Updates From Seoul

Hello!

Since December 26th, I've been in Seoul, South Korea with two friends. So far it has been a really good trip. The night of our arrival was pretty rough; Lisa's flight got in fairly late, and although we made it onto the last bus into town, we got off a few stops too early and were hopelessly lost for what felt like a long time. It was freezing cold and none of the taxis would stop for us, so our backup plan kind of failed. Well, eventually one taxi DID pick us up, but the address system here is so weird and vague that he couldn't even find our hostel with a typed copy of the address in Korean. Eventually we got back out of the taxi at a bus stop that I recognized (the one where we probably should've gotten off), but even then we couldn't find the hostel. In the end, we had to call the hostel, and one of the workers was kind enough to come pick us up from a nearby landmark. We didn't get to our room until about 2 am.

However, everything since then has been pretty good. The weather has stayed very cold, and it has been snowing off and on, but mostly that hasn't been a problem. I've been dressing warm enough that only my face and fingers are cold; even ski gloves can't keep my fingertips warm some of the time. But the cold hasn't slowed us down much. We've seen a lot of palaces, done a good amount of shopping at outdoor markets and malls, and eaten a number of delicious things. Some of the sights we've seen:

- Palaces: Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changyeonggung, Deoksugung
- Markets: Dongdaemun, Namdaemun
- Viewpoints: N Seoul Tower
- Districts: Itaewon (international district), Insadong (traditional crafts and souvenirs), Bukchon Hanok Village (traditional houses still intact), Myeongdong (trendy shopping area)

Some cool things we've done have been to see a Nanta show (mostly nonverbal comedy/musical about preparing a wedding feast), soak in the various baths at a spa (communal bathing is the best kind!), and eat at a food stall at one of the night markets near our hostel (cheap, tasty, and definitely Korean). Today I went to a cat cafe, which is basically a cafe that serves some basic drinks, and which has a number of cats in residence for you to pet or play with, assuming they're in the mood for it. Of course, being that they are cats, most of them were just sleeping when I was there. The ones that were awake weren't terribly interested in being petted by strangers, so they kept their distance as well. But I enjoyed seeing some pet cats, as opposed to the few strays I've seen in Kochi.

Shopping has been pretty fun, but I actually haven't bought as much stuff as I was originally planning to. I've gotten some souvenirs, a few articles of clothing, some accessories, and a little makeup. Most things are comparatively cheaper here than in Japan or the U.S., which is why I originally thought I might buy a ton of things. But there's also the fact that sizes here are quite small, so clothing options can be pretty limited at a lot of the markets and malls. And since winter is so cold, most of the winter fashion is just sweaters, which aren't that exciting for the most part. But I can't really complain about saving money.

We've seen and done a lot of things, but there are a few places we still want to go. One of them is the War Museum and Memorial, which documents the history of war in Korea and apparently has a really good section on the Korean Conflict/War (whatever you call it). I've barely learned anything about it before, so I'm really interested to go there. We also want to go to a dog cafe and play with some dogs, and I'm interested in the COEX Mall, which is apparently the largest underground mall in Asia. We do not, however, have any plans to go to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone, the no-man's-land between North and South Korea). It might be interesting to see, but it would almost certainly take a full day, and there are a ton of things we want to see within Seoul itself.

Although tonight is New Year's Eve, we don't have any big plans. It's not really a night for partying in Korea; most people stay in with their families, or go to the beach to watch the first sunrise of the year. And since we aren't staying in a district with a bunch of clubs, it would be very inconvenient to go out dancing, assuming the clubs are even open. So our plan is to stay at the hostel and go up to the rooftop around midnight to see if there are any fireworks to be seen. We couldn't find champagne, but Jessica and I are going to share a bottle of white wine, and Lisa has some cider. Possibly other hostel guests will be upstairs, too. In any case, I'm okay with having a quiet night in. So, to everyone back home, Happy New Year!