I ended up staying a bit long in Seoul than expected. This is because I dallied in booking my flight to Buenos Aries. If I want to leave earlier, the cost of the flight would have been considerably more. One of the benefits of not working, is that time doesn’t matter too much.
Good Place to Stay
I stayed in small hostel near the Honjik University. This a happening little area, with lots of bars, restaurants and ‘street life’. The contrast with Japan was palpable. In many respects, the cities in Japan, even Tokyo are dour places. My immediate impression of Seoul was that it is more ‘Asian’ and more relaxed. There certainly seemed to be more young people around. If think is reflects that demographics of the place, not just that I was near universities.
Palaces
I checked out the palaces. I guess I should be more interested in ‘older’ Korean history, but after Japan, one palace started to look just like any other.
Metro Underground Railway
The Seoul metro system is impressive. Lots of lines, covering most of the city. The stations I saw, all had the dual door system – doors on the platform lining up with those on the train.
One issue though is the paper maps in the tourist guides. They cover all the network on small pieces of paper. This results in the writing being almost too small to read. There is one version on a large page. My skiing friends managed to find a tourist booth with that version.
A simple option used in other cities, e.g. London and Paris is to print a map that only includes the central part of the network where 95% plus of tourists would travel. This means that the printing is large enough for old coots like me to read.
I guess that other thing is that most people us smart phones to get around and don’t need paper maps.
Another whinge I have is that on the ‘circle line’, the indicator board on the train shows that train moving in the opposite direction to the train’s actual movement. Check out the video.
End of the whinging.
Museums
Seoul has great museums. The cultural museum has a better building than its contents (check out the photos of the aluminium sausage like thing) but was interesting. The National Museum is huge and very interesting. There was also a small museum (that can’t remember the name of) that was covered Korea’s economic development very well.
Probably the most impressive museum was that War Memorial. It has some excellent exhibits and material on the Korean War and is impact on the soldiers and the people of Korea.
Shops
This a serious shopping town. There are a lot of upmarket shops that look just like other upmarket shops in other big cities, with all the usual brands. This is a great refection on the wealth of the place, albeit these shops do nothing for me.
There is an electronic shopping centre on seven levels. I defy anyone to be unable to find the electronic gadget (phone, computer, – new or used) they want in that place.
River and National Assembly
I took a walk to and along that river from the area I was staying. It was a bit bleak, given it is still winter. However, it was great to see lots of cyclists.
The National Assembly is impressive from the outside. Apparently you have to register days in advance to be able to tour inside. That is a pity in a democracy.
It was good to see solar panels on the government building next to the National Assembly. It would be great to see that in Canberra.
Flickr Links
War Memorial
billrider2013 