We've been back now for over a week. Or at least a week as of 10:30 this morning. Who would have thought that a trip back from Seoul would take almost 24 hours? That's as long as it took me to get to Paris - and that was not a fun trip. I would do it again, but it is boring.
Anyways, first things first. There are a lot of trotting tracks in central Victoria. I saw a hell of a lot from the plane. I booked seats on all legs of our flights a few weeks before we were due to leave, at least that way I knew where we were sitting and such. Each leg we had our seats together in a double, so that was nice. I had the window from Hong Kong to Seoul and actually saw a plane flying underneath us - pretty cool.
Seoul was good. Cold. We expected it to be cool, but as I said -15 is fucking cold. We both got very sick on the first Sunday, and went to bed at 9 PM. We got up at 8:30 AM to have breakfast, and were in bed again by 9:30. We got up at around 2 PM, went to Seoul station to see what time the KTX left for Busan, and were back in bed again by 4. And we didn't get up until 8:30 the next day. We were very sick, and still getting over it. We simply didn't wear enough clothing.
The
KTX was cool, the fastest it hit (that I saw) was 299.8 km/h. Now that is fairly honking along. We went on a bus tour in Busan, and then back on the train. It was a good trip and we got to see a bit of the country side, which is always nice.
We also didn't each lunch or dinner from Sunday until Thursday - the only thing we ate was breakfast which normally consisted of peaches and a slice of toast for me, and cereal and toast for my partner. Not real good, but all we could stomach.
We still had a good time. The ex-pat lifestyle is not something that I could do. If I was by myself I would be terribly lonely. I know they have friends and stuff, but it seems quite transient, and I wouldn't like that too much. If I was there with my partner, then that would be different, as we would be able to do things together - alone would be pretty hard core.
Phill was good. He has a good job in a decent company and seems to be happy. We caught up often and went out for a few drinks. It was good catching up. There is a photo of us three avid adventurers below. That photo was taken outside the Lotte Hotel, which was just around the corner from our hotel (
Ibis). The Ibis was good. It had everything we needed. The bathroom was a bit dodgy, but at least we had one of our own. I got breakfast thrown in for us both, so that saved some cash, and forced us to get out of bed. The location was excellent, as we could walk to meet Phil, and there was a subway station at the end of the street - about 2 minute walk away. If I was to head back to Seoul, I would definitely think about staying there again. The only drama was the fact that they turn the heating up in the room, but we could open the window, so that sort of sorted that problem.
We had a view towards Seoul Tower, which was nice at night, and it was easy to get everywhere. We mainly got cabs as they were cheap, and they usually knew where the hotel was. Most didn't. This was a shit, as it made it hard for us to get home, but it sorted itself out in the long run.
All in all it was a very good holiday. Although because we were on the go all the time, I don't really feel as though I've had a break. It will be later this year before I get any more time off, so I better get used to it. We were sick with bad colds, but we still managed to go out to many places in Seoul such as the
Coex, DMZ and just to wander around Seoul itself. I enjoyed it, and I particularly enjoyed spending time with my partner. Next time it will be a holiday in warmer climes, though.
Well. I said I will update the blog more often and I hope to. I've also put all the photos onto my
Flickr site, so check them out there. Be warned, once you've seen one palace, you've basically seen them all.
More to come.
