Seoul -- Day 1 -- Annyeng haseyo!

From Hong Kong airport, I took a red-eye flight to Seoul (Incheon) International airport, arrived at 4.30 am and exchanged some local currency. I had a hard time sleeping on the flight, and to top it all, I had to wait for an hour for the airport bus #602 to Hapjeong Subway Station (8,000 won). As of this writing, the public transportation to the airport is via buses; plans are underway to extend the trains. You may think that the buses are inconvenient, but they are actually extremely efficient and easy to use.

I arrived at the Hapjeong station and according to the instructions took the exit #8. The first lesson was that English directions are completely useless. The second lesson was that you have to pay careful attention to the exit numbers on the subway. After following the directions faithfully, I arrived at Kim's Guest House, probably one of the nicest guest houses around. Mrs. Kim, who runs the place, speaks excellent English and is very helpful and accommodating. I had an a/c room at 25,000 won (~25 USD) per night. A fantastic deal. Having slept little on the way in, I napped a little on the couch in the "living room". Nice thing about this place is that internet access is free, breakfast is included and laundry is free. Around 9.00 am, I met some of the house mates, Britt (New Zealand), Manuel (France), Andreas and Matthias (Germany), Miho and her brother (Japan). Breakfast is strictly do it yourself -- bread, jam, butter and coffee.

I showered and set out for the city. Hapjeong subway station is a 10 minute walk from the guest house and quite convenient, once you know your way around. ATMs in Korea are quite confusing, because very few accept foreign cards. Even then, finding one with English instructions is a bigger challenge. I found one ATM at a local bank that was bought by Standard Chartered.

Seoul Metropolitan Subway: It is one of the largest and most complex subway systems in the world. To get an idea of the complexity, see this map. It has to be efficient, because must serve a population of 23,000,000 -- Seoul metro is only second to Tokyo. Wow! I didn't realize it was so big until I arrived there. Trains run every 4-5 minutes, are very reliable, but always crowded. Cellphones work everywhere, and many commuters watch TV on them. And here's the thing -- no graffiti anywhere. It's a pleasure. There are clearly marked signs in English, Japanese and Korean, and local maps are available in every station. In as far as tickets are concerned, each ride is about 1,000 won (~ 1 USD), but smart cards (available at every subway station) give you a 100 won discount. You just flash it past each gate and the go. I also discovered that to cross streets near a subway, you have to use the underground pathways. It's a system that simply put -- works!

People: The Koreans are extremely polite and bow at every opportunity. They are very well dressed, and even a stroll is an excuse to wear formal clothes. Sure, like any major metro, they have their share of alcoholism, but the Seoul drunks are the politest I've seen. No violence, none whatsoever. I've never felt safer in a big city than in Seoul. The social system respects its elders and even on the subway, the seats for the elderly/handicapped/pregnant women remain unoccupied even if the train is overcrowded. Nice. Very few older Koreans speak English, but the younger generation is learning English in increasing numbers. In fact, many young people from New Zealand or Australia finance their travel in Korea by teaching English as a second language. The Koreans are very hardworking and it's not uncommon to hear about school children slaving away for 8-10 hours a day.

Now on to the sight seeing. I went to Changdeokgung Palace, one of the "Five Grand Palaces" in Seoul. The palace was completed in 1412 and suffered multiple invasions by the Japanese. It is a beautiful palace, but after a while the tour becomes very monotonous. I booked myself on a guided English tour (admission 3,000 won) leaving me 2 hours to grab lunch. I wandered around for a restaurant, but all signs are in Korean and the only recourse was to see the pictures and decide. Not knowing what to expect, I read Lonely Planet's recommendations and chose Bibimbap. It appears that the name is generic and each restaurant has its own variation, differentiated mostly by the side dishes. The meal was very cheap (4,000 won), but tasty. It had an interesting texture of rice, crunchy carrots, crispy mushrooms, chili sauce and of course, kimchi. Loved it!

I returned to Changdeokgung palace and joined the English guided tour (1 hour 20 minutes). The guide was very boring, spoke in a monotone and hurried everyone along. Man, did she have a plan! Had I known better, I would have taken a Korean tour and simply used the printed English guide. Once out of the palace, I took a break and had instant coffee (1,000 won) at a roadside stall. To make this coffee, a prepackaged mixture of coffee and sugar in a long tube is added to hot water and milk. To stir simply use the "tube" as a spoon. Ingenious.

I took the recommended "between the palaces walk" and walked about 3 kms on the sidewalks. What you notice is -- no Japanese cars! Almost all cars were Korean, save for a few BMWs and Mercedes. Almost every cab has a sign on the door saying "free translators". Since the cabbies speak no English, you can call a central telephone number from the cab and talk to an operator who then provides instructions to the cabbie. The cab drivers are very honest and pride themselves on providing a good service.

After about an hour, I arrived at Gyeongbokgung or the Grand Palace (admission 3,000 won). This palace was completed in 1394 during the Joseon Dynasty and like other places in Korea, destroyed multiple times by the Japanese. The palace is huge and impressive and obviously carries a special meaning for the Koreans, but the lack of English signboards made my experience somewhat deficient. With the same ticket I visited the neighboring Palace Museum of History for an hour with a guided audio tour. I didn't enjoy this museum much.

It was getting late (and I was tired too) and I rode the subway to Hapjeong station. I stopped for coffee at a pub called "Beer, Hof and Coffee". It was a complete ripoff (4,000 won). What I learned later on is that any restaurant that has "Hof" written on its signboards is good for drinking alcohol -- not coffee. I walked back to Kim's and joined a group of youngsters (Manuel from France, Charles from Singapore, Miho and her brother from Japan) for dinner. We went to a neighboring restaurant for galbi or Korean BBQ. We sat on the floor and generally enjoyed ourselves, not in the least due to a liberal supply of soju (similar to sake but flavored). Since most of us were new to the experience, the restaurant owner (through Manuel, who spoke some Korean) came by to help us with the grill and the meats. All ingredients were fresh and the taste, you ask? Heavenly. Soju certainly made the conversation much easier and on our way back to the guest house, we picked up few more bottles of soju and beer, and chatted away until the wee hours of the morning. As the night continued more people joined our group for an impromptu part-ay! Depending on whom I was talking to I switched between English, French and German. Good times!