Reflections in Korea

Presently I am on a layover in Seoul Korea (its 2:30am), and even though I have yet to share about the rest of my Nepal and Tibet trip, there are some things stirring about in my mind that I want to get out. Also, I'm trying to get a headstart on Canadian time, so I'm staying up all night so I'll sleep through my 11 hour flight to Los Angeles tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

I had a number of "wow I'm glad I'm Canadian" moments today (which I'm finding happen regularly the more I travel). One of them was at the Kathmandu airport where at immigration the line for locals is so long, they honestly must have to wait hours for that. The "foreigners" line...just me. I walk up and the guy jumps to attention, my passport is stamped and I'm through in a matter of minutes.

I got invited to switch seats on the KTM-Seoul flight, so I had 5 to myself... I shared though, because really I only needed 3.

Another involving immigration...this time here in Korea. The flight here from Ktm I was talking to some Nepali people, some of who were going to a pastor's conference in Seoul for 2 weeks, and needed visas, other a couple of guys who live in America, and had a ridiculous 18 hour layover (that I almost had) but because they didn't have transit visas, they were enduring it in the aiport instead of exploring Seoul. But I rock up to the immigration, with no hassle or money, and I don't even think the immigration officer looked at me and... bam I have a visa to stay in Korea six months.

Also, Korean Hospitality. Long story short...I didn't know when I was going to be leaving Seoul because I was waitlisted. But as soon as I got through the airport here, I went up to the desk, found out all my flight info, they called a (sweet) hotel for me, and the hotel manager came and picked me up. After I told him I was just in Nepal, he told me a story about how good Mongolian people's eyes are. Random. He also said he felt bad for me because there are no McDonald's in this part of town, just local resturaunts...I was like, really, thats quite alright. I would choose local Korean over McDonalds anyday.

Then because the hotel is booked I got a score of a deal on their nice suite. I have 2 tvs, this computer is in my room, theres a jet bath and it's like fort knox to get in here. I'm a fan.

I wonder why its like this sometimes... because I have a Canadian passport, and was born there instead of another country like Nepal, Tibet, or Indonesia, I have incredibly easy access to many parts of the world. Events like these today and ones that have happened before, remind me how lucky I am to be Canadian and to not take this for granted.
So much is so easy but its so easy to forget how easy it is.