Seoul

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Incheon airport is uber-big but pretty empty apart from the large number of currency exchanges…somehow we managed to purchase a bus ticket, find the correct bus, get off at the right station and drag our luggage down a rather dinky alley way to our hostel. Serious sense of acheivement woo!

Our hostel isn't bad as hostels go. Small but cheap, and in a great location in downtown Insadong. Last night we experimented with the subway system and went looking for food after. We ended up at some korean diner where everything was in korean, but we managed to order a few things...the kimichi flavoured yaki-soba was probably not such a good idea though…

This morning we got up super early and headed to Namyeong station and down to the USA building where they run half-day tours to the DMZ. The bus left at about 7am, and it took 1 hour or so to get to the DMZ. We were escorted by a few American soldiers through Camp Boniface (closest camp to DMZ), and past the village on the south Korean side that the Korean government established to remunerate the villagers who lost their homes there during the Korean war. We also went through the 3rd DMZ tunnel - 265 m on the South Korean side. it's a rather claustrophobic walk, and one of the few times I was glad of my vertically challenged genes - taller people were all bashing their heads on the tunnel roof (luckily they make you wear helmets)…

So far 4 tunnels started by the KPA have been found, all directed at Seoul, but it's thought that there are many many more along the 214km border of the DMZ. We also got a glimpse at the propaganda village on the N. Korean side, unfortunately it was a really foggy day and we couldn’t see far, but apparently on a clear day you can see the 25 m edifice of Kim Jong I (there are at least 20 of these scattered throughout N.Korea). The whole thing was interesting but a little unnerving, even though uneventful, and I was glad when we left for the relative safety of Seoul. We met a few interesting folks on the tour as well, a couple of German medical students doing their internship in Seoul, and a Malaysian gynecologist from Brisbane and her husband, who were on their way to Hawaii.

After the tour we wandered around Itaewon (the Americanized district of Seoul), which was pretty touristy. Checked out the war memorial, which was more like a place to put all the retired tanks and planes employed in the war. There was one moving monument of two brothers though. Tonight we went to Insadong for dinner, which seems to be the more traditional face of Seoul, with markets selling traditional and antique goods, loads of street food (eg. miscellaneous meat on skewers and silk worm larvae, which we were too chicken to try). We ended up at a place here with a pictorial menu...yay! had a random bento box set, gimbap (korean sushi) and mandu (dumplings).

Did a bit of sightseeing the next day; saw the Palace of Shining Happiness (forgotten what the name is in Korean). It was burned down by the invading Japanese army and they are currently in the process of restoring it. The Koreans used blue instead of the usual gold for ornamentation.

On the last day we went back to Insadong and wandered around eating random things from the food stores, some of which are pretty good, escecially the deep fried donut things with cinnamon. We checked out a rice cake cafe as well...where everything is very pretty, but kinda bland -_- Had dinner in a speciality tofu restaurant (once again, spicy +++) before heading back.

So far, I like Seoul. Actually it's a lot like Malaysia, where the food is spicy and the drivers are crazy, but colder and the people are more friendly. Seoul smells like fish, no matter where you go. I don't mind it, but Mikki hates fish so it's pretty funny. Food is cheap and plentiful and the subway system is dead easy to navigate, plus the trains play bird sounds or orchestral music when approaching a station. We’ve been playing vending machine roulette, which is exactly as it sounds...

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Photos

Bridge of no return
DMZ

set meal
from a restaurant specialising in soft tofu

tteok
rice cakes