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Published: August 21st 2006
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I am back from a week in Seoul with plenty of pictures and a full suitcase.
Eve and I arrived in Korea late Monday night (Aug.14) in Incheon and headed off to downtown Seoul, an hour away from the airport. We had a free shuttle bus with Japanese tourists through the tour copany we booked our flights through. The tour agent on board the bus though, chose to ignore us completely, despite our asking her questions in perfect Japanese. Arriving at our hostel- The Holiday In Korea- proved to be challenging, as both the cab driver, a hotel bell hop, and numerous people on the street had no idea where we were going, even with Korean directions. After circling the same few blocks and stopping random people on the street, we eventually found the place. Luckily, our 20 minute tour of the area only cost us about $8 CDN, which is MUCH cheaper than it wouls have been in Japan. But our problems weren't over.
We arrived close to 1am and hot, tired, and a little worse for wear, we arrived at the hostel's reception after leaving our aprtment in Fukushima 17 hours earlier (5 hour bus ride to
Narita airport
Narita has an outdoor observation deck where you can watch planes taking off and landing. Tokyo + 1 hour to Narita airport + 2 hour flight + 1 hour to Seoul + lots of waiting time in between). After some hellos and how do you dos from the staff who knew who we were on arrival, they then broke out the "...unfortunately, you missed your check-in time and we have no room for you. Sorry." Stunned by this news, I pointed out to the guys that I had not once but twice informed them of our late arrival via email, and had again emailed them to remind them after receiving a confirmation email from them expecting 2 males guests instead of 2 girls. After much back and forth, pointing out that I had booked the room and received confirmation in July, and discussing things over with the manager on the phone, they finally said they had a 4 bedroom dorm available for the night with a private bathroom that the two of us could have. Now, had they said that they didn't have a private room for us but we could be in a dorm for the night at the beginning of the conversation, I could have gotten an extra 30 minutes of sleep. I
Changdeokgung Palace
Near our hostel, waiting for the bus to arrive also managed to negotiate the price down from what they would have charged us for a private room fo rhte dorm prices. Not only that, I also negotiated for the July prices from when I had booked as their prices had now gone up about $11 a night.
The rooms were clean, new, and BIG, which is always a plus after the horrible memories of our Tokyo hostel adventure.
Tuesday morning we headed out early to catch the hop on/hop off sightseeing bus around Seoul, which is where we first came to understand that Koreans are not very punctual. We've been far too spoiled by the clockwork-like runnings of Japan. So after waiting over an hour for a bus which promises to come in "20 minute intervals," we began our tour of Seoul.
Driving by numerous palaces and familiarizing ourselves with the layout of the city, we hopped off in Myeong dong, a shopping and businees area in the middle of Seoul and had our first taste of delicious Korean food at a restaurant on the top of a department store with a great view of the surrounding area. After lunch, we browsed the racks of clothing
National Museum
Korea's National Museum, which we didn't have time to go into and jewellery lining the streets in front of the shops in a literal sidewalk sale. We made our way over to the Namdaemun arket- an area filled with shops selling everything from t-shirts, dresses, designer knock-off purses, watches, and so many shoes that were far too small to fit my size 9 feet. Everything was for sale from military gear, chopsticks, and an entire shopping arcade devoted to every kind of bras and underwear imaginable.
It started to pour with rain and we were forced to take shelter in the subway and its adjacent underground shopping malls. I cannot describe ho wmany shopping malls, booths, arcades, stalls, and tables there are in Seoul. It as if all the residents ever do is shop. And judging from the amount of people, that's a pretty accurate description of their daily activity.
We took the subway to Seoul station, braved the rain, and rejoined our tour bus as it continued through various areas of the city, droping us off at one of the palaces near our hostel. In the evening, we decided to set out on a walk from the hostel along the Cheonggyecheon (another example of the difficulties we had
Myeong Dong
Streets of Myeong Dong in pronouncing Korean names) Stream for dinner (Italian!) and shopping at the Dongdaemun Market for cheap Puma shoes, fake Gucci purses, and Chanel earrings. There were also numerous places selling puppies out of cardboard boxes, a site we saw all over Seoul, which was weird. And lots of food stalls selling everything on a stick- melon slices, hotdogs, and even french fries.
Our first full day in Seoul was a good one, and I have plenty more pictures and stories to post later in the week.
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Jill
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Seoul is fun
I found your blog. I used to live in Seoul. it is a very nice city, but it does take some getting used too. I'm looking forward to hearing more of your trip.