Korea, part one - Arrival in Korea and Seoul

The Four-Part Series on Leslie's Winter Vacation

When I told my teachers I was going to Korea during the winter break, the reactions I garnered were of three types:
1. "Kimchi!"
2. "But won't it be cold?"
3. "Oh, how nice! I want to travel more ... "

To be honest, I wasn't much better myself. I knew we were going further north than my own location in Japan, so it would be cold, and that Korea is known for kimchi, Hyundai, and the pop-star Rain. As for expectations from the nation, I had few. My fears were more wrapped up in my ability to interact with my travel companions. I had met two of my three companions only once, and the third was someone whose acquaintance, as Mr. Darcy would say, I could not claim.
I'd clearly be learning a lot from this trip.

My flight to Busan on the 23rd of December was good; as a matter of fact, it was great. I somehow managed to land in business class while having paid an economy-class price. The four of us (Brendon, the trip-planner, Jennifer, Glenn, and myself) met at our hostel that evening and then voyaged out into Busan in search of dinner. Busan is the second largest city in Korea, a fact that I only learned on our return to the city on the eve of our departure. My impressions of the location made me inclined to think that the port town was unused to seeing foreigners, and even less used to dealing with them. Still, I had little time to experience the city, as we were out early the next morning and on our way to Seoul.


Seoul certainly let one know of its size and population density from the start. While having the metropolitan feel of other large cities (Tokyo and New York come to mind), it also maintains the negatives of those cities - throngs of people hurrying to their locations and very unappreciative of those who slowed them down in any way. Still, we gathered our strength and repeated the process from the previous evening: checked in to our accommodations, shifted the contents of our luggage, and then sought out a place to eat. As it was Christmas Eve, we bought a Christmas Cake to share in the hotel. All in all, we were excited and ready to begin sightseeing the next day. We were fortunate enough to have a tour guide in Korea - Chantelle, a friend of Jennifer's from college, who lives in Seoul and teaches at a cram school there. We would be meeting with her early the next day and then traveling from there.


The Confucian tombs of the royal family at Jongmyo Shrine, the bustling shopping areas, and the 63rd building - Korea was not to be taken lightly on Christmas day. I grumbled to myself that attempting to make our way around the busiest city on the biggest dating holiday on the Asian calendar was probably not the wisest thing we had planned to do, but one could hardly expect less from a bitter singleton. We walked, we talked, we learned - it really was a good day.


The next day, the 26th, we let Chantelle rest (by which I mean, we let her go to work as usual) while the four of us traveled to Suwon, a nearby city that had the claim to fame of being the sister city of Brendon's town in Hokkaido. We weren't expecting much - Brendon's town is small, and we were mostly going to satisfy his coworkers, who would be sure to ask if he had made a trip to the city. Reality proved to be very different from anticipation as we stepped out of an immense train station and out into a busy town. Blissfully fazed by this, we hailed a taxi and made our way to the beautiful Suwon Fortress, a location that taught me two important lessons:
1. Losing ones companions among a large complex is disconcerting but unavoidable, and
2. If the wax statues and English descriptions are to be believed, Suwon fortress was home to a formidable number of eunuchs.


The 27th saw us to the Demilitarized Zone, the border between North and South Korea, a trip which is deserving of an entry all on its own. The 28th, our last day in Seoul, we made our way to one of the royal palaces of old, Changdeok-gung. There we enjoyed a tour by a guide whose humor and English were both brilliant. The palace was one of my favorite places for pictures during our time in Seoul. The grounds were gorgeous, housing both locations that were recently repainted and those that had been left in their original state, and the time of day was perfect for interesting shadows and sunset photos.

I was tired and called it an early night, leaving the others to karaoke while I made my way back to the hotel, picked up a pizza to go, and relaxed with a book and a beer. In the morning, I was fully recharged and ready to be off to our next location, Gyeong-ju.