I went out on Saturday night with a few people and we discovered that one guy visiting from England hadn’t been shown a good time. He was visiting his friend (I know of him because the expat group here is a pretty tight knit little group) and he apparently hadn’t taken him to see anything, and Sunday was his last night. So…both myself and another of our friends suggested that we take him to Seoul on Sunday (the guy’s flight was at midnight).
So…that’s just what we did. Got home around 6am and then met up with the others at 11am to depart for Seoul. Thankfully it’s only about an hour away on the KTX (high-speed bullet train) and can be 2-3 on the bus (depending how many stops the bus makes).
We took the train up there and found out that all of the storage lockers (for his suitcase–the airport is just outside Seoul, so he brought everything with him) were sealed and off-limits because President Obama was in town for the Nuclear Security Summit meeting in Seoul.
Anyway,we decided to check with a hostel and see if they’d hold it for us (they took it for free! yay!)–then we were off!!
First stop:
Gyeongbok Palace
Then after that, we went to Seoul Tower. This tower gives a lovely panoramic view of the city.
^Nuhhhhooooooo. I don’t want a slideshow WordPress. Blrgh. Oh well. Go there for the Seoul Tower pictures. lol. 🙂
After Seoul Tower, we all got Korean BBQ (Gogigui)..my current favorite dish. 🙂 They have endless side dishes to pair it with and you get to grill the food right there at your own table. The tables at these places have a built in…basically a mini pit right there in the table. However, this particular place in Seoul wasn’t as great because the prices were higher for less food than we were used to in Daejeon. (Perhaps because Seoul is a bigger city). Anyway, left there to go pick up our friend’s stuff from the hostel and made our way to the Incheon Internation Airport (in Seoul). We all got some ice cream at Baskin Robbins while we waited, and then my co-worker and myself caught the first bus out of Seoul. We had to work earlier than the rest of them, so they stayed behind to see him off.
We left around 10:10pm and made it back to Daejeon a little after midnight. (Typically a 3 hour bus-ride, but at night, it’s a straight drive…no stops. Yay!
I’d say, a pretty successful visit to Seoul. 🙂 Normally, you’d have more time there, but this was definitely a fun, spur-of-the-moment trip.
staceyinkorea 