Four Days in Seoul
The Anzac long weekend was begging us to fly off somewhere – we both had exactly four days off and decided that it was enough time to visit the roaring and digitally defiant, “Seoul of Asia” (I just had to use that somewhere!).
Unfortunately, our impromptu decision was a bit disastrous and we couldn’t completely capitalise on our four days – our first day was spent within a Korean Airlines jet with another two and a half hours stuck in Seoul’s notoriously bad traffic (Incheon International Airport is about 90km from Seoul!!).
We stayed at the Novotel Doksan, located about 15km from the heart of the city – considering the traffic and our grand expectations that the transport was like Tokyo, we regret not booking the Ibis Myeong-dong (which was in the heart of the city). We had booked a tour to see the Demilitarised Zone on our second day. Our pick-up van was stuck in traffic for two hours (we had moved 5km within a four-laned freeway) before he passed us off to the main tour bus – thankfully, the tour was worth being stuck in Seoul’s mind-boggling traffic. And we had managed to arrive in Seoul when a lovely yellowish-gray mass hovered above the sky – apparently, in April, the Gobi desert dust storms send sand particles and Beijing pollution westward to Korea before it dissipates.
However, despite the whirlwinds and the smoke, there were wonderful memories. I’ll never forget stumbling across “Homo Hill” and having a few drinks at “Always Homme” – we met five lovely people and shared stories and dreams despite a irreparable language barrier. “Power Tank Loo” gave strange hand kisses, Wang was a sex-hungry flirt, Mint and G-M were sweet and showered us with condoms as they bade us farewell.
It was an exhausting and at times, frustrating trip, but one definitely worth remembering.
Myeong-dong – where Korea-wood films are shot, the lights never turn off and the cash registers go ka-ching, ka-ching. I raided the Young Mens department at the Lotte World department store – they had a Fauchon Patisserie within the gourmet food hall which was a very very far far away from the quality of the macarons I had in Paris (these sent the wrong type of juices straight to my brain, it was like macarons injected with commercial syrup). At the same time, I was so happy that I had stumbled across macarons in Seoul.
Unlike Tokyo, which was bombed to the ground, Seoul still has significant historical landmarks. This is Gyeongbukgung, one of their grand palaces (we only saw one and a half – Nic got too exhausted).
Insa-Dong.
The ‘famed’ Starbucks in Insa-Dong – the fame lies within the shopfront banner.
One of the highlights of my trip was this ridiculously wonderful Blueberry Latte (the one on the right) from the One Plus Coffee shop at the Tiger World Indoor Swim and Ski Resort. Despite it’s Starbucks-inspired branding and anglo-name, a Google search on One Plus Coffee failed to bring any results. My search for such a lovely blueberry latte in Sydney continues.
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