Seoul, South Korea

Crazy map. Really hard to figure out.

Very modern subway with jump proof doors, eliminates suicides.

Wearing traditional clothes.

The entrance to Changdeokgung Palace.

More traditional clothing... what's up?

Bukchon Hanok Village.

The narrow shopping streets full of restaurants and bars.

The market restaurants where the locals eat all manner of things.

One of the city gates and part of the reconstructed city wall.

Monday, June 25^th.

I had a frustrating morning, but an interesting afternoon.

I spent an hour trying to figure out which city tours I wanted to do while here. I had tried by myself and with Denise’s assistance to sort through the choices before I got here, but couldn’t seem to make it work. Either the tour required more than one passenger, or I had no idea where the pickup point was or how to get there from my hotel. The hotel had some brochures from a travel company, so I phoned them asked about options. They told me that they would pick me up from my hotel which was about 40 minutes away from the starting point (seems I am a long way from downtown). So, I booked a half day tour of the DMZ area between North and South Korea for tomorrow and a full day tour of Seoul for the next day. The weather was calling for rain all day tomorrow, so I thought that would add to the atmosphere at the DMZ rather than the all-day city tour. 

Then I had a mediocre breakfast in the Unique Hotel before heading out to find an ATM and explore a bit. I found an ATM nearby, but again it wouldn’t let me have any money. I went back to the hotel and phoned TDCanada Trust to see if there was a problem, but they said no and there was no indication on their end that I had tried unsuccessfully in Korea. 

So, I headed out again and found another, which thankfully issued me some money. Then I tried to find the subway to take me to an area of the city I wanted to explore that day. I found a World Heritage site called the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty right around the corner. It is where there are 40 burial tombs for kings and queens of the dynasty from 1392 to 1910. I thought that would be interesting, but it was closed on Mondays.

I asked a few people walking around but English is a problem and they had a hard time helping me find the subway. After a bit of hassle, I found a station and entered. The subway in Seoul is huge and has many lines. It took a while to figure out how to buy a ticket and then after I passed the turnstiles I found an information desk and a helpful agent who gave me a map and showed me where to change and what station to get off at. I had to take three lines.

When I eventually made it there, I began wandering around looking for the advertised old village area with the traditional style housing. The area is sandwiched between two large palaces and as I walked around I noticed many people wearing old-style clothing. I followed one group to the entrance of Changdeokgung Palace of one of the two, but it was closed on Monday as well. The other one, Gyeongbokgung, was apparently open, but I will see that on my day tour. As I wandered around I kept my eye out for a dental office and eventually found one up on the third floor of a building. My cap had fallen out again in Borneo (this is the third time for those of you following along) and I wanted it glued back in. The office was very helpful, and I got it put back in place for $21. The dentist then showed me how to find the Bukchon village area, which was close by.

Then things got better. I was very thirsty and had a delicious iced coffee. Koreans love coffee and there are shops everywhere including Starbuck’s. I spent the next couple of hours wandering around the old village. It was a residential neighbourhood for the nobility of the Joseon Dynasty from 1392 to 1910. The narrow alleyways have a host of immaculately preserved ‘hanoks’, tradition Korean houses. I went up to the third floor of one newer house that gave a good view over the village. The only downside was that there were signs around the village which indicated that the locals living in these houses were tired of all the noisy, invasive tourists and they are trying to get the government to limit the hours they can wander around. Eventually, after exhausting the village, I found a tourist office and asked where the downtown was and how far it was to walk. The man gave me a map and showed me which direction to go.

I walked for about an hour on a couple of narrow pedestrian streets past all sorts of shops, both local and touristy to a stream that runs through the city. The stream banks were incredibly clean and the water looked to be too. I was impressed after all the filthy waterways I have seen in Asia. He had told me that was a nice place to walk, so I followed that towards a part of the old city wall that he had indicated was worth seeing. I walked for about another hour and on the way found a narrow street full of little restaurant street booths selling all kinds of interesting food. As I walked by I noticed that a plate in front of a lady had food on it that was wriggling. I took a closer look and took a short video. It turned out it was chopped up raw octopus legs. The people noticed me, and one guy told me they were good to eat (his girlfriend disagreed) and I should try them. I declined.

Finally, I found the wall and climbed the hill to get a good view of the city. The wall has all been rebuilt but was interesting nonetheless. Then being tired from walking and not wanting to figure out how to retrace my subway route, I hailed a taxi and took a $10 ride back to the hotel for the night.