arriving in cheonan
February 12th 2007 14:13
so after an educating two days in seoul, it was time to fly the roost and heard towards cheonan (pronounced chonan) and set up for the next six months. it took one hour on the slow train, which apparently can be reduced to half an hour on their bullet train. we arrived with only knowing that there was a university there somewhere that i am enrolled in, and that there was a tourist information center when you turn left out of the station.
when we arrived there, conveniently the tourist information centre was closed and left us wondering what we were going to do. cheonan is more korean than seoul - meaning everything is written in hangul and virtually no one speaks english. whilst contemplating this, i decided that a coffee was in order, and set off to try to acquire one. the first coffee shop that i found had a plastic kangaroo sign sporting the phrase 'g'day mate', which sent my spidy senses tingling. upon walking in, i was greeted with a friendly hello in perfect english. it turns out that the shop was owned by a man named michael, who lives in sydney but owns a business in cheonan. he invited us in for a free coffee, and started explaining how things run around here. again the gods were smiling, or budha was rubbing his belly.
we asked michael if he knew where we could stay until we could find permanent accomodation, and he said he would look after us. we ended up checking into the say motel, which is what the koreans call a 'love motel' (i'm sure you can work out why). however they are really clean and i would liken them to a 4 star hotel in australia, but for the cost of a 2 star. you can also hire them by the hour.
with accomodation organised, michael then suggested that i set up a korean bank account. within five minutes, i was signing my passbook and having a lesson on how to use the atms. bless you michael, you were a godsend!
off to the city to check out some sights....... unlike seoul, transportation here is all by bus, which is a little trickier than the subway system and as well signed. still working this system out. here are some pics of the local sights.
when we arrived there, conveniently the tourist information centre was closed and left us wondering what we were going to do. cheonan is more korean than seoul - meaning everything is written in hangul and virtually no one speaks english. whilst contemplating this, i decided that a coffee was in order, and set off to try to acquire one. the first coffee shop that i found had a plastic kangaroo sign sporting the phrase 'g'day mate', which sent my spidy senses tingling. upon walking in, i was greeted with a friendly hello in perfect english. it turns out that the shop was owned by a man named michael, who lives in sydney but owns a business in cheonan. he invited us in for a free coffee, and started explaining how things run around here. again the gods were smiling, or budha was rubbing his belly.
where to start...
we asked michael if he knew where we could stay until we could find permanent accomodation, and he said he would look after us. we ended up checking into the say motel, which is what the koreans call a 'love motel' (i'm sure you can work out why). however they are really clean and i would liken them to a 4 star hotel in australia, but for the cost of a 2 star. you can also hire them by the hour.
with accomodation organised, michael then suggested that i set up a korean bank account. within five minutes, i was signing my passbook and having a lesson on how to use the atms. bless you michael, you were a godsend!
off to the city to check out some sights....... unlike seoul, transportation here is all by bus, which is a little trickier than the subway system and as well signed. still working this system out. here are some pics of the local sights.
the view from our love motel
the first graf that i have seen in south korea
cheonan street art
you couldn't lose this bag in a nightclub!
one of the local fresh food vendors
cheonan by night
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Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Comment by Dave
Keep up the excellent photo essay - it looks unreal! What does the air smell like at different times of the day?
Comment by Jonathon
Anthroblogogy
thanks. it is truley a fantastic place here with pop culture everywhere! the hand bag was just too irresistible to not snap up!
Comment by Jonathon
Anthroblogogy
i like to think of it more like cheonan the destroyer, as the sequel is just like the first but with a different ending!
the air is not as smelly as seoul, that's for sure! but there is a certain smell which whoofs around which is a blend of sewerage and dried fish, but that is not present all the time. it does have a smell that reaks of history though, which is ever present as you wander through the tiny little back alleys. you can really feel the history floating around, and then that mixes with the new techno neon pop culture to give the feeling of 'welcome to modernity'. interesting to absorb.
it has been really cold, and raining for most of the time though, so i feel there might be a different atmosphere to discover yet.... time will tell.