My Return to China (via Seoul)

11:06pm (Korea time)

When I visited China last fall, I traveled by United, learning only upon my return flight that they served complementary cocktails (and me being me, I got so excited about it that I ordered so many in such quick succession that the stewardess told me to "wait longer before asking for more." haha). This time I'm taking Asiana Airlines. They are a Korean airline, hence why we've got a stopover in Seoul.

I have to say, Asian airlines as a rule seem to have much friendlier service than American ones. A friend once mentioned that airlines in America let steward(esse)s choose their flights based on seniority, and as international flights are apparently the most desired flights, all the older flight attendants end up on them, which often makes for grouchy service. Asiana, like most other Asian airlines I've been on, has only young attractive and very polite women attendants. They come around regularly with trays of water and juice, even in the "middle of the night." What really endeared them to me was when dinner was served, the stewardess politely asked the person in the seat in front of me to raise his seat!!! Perhaps this is not so unusual, I don't know, I don't recall any other time the person in front of me has lowered their seat during meal time, but to me this indicated how conscious and caring they were of their customers' comfort.

Speaking of meal time, I'm still berating myself for failing to take a picture of dinner. In my defense, it was late and I was really hungry and it was really good. I was advised before taking this flight to order the Korean option on the menu, and it was definitely great advice (thanks Zena ^_^)! We were served bi-bim-bap (i think that's how it is spelled). It consisted of a variety of steamed(?) vegetables and some ground beef to be eaten with rice. The meal even came with a set of instructions (appropriately only in English, Japanese, and Chinese--not Korean), which were appropriate given that my mom, the person next to me, and I stared blankly at the meal for a few seconds, unsure how to proceed.

The instructions were simple:
Put the rice on top of the vegetables
Add the provided sesame seed oil and Korean spicy paste to taste (Goju or something?)
Mix
(Eat)

Yummmmmmmmy. :9

The meal also included a side of kimchee, soba noodles, and fruit.

An additional note: when the flight attendant offered drinks, I asked for orange juice (o-ranji-juice. :D) and discovered that Korean orange juice is reaaaaaally sour. >.<

We'll be landing in the Seoul airport (Incheon?) at about 4:20am. Blah. Not sure what we're gonna do for almost 6 hours (the connecting flight is at about 10am). I hear the noodles are great, but the shops won't even be open yet. :(

In parting, I leave you with the remains of the giant cookie that was our midnight snack. :9

I ate the rest shortly after taking this photo.