Dear Colleagues,

Two representatives from ICME was invited by the host museum (The National
Folk Museum) for the planning of the meeting in October. A few impressions
as seen from a visiting outsider - and most of us will be visiting
outsiders in October - may be of practical interest for the international
committees as well as for the individual delegate. :

1) COEX
The facilities of the conference centre are really excellent. The area set
off for ICOM 2004 have rooms for each international committee's sessions
close to each other on the same floor along a 200 meter long hall. Will be
spacious and easy to find each other. From the mingle area you look over
to an old, beautiful Buddhist monastery across the street. Can be visited.

"Power Point" presentations are not only welcome, but recommended by the
conference facilitators (They have slide projectors, but beamers/power
point are preferred). A special room is set off with proper equipment and
personnel so that each speaker can test out his/her power point
presentation in advance.

The basement (and also on some other floors) contains numerous restaurants
and cafés of all kinds. This means that session time is not lost while
delegates spread out in a large area hunting for lunch and not coming back
for hours.

Banks are also found in the basement as well as innumerable shops of all
kinds (for instance the second largest bookshop in Seoul). And a subway
station. Plus an aquarium. Plus a number of cinemas. Elsewhere in the COEX
complex is a Kimchi museum (Kimchi is a traditional dish that all Koreans
seem to be mildly (or was it wildly?) obsessed with. Joking aside, making
kimchi was the traditional way of preserving cabbage so that vegetables
could be had all through winter. You'll find enormous kimchi-pots at the
back of restaurants, still in use, and if there is one souvenir I'd have
loved to bring home from Korea it must be one of the man-sized
kimchi-pots. They are magnificent).

In short: everything can be done at the COEX.

2) Flying to and from Korea
For some airlines there is also an air terminal in the basement of COEX,
where upon departure you can check in your luggage and be transported to
the airport. But this is only for a few Asian airlines, though including
Korean Air and its alliance partner Air France. Bus transport (often
called limousine) to the airport is from many places in Seoul and is not
hard to find. Costs 12.000 won.

It is very easy to find your way at the terminal building at the new
international airport INCHEON, both on arrival and departure.

Patrick has in an earlier message given advice about early flight booking.
May pay to check Korean Air separately. Korean Air flies from several
European cities as well as from several cities in North America, from
Cairo in Africa and of course from multiple cities in Asia and Oceania.

3) Post conference tours. Information about the post conference tours will
soon be available. But it may be useful to know that the post conference
tours that are being planned are one and two day (one night) tours. That
is for Saturday October 9 and for Saturday and Sunday October 9 and 10.

4) Transport in Seoul
The subway system is everywhere and is said to be very efficient (have not
tried it). Does inevitably take some time though if you have to use
several lines in order to reach from A to B. International committees
should take travel time into account if they plan programs taking place in
different parts of the city. Taxies are numerous, black taxies (luxury
taxies) are more expensive than the others. In the rush hours surface
transport takes time!!!

5) Food/eating out
Korean food is fabulous. If ever there was a country to visit just for the
food, it must be Korea. The Koreans often worry about their food being too
spicy for their foreign guests. Don't worry, it is usually only mildly
spicy.

A meal (lunch or dinner) may cost from 4 000 to 40 000 won and more (in 1
US$ you have about 1 200 won), depending on what kind of restaurant you
choose. You will find lots of restaurants looking like snack bars that
serve very good Korean meals from 5- to 10 000 won. Japanese restaurants
are also common.

If you are many together at a bit more costly restaurant, it is not
necessary to order a complete separate meal for each person. The number of
side dishes alone is almost enough to satisfy.

In many restaurants (cheap and expensive alike) you can choose between
sitting at a low table and at a high table. Some restaurants have a fake
low table! Underneath the table there is a hollow, making it possible to
sit "normally", but the appearance is of sitting at a low table).

Low table normally requires you to take off your shoes. In some other
settings too, taking off your shoes is normal.

6) Seoul
Heavily damaged during the Korean war, Seoul now appears as the most
modern megapolis. But the royal castles with their gardens and the
mountains around, represent the timeless part. Notable is that areas of
tall office buildings that in a Western city would go dead after office
hours, in Seoul are vitally alive with bars, cafes and restaurants during
the whole evening. And the numerous high rise apartment buildings that in
Europe easily would be associated with less desired neighbourhoods, are
the opposite in Seoul: they are sought after, they are well kept, they are
expensive and the surroundings are a wonder of tidiness and neatly parked
new cars.

As such Seoul is a challenge to what at least Europeans have a tendency to
take for granted as constituting a good and beautiful city. The
inhabitants seem to thrive in their ultramodern megapolis, the crime rate
is low, the streets and sidewalks are clean and people are friendly. Of
course they do have their share of all the usual problems of large
cities - no reason to idealize - but it is nevertheless interesting to
experience how differently what is seen desirable and not, can be
conceived.

Anyway, Europeans should not worry: There ARE areas of narrow streets and
low, cosy buildings with small shops and restaurants well suited for
strolling around in. But there will not be much time for it: numerous
cultural events are planned.


Per B. Rekdal
ICME

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