14-16 May
If anyone is still interested we have just concluded two months of our trip – only four months to go! And we are loving it. However we’re struggling to remember the rough conversion rate of the different bank notes to pounds sterling; how many noughts is that?
Seoul
We flew overnight to Incheon airport. Unfortunately we were woken for breakfast at 5.30 am (per our body clock) with another two and a half hours to go before landing. So not much sleep before having to navigate our way to downtown Seoul.
Incheon airport was a delight; new, huge, sparkling clean and pretty deserted at 9am on a Sunday. We navigated the Covid requirements quickly with our on-line QR code, were first in the queue at Border Control and got through Customs, without a hitch.
We easily found an ATM and got cash, though with some anxious trial and error, and a SIM card for Lynne’s mobile phone before following the signs to the brand new Airport Railroad. Very easy, efficient and after a smooth fifty minutes we arrived at Seoul Station at 11.30am, Basement level 7.
Finding our way up and out of the busy station was a bit tricky, but finding the hotel a real challenge! Peter had instructions in Korean from the hotel and a screenshot of a map to give to the taxi driver, but he couldn’t find it. Lynne had downloaded the Korean KakaoMap, and we knew the hotel wasn’t very far away.
So we jumped ship (as it were), found a coffee shop, and Peter struck out in search for the missing hotel, without his rucksack. The hotel was found only 200m away, on a side street, a little back from the main road.
We were staying in the middle of Myeongdong, famous for its shopping and street food. We spent a leisurely afternoon wandering around, sampling the food, before a rather unusual dinner:- death by chicken!
We had found one of the many eateries, thronging with people. We had ordered two portions of chicken and received enough chicken for six people! And only chicken – no carbs, no vegetables – just chicken. We would need to try a different tack next day.
The following morning was spent visiting the Gyeongbokgung Palace. But first visiting the glorious Lotte Department store in search of an ATM. Just across the road, it was huge, and looked very, very expensive – reminiscent of Harrods. We navigated the Metro to the Palace, with our newly acquired T-money cards, re-loadable touch cards, like the London Oyster cards.
It is extraordinary, arriving at the Palace with its low buildings and landscaped gardens, with modern high-rise buildings in the background, and people wandering around in traditional Korean Hanbok clothing.
Entry to the Palace is free if you wear the Hanbok, which meant lots of shops renting out the formal wear and many people taking part. This was lovely, and gave a human dimension to the visit. We didn’t need to oblige to dress up, as our ages meant entrance was free anyway!
The Palace occupies a huge site, with a lake and 2 hills in the background, supposedly an auspicious location. The Palace was the administrative centre of the Joseon Dynasty and was completed in 1395.
All the palaces were burned down during the Japanese invasion of 1592-1598, and this palace was only rebuilt in 1867, with about 500 buildings on the site. Again the buildings were demolished during the Japanese occupation during the First World War. Restoration commenced in 1990 and is on-going.
We spent a good couple of hours exploring the palace grounds and buildings, and could have spent longer, before setting off to find a cultural village, not too far away. Bukchon Hanok is a quiet, charming residential part of Seoul, full of traditional houses, art galleries and hip coffee shops. There aren’t many such old villages left in Seoul. It was delightful, but with a fair number of tourists, like us! An elite neighbourhood on a steep hill.
We had been thinking of visiting the Jongmyo Shrine, a short walk, as the map suggests. However the route we followed around Bukchon Hanok took us in completely the wrong direction. Also, we suspected that there was only one entrance to the extensive grounds – in the wrong direction from where we were.
We were getting weary so opted to take the Metro to Seoul Station to 1) scout out where we were to take the train to Busan, the following day, 2) find an elevated walkway, Seoullo 7017. This is a converted overpass, full of plants and trees, providing a pleasant walk over the wide and busy roads to Namdaemun Market.
We were enjoying Seoul – it is classified as the world’s fourth largest megacity. Half the population of Korea, of 51 million, live in the Seoul Capital Area, in dense high rise accommodation. But there are lots of green spaces, and it is kind to pedestrians, with its walkways, pedestrian crossings and subways.
The public transportation system is first class. The Metro is huge, judging from the Metro map, at least as big as London’s, and probably bigger. The roads are wide, superbly managed, with busy thoroughfares near the train station with five to six lanes – each way! The KakoaMap navigation app not only tells you when a bus is arriving but how full it is. Pedestrian crossings even have coloured LED lights in the kerb edge – red to not-go, green to go!
There is a veritable city underground housed in the Metro stations. The underground shops and walkways, double as bomb shelters, with urgent signs at each entrance. There are a bewildering network of exits, making navigation an interesting pursuit! There are over 3,200 shelters in the city, built to withstand artillery that is only about 40km away.
3D station
After our chicken dinner experience, we determined to dine at an Italian restaurant that we found on Google Maps, but could we find it? We walked round the block, up a market road, and back. Finally, some luck and inspired guessing led us to find it on – on the 11th floor of an office building – not on the street at all!
The food was good and better still was washed down by a half bottle of Chilean Merlot. The kitchen shut at 9pm, so we enjoyed our dessert on the street below, with chocolate-covered strawberries from a food stall on the way back.
Wednesday saw Peter work out in the gym before breakfast, before our last walk in Seoul. This time we found a walk among the huge, gleaming buildings, along the beautifully constructed Cheonggyecheon water stream, reached by steps down from the road. Most enjoyable.
Back at the hotel we were in good time to pick up our rucksacks and make our way by Metro to Seoul Station for our train to Busan. We had already worked out our route to get to the station, and where to pick up an elevator to avoid too many steps. We always allow for contingencies, but what could possibly go wrong?
But wait…! Lynne couldn’t get through the entrance gate. The money was taken from the card, but something went wrong. Peter had no problem and spotted a ‘Help’ gate that some other passenger had opened. So through Lynne went. That was the easy part, boarding the metro train, changing stations etc., but what about getting out at the train station? There was, helpfully, a red button at an exit help gate. A disembodied voice, said “go, go” and through she went!
Getting on the express KTX train to Busan, built with French technology, was straightforward. It wasn’t long before we were speeding through the Korean countryside, shaped by hills, with the occasional town, marked by high-rise apartment blocks, and paddy fields.
What an unexpected joy Seoul had been. People always offering to help, much more welcoming than we had expected and, apart from the food, less unfamiliar too.
One can only admire your stamina – so much done & so many experiences and yet only a third of the way through your trip!
Enforced rest today, Tim. We’re in Hiroshima, barred from the Peace Park and other attractions as there are some Big Wigs here! If we weren’t already aware, the hundreds of police would have given the game away.
Ah yes – the G7 malarky with hangers-on!