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Published: September 7th 2012
A few fun observations about Korea that I managed to pick up today - 1. they appear to be as obsessed with white cars as the Brits are with silver cars, 2. the women are really tall (although I'm still taller, but not by as much as I'd expect) and 3. I think some of the (straight) men might shave their legs... hmmm.
So, still in the company of my new Taiwanese friends, I started the day with a rather random and out of the way trip to a pound store the other side of Seoul for one huge souvenir shopping trip. Don't ask. These girls can seriously shop, but - credit to them - they carried their purchases all day without complaint.
Once the day actually began, we went to the French quarter (read: rich Europeans in enormous modern houses) Seorae Maeul. Like most European quarters in Asian towns, it's a strange mix of brands/shops you recognise with a foreign twist you don't. And, in fairness, although it may have started out French by 2012 it has definitely become generic (indiscriminately so) European.
One of the nicest bits is the lovely park dedicated to Korean-French relations and
sited at the top of a hill so you get views of the surrounding urban delights. And it even came complete with its own outdoor gym (something I recall seeing in China as well, although I doubt the weather in Blighty would make it much of a success with us...).
Having recharged and refreshed in the park, we headed back down into Seorae Maeul (pronounced "Sohrai may-ewl" as far as I could tell) for some traditional black bean noodles and soup. Both times my companions were able to order in Chinese as apparently there are so many people from other side of the Chinese/Korean (sea) border that Chinese is a common second language.
After that huge lunch we waddled to see Seoul Tower (or N Seoul Tower as it is now properly called) - not the largest tower in the world (that dubious honour goes to Dubai's 800m plus monstrosity) but certainly famous enough. We did NOT walk up the mountain to get to the viewing platform at the base of the tower, but cheated and took the cable car. In fact, we even took a cable car to get to the cable car, so lazy were we.
Our timing was perfect, as we managed to arrive over sunset and early evening, which meant stunning views over Seoul from above, even though we didn't ultimately take the lift to the very top of the tower.
In addition there was an art installation at the tower base which consisted of lots of small padlocks and bits of plastic with love messages written on, all padlocked together into pine tree structures or something that, to the English suburbanite in me, looked nothing less than a good old fashioned box hedge. (You can take the grl out of England...) From the blurb, I gather that the padlock is supposed to be a good luck charm and a symbol of the couples' love 'locked' forever.
This was slightly less random than it may seem as Seoul Tower appears to be a hot dating spot for Seoul-ites (as we realised as soon as dusk fell). There was even a TV advertising campaign where couples were brought together by that most romantic of all animals... the bear.
No typo, I'm afraid - although it all made a lot more sense once I had been through the on-site teddy bear museum
(don't judge me, remember I was with three others and easily outvoted). To my surprise (and no small relief) the teddy bears are merely a cute pretext for a reasonably good museum about the history of Seoul. One of the earliest stories of which is about a bear who ate nothing but garlic and grass for 100 days to become human woman, married the god's son and was the mother of the Korean people. So, in context, I suppose a match-making bear is not all that bizarre.
The museum showed me just how little I know about Korean history and mythology, so I invested in a book of folk tales which should make for interesting reading.
Once we had descended from the tower (again by cable car), we headed off in search of yet more food, which brought us to the district of Itaewon ("it-ai-wan"), the foreigners' quarter. Stuffed to the gills with ex-pat restaurants (decked out in the best, most cringe-worthy fashion). I'm afraid I put my foot down at eating European or American food on my second only day in the country, so we compromised on Thai.
At least I know where to go if
The Cable car
... to get to the cable car to get to N Seoul TowerI ever need to see Europeans.
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