Across the sea to Korea

Wednesday was a travel day. First, a taxi from the hotel to the subway station, then a train to Nippori to catch the airport Skyliner. We were surprised at the bustle at the airport since it was an early morning flight. It took us almost 90 minutes to find the JAL check-in counter, get through security and immigration and find our departure lounge. An unremarkable three hour flight, except for the Japanese box lunch, and we begin the process in reverse in Korea. After clearing immigration, we picked up our luggage, breezed through customs, and bought our bus tickets. It took almost ninety minutes to reach the Sofitel Hotel where we caught a cab for the final sprint to the Hyundai Residence. This place is so tucked away that the cab driver had to call for directions on how to get here and still had to pull a U-turn. Traffic is horrendous. Another place I won’t be driving.
After checking in and unpacking, we explored the neighbourhood. Found a very interesting local market (Jungba Market) just down the street. Lots of food for sale–it would be nice to know what. The early morning rise called for an early evening bedtime so we’ll start on Seoul tomorrow.
We met up with Melissa the next morning and she took us to walk a bit of the Cheonggyecheon Stream Trail. From there, we took a cab to Itaewon and found a bank ATM. We had lunch at a Thai place–The Buddha Belly–and, wouldn’t you know it, they accepted credit cards. Melissa had to go to work at 2:30 so we decide to walk a bit before heading back to our hotel. We walked up to the War Memorial, a very dramatic display with some interesting sculptures, and watched a squad of soldiers practice their routines–think cheerleaders with guns. There is a serious military presence in this country and they seem to be looking nervously to the north all the time. Who can blame them?
The subway ride back was easy but it took almost 15 minutes to walk out of the station. The system here is as impressive as Tokyo’s. Overall, the city has a different feel–it’s a little grimier and people seem to have a little less elegance. But, at the same time, people seem to be more open and to be enjoying their lives. They are definitely more Westernized. In our area, business is conducted on the sidewalk. No matter what business–office furniture, lighting fixtures, building supplies, etc.–it’s all out on the sidewalk so you have to skirt around the merchandise. Stores seem to group themselves by product. For example, there’ll be a couple of blocks of furniture stores, followed by a block of plumbing, followed by .... We even passed an auto body shop where the guy was repairing the bumper of a car on the sidewalk and another where a worker was doing welding repairs.
You also have to dodge motorcycles as you walk. In Tokyo, there were lots of pedal bikes but, here, the delivery guys ride their cycles on the sidewalk more than on the street. It’s a little disconcerting to be standing at the corner, waiting for a ‘Walk’ light and be surrounded by motorcycles waiting to use the same cross-walk. As a side note, we did get to try one of the diagonal cross-walks (without any cycles).
Rome and San Francisco may have hills but Seoul has mountains. Not just near the city but in the city. Friday morning we decided to do the Inwangsan Shamanist Hillside Walk. The guidebook had said that it was an uphill walk but neglected to say how steep the slope was. It was an interesting walk until we got to the “Zen rocks” and lost the trail. From there we scrambled up the mountainside and finally found another, different trail. We followed this one to the top of Inwang Mountain. That last 0.3 km was about the hardest climb I’ve ever done (or maybe I’m just too old for this). Thank God for the ropes to hang onto. The views from the top were great though the pictures aren’t (too much smog). It’s impossible to see all of Seoul because Inwang isn’t the only mountain around which the city has developed. We followed a different route on the way down and managed to reach the bottom without any serious health problems, other than jelly legs.
After lunch (and a rest break), we headed across the river to check out the Noryangjin Fish Market. What an incredible place. A huge structure with rows of tanks containing all manner of marine life. I saw the biggest shrimp I’ve ever seen (two would make a meal) and the biggest octopi. We watched one customer buying fish and the fish was still wriggling as it lay on the scale.
We took the subway back to Dandemon Stadium station which is just down the street from our hotel (the same station where we had met Melissa the day before and the same station from which we had set out for the fish market). Only Dandemon Stadium station is the nexus for three subway lines and there are about twelve exit gates. We knew we needed either 6 or 7 and we tried to follow the signs and maps as we wandered through the maze. The map seemed to indicate that exits 6 and 7 were just beyond exit 5 but, when we arrived at exit 5, we were faced with a flight of stairs up to the exit and a blank wall. Faced with the prospect of retracing our steps to try to discover where we’d gone wrong, we chose instead to use exit 5. Bad move.
Above ground, we were in an unfamiliar part of town and didn’t recognize and buildings or landmarks. We didn’t even know in which direction to start walking. What should have been a 10 minute walk from the train to our hotel took us almost an hour. We did finally stumble upon some familiar buildings (“I’ve seen that from our window”) and we survived. However, we have decided to get off at a smaller station the next time as there’s one on the other side of us about as close as Dandemon and it only has two exits. Live and learn.