NICE Testimonial: International Assistance, Part II

While we're on the subject of NICE strangers abroad, Maya sent me a lovely story about a recent trip to Korea that she and her boyfriend took. My mom is Korean and happens to hail from the town Maya speaks of in the story, so it felt extra special for me to read it.

We were recently in Korea and found the people to be overly nice, though one particular one stands out. It's something I don't know that we'd find much of in the US, though possible due to the repercussions offering a ride to a stranger even if your intentions are good!

My boyfriend and I had had a very long and active day in Busan - we had gotten lost for several hours while trying to find our way around on foot and which we followed by a couple mile hike straight up and down a mountain (this was our original destination and we weren't going to let getting lost deter us!). Not only were we incredibly tired and a bit sore a, it had begun to rain rather hard and lightening. After our hike, we were waiting on the sidewalk outside of a small store unsuccessfully trying to hail a cab, when a Korean business man next to us who appeared to be enjoying his after work cigarette asked where we were trying to get to. When we explained where our hotel was, he put out his cigarette and motioned us over to his (very nice!) car. He drove us to the closest train station, explained how to catch the train we needed, where to transfer and which stop to get off to closest to our hotel. He wouldn't accept any money or gift as a thank you - was just doing this to help out two lost, exhausted Americans. We were incredibly thankful to be mostly dry and off our feet in our hotel room within the half hour. I don't think our legs would have made the walk to the train station and at the rate we were going, it could have taken us another hour of waiting in the rain to catch a cab. We owe this Korean business man a big thank you!

Huh. I seem to have a train theme going on this week, don't you think? Funny how that happened!!

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