"Don't talk to strangers, and certainly don't ever get into a car with strangers." "Never accept food from anyone you don't know." "Don't share cups or utensils."
Throw it all out the window in Korea!
On our hike today, we stopped to ask for directions. The first interaction while a family enjoying a picnic ended with an invitation to enjoy some fresh melon while we accepted Korean travel advice. The second time, the two hikers simply changed their hiking route to take us to our destination. On the way, we passed a village in which a group of men were playing a game on a tennis court (of sorts) that resembled volleyball, but maintained the rules of soccer (no hands). The athletes invited us to play, but we said we'd rather watch. They insisted on sharing their presumably homemade rice wine (dong dong ju). Of course they poured our drinks into previously used rice bowls (rice bowls and soups bowls and cups are all the same thing often).
On our way to the bathhouse, I stopped to verify that we were walking in the right direction (after the long hike, we weren't interested in wrong turns). A nice young couple simply guided us to their car and drove us to the bathhouse.
Koreans are so kind. We don't think twice when we're offered food or are invited to get a ride somewhere. When we arrived in Busan yesterday and attempted to buy our subway ticket to get from the bus station to our destination, a man jumped in to help us. While we only had a 10 (man won), the subway ticket machine accepted only ones (chon won). The man took our 10 (man) and walked away. Craig asked me, "Who is that guy and where did he just go with our money?" But neither of us was worried. Sure enough, the man returned a second later with 10 ones (chons). No one batted an eye.
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