Year: 2022

Gyeongju: Going back in time

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Gyeongju was already old when I first saw it—over a thousand years old, really— and I was young, just turned 25. As with most things old, it makes you think of time, and how much of it passes unnoticed until there is little left, our lives marked by random remembrances: births, deaths, breakups, graduations. But unlike us, this ancient capital has a long memory, preserved beautifully by its inhabitants. Gyeongju, which lies 370 km south of Seoul, in the North Gyeongsang province, has the most number of World Heritage Sites in South Korea. Known as the museum without walls, it is often offered as a day trip from Busan or an overnight excursion from Seoul, which is ridiculous. How do you squeeze in a millennium of memories in a day, or even a week? How do you navigate a city whose (nearly) entire area, including the Namsan Mountain, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site? To help out, Gyeongju Tourism presents themed itineraries for travelers: the 1-3 day courses; the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage …

Stranger thoughts

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Written onboard flight 5J 814 from Singapore Despite my years of travel – inextensive by many standards – I still haven’t gotten used to the feeling of going back. Always, on the eve of a return flight, I get a sinking feeling and I develop an unexplained attachment to the hotel room, however bad it is (like the one I shared with a friend in Seoul one time). A certain sadness accompanies the act of packing, for me at least. It’s not that I dread the idea of coming home – my home is as comfortable as anybody could ask for. It’s also not that I wish to stay forever wherever I find myself on a trip, thinking life is better there. No, I’ve seen enough to know that life anywhere is easy only for the tourist who sleeps in nice hotels, eats at the top 50 restaurants, and wakes up with that happy, singular thought: What shall I do today? Days – and nights – are kinder to the transient who is unaffected by …

Notes from a first flight

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Feb. 23, 2022, quickly jotted down on my notebook: Everything takes on a whole new meaning after two years and three months. The airport coffee, though shockingly bitter, becomes a sweet reminder that you are, in fact, waiting for a flight. The check-in counters are not just another hurdle to go through but are gates that will open up to a world that has been closed for over two years. Your sister’s luggage–filled to the brim at 20.4 kg because she has forgotten how to pack light–goes ahead, making its way through the conveyor belt, tentative, like you. On the plane, the flight attendants whose svelte figures used to mock your cookie-filled… uhm, cuteness, are now wrapped in blue PPE, looking no different from health workers. They are there to take care of you, after all, which is a comforting thought in the middle of a pandemic. “Are we in the clouds? It’s so white!” the kid in front of you asks as she fidgets endlessly in her seat. She talks non-stop to her very …