Travel to Seoul

Day 8 – Travel to Seoul

Seoul

Thursday, 12 April 2012

Still not feeling 100% so I wasn’t able to eat a lot of breakfast. But a cup of sweetened black tea with lemon slices was delicious.

We checked out of the hotel about 9.00am bound for Busan station and a train to Seoul. Again, a very comfortable 3 hour rail journey in our booked seats. The train was full with people getting on and off along the way and refreshment carts trundling through on a regular basis.

We were met at Seoul Station by Jay, the owner of the duplex apartment we had booked through airbnb.com. We had prearranged to meet at the 2nd floor McDonalds. Jay is a personable young man who spoke good English. He took over wheeling my bag and escorted us to his apartment, literally across the road from the station. The apartment is on the 2nd floor of a large block of flats with a concierge available until 10.00pm daily.

We should be very comfortable as the apartment is very close to many of the attractions we want to see. A mattress on the floor is definitely a step up from sleeping on the floor and there is also a washing machine.

We settled in and then went out shopping for basic food items to the large Lotte mart across the road. The store is huge and food shopping is a great way to experience local Korean culture. We got to taste a lot of free samples as there were many demonstrators cooking a range of foods. You should see the size of the pork katsue – enormous! A search for tissues could have been embarrassing – almost had personal hygiene products instead!

Back to the apartment for a refreshing green tea and then a long walk to get our bearings. Fridge dinner as tummy still a little fragile.

	Jay’s duplex apartment @ Seoul station [Map]		Wifi and English TV stations @ Jay’s duplex [Map]
	Lotte supermarket at Seoul Station [Map]		look at the size of the pork katsue [Map]