Welcome to Korea

Who would have thought that within the first one and a half hour of arriving in Korea I would be walking around in public completely naked? Certainly not something I had anticipated doing after an 18 hour trek across the Pacific Ocean and Japan Sea.

Yet I finally feel clean again. All that grease in my hair cleansed after that long shower and soothing soak in the sauna. All the worries and anxieties seemed to melt and flow away. All that discomfort and pain I felt in my backside and legs, especially during those maddening final few tens of minutes and seconds before touching down at Incheon, seemed to be diluted by the clear, hot water.

I closed my eyes, and cleared my mind. Why get upset about the terrible cantine-style and children’s-sized ‘food’ they serve on United Airlines? What does it matter if I had to dish out US14 for a simple udon soup at Narita Airport? Can I do anything about the fact that the current whereabouts of my suit and case (read suit-case) is still a mystery due to the incompetent handling by United ground staff? And what can I do about the fact that my credit card suddenly decided not to work any more, or that I have been wearing the same clothes (and yes, underwear) for the past two days?

Sitting there in that clear pool, at close to midnight, some fifty hours after I set out from Montreal, I could not but smile at the ridiculousness of it all. Five cities and airports, four different planes, three different airlines, and a hell lot of air miles later, I finally made it. I could have wept at the exhaustion and strain on my mental and physical health, but I could have just as easily kissed the ground a-la-pope as soon as I stepped off the plane. Such ridiculousness that could not have ever happened had I not come on this trip. The excitement of flying in gigantic metal birds, the anticipation of encountering strange new cultural experiences and anecdotes, thrown in together with the bumpy turbulences, hindrances, setbacks and disappointments of journeying to foreign lands.

Yes, there is this strange sensation of having flown so far to be here, right now, sitting in this darkened lounge with a dozen Korean strangers all dozing away, while in the background some melodramatic Korean soap runs.

You travel, you learn, you watch, you experience. And at times, you laugh at the ridiculous and bizarre things that get thrown your way. Like today.