From November 23-26, I went to Seoul, South Korea on vacation. Ever since coming
to Japan I've wanted to see other Asian countries as well, but until a couple weeks
ago I always spent my vacations in Japan or in English-speaking countries (Australia
and the US). Since it's cheaper to go in November than during my vacation period that
starts later this month, I decided to go for it! Seoul was very interesting. It's a
huge city, of course, and there is so much to see and do. It's probably not on most
people's destination lists, but I recommend it. There are a few big outdoor markets
in the downtown area that are just amazing - I couldn't believe the amount of STUFF
for sale - jeans, hats, designer bags (both real and fake), jewelry, food...you name it,
it was there! It was a real "Asian" experience. Even most of the department stores
were set up differently than in Japan or the West. Instead of "departments," per say,
there were tons of individually-staffed stalls within in the store selling different
brands of clothes/accessories/shoes/etc. It was almost like an indoor market. Those
actually drove me crazy (too crowded and too hard to try anything on), but the outdoor
markets were fascinating.
The War Museum in Seoul is just amazing. One of the best museums I've ever been to, even
though there weren't always English translations. Not only was there tons of stuff to
look at inside (you could go into a war submarine and see the mess hall, sleeping quarters,
etc.) but outside they had dozens of real wartime helicopters, missile launchers, B-52
bombers, other planes, and a couple submarines on display.
The other war-related thing I did was to take a tour to the DMZ (the De-Militarized
Zone, the 2km-wide uninhabited border between North and South Korea). They took us down
(WAY down) into an infiltration tunnel that the North had dug; to an observation deck
where we could look into the North; and to Dorasan Station, the furthest north station
in South Korea - probably the newest, too, as it was only built in 2002. At Dorasan
Station, we could get our passports stamped and get our picture taken with a South
Korean soldier. It was a very interesting half-day trip.
A few random thoughts on South Korea: 1) they drive on the right. I hadn't known/expected
that and actually, it took me at least half a day to even notice. :) 2) There are tons
of foreigners in Seoul, especially Americans. It was nice for me to see and was nice to
be able to casually talk to some people. Probably because there are so many foreigners,
there are many western restaurants, especially in the Itaewon area, where I stayed.
Within 2 blocks of my hotel, there was Subway, KFC, Baskin Robbins, Starbucks, Dunkin'
Donuts, Burger King, and Outback Steakhouse! 3)Compared to Japanese, Korean is super-easy
to read. By the end of the third day, I could sound out most things. I just didn't know
what any of it meant! LOL
On to December, though not much - I went to Universal Studios in Osaka last weekend. I
liked it better than Disneyland, probably because the lines seemed to go much faster.
We ate at Hard Rock Cafe and Cinnabon - I was in heaven. :-)