04/02/08 Seoul

Before coming to S. Korea, I planned an elaborate itinerary that would have seen us travel all around the country in a very regimented manner. After speaking to the residents at the hostel and the hostel owner I am informed that this country celebrates Lunar new year and that there is not a hell in chance that we are going anywhere! Great! Now what do we do?

I get a phone call from Simon informing me that he has arrived into the country and will get to the hostel at 11am. We wait around for him to arrive.

Simon arrives and I tell him my plight. He says we should make sure that the transport really is booked out so we take a trip to the city bus and train station. The bus station is really confusing to navigate. Arrows pointing this way and that way, but don't actually take you to where you should go. Luckily Simon has been here before and knows a little of the language so we don't have to deal with the language barrier. At the station we find it's too mcuh hassel to travel at this time of year and decide that it's not worth travelling around the country and should just stay in Seoul. Actually this turns out to be the best decision as we find out Seoul is actually a huge city and there is tonnes to see! (I don't even scratch the surface within my week)

We get some food, Korean pancake, which we make sure is not hot this time. It's so good. We then hit an area called Insadong, which is kind of arty. It's really nice.

Take a little walk which takes us to City Hall. It is so cold and windy that we decide to get back to the hostel and seek warmth.

Back at the hostel we meet a fellow Brit. We decide we need food so we all make our way out to get some. I'm not quite sure what we order but the only way I can describe it is like hamburger cooked on a grill on your table, but better. You wrap the beef up in lettuce and add all these different sauces. Whatever it is, it is really nice.


Get back to the Hostel where the others begin to watch a Korean film. We have to wake up early because we are going on a tour to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) the next day, so I say my goodbyes to Simon and head off to bed.