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I left UK with snow coming down as we climbed up into the sky. It was dour and drizzly in Beijing on transfer. But arriving in Seoul - I think I must have died & gone to heaven _ NO litter.no gum trodden into the pavement, friendly people who ask if they can helhelp, lots of hot sun..... what's not to like?
week 4 of korea
week 3 of korea
week 2 & 1/2 of korea
my progress is slow as i get to terms with this new toy, plus the iteresting lumpy electricity being experienced. Much seems to have disappeared into the ether. However,hope springs, or rather limps along. The weather gets a bit warmer, the wind reduces and I'm te.pted to venture afield.
The subway is brilliant, I suppose developed for visiting Tourists to the '88 Olymplcs so more or less idiot proof. A really helpfull outcome of the US presence during the Korean war (for me) is the use of english here, although there are interesting pitfalls. For example, in bookshops titles are in english _ but inside it's all korean script. Down another rabbit hole, as Jen would say, they have a brilliant alphabet, based on phonetics. This was developed under the direction of a far sighted ruler some hundreds of years ago - in great secrecy. The literate classes being in favour of maintaining their speciality were against a language that even the downtrodden farmers could understand. Consequently not only was it possible to inform of better ways of agriculture, but it has been simple to use on computers as unlike chinese & japanese pictograms there are only 2 dozen characters to combine rather than a separate character for each word. Out of the rabbit hole, it makes for a very easy lace to get around. Railway stations have the lcd screens in both languages for example. To get a railcard, the ticket machine can cope with half a dozen languages, plus how lovely, when I was contemplating the machine, a friendly voice murmed in ear 'do you require any help?' He took me to a kiosk to get a plastic card, inserted into the machine with money told me which buttons to press & the activated spat out - we high 5s to our mutual surprise.
week 1 of 4 in korea
- The hostel is easy to find right near the center of town, lovely & warm with underfloor heating.. At first I have a 10 bed en suite to myself for four days. The breakfasts are enough to sustain me all day with staples of rice, kimchi (pickled vegetable mix), roll & jam sachet. This last is a cunning eastern version, bent in half, it squirts out the jam directly onto the bread - and since a cutlery set is a soup spoon & needle thin metal chopsticks, this is pretty handy. Daily variations of a meat dish, savoury type custard or tofu (hazelnut flavour I' m told), salads & some vegetables make for an interesting start to the day.
Only booked 4 nights, so start ticking off the explore list. Discover that the DMZ (demilitarized zone) has to be by special tour which has to be booked 3 days in advance. Plan change - stop over the w.end, plus Monday is a public holiday, and Tuesday they are ´busy'. The predictive text is getting me down - it has twice turned D M Z into FOX, now 3 Times & suddenly put T not t. W here are you Bob?????!
Anyway, extend Seoul stay by 6 more nights, as army on manoeuvres on the Tuesday, pleased really ( It just suggested orally for really!!!!!). Chase up palaces,genes, no you sky ma gone I was Ted genes - it is going bonkers - that should have read - palaces, temples, no you silly machine I intended temples.
It takes a while to correct, which gets me down as I loose the thread. Just thought I' d explain why it seems to be getting turgid.
My big excitement has been discovering the Cheonggyeneon stream. This small river had gradually become clogged & contaminated due to lack of maintainance so in the 60' s it was built over to get shot of the problem. With an enormous shopping centre. 60' s conCrete not so great, rotting like no tomorrow. Big city rumpus when then mayor suggested demolition & stream revitalizing, but he won the day - hurrah as it is a fabulous environment - birds, fish, planting and interesting landscaping, all leading to a vast improvement in air quality. But it' s not just a stream - lots of bridges, all different as the stream proceeds down, steps, "hopping stones" at regular intervals, wheelchair access ramps each side, fountains, water walls, huge covered & open spaces for concerts/parties etc www.cheonggyecheon.or.kr Various points along the way have brass signs nothing historical remains found in the process. There' s also a museum devoted to it all, with a great model 3x4 meters of it in the city context.
NOW saving - holding it will behave better tomorrow, am knackered.uh
- comments
Taal Hello there! Great to read you :o). If you can't find how, get smb to take the predictive text off - real pain otherwise. Lots of people asking after you here - North & South Korea very much in the headlines. Spoke to Juhee - she and her family don't seem perturbed... Leo thrilled to have had a letter from you.Look forward to reading more :o) By the way are you reading emails? Happy exploring & love always, Txxx