The entrance to Sora's Chinese School. Yes. It's only one room. Yes there is a picture of Confucius on the wall.
It's also been HOT. And WET. Today the second of four forecast typhoons breezed past Korea. The last one hit Seoul with some pretty serious wind but the one today barely touched the peninsula and really just soaked Cheju island in the East (Yellow) Sea. The days that it isn't raining it's hot, and it is always humid. Even my mother-in-law (~60 year veteran of Korean summer weather) has been complaining about the length and the severity of this year's summer. The way the weather has been working is that we'll have one relatively nice day (for example today) followed by a very hot and sticky day, followed by two - three days of rain and then the cycle repeats. This plays hell with planning trips to Seoul, golf, meeting friends, and traffic - which brings me to the subject of today's blog.
See the bolt on the left side of the plate? It's a security bolt. For some unknown reasons Koreans are paranoid about having their plates stolen. What it means for me is a complete PITA of a license plate install.
Those who know me know that I am a big fat nerd when it comes to all things car. Ever since that fateful day in October of 2002 when I bought my WRX I've been irrevocably drawn to all things automotive. So it should be no surprise to anyone that knows me that my second blog update is all about automobiles. I've never claimed to be unpredictable.
In my last blog I mentioned my intent to purchase a second car and I spoke about getting a Daewoo Matiz. I test drove one and really enjoyed it but due to some financial issues I didn't buy it right away. By the time the money came in for the car the Matiz I wanted was sold and I couldn't find another suitable model. So I took a trip to Seoul and found something better. I would like to introduce my 1998 Hyundai AtoZ (pronounced A-to-Z by everyone except Koreans who call it an Ah-Toes). It's almost the same as a Matiz except it's better. It has a higher roofline and it's made by Hyundai as opposed to Daewoo/GM. It still has an 800cc fire-breathing 51 HP motor, it still gets 50mpg (when driven by a normal person. I get about 40 since I drive it like I stole it), and it is roughly the same gloss baby-poo yellow color as the Matiz I almost bought. This is quite a change for me since my last daily driver was my M5, a 5-Liter 400 Horsepower interstate shredder with every option available in 2000, was a bit more well-apportioned than my current barebones-lunchbox of a car. But I like it. A lot. The reason I like it so much is that it is purpose-built for dealing with Korean city traffic.
If you need a car, any car, to drive around in Korea I highly suggest a Hyundai AtoZ.
A few days ago I was sitting in traffic waiting for my turn at a 6-way intersection in the middle of Pyeongtaek (평택 경찰서 오거리 on the map but if you look that 오 (5) should be an 육 (6)) and my daughter was asking me why traffic is so bad in Korea. The first thing I did was point to the 6-way intersection and explained that in any other modern nation this would have been turned into at least a roundabout. But her question got me thinking and I think the conclusion to the question of, "Why does traffic suck in Korea so badly?" is "Rapid modernization coupled with very little space." By the end of the summer of 1953 the entire Korean peninsula was trashed, broke, and in complete disarray. By the time I first visited in 1998 (only 45 years later) the population had increased over tenfold and the number of cars had jumped astronomically. However, all of those cars and all of those people were still traveling on a hodgepodge of trails and cart paths that had been widened and paved not nearly fast enough to accommodate the rapid urbanization of South Korea. Add to that the complete lack of city planning and the random planting of traffic signals and you got Korean Traffic.
See where the five roads come together? Now add the fact that it's on the same corner as the police station. If you mis-time the lights you can sit there for a LONG time. Sora and I discovered that earlier this week.
