A Day in Seoul

Alright folks, this is going to be a long one. We tried to sleep in to adjust to the time change because we all woke up around 3 am. We ended up getting out of the hostel around 10 and went off to explore the city. We came back 13 hours later and Nola's phone said we walked 11.27 miles. Here is some of what we got to experience:

During breakfast of eggs and toast in the hostel we spotted this poster of some friendly inter-Korean jabbing. We set out on the metro to Gyeongbokgung Palace, although it took about an hour of walking to actually arrive at the palace. After a few stops into some gas stations for directions and some interesting back alleys, we finally navigated our way.

The entire place was beautiful. The grounds expanded for maybe one or two square miles, with around 50 different temples. Each individual temple was hand-painted, with intricate designs on each panel of the ceiling and underside of the roof. As the only non-engineer here, I apologize for my lack of terminology. Most of the buildings were closed, though the King's chambers, where he addressed the public, were open for viewing. 

The place was packed with tourists and locals taking in the views of the extravagant temples and mountains in the background. Several women and younger girls toured the palace grounds, decorated in a traditional Korean dress. In the front entrance, re-enactments of the royal guard stood their grounds and allowed tourists to take pictures with them. 

Hunter finally feeling tall

We left the palace and began the trek to a shopping center for lunch. We found a very busy popular street, and took a turn for the back alley to find a small restaurant. After passing several contenders, a woman spotted us, the wandering tourists, and welcomed us in to eat. The restaurant was small and cozy, with delicious Korean food. We split a noodle dish and rice dish, along with sides that they bring out before the meal. Paul was especially a fan of the tiny sugared fish.

After lunch, we started our Korean shopping expedition.  Intrigued by what they called 'hyper shopping' on the list of best things to do in Seoul, we set out.  Below is a multi level shopping center with a winding internal staircase, which takes one by dozens of small family owned trinket shops.  Also, we had to try eating poop for the first time (don't worry, just a waffle with melted chocolate inside!)

Our next stop was the home depot of all home depots.  An entire street dedicated to home improvement supplies, machines, and anything in between.  Each one was incredibly specialized and looked like a long closet inset into the building.  For example, we saw shops that did specifically chainsaws, and others for fasteners, lights, and cutting tools.  If our engineering fails us, we decided to open a lifts and hoists shop to compete with the 10 other lift and hoist shops we saw!

We finally found the hyper shopping.  A small neighborhood lined wall to wall with people and street vendors all enclosed by multi-story stores.  Most were 1st world places like nike, new balance, and adidas, but we also saw some curveballs; like the entirely vine covered Nature Republic (which is like a Korean Bath and Bodyworks).

Dinner was supplied by the many street vendors serving fried corn, roasted chestnuts, banana crepes, and Korean dumplings.  The corn turned out to be a lot chewier than we were used to but still hit the spot.

After a long day of touring palaces and shopping, we had one spot left on our list: the Seoul Tower.  We walked up a winding neighborhood road for almost a mile before reaching a gondola to take us the rest of the way.  The tower rests on a big hill in the center of this enormous city (17 million people) and gives great views out over the city.  It was quite the date spot too and we saw countless couples doing couply things...

Like hanging love locks on the fence.

Hunter went up to the top of the tower and got a great panoramic view of the city.  The fog limited our view so the pictures can't even begin to describe the extent of this town.

A long day of walking around left these boys pooped and ready for some rest; 11.3 miles and another day down.