I finally finished all my student orientations and tour programs and found the time to relax and explore. Recently I've been exploring other area's in Seoul. My main form of transportation is the korail which is the train/subway of Korea. I love the Korail! It's so easy to get to one place to another and it's easier to use than the Japanese Shinkansen.
You basically use a T-Money card which looks like an ordinary plastic card (size of a credit card). The T-Money card is a re-loadable card where you put money on it and use it as a subway pass. The convenient thing about the T-Money card is that you can use it for practically everything. You can use your T-Money card to pay for items in vending machines, talk on the phone, use it in a taxi, catch the bus, etc. You can even enable your student ID or your credit card to be used as a T-Money card. But for the Korail you mainly use your T-Money card to pass through the gates.
While using the Korail I've learned several important things that everyone should keep in mind while visiting Korea.
When using the escalator, there are two sides (going up and down). The left side if for people who walk up and down the escalator, whereas the right side is for people who want to stay still.
When riding the Korail there are designated cabins that have seating for the disables, elderly, and pregnant. This seating area is designated only for those people. It's considered REALLY rude to sit in these area's if you aren't any of the following and you will get stink eyed by the other passengers.
There are sometimes beggars, religious recruiters, and salespeople on the train. The people selling flashlights and other trinkets are not to be trusted because they could be selling you a defective product or ripping you off. This is apparently illegal to do but people do it anyways.
Peak Korail hours are from 6-8pm daily and during these times you feel like you're a sardine packed in a can. It's so crowded that you can't even fall down.
People are VERY PUSHY on the train. It's not as bad as Japan where they push you on and off the train, but whats worse is that the intensity or strength of the push far exceeds the push in Japan. Now whenever someone pushes/bumps me hard on the train I push/bump them back!
Sometimes people are very rude on the Korail, especially the 아줌마 (Ajummas) older middle-aged ladies. Whenever I encounter them I always think about this one Korean commercial and wish I could do this...
You basically use a T-Money card which looks like an ordinary plastic card (size of a credit card). The T-Money card is a re-loadable card where you put money on it and use it as a subway pass. The convenient thing about the T-Money card is that you can use it for practically everything. You can use your T-Money card to pay for items in vending machines, talk on the phone, use it in a taxi, catch the bus, etc. You can even enable your student ID or your credit card to be used as a T-Money card. But for the Korail you mainly use your T-Money card to pass through the gates.
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