Heart....

There were no horrible time/date mix-ups. My fellow traveller from overlanding in South America some years ago, as well as my friendly neighbourhood Korean, was eagerly awaiting at the arrival hall at Incheon Intl. With no hassle the direct railway transported my and mine to what I hoped would be my single room accomodation for the remains of my journey. However, upon reaching my booked hostel, and accessing its Wi-fi, I received two emails from the establishments. One saying that my reservation hadn't gone through, and one saying that they could offer me a bed in a dorm. Those e-mails were sent upon my day of arrival, so it did not give me decent time to arrange alternative accommodation. However, hunger and thirst took precedence, and so I took the dorm offer for the night and after a delicious dinner and a few brews, I managed to book another room in another hostel in the same neighbourhood. Not only because I'm lazy and didn't want to drag my backpacks all over town, but because Hongdae is a really cool area, with vibrant nightlife, lots of bars, shops, restaurants, cafés and young, hip people.

Freshly checked in to my new home, I met up with Cholong and we set off to explore the Korean capitol. A military training delayed our approach from the subway to the main square, Gwanghwamun, but that only meant that after ten minutes wait it was refreshingly lacking tourist crowds. At the end of the square lies Gyeongbokgung, the palace of kings of yore. It is well worth a stroll, especially with the nice park, the ten-beaster (the more beasts guarding the roof, the more important the building. Note that the emperor's building in the forbidden city in Beijing had 11 beasts, and no house in China was allowed to have the same or more) and the culture museum, included in the ticket. Along with a performance of folk music, traditions of Korea were on display, and elaborated upon with the help of Cholong. While in the neighbourhood, we checked out the traditional architecture and cityplanning of Namsangol Honok village, as well as a trip to the president's residence.

Heading over to the fashion and nightlife district of Myeongdong, with some cool beers in the sunset by Cheonggyecheon, a stream that runs through Seoul, and the best dumplings, well, ever, at a local eatery. Easily spotted from Myeongdong is the hill known as Namsan, with its N Tower atop. Greater view of Seoul can't be found, and the place is the number 1 tourist spot in the city. It is also the number 1 dating spot, and they know how to make a coin from it, with photoshopped couple pictures, a teddy bear museum and a heavily suggested way of sending love letters from what they claim is the highest level post office in the world. Ignoring the lovey-dovey stuff, the view from the observation deck is quite impressive, and the hill upon which the tower stands is a nice park area with bars, cafés, gazebos and of course cable cars. Eventually it was sleeping time, but not before I had checked how to get to the DMZ. Or, you know, the HMZ, as it would turn out.

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