Tales of a Korean Adventure: Got Seoul?

After our first week we decided to go to Seoul with Sean and Melanie. We met them at the Suwon station, and went from there. It only takes 27 minutes by train to get from Suwon to Seoul, the capitol of South Korea.

We met two more people in Seoul, David and Andrea, both Korean. We had lunch at a hole-in-the-wall place, and then carried on to Insedong. Insedong had a little market. We walked through and tried a lot of different candies.

Next we went to Changdeokgung, an old palace that was built in 1412. The last English guided tour had finished for the day, so we took the Korean guided tour. Luckily Sean had already taken the tour, and David and Andrea speak Korean, so we kept getting random tidbits of interesting information.

My favorite bit of history was that about the King's bedroom. The only furniture in the King's bedroom was his bed. Japan and Korea were mortal enemies, so they feared that if there was furniture in the King's bedroom, there would be ninjas hiding in the furniture. Yes, ninjas.

We then moved on to dinner and drinks. I started getting a bad headache and woozy, so I ended up sipping water the whole night. I'm ready for my body to be adjusted! Sean, Melanie and David decided to stay out, but because of my headache Andrew and I got a hotel for the night. We stayed at Hotel Noonoo. It was 60,000 won... which is about $48. There was a plasma screen TV, internet, and a huge bathroom. Very nice for only $48!

The next day we putzed around the local market a little more, then found our way back to Suwon. Its nice knowing we can make our way around the country with out the help of a Korean speaking aid!

This is a random street in Seoul.