We are in Seoul Korea. No, I did not confuse Kazakhstan with Korea. After waiting two months for all the Kazakh passport stuff to sort itself out. I decided to not wait any longer. So the girls and I are traveling around Asia for three months. The thing about adventures is that they take unexpected turns.
Thursday, March 5, 2015 the girls and I left Salt Lake City armed with excitement, passports, (not Kazakh ones) money, and very clear directions from Stefan on how to get to their apartment. I felt so good that I slept the entire first leg of the trip missing take-off and landing. Taraz woke me up saying what a great pilot we had. I had hoped to sleep the first half of the second flight so that I would be able to reset my clock. I did. The girls and I stepped off the plane armed with Stefans' directions and lots of energy.
The girls were so excited to get to Ryan's apartment that they raced ahead. Mimi grabbed the luggage carts and Taraz swung those 50 lb bags onto them like a stevedore.
Stefans' directions clearly said to go to the ATM and get 100,000 won. He thought that the taxi should be about 70,000, but to be safe get 100,000. Check that off the list. Then we were instructed to go to the taxi line and get a silver or orange taxi. Stefan specifically told me not to get the black "premium" taxis. So off we go with our two luggage carts. As we are walking, Taraz kept saying remember don't get a black taxi.
I was very pleased to see that the taxi line was virtually empty. Everyone was getting tickets to ride the airport bus. I walked to the front of the line showed the taxi driver my nicely printed address and was ready to start loading. No not this car. They opened the trunk and showed me that the gas tank is in the trunk. They thought that we had a lot of luggage. We only had three backpacks, three roly bags, and three checked bags. We kept getting passed up the line until we reached the dreaded black cars. Four or five men descended on us loaded the luggage into the trunk of a van, seated the girls in the middle seat and put me up front.
The taxi driver wasted no time pulling away from the curb and off we went. I wasn't sure how much the taxi would cost, but since it seemed like it was official airport staff who had sent me there I wasn't too worried. I kept looking for the taxi meter. When I finally saw it hidden behind his wallet I almost died 298,000 won and less than five minutes from the airport. I look for a decimal point, there is none. I the places, there are six. Ryan had told me the day before that it is about 1000 won to $1. That meant that my taxi was already up to $298. Then I thought oh this taxi must be a flat fee taxi. Ding, Ding, Ding the meter is running. I am dying, 400,000, 450,000, 500,000, 600,000, 700,000, and still counting. I am spending more on this than the flight from the US cost.
I text Stefan to tell him that I have gotten into one of the dreaded black taxis. I text him, bring money. I scan the photo ID of this member of the nefarious taxi gang. I am planning on sending it to the Korean taxi big shots. All the while the crook is grinning ear to ear and lightly chuckling. Of course he is happy. He is going to get over $800 out of this silly women. I am wondering what the cut was for each of the equally smiling men who threw our luggage into the van. I promise to myself that I am not dropping a dime on anything but food into the Korean economy. How could I be so wrong about Koreans. I thought that they were the nicest people.
Arriving at Ryan and Stefan's apartment is a bit of a blur. I explain to Stefan and he seems to take it way more calmly than I think he should. I guess Samsung is paying him more than I thought or he is thinking Ramona has just earned mea bunch of frequent flyer miles.
As it turns out, the falsely accused, taxi driver actually got us to the house for 82,000 won. Which Stefan assures me is good value. The meter must of had a decimal point that either didn't show up in the dark or is a tightly held secret by the Koreans hoping to get a little fun out of us tourists.
I am mostly recovered.
