PART ONE OF FOUR BLOG ENTRIES FROM SEOUL............

so i leave beautiful, sunny, hot deagu and head north to seoul.... as the train pulls into seoul suddenly the clouds get all darker and heavy rain begins to pour. i had been checking the online forecast a few times, as late as the morning i left, and it only said 'occasional showers'. so somehow i have to try to make it to my guesthouse and dump my backpack. took the subway as far as i could go but the rain was not letting up. so i have wade across to a taxi coz there was no way i was waiting for a bus in this almost typhoon downpour. there was flooding in places and the rain was not letting up.

video heavy downpour: http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/10/mQVoQmQo0z4

first thing you notice is westerners everywhere. i dont know if this was an influx due to the holidays and the locals leaving. this is like when i was in jakarta during a holiday period and everyone had left town to goto their towns and villages so i dont get to see the real crowds. also, you see lots of other nationalities, particularly indonesians and malaysians. they also have express busways like in jakarta and this time it works coz everyone doesnt use it as a shortcut!

the guesthouse is quite nice but in a residential mountain neighbourhood so a good trek up a hill to get here. it is run by an elderly retired couple who gave me their sons old room complete with his porno magazines and videos! at least i have my own private pc in here coz they dont usually rent this room out. this is more like staying with a family, as they are very helpful, and making me way too much food for breakfast! bibimbap (rice and vegetables), soup, fried fish and vegetables, sliced fruit. i dont want to put her to all this trouble when i cant eat all of it. you have to go thru this moutain tunnel juhamman and i keep thinking the announcement says jahannum (arabic hell!)

so the rain would not stop first day and i got tired of sitting in the room, checking the forecast which still said occasional showers (excuse me, look out the window at the flooding!), so i decided to venture out... memories of past trips caught out in a downpour (budapest, barcelona, oslo, berlin...) the rain was lighter by now and i took the bus back to the city centre. so this neighbourhood which is only a 10 min to the centre is littered with historical sites as is the centre.

i decided to head down to itaewan to find one of the arab restaurants and maybe the mosque. the subway system is very easy to use even though it looks complex. reminds me of paris with the red brickwork. they even have peddlers coming on the carriages trying to sell stuff. still some drizzle by the time i get to itaewon but i found the mosque and muslim area quite easily. ended up eating again at an uzbekistan restaurant. turns out this is the same family as the one in daegu when i asked them about that restaurant. they also had one of their music channels playing which was very persian/eastern sounding. when the satellite froze he went back to playing traditonal babooshka music on the cd! uzbekistan and xinjiang province in china home to the uighar people are two places i want to goto over the next two summers hopefully to visit the silk road cities and why i headed out here. :))

video uzbekistan music video http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/1/_aWogaALfEo

this morning, even though the forecast said clear and sun, it was still overcast. today is chuseuk holiday and everything is closed like christmas day. fortunately, all the museums and palaces are open and free. they also have special cultural performances outdoors everywhere so chuseuk is the perfect day to go exploring. the main palace gyungbokgung is like the forbidden city in beijing that i had visited earlier this year. its almost a mini town inside. i got there in time to see the changing of the guards and they also had some dancers in another section performing. also saw the presidential palace in the mountains behind but like downing st there is a barrier you cant cross and armed soldiers in case north korean agents make it this far!

video changing of the guards: http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/9/Me7dbuOmo7o
video folk museum dancers: http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/8/YzSiITbiczo

gyungbokgung is the largest, but not the only palace. there are maybe six palaces in downtown seoul and i went to at least two others within walking distance. also found this pedestrianized river area closeby but in korean style they only thought to put one staircase down so not a good idea to go for a long stroll.. later on went to the seoul museum of history which also had a performance going on outside. they also had a roomsize reproduction of the entire city of seoul and suburbs, detailed with every building exact.

video seoul museum of hist part I : http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/7/RQiSZ-FiZiQ
video seoul museum of hist part II : http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/7/RQiSZ-FiZiQ

by this time all the batteries in my cameras decided to die, my digital camera and movie camera, including my spare ones that i had just charged the night before. i heard there was an electronics mall in seoul and i needed to go there as these batteries arent holding a charge anymore, but i didnt know if it was open.

i decided to go anyway, as i was getting tired of walking and didnt want to do too much exploring with no cameras. so when i get there i find a seven storey electronics mall attached to the station. most of the shops were closed but i did manage to get the batteries. i go exploring and there are at least two other electronics malls and a street bazaar for electronics. one of the teachers in the school told me to go here and that its the biggest electronics market in korea (yongsan). most places were closed but i plan to be back. i want to get a cheap dvd player that is multi region and can play divx like the one i had back home for stuff i downloaded.

aside from the rain, there is a definate temperature drop in seoul and no humidity, one of the reasons i decided to go further south to daegu as seoul winters appear to be more like toronto. also, i've been to enough big cities, even in asia (beijing, shanghai, hong kong, kuala lumpor) and seoul doesnt really do anything for me so i'm glad i'm not living here. i like my daegu and chilgok mountains which is more relaxed and easy going. we have a whole pedestrianized downtown. except for downtown parts of seoul are more moutainous and built up like sarajevo or istanbul so lots of climbing.

tomorrow i plan on taking an hour long train ride to the suburb suwon where there is a fortress and a folk village. there is a bridge in seoul that does a fountain show at night like niagara falls and a couple of folk villages in seoul too but i'll save those for when i have more energy and reliable camera, which i really need for the dmz tour!! .

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