The Weird and The Wonderful…

Some weeks ago I arranged to take part in a scientific experiment in Incheon; basically I get payed 30,000won to sit in an MRI scanner and watch commercials for 45mins. And in return I get to see the inside of my brain! Couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that, so I headed down to Incheon for the day.

It’s the only city in Korea that has an official Chinatown

It was relatively small, and very red! In my wanderings I also found this bizzare cafe/bar (which unfortunately was closed) that was covered with bottle tops!

When I finally made it to the Neuroscience Research Institute at Gil Hospital I found that they had had a power cut so the machinery was not up and running. So we rearranged for this weekend. This worked out quite well as it gave Kat and I the chance to return to Incheon (which is a pretty cool place). We decided to stay the night so we could have sunday to explore as well. We also invited the researcher out for dinner with us (how many people can say they spent their saturday night with a neuroscientist?).

It was fascinating, and just a little weird, to see inside my head (and despite what some might think, I was assured everything was normal). The brain was shown in cross-sections just like you see on tv documentaries, and I could see the major arteries, nerves and glands as well as the sutures in my skull and the blood vessels in my scalp! There was also a series of views of my brain responding to the stimuli – lots of little white sparkly patches – that certainly looked as if I was using a lot of my neurons to process the commercials…I was able to flick back and forth and have a look at everything in detail after the experiment.

[They are still looking for subjects for the research so if you have a couple of hours to spare and wouldn't mind 30,000won then let me know and I'll give you the contact details.]

So, afterwards we went to a wonderful duck restaurant which Ugo, the researcher, recommended. The duck was stuffed with nuts and rice and beans and was the most tender, perfectly cooked thing I have ever eaten!

We were the only ones there and the owners let us sit for 30mins after closing time before politely telling us they had closed. We’d had no idea! They even put up with us grabbing them to take a photo for us….

From the left: waiter, me, Kat, Ugo.

After a rather late night on friday, we were more than ready for bed. This was my first, and definitely not my last, experience of a love motel. A little explanation: most Koreans live at home with their parents until marriage and they can’t bring a girlfriend/boyfriend home either, so a love motel is the perfect answer (also provides for adulterers too). And for guilty clients wanting to sneak away quickly you can check out by leaving your key in the lift.

Some of them charge by the hour, but we found a rather classy one that rented by the night. Take a look at this…

And check out the size of the tv…

But the greatest thing was the bathroom area which included a jacuzzi bathtub and a huge walk-in shower that could be turned into a sauna!!

It was the perfect opportunity for pampering. They even gave us a ‘Lady’s pack’ which included facemask, moisturiser etc. Of course there were the obligatory love motel items as well…

But the weirdest thing was that there was no light switch! We thought maybe it was to increase turnover (and thus profit) by discouraging people from actually sleeping in the room. We spent all night luxuriating in the sauna and jacuzzi (my first bath since arriving in Korea!). Pure bliss for 45,000won (£22) a night!!

I seriously loved this place – all it needed was a cooker in one corner and I could have lived there (it’s about the size of my apartment anyway). We really didn’t want to leave the next day – they had to ring us to tell us to checkout. But checkout we did and we headed to Lotte department store to buy some hard to find foreign foods (wholewheat pasta and basil). We also found a Betty Boop clothing range which had some gorgeous flapper style dresses! But they were a bit too expensive (and flimsy for this weather), so I settled for a strange vest/jumper combo (which is definitely more Korean than Betty style).

Having been in Korea for a while now, I thought I had the subway sussed. But clearly not. We got to a stop where we had to change trains, except we didn’t know this until the last Korean getting off the train told us. We couldn’t gather our bags in time and the doors shut on us. OK I thought, just press the door open button. Except there wasn’t one. Well, the Koreans will see we’re trapped and alert someone. Hopefully. Or, as a last resort the guy who comes along checking the carriages will find us and let us off. Nope. Nothing. The train started moving and the lights turned off. We were left in the dark quite literally! Eventually the lights came back on and the train stopped in the middle of the tracks. We waited. We waited some more. We took a few photos. Finally, a Korean guy (the driver we assume) came walking along the carriages, completely unperturbed to see two strange white girls on his train and simply said “wait”. So we did. And then another driver came walking through the opposite way, completely ignoring us, and the train started going back the way it had come. We ended up at the original change stop and quickly jumped off. You have to wonder how frequently they find confused foreigners stuck on their trains.

When we finally made it back to Seoul we were knackered, but we still had one thing left on the agenda of girly weekend fun….a Dr fish cafe! This is the latest craze in Seoul, a cafe which includes a spa area where small fish eat the dead skin off your feet. I’d been wanting to try this for ages, but never got round to it. And then, on saturday morning we suddenly noticed a Dr fish cafe right by our subway exit. So, we made our way there on sunday evening, ordered a drink and 15 minutes of nibbling fish. It was a pretty weird sensation – very ticklish, although after I got used to it it was kind of relaxing. My big toe seemed especially sensitive so that it actually hurt a tiny bit if they bit me on the tip. Very weird.

The little critters loved my ankles for some reason, which is slightly annoying as I’d rather they got to work on the hard skin on the balls of my feet. But still, my feet did feel somewhat softer afterwards, although I’m not sure if it was due to the fish or simply being soaked in water. Apparently there are spas where you can immerse your whole body in pools of hungry fish. Not sure how pleasant that would be…but I’m tempted to try it. Maybe.

The cafe was quite crowded, but not many people were using the Dr fish facility. I was wondering why they’d bother coming when there are so many other cafes they could sit and chat/smooch/read/use a laptop in, but then I realised there were free house coffee refills and bread rolls. And people (including me) were taking full advantage of that!