With rapid urbanization and rapid wealth came a whole slew of first-generation drivers and coupled with a lack of city planning, knowledge on how to control traffic flow, and general unfamiliarity with the infrastructure requirements for dealing with lots of people and cars in a very crowded environment and suddenly you had chaos. I remember riding on buses and in taxi cabs that completely ignored all traffic signals and used the "might makes right" and "I can get around him" ideologies respectively. It was very likely to see at least one mangled vehicle a day while riding around Seoul and the resulting blocked streets would cause gridlock for miles in every direction. When returning to Korea this year I was a bit nervous about driving here based on my previous observations and that is why I bought the car I did. The good news is that traffic (especially in Seoul) has gotten a lot better. There are still some interesting... idiosynchracies here but despite that hodgepodge of multi-lane and multi-road intersections, tiny side streets, over-crowding, disregard for the law, hyper-aggressive drivers, hyper-passive drivers, tiny lanes, poor (or non-existent) labeling of roads and junctures, random placement of traffic lights and other ills driving in Korea isn't all that bad. In fact I rather enjoy it. I will touch on a couple of these obstacles and explain what I think the cause is and how I've overcome them.
This is normal. There is enough room without people parked on the side of the road for two lanes of traffic. You will still get two lanes of traffic up and down this side street. Even though it's technically a one-way road.
The first rule of driving in Korea is "When in Rome..." DO NOT try to follow American driving customs or habits. Examples of American driving rules that will get you killed or arrested are left-turns on unprotected green lights (unless the Korean Sign says otherwise) are prohibited and the left-lane/fast-lane rule is completely thrown out, here. In fact those lines on the road that we as Americans would normally associate with "lanes" are more of "very general guidelines" here. When you observe traffic you'll notice that Koreans rarely use their turn signals to change lanes. Turn signals are more often used to signal an abrupt stopping maneuver. Also when you observe Korean drivers you'll find that the vast majority are extremely pragmatic when it comes to driving laws (with a couple of notable exceptions.) Since it's overcrowded Koreans park on the street but man can they park! I've seen a full BMW 7-series parallel park into a spot with just inches to spare on either end. Additionally that whole "lack of lane awareness" thing works out pretty well when you need to squeeze a second lane onto a road but don't have the budget to widen (or repaint) it. the pragmatism extends to dealing with the random dropping of traffic signals, too. If there isn't a lot of traffic and the driver can see down the roads then the Korean driver won't bother stopping. However when there is crazy traffic everybody is pretty good about stopping for lights. Especially at large intersections.
The problem of hyper-aggressive drivers is balanced out by a multitude of hyper-passive drivers. No one seems to get very angry about the guy zipping in and out of lanes and cutting people off (if there was an environment for road rage it is here) as most people are quite happy to accelerate slowly up to speed and breeze through traffic signals if it doesn't look like they're going to stop in time. Running the first few seconds of a red light here is the norm. Not the exception. The biggest problem that foreigners have (in my opinion) is that NOTHING is labeled here. Roads have names but no one knows what those names are. Since cities have grown into each other you (especially as a foreigner) are not sure where one ends and the other begins and thus finding "The Lotte Mart in Songtan" can be a problem since there's a Lotte Mart in Pyeongtaek and one in Songtan (which is part of Pyeongtaek) and one in Osan (which is often what people say when they actually mean Songtan) which are all within about 15km of each other. Since no one knows the name of the roads (except the expressways) you can find yourself navigating off the wrong known point (e.g. using the Lotte Mart in Songtan as a reference when you should be using the one in Osan) and end up COMPLETELY lost in a foreign country. My solution to this is to get to know my friends better and have them accompany me when going to new places. Either that or get out the google maps. I have learned to overcome most of the issues with Korean traffic through hyper-vigilance, going with the flow, and buying the right car. I've also developed my ESP and sixth senses and can usually tell what another car is going to do based on body language.
I love my little car. In the little alleys it can get through just fine, on the downtown roads it zips in and out of traffic, it gets good gas mileage, and parking it is a breeze. I don't really care that it looks to be a clown car and the kids love riding in it because the window ledges are below their eye level and they can see out. Who needs power windows or locks. Or power steering. Or power brakes. Or a radio. Or A/C that works when it's over 85 degrees outside. Fortunately for the A/C problem fall is coming. Eventually. The forecast is saying more hot and rainy weather until the end of September but after that it should get absolutely gorgeous. I cannot wait.
Mini? I've got your "Mini" right here.
