Seoul Searching in South Korea

Time has been good to South Korea
So, almost 30 years ago, I traveled for business to South Korea on multiple occasions. As you two know, I love the cultures in that region of the world. I must say I am happy to read your impressions of how clean and progressive you found things. That was not the case when I was there. They were still struggling to get to what you find there today. The pride of the people was so obvious and hard not to admire because general living conditions were still on the mend. I look forward to the food blog to come next. P.S. - Lisa's oil painting arrived yesterday. Lot's of good memories attached to that beautiful oil. :)

On US soldier and on travelling in business class
The US soldier who last year crossed the border to North Korea at the DMZ was released after negotiations by staff from the Swedish Embassy. The US doesn't have diplomatic relations with North Korea. Instead all connections on embassy level between USA and North Korea goes through the Swedish embassy. I actually get to travel business class every now and then when economy class is overbooked. I took me years to understand why they so often pick me to get upgraded instead of someone else. I believe that it's because of my name. My given name is Åke. The first letter, Å, doesn't exist in the English alphabet. It is automatically transcribed into a double A. So on airline bookings I get the name "Aake Dahlloef". The passenger lists are probably in alphabetical order by given name, making me mostly the first name on the list. When they upgrade passengers they probably go from the top and work themselves down. I have travelled business class maybe 10 times and never paid anything extra for it. I know Dave, life isn't fair. /Ake

Memories
Interesting to see Korea from a tourist perspective. During our three years in China we didn't get to visit Korea but did see it from Dandong on the NorthEast border of China (the end of the Great wall). One of our favourite Chinese contacts was a big fan of Korea and Korean food so we did experience some of what I think we will hear about in the next blog. Interesting similarities and differences to what we experienced in our Chinese travels. paw

Seoul
As always, love the pics and your narration ❤️

Great to read of your experiences. You have seen more of Korea than I did in about 20 visits, but there again, I was there for business not pleasure! I'm glad you enjoyed the experience at the DMZ. When I was there many years ago now, guards on either side were almost touching noses and eyeballing each other, but never a smile!

Gangnam Style
So lovely to be visiting your friends in their new home. And yes, it's a treat when you can learn about the public transport from a local rather than trying to figure it out on the run! We look forward to getting back to Seoul one day and exploring it as well as you have :)

South Korea
Not on any of our wish lists, but maybe it should be. I always find fascination in tales of the border zone. Tunnels, etc..