LET’S CUT TO THE CHEESE

What started as a single stall selling knafeh and camel burgers has turned into a festival. If you do attend the markets this year, have fun while maintaining respect for the culture and people.

The rise of TikTok has seen an obvious boom in the popularity of these markets. Just because your video went viral, does not mean you are not entitled to this event. Remember that these food stalls are a ‘home away from home’ for a majority of the Muslim diaspora in Lakemba (and Greater Sydney). For many, it is their safe space, making it truly confusing and outrageous to hear of and experience racism from white people.

Last year, there was a huge divide over the gentrification and exploitation of the Lakemba markets. Many Muslim and broader South Asian and Arab attendees experienced racism and disrespect. Some even walked away without any food due to the influx of tourists rendering the lines excessively long. White people complained about an ethnic area not catering to their needs (how dare they not play loud EDM music during Ramadan!).

Sharing our space and food is not the problem. In fact, sharing and congregating is a central theme in Islam. But it becomes unfair when the same people eating our food and walking the same roads exploit our culture and food for entertainment and clout whilst mocking and abusing us.

So, when attending, remember to be respectful of the community and the holy month of Ramadan. Google exists if you’re confused about what not to do, or even ask a fellow Muslim friend for advice.

My recent trip to South Korea was relatively unexpected. My sister received an internship at a tech convention in Daegu for December, which she had been notified of in October. As a result, we decided to make a holiday out of it from November to December. Dragging her best friend and her best friend’s younger sister along, we embarked on this pilgrimage back to the motherland — the first one since COVID; the first one without our parents. In classic Koreanmother fashion, this was a fact my mum became incredibly fixated on, as it induced many anxious phone calls during which she expressed how worried she was about us being in a big city, unable to speak the language (we both speak perfectly adequate Korean, and my sister frequently made conversation with our taxi drivers).

As I write this, I should inform you that I have slowly morphed into an incessant food and travel blogger. In the next phase of my metamorphosis, the genesis being this Seoul travel guide, I will begin a TikTok page dedicated to the “places in Sydney you must visit part 2093”. I will then produce a line of whimsical travel journals available to be purchased at your local Dymocks. Watch this space.

THE GENERAL DOS AND DON’TS OF SEOUL

When we landed in Incheon Airport, the first recommendation our mum gave us was to have Australian cash handy to exchange for South Korean Won, as we would need it to:

1. Eat out – some independent vendors would not take card

2. Top up T-Money cards: (South Korean Opal Cards) as the recharge stations do not accept cards as a form of payment.

We did not heed our mother's advice. We regretted it terribly.

Though we did not travel much on public transport, we ate out at the traditional markets nearly every morning. For a group of four, we spent around $300 AUD cash throughout the two weeks we were there (approximately 262,000 Won). This covered basic expenses like breakfast or purchasing goods from vendors that did not accept card at markets. So, withdraw cash!

Further, when payments are made on card, I would recommend signing up for a digital banking app that provides no surcharge fees for interna tional spending. This made it much easier for us to use our cards through out our trip with out spending too much time bud geting across dif ferent accounts and transferring money back and forth.

The Art Of Taxi Catching

Flagging down a taxi is a universally understood language – you stick your hand out and the taxi comes to you. However, in Seoul, you’re often left feeling incredibly vulnerable after realising that the majority of taxis you are frantically waving your arms at are choosing to drive straight past you. This, combined with the intense eye contact you direct at the driver and the intensity with which they avoid your eye contact as they drive past, will manifest itself in a sudden deep desire to end it all.

In order to efficiently flag down a taxi, you must download KakaoT – the taxi app that most Koreans use to order taxis. In Seoul, people commute everywhere through taxis. As a result, most taxis driving on the street will already be occupied.

If you do choose to be brave and flag down a taxi, you can identify a free taxi by the taxi sign lit up on its roof. You can also recognise a free taxi by the phrase ‘ lit up in either green or red.'

Overall, I would recommend downloading all the apps. Yes, download the KakaoT app, but also download Naver Maps or KakaoMap. These are good for navigating Seoul and accurately calculating travel times — car travel or otherwise. On some occasions, Apple Maps or Google Maps would tell us it was a 15 minute walk when in reality the walk was around 40 minutes.