01.24.2011 Flight to South Korea and Seoul Tower visit in South Korea

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What a day and what a ride it has been. I finally get to use my passport for more than just a pretty picture, today is the trip to South Korea! I wanted to tour parts of Asia since it seems like a smart thing to do since I am already in Japan. The trip is not long, about 5 days, but Kaori and I will make the most of it. Our first mission was getting to the plane. The morning tram ride was as usual and the boarding was nothing out of the ordinary. While passing through the airport to leave to South Korea it seems much more down to earth and less complicated that anything I have done in America. The flight was smooth and the arrival through the gate was satisfying. The crew on the plane were amazing, the flight attendants spoke Korean, Japanese, and English! I was very impressed with both the service and the plane itself. Every seat had a small touch screen to watch shows and movies; it also had a remote to play video games and surf the web. Overall I would highly recommend using Korean Air. We passed through the last check point and customs. I was nervous to say the least since I have only been to Japan, but it was smooth sailing through the check point and customs.

We arrived in South Korea at 15:30 local time, this gave Kaori and me a chance to roam around and figure out the transportation needs. The subway system in South Korea is easy to use with interactive displays and colorful directions in many languages. There is one thing that both of us realized when we walked onto the subway, it smelled like kimchi. My first time walking onto the trains in Japan it smelled like fish, so I can image any car or vehicle in America smells like fat and McDonalds. Everything looks new and there are great signs and communication methods such as motions screen and touch pad maps located in the subway to tell you where you are. The first subway was from Incheon International Airport to Seoul Station. The train system was very simple and very easy to follow. The next station was Myeong-dong where the hotel was located; this was a little more troublesome. At the beginning of escalators there are tall poles in the middle that block you from getting on the escalator with any bags or luggage, I hated those “safety” features at the train stations. Since we arrived during rush time, everyone was heading to the same locates. I must admit people can be very pushy at times. While in the subway to Myeong-dong Station people would crowd in the car and then push you into the corner to get into the car, people would even get stuck in the closing doors. After wresting my way through to get out at our stop Kaori and I finally made it to the hotel in one piece. For transportation needs, Kaori suggested we get a prepaid card called “T-Card” which allows you to get on all subways, trains, buses and acts like a credit card at some places without a fuss. This comes in very handy and I would highly recommend this for fellow travelers to South Korea. I will hopefully post a video soon about how to obtain one, but basically you can buy it at any convenience store such as Family Mart or Seven Eleven.

After 3 hours of wresting and heaving our bags through people we finally got to the hotel. The hotel is located smack dab in the middle of Myeong-dong, Seoul. This place it perfect for all travelers since this location has literally everything available within walking distance. I will provide more details on our shopping day. The hotel room is nice and cozy with some great accommodations and service. There is free net, coffee, shampoo, fridge, body soap and more. According to blogs and other travelers some of these items are scarce in South Korea. The only complaint I would have about the hotel would be the shower. There is no tube or area for the shower so the water goes everywhere including the toilet area. We spent 10 minutes dropping stuff of then we were out the door to Seoul tower and FOOD! I can only imagine how hungry Kaori was but I was feeling the starvation bug while walking through Myeong-dong Street and smelling all the wonderful food. We came upon a local restaurant called Onedang; it had some beef and rice bowls on display so we stopped on it. When we ordered our food both of us were amazed at the portion size! It reminded me somewhat of America, just healthier. I order a boiling beef bowl with noodles and Kaori had a delicious rice and veggie bowl. They also served us fresh kimchi, which was the best I have ever had. Little note to viewers, always try the local country food; sushi in Japan, kimchi in Korea, and Steak in America. We met two nice women from London who took our picture and had a small chat about living in Seoul. It was nice to see some familiar faces and Seoul seemed to have more diversity of people than in Osaka. After our chat we parted ways and it was time for our next journey to Seoul tower.

Kaori and I needed to get to a certain station for the bus ride to Seoul Tower but that was tough to figure out which bus to take. After 20 minutes of walking up and down the subway tunnels we finally figured out that we needed to take a special bus to the tower, so then the waiting game started. Another 10 minutes later the bus arrived and we boarded using the T-card we bought earlier that day. We could see the Tower only minutes after riding the bus and it was spectacular. The tower has a beautiful hue at night that can be seen from most places in Seoul city. We walked up the long drive way and made it to the entrance, the fee was 8,000 won per-person, about $8. I took some video that will be posted on YouTube later in the week so check it out for more details besides my side conversation. There was an elevator to the 3rd floor and that was as high as you could go unless you had a reservation for the upper tower restaurants. The view was amazing and at night it made it much more extravagant. Kaori had fun trying to figure out where South Korea ended and North Korea started. There were lights as far as the eye could see but some parts were “blacked out” so Kaori was suspicious that it was the North Korean border. On the 3rd level there is a panoramic view of the entire city lights and there are some indicators on the glass that say where special points on the earth are located such as Paris, Russia, Tokyo, North Korea and so forth. I took some great panoramic shots of the cities so please be sure to scope those out on the blog! The interior is plain and white but the architecture is what makes the building so fascinating. Even the elevator and bathroom has something special about them. For instance the elevator was more like a pitch black night filled with stars on the ceiling, and the bathroom had some interesting man stalls. There is always a worker on each floor and they speak English so don’t worry about translators. The 2nd floor belonged to a tile wall filled with love confessions. From what I understand, you can buy a lock or tile at Seoul Tower and glue it to a section of the interior building with a note to others about you and your significant other. Most of them were Korean but you could make out a few English, Japanese, Arabic and other languages as well. After a quick look through the gift shop we headed on back towards the bus. The bus wait took 40 MINUTES! Kaori was shivering and I was just a popsicle by the time the bus showed up. It was so confusing because there is no good indicator as to which bus to take or where they showed up. You just hope to see a crowd of people and wait with them until they find the right bus to get home.

Finally, we got back to Myeong-dong area and were just craving something fat and terrible for your health, so Burger king was the best choice for our midnight meal. We ordered a combo meal that contained a whopper, kimchi whopper, chicken fingers, fries, and two drinks. We also grabbed some donuts and coffee just to keep our sweet tooth satisfied. It was the perfect meal to the best first day. After arriving back at the hotel Kaori and I devoured everything including the donuts; with our bellies full and our legs throbbing from the walking and cold; it was bed time.

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