May 19, 2011

Seoul 1:

Seoul was an amazing experience altogether... I was really excited to visit South Korea finally, to see the country, its people, its environment and most importantly whether or not I could see myself spending a few years living there.

So day one, after taking a red-eye flight from HKG to ICN, I arrived at Incheon Airport at around 5am. The airport is impressively well architectural structure. I was in no mood having only arrived back by train from China in the early afternoon and having the flight to Seoul at midnight, having to get to the airport round 10. 



After a quick drive, we reached Namsan Park with the Seoul radio/television tower. The park itself was exceptionally beautiful, with green lush trees and bright coloured flowers. The hard part: climbing the slope of the hill to the top, and unfortunately the tower was not opened that early in the morning.

Here is a picture of myself in front of one of its gazebos. It was a prime spot for locals who were out for a jog to rest. Luckily during the whole trip, the weather stayed nice, although cool during the mornings, it heated up in the afternoon.
 Here is the Seoul tower, as mentioned it wasn't opened at the time we were there but Im sure it has exceptional views from its observation deck.

Next stop was an old Korean village set up, where it depicted the traditional homes in Korea in the past. These houses featured underfloor heating which was an interesting fact learned. And again, it was very beautiful and warm.


I don't remember this street but it features some of Seoul's prominent art displays and creative inspirations. Unfortunately, there wasn't much too pleasing so I made my way to a small garden which featured this 9storey temple monument being preserved.

And most importantly, I loved Korea so much because of its food. For our first meal, we had pork and chicken being steamed and boiled. And ofcourse, there were the appetizer dishes, and kimchi that I might have become a little sick of, from eating it at every meal. I'm not complaining, I loved its dishes and its main courses although it lacked veggies (can't believe I'm saying I missed veggies) but it consisted primarily of pork. For dinner that night, I went to a small family owned restaraunt where I had to take off my shoes and sit on the hard wooden floor. It was something I was looking forward to experiencing so I had enjoyed it. Unfortunately everything was in Korean, but luckily from my Korean experiences in Toronto, I knew how to order the pork bone soup. It was delicious and only 6000Korean Wons.

Ended the first day with some night walking around the streets and their department stores. Time for some much needed sleep to prepare for the second day.

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