Last day in Seoul, South Korea. We´ve spent three days in the city of Seoul - a big city with about 13 million people. We arrived Thursday morning, yet again very jetlagged due to the big time difference. Took a cab from the airport to downtown Seoul - an hours drive away - and got ripped off by the cab driver, who we later on discovered charged us double tax of normal.....rookie mistake....

We spent the first couple of hours in search of a budget-friendly hotel. Found one very central. Not the most luxourious place, but it works. The kids got a mattress to share on the floor.

After a very korean-style lunch, we really needed a couple of hours rest, so we headed back to the hotel for a nap, and later that afternoon took a quick stroll in the neighbourhood before we had dinner and called it a night.

After an early jetlag-caused wake-up the next morning, we consolted our lonely planet-bible and decided on a trip to Korean folk village in Suwon - an hours underground drive away from Seoul - an outdoor museum displaying Korean rural lifestyle in the old days. First we had to figure out how the local metro system works. A seemingly simple task, made quite difficult due to the lack of english signs. It took us some time and some disagreements, but we ended up in the right place though :-). From there it was a half an hours bus ride to the museum - a bus ride which was free of charge provided by the local tourist office.

Next three hours were spent learning about South Korean history. Nice museum, and three hours was plenty of time to see it all.

It was way quicker finding our way back to Seoul with the metro - a very simple system once you got the hang of it :-).

We took the metro one stop further to have a look at the much written-about Dongdaemun market, which is a huge area with dozens of shopping malls. Very western influenced and thus also equally expensive. After dinner there - we took a taxi home, only to discover the next day, that we easily could have walked....oh well....

Today we originally planned to visit the DMZ - visitor friendly tours made to the border to North Korea. But after closer research, it turned out that children under the age of 11 aren´t allowed on the tour, so that sort of killed our plan. Instead, we went market-watcing. Started out walking back to Dongdaemun market, and after that, took the metro to the equally famous but more local Namdaemun market. Weather´s been nice today. Sunny, and around 13-14 degrees. The first couple of days were a bit chillier and more windy.

Our days in South Korea have been an interesting experience. People are generally speaking friendly and extremely helpful. We´ve never had to stand for more than a couple of minutes with a map in our hands looking disoriented, before a friendly soul or two came to our rescue. The kids have recieved tons of presents from kind strangers (most of the time candy, which they nicely say thank you for, but then much to their regret, are made to throw out later by their hysterical parents who won´t let them eat stuff recieved from strangers.... :-) ) In the crouded metro, the kids are also always offered a seat - even if it means sitting on the lap of a Korean old man or lady :-). In spite of their often very poor english skills, people are very forth-coming, smiling and polite. A lot is done to help tourists in Seoul. You never have to walk very far before there is a small tourist info desk - and the have "tourist-helpers" walking around in the streets.

Traffic seems smooth, calm and generally very quiet. Honking the horn is a big no-no - very unlike the southern parts of Asia, and it´s even forbidden by law to play loud music in your car. Very much describing the people, a quiet, well-mannered, proud and humble kind.

The food has been okay, very exotic, and since the menus are almost never translated from Korean, it´s always a big surprice what you get. I wouldn´t be able to tell you what we´ve eaten, some has been really good, and some....well....not so much....We´ve surrendered to western food a couple of times when the exitement just got too much :-). I´m glad none of us are picky though, and that we´re used to spicy food....

We still haven´t quite figured out the price range. Sometimes it´s really cheep, and other times very expensive. No apparent logic - at least not to us. All in all, quite an expensive country though. Even though we found very inexpensive accomondation, food,tours and transport have made us exceed the budget a little....again....

Now it´s bed time. In a couple of hours we have to get up again and get to the airport. Then it´s exit South Korea - enter Japan.