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There were two reasons to go to Seoul, both good ones. I had promised the three Irish lasses from the China trip that I would give the CDROMs with photos on, and they live in Seoul. Well, one of them does. The other reason was that I had been in Korea for eight months, and had not had a chocolaty dessert. This was something I meant to rectify.
The train was unbelievably comfortable. The seat was huge, reclinable and had a footrest. I was sat next to a chatty Korean who sold fabrics internationally. He got off before Seoul, and I got 30 minutes of shut-eye before arriving at Seoul Station. I phoned and got directions to a bar from Lisa. These were difficult to follow, as she got her lefts and rights completely turned around. I got to the bar by turning right every time she had said left and left whenever she had said right. I tell you, those Irish, namely Lisa, Fran and Claire, girls know how to party.
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I ended up getting to bed at about 6am, and rose at 11am. I was dog-tired throughout the day, which was appropriately grey and miserable. I walked to the tube station, only to discover that I'd left my guidebook at Fran's. I pressed on though, and got off at my first stop: Techno World. This was nine stories of electronics. It was pretty mind-blowing how much there was under one roof. I browsed for a while, noticing that the prices at the different stands were remarkably different. I ate Pizza on the ninth floor, and snapped a few pictures.
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I then moved on to Seoul Station, where I bought a ticket home and stuffed my bag into a locker. I realised afterwards that my scarf was still in the bag, which I regretted throughout the rest of the cold, wet, miserable day. On to Gyeongbukgung palace, where I spent about 10 minutes interested, then spent another hour or so wandering around just to get pictures. I was freezing, and didn't really want to be there, but went through the motions anyway. The pictures came out really well, and in retrospect, I'm very glad I looked around. It reminds me of the times I was a kid, when my parents dragged me around kicking and screaming, and I managed to make good memories despite myself.
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The front of the palace. This would look good on the wall.
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Gyeongheoru, where important feasts were held or where foreign envoys were entertained.
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The above sundial, called Angbuilgo, which means "upward-looking kettle that catches the shadow of the sun", was the coolest solar chronometer I've ever seen. It not only tells the time on the horizontal, but the vertical is used to indicate the season, i.e. how high the sun gets in the sky. While I was admiring and contemplating this, it started to rain in earnest, so I ducked out and back into the subway.
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Then, on to Iteawon, the western district of Seoul. I got there completely drained, so decided to do no shopping. I spotted an 'Outback Steakhouse', and decided that it was enough like 'TGI Friday' (the restaurant I had been looking for, being a place that serves good desserts) to drop into. I ate a steak and had a hot fudge brownie dessert at the bar, where I chatted with a golf pro from America. Unfortunately, while I was able to force myself to finish the steak, I had no real room for the dessert, but stuffed about a third of it down me in a stubborn "I came here to eat a dessert" kind of way. The golf pro took me to 'the three alleys pub' where I swapped jokes with the owner, Gunther, who was drinking one beer shot per minute in a head-to-head competition. He was a cool guy, dressed up to look like a packet of refreshers.
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I headed back to the station with just enough time to collect my bag and get on the train. I had to fight to stay awake throughout the trip as if I had lost consciousness, I wouldn't have regained it until Busan, the final destination of the train. I made it back home safely despite my sleepiness.