Mistakes and Mishaps - Seoul 가자!

"Sometimes, you're never too much of a public transport veteran to avoid making rookie mistakes." - Tay

Being in Korea for over a year and a half now, one would think I have ‘navigating the city and public transport’ down to the T, right? No. No, I do not. This was made apparent to me last Friday evening on my way to Seoul for the weekend of my birthday.

When I first moved to Korea, the one very overwhelming task was figuring out how the public transport system actually worked. If you have read my previous blogs, you would know that back in South Africa, I never had to use public transport because I was fortunate enough to have a car. Here, it’s a different story. I don’t have a car, nor do I really want one unless I’m feeling a) outstandingly invincible or b) a little dare devilish.

Yes, driving in Korea should most certainly be considered an extreme sport and a scary one at that. Don’t even get me started on the taxi drivers. But let’s save that for another day, shall we?

Okay, back to me telling you about my poor life choices when it comes to taking buses here. One of the mistakes I would make when everything was still new and fresh was always standing on the wrong side of the damn road while I waited for my bus.

Let me break it down for you real quick. There are several buses with the same exact number driving on the roads simultaneously, as there should be - since these buses come and go every few minutes. That’s what makes Korea’s public transport so efficient. But here’s where the problem comes in. Did you know (and what may very well be extremely obvious), that buses with the same number are found on the right ANNNNND left side of the road, going in opposite directions from each other. (Again, this is all within relevance to Korea.)

So for example…

Bus 14 driving on the left will drive to a specific stop on one side of the city.

Bus 14 driving on the right will drive to a specific spot in the opposite direction.

Okay, now that you have that in mind, you can probably see how this can be a problem for a first timer, huh?

Yes, in the beginning I would often find myself going the exact opposite way of my desired destination. You would think that using an app that showcases the city map and the direction you are supposed to go in – would ENSURE that you do in fact go in said direction, but NO. Sometimes the map’s perspective is shifted, and if you do not adjust it…well then prepare yourself good sir to travel down yonder in the wrong direction.

Fast-forwarding a few months, one would think you eventually get used to this. You stop messing up so much and become a lot more observant of the map and directions. Of course you do (well…you naturally SHOULD).

Take away the leisure of not having to be somewhere. All logic busts out of your brain and dribbles down your ears. (You're welcome for that graphic imagery.) You’re left with about one brain cell and your awful and nonsensical thinking skills.

So…on that dreaded Friday that I mentioned not too long ago in this blog, I was set to leave for Seoul at 19:10 that night. I was leaving late due to the fact that I still had to go to work that day and I wanted to have enough time to get home and get to the bus terminal without being in a complete state of panic at the disco.

I had PLENTY of time. (You did not you poor fool, you did not.)

The worst part of this story is that I ended up taking leave on Friday and I was home the entire day. I managed to pack my things and get dressed, eat and tidy my apartment – all with time to spare. But it’s because of that, that I was too confident with the amount of time I thought I had.

I don’t live all that far from the intercity bus terminal. It takes 20 minutes at most with traffic. So I figured that leaving at 18:15 would allow me to get there and not have to wait so long for my Seoul bus.

Unfortunately, God had other plans for me. I got to the bus stop and all the buses were either running late or had just passed by. Unfortunate. The Number 2 bus (a red bus) would have been my saving grace because it’s also a lot quicker (it’s a red bus) but it was jam-packed and the bus driver could not allow more people on, whether he wanted to or not.

Also, maybe you’re thinking this in your head so let me just put it out there. I was too stubborn to take a taxi that day because I wanted to save money okay – even though a taxi from my apartment really wouldn’t have cost me that much to begin with. Oh if I had only known what was awaiting me…

In a state of 'thinking I’m being clever but really I’m an idiot’, I saw that on my app, it said bus 14 was coming in fifteen minutes. It was now approaching 18:30 and I was starting to stress a bit to the point of even sweating in 2 degrees Celsius (35 Fahrenheit) weather. Could I really wait that long? But then I saw on the digital monitor at the bus stop (whatever the heck that thing is called), it said it that the bus was coming in three minutes, not fifteen. Yes! Maybe the app had updated too soon? Maybe it was already showing the next bus and not the current bus? Maybe the app was stuck since the little bus displayed wasn’t moving at all? (It was in fact just stuck at a traffic light.) I made every excuse to believe that bus 14 was coming now…and then it came!

I jumped right on and ….. oh no….. traffic. We barely moved from the stop. We stood at the same traffic light for about ten minutes. Time was of the essence, and we weren’t moving because traffic was just downright heinous at that point. I’m checking the time rather than confirming my bus route (cries) and eventually, we move. I can breathe….

We eventually get passed traffic and start going at a decent pace when I notice the bus driver going passed the turn off this bus usually takes. Huh…weird? Maybe that’s not the right turn off and I was confused. However, he keeps going…. and going ….. and going. Oh no bro. I realised in that moment what an idiot I was. It hasn’t happened in so long that it didn’t occur to me that maybe I would once again fall victim to the dreaded ‘the bus times displayed on the monitor and the app were different because they were NOT THE SAME BUS and you were in fact standing on the wrong side of the rode' enigma. (It truly is a mystery how someone can keep messing this up.) The despair.

The worst part about this bus I was on was that when I FINALLY had this revelation, we were already making our way across the river which is a very far stop.

I’m going to sum this up… I ended up having to cancel my Seoul bus….AND call a damn taxi to practically take me back to where I came from. The taxi driver had gotten me to the bus terminal just four minutes after my now canceled bus had left. I ended up getting the 19:30 bus but the irony of this whole situation was that I avoided a taxi in the first place to avoid the additional expense I ended up paying threefold anyway...spending a lot more money than I ever envisioned - for a bus that took me to the void, a cancelation fee for my Seoul bus and for a taxi from what felt like the opposite side of the world.

sighs...

The moral of this silly story is that being too confident with time will indeed come back to bite you in your ass. Sure, I spent a stupid amount of money on a stupid amount of mistakes I made that night, (yup, I definitely paid the price for that one,) but at least I made it to Seoul in one piece. That’s always a win.

Until the next stop,

Bus Blog Driver Tay