I was just arriving in Seoul when a police lorry pulled up alongside the airport bus I was in, and the two policemen in the front started enthusiastically waving and saluting the tourists on the bus! I had great fun in Seoul; it’s a city that never sleeps, which can play hell when your body clock isn’t sure which time zone it’s supposed to be in to start with. By day there were plenty of palaces and arty streets to walk done, in fact there seems to be some sort of public art on almost every street in the city! By night the city’s all neon, blaring music from shops, shots of Soju and karaoke bars… I was lucky enough that my Korean friend Sam took me under his wing and showed me some sights. He even took me to a wedding! After the service, while we still in the chapel, the best man started MC-ing, and told the groom that he had to prove his virility by shouting out “Look at my lovely wife!” who then had to reply “Look at my handsome husband!” before the groom picked her up and did 10 squat lifts with her. It pays to marry a smaller lady in Korea!
The rest of the time in Seoul I was shopping and sightseeing (and getting the last vaccination jab I needed for South America). One tourist location of note – The Seoul Tower sits on the mountain in the heart of the city, so it has quite amazing views. It wasn’t really worth all the queueing it took to get to the top, and back down again though, except for the fact that the gent’s urinals had been set up so that you have a view over the entire city while you’re using them! Not something I’d seen done in any other observation tower around the world.
I’ve moved on to Busan now, on the south coast of Korea. I could have happily spent weeks wandering around Seoul, but I like to see a bit of the countryside in a country if I can. Unfortunately the weather’s turned a bit overcast for my trip to the seaside, but it’s still a nice place to wander around, and I took a ferry trip out to Geojo island today, and walked around and around. Going to check out the beach tomorrow, so hopefully it’ll be a little sunnier, and then in the afternoon it’s back up to Seoul to get ready for my flight to Japan on Saturday! I hope there’s some cherry blossoms left!