Day 47: Seoul, South Korea

I have to say that we got lucky with some good weather while we are here. Mid 80's, no humidity.

We got a late start to the day after a late night and Brit took us to lunch at a nearby noodle shop. Her friends Peter & Debbie met us there and we all jumped on the subway to browse for laptops and DVDs. The electronics mall here is just as intense as Singapore. Floors or cameras, computers, tv's, etc. The DVD shops we visited were of the "street" variety like we have in NYC but a more elaborate set up. These guys have booths set up, and inside the booths are books of DVD titles. You fill out a form and they have a guy run into some building who emerges shortly with your order. They even have lookouts patrolling for police. While we were there the lookout gave the warning and everyone closed down quickly and we had to come back later.


(Britt & Ilana, booths in the background)

After that we jumped on the subway again and visited Gyeongbokgung Palace which was built during the Joseon Dynasty back in the 1300's. Unfortunately is was destroyed during the Japanese occupations on the 1900's and is being restored to it's original form.







http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongbokgung

After a quick walk through the National Folk Museum of Korea we walked over to the neighborhood of Samcheong-dong which has nice cafes and tree lined streets where we stopped to have a snack.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samcheong

Next we grabbed a quick cab to Insa-dong which is a nice cobble street neighborhood with shops and tea houses.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insadong

To rest our weary feet Britt steered us to the Jongno Tower which has a bar/restaurant on the 33rd floor. So we had a drink while the sun went down overlooking the city.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jongno

I have to admit that I am thoroughly enjoying this city. It may not have the beauty of Paris but it is an energetic, fun city with lots to do and good people. Some neighborhoods look like Times Square in every direction you look. Ilana's cousin Britt moved here to teach English one year ago and is having a complete blast. I wish I could have done the same.



FJ