headed back to hotel central. Immediately after getting off we decided to head to Tokyo Towers and call it a night. Fortunately our reservation was accepted even without passports and we were given a double, non-smoking, aircon room on the second floor with a private bath and television. . .woo hoo! Perhaps the best part however were the beds that felt as though you were lying on something meant to be slept on. . .very dissimilar from our beds at 'home' in Junggyedong!
After taking a few minutes off our feet and throwing on some dry(er) clothes, Nate and I went back out again on foot. This time determined to simply eat, wherever possible. Un-able and -willing to deal with a translation guessing game at a Japanese restaurant, we settled on a burger place where we each got mini chili topped cheese burgers for slightly less than an arm and a leg. . .a steal by Japanese standards. We finished off the night by watching about 20 minutes of English television on a sub-monitor sized screen before passing out from pure exhaustion.
While I hadn't considered putting in a wake up call, mainly because we had until 4:30pm to get to the consulate and until 6:10pm until we left, I needn't have asked for one anyways! At 10:08am, long before either Nate or I planned on waking up, our telephone rang piercingly through what was certainly my first REM sleep in weeks! Grumpily muttering 'hello,' I was kindly informed that check out was at 10:00am. . . eight minutes ago. I reassured the mysterious voice that we were leaving and promptly threw the phone back towards the receiver from my bed. It took Nate and I both a while to rise as we slowly worked out all the kinks in our bodies caused by literally a day of (seemingly) aimless wandering. No time to enjoy that nice hot shower that we had both longed for the day before!
We eventually made it out of the hotel by about 10:45am and luckily were not charged any additional fee as we had used literally the last few coins in our pockets to pay for the room in which we slept! Back down to Hakata station we went, only to emerge another 20 minutes later at Tojin-machi. . .again. We, again, walked the 15 minutes to the consulate where our visa reciepts gained us entry this time. Presenting the reciept to the front desk I was given my passport, with attached visa in return. . .and that was that.
Unfortunatley for those around me, not everything was so simple. I didn't care to get involved, but of course listened to as much as I could of the two travelers whose visa requests had apparently been rejected. An American girl was simply brought to tears that she was not given a visa, for reasons that I was not quite able to determine. A male Kiwi was talking loudly about how he couldn't believe that he was refused a visa premised on the fact that he overstayed his previous one by three days, six years ago. I guess when the government tells you to get out, you'd better get out, at least if you ever plan on coming back! Luckily we both made it out free and clear with visas in hand.
With a bit of time to kill before heading to the airport, Nate and I wandered up to the area surrounding the Yahoo! Dome which was errily reminiscient of the good ole' Superdome! We then headed down the backside and wandered across a highway out towards the beach from which we could see a number of smaller, seemingly very populated islands, off in the distance. Having nothing to do and no real great photo ops (I'll show ya what we did get, nothing special), we once again started marching back to the subway, figuring we could atleast get something to eat at the airport.
The Yahoo! Dome(Home of the SoftBank Hawks)
Completing our journey by the reverse of our arrival, we took the subway to the Fukuoka Domestic Terminal from which we caught a bus to the International Terminal. We attempted to check in at Asiana Airlines around 1:00pm only to be turned away, informed that check in for our flight would begin at 4:10pm, two hours before departure. With nothing to do we headed towards some benches to play cards and listen to music to pass the time. We managed to kill the next three hours and the remainder of our yen sampling Japanese treats from the souvenier store and playing the card game 3-13 (thanks for teaching me Stef, I still don't lose)!
Frogs in JapanFinally four o'clock rolled around and it was time for us to check in. A new Asiana trainee did the honors, almost forgetting to check our newly possessed visas that we had 'worked' so hard to get! Security posed no problems as we seemed to have the only flight leaving from Fukuoka that day as our gate was the only one occupied and with less than 50 people at that!
Once on the plane everything went as planned. . .we took off. . flew for a while. . .and landed an hour later safely back in Incheon. From Incheon we again followed our outbound journey in reverse by taking a two hour subway ride back to Hagye Station where we caught a cab to our corner, known roughly as Unhae Sa Codri. . .or Bank Four Corners, alluding to the four banks on each corner of this isolated, yet bustling intersection.
Seoul SubwayImmediately following dinner I headed back up to Dootavilla, flipped off the light (if I even flipped them on) and crawled in to bed. I don't think I have ever been, or might not ever be, that happy to crawl in to my Korean bed as I was that night! Anyways. . . I don't think I'll be returning to Japan during my stay out East. . . a wet day 'n a half in Fukuoka was more than enough for me on this journey!
Should have internet by the end of this week. . .I mean, Joseph promised! Ha. . .who knows, when it's more reliable is when I'll start getting pictures up. Untill then, well, if you made it to here, thanks for reading, but seriously. . .get a job!
1 comment:
apparently I don't have a job... everybody's going to Nola next week. take a hiatus!
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