어떡하죠 如何是好 What should I do: There is something about Jeju

I was supposed to arrived in Incheon airport at 8:30 PM the first day of my trip this time.

The matter of the fact... everybody on the flight was getting all ready for landing when the pilot announced something like...

"We will be landing in Incheon airport within 20 minutes and we are actually ahead of the scheduled time."

So we all sat there like good boys and girls with seat-belt fastened.... waiting... waiting... and waiting to land....

All of a sudden, the plane was going up and down as if I were riding on a roller-coaster.

"Some bad turbulence..." I thought to myself...

I, like the rest of the people, remained seated waiting to land in less than 20 minutes...

And, we kept on waiting.... till... must be 30-40 minutes later...

We heard the pilot broadcasting again....

"Due to weather condition, the pilot has decided to land in Jeju."

Jeju?  Where is Jeju?

I vaguely remember the name of Jeju, especially when I was looking up plausible trips before I booked the tickets for this one.  Yet, I was not quite sure whether what I thought as Jeju was that Jeju the pilot was referring to.

At some point, I asked this American guy from Boston next to me....

"Where exactly is Jeju?"

"It is a small island down south.  To be honest, the only place that really needs air-traveling to get to in Korea." So he said.

"Wonder whether this happen a lot?"

So he replied, "Nope.  I have been taking this route many times.  It has always been a smooth and straight forward flight."

Not until I came on board... I guess... 8-O lol

In my mind, I vaguely remember reading about other airports in Korean...

"Are there other airports in Korea than the one in Seoul and the one in Jeju?"

Apparently, yes... except for... we never found out why the pilot chose the farthest airport to go.....

So we eventually landed at the Jeju airport... around 10 o'clock.... or you might say that Jeju was the first stop for my trip in Korea... with the following two the first two pictures I took of Korea....

When we finally landed and as everyone was making phone call on their to tell their friends about the detour.  Unfortunately, yours truly is one of the last person on this planet without a cell-phone.

In the original plane, upon arrival at the Incheon airport, I would take this airport express bus to Bun-dang where my friend would come pick me up at 10:30.

Since it was already after 10 when I arrived in Jeju, I was very concerned that my friend might be outside waiting for hours in vain.

I spoke with the flight attendant about the possibility of getting off the plane to make a phone call... Unfortunately, no-can-do... especially since it was an international flight and there were immigration issues involved...

Ended up, the wonderful flight attendant of the China Estern airline lent me her cell phone to make the call.... (This is the point when I have to tell you that... there are nice people everywhere.... Amazing world....)

The view of Jeju airport

Interesting bright lights over the water by Jeju island.

Somewhere along this trip... I thought of money...

You see, mama had suggested that I bought some Korean money when we were at the Airport in Taipei except for I thought... why not wait till I arrive in Korean to do since since I would be using US dollar anyways?

Since this guy sitting next to me came from the States, I was wonder whether I could buy some Korean money from him except for... all that he had... a coin or two...

Sitting there... on the airplane in Jeju... not knowing when exactly the airplane would take off... I thought of the trip to Bremem I took almost two decades back...

I took off earlier that day from a small town called...something like... Lorelei am Rhine...

The ferry on the Rhine was delayed... so were the local trains and  ICE (express train)....

In the original plan, by 8:00 PM, Friday night, I was supposed to have changed to a local train in Bremen in order to get to this small town where the family I was going to stay with lives...

Except for...  by the time I was about to get to Bremen, it was going to be around or later than 10 o'clock...  The family told me that they won't be able to pick me up.

This is a city I have never been before... only know that it was a big city... a sea port...

In my head, I ran through all different scenarios...

Maybe I will sleep in the train station?  Apparently, many people have done that before..

Or, since I have this unlimited Europass... I might as well change to a train going down south, switch to another train going north somewhere in the middle of the night and call it a night....

Of course, always the option of staying at an hotel except for... gotta know where to stay first and God know how much it would cost.... only if I knew where the youth hostel might be....

In addition, what was worst off... I totally ran out of Germany Mark.  I was so busy trying to catch the delayed trains and ferries during the day that I didn't have any chance at all to go to the money exchange place to get some cash.... By the time I got to Bremen, the money exchange place would have closed and nothing would be open during the weekend...

I will be along in Bremen for the first time, without German currency, not knowing where to stay..... 18 or 19 years old...

Speaking of....

어떡하죠? 如何是好? What should I do?

A different kind of 어떡하죠.....

Well, don't worry.  Am I not here typing these words out today? lol

Ended up, this guy who had been taking the same trains the entire day heard of my strange planes, called his wife and took me home.  They let me stay in their daughter's room over night.  Second day, he bought my US dollars based on the currency rates reported on the newspaper.

(Guess this is part of the reason why...  for me, if people need a roof and they don't mind my small room, they get the roof.  And, yes, sometimes I do wonder how I could live up to this age.... 8-O lol)

Back to Jeju...

Decades later... I found myself in similar situation... I've got only US dollars.... even if the plane took off soon, it might be mid night when I arrived in the airport already....

OMG... all that I've got US dollars only.... 8-X

The plane did take off and I did arrive at Incheon airport... and, thank God, the currency exchange places were still open....

It was not until thereafter did I came to the realization that... after certain hour, especially it was already after midnight.... there were no more public transportation available... no more buses, no more subways, and, of course, no M60 or supershuttle.... other than the Gypsy cabs that would cost me over 100 US dollars to get to where I was supposed to go....

Ok.. for you well-to-do people or people with steady income, only 100 dollars, so what?

Yet, yes, babe, for yours truly... ouch... that is some money... Ok?! 8-O lol

If my life were a drama, this is the point when the song "어떡하죠 | 如何是好 | What should I do" playing in the background with the camera gradually zooming in to my brave face to show my traumatic expression... or... zooming out further and further away to show how minute, helpless and along yours truly felt....

Except for... my life ain't no soap opera and I am no leading character in no freaking idol drama... (Good way to exercise my over-active imagination, at least, I guess... 8-O lol)

Ended up, the first thing I did in Korea was to spend the majority of the first 100 US dollar worth of Korean money on cab fare... the kind of the cabs even the Korean locals had not seen before. 8-O lol

At the same time, still can't quite understand why other people's first impression with Jeju might be something like this...  while, not my Jeju.... 8-O lol

PS.  From now on, I will always have some local currency available wherever I travel... if possible...