Last weekend I went to Seoul on a mandatory Visa run (leaving the country every 3 months). And yes, Asia is the future. Toilet seat warmers and courtesy buttons (they make wooshing noises so that no one hears you pee), LCD screens everywhere, asymetrical haircuts, rocking street food – what else do you need?
When I arrived at the airport from Beijing at 1am, an elderly cab driver in a very elegant suit offered to take me to my hotel. After agreeing on a price, he took me to his cab, ahead of another, younger cab driver. The younger cab driver went ballastic and started screaming at my cabbie. I took this for the typical “saving face” fight and thought they would yelll at each other and gesture wildly for a bit and then we could all get on with our lives. But I was wrong. It turned out this was a very different sort of fight – punches thrown, people knocking each other against cabs, othe rcab drivers at the taxi stand jumping in to take sides or break up the fight. Miraculously, 10 minutes later the fight ended and my driver – as if nothing had happened – said to me, “ok. We can go now.” and that began my weekend in Seoul.
