Finally in Seoul!

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Well, we've made it to Seoul and have checked into our hostel, Guesthouse Korea. I don't think I've stayed in a worse place. It's cheap, yes, but pretty cruddy. We have our own room, and our own bathroom, but no sink at all. I guess we'll be brushing our teeth in the bathtub! It looks like it's seen MUCH better days, so I think I'll wear those flipflops while in the shower...... Eeew.

We walked around the nearby area today and saw some neat things: street vendors selling everything from tempura shrimp to watches to shoe repair guys to fortune tellers. Weird. There is a McDonalds, Burger King, and Mr. Pizza all near the closest subway station to us. We also hit Pagoda Park (ok, it has another name too, but don't ask me to find that right now) and walked around it taking pictures. Then we hit another park where there were hundreds of old men singing karaoke, dancing, and talking to one another. Very few women there! I even got a picture of someone squatting (just for you and Grandma, Mom!) as they prefer to sit like that sometimes. Weird.

Still no sign of postcards. That too is strange. We have yet to see any souvenirs even though we are near three palaces and a tomb, all deemed UNESCO sites (if I'm not mistaken!). You'd think that the area would have postcards aplenty! But aside from one envelope package of low-quality cards in Jeju, we have not seen postcards for sale. Definitely not a country built on tourism!!!

I think we may hit a bus tour tomorrow instead of the planned Suwon fortress (as that would require climbing) as we are both quite sore and tired. I think we'll wait to see how we feel in the morning.

We walked out to a place tonight that was supposed to be a souvenir shop, but there was nothing there. Strange that it was labeled on the tourist map and then not there! And this was a tourist map that the hostel gave us, printed in Feb.! We were really disappointed and mad that it wasn't there. Especially because we had asked the guy who works here about the place and asked if it would still be open late (after 7pm) and he thought it would be open until 9ish. Yeah, right! It had also started to rain, so not only were we tired and sore, but wet! :P

Anyway, off to our tiny little room with no sink......

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Comments

[anonymous]

How much are the Hotels there? (Not Hostels) Maybe they would have sink.

[Sue70]

Hotels are VERY EXPENSIVE!
From what I could see in my guide book and info online, hotels start around 100 000 won (over $100 CDN) per night and go up from there. That's why I'm hostelling it!