First Days

Yesterday I finally landed in Korea after a 15 hour plane ride, half of which I thankfully slept through. Everything went smoothly except the lack of escalators or elevators on the subway. I took a train from the Incheon Airport to Seoul, and then I had to transfer to the number 4. I proceeded to get on train number 4, but thankfully got off after realizing that everyone else had assigned seats from their tickets. At the ticket counter, a helpful lady pointed directed me to the subway, and then the torture of the stairs ensued. It had already been hard enough to get my two suitcases onto escalators, but carrying them up and down stairs was not fun at all. I also got stuck in a turnstile, not realizing that there was an entrance for handicapped persons and idiot foreigners like me with too much luggage.

Everyone was very helpful in assisting me. I had an old man tell me to watch out for my luggage while I was purchasing a ticket (I had left it behind me); a kind young woman held my suitcase for me after I pushed it through the turnstile and got stuck on the other side; and a young man carried one of my suitcases up the last and longest stretch of stairs.

My hotel room is tiny but comfortable, more than I expected for under $40 per night. The bed is rather hard but sufficiently large, and as expected, the shower isn’t separated from the toilet. Basically you flood the whole bathroom when you take a shower.

Today I got myself well and truly lost. My plan was to go see the Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral and then wander around Namdaemun Market. I walked to the Cathedral, which was less than a mile from the hotel, and discovered that they have English mass on Sundays.

 Getting to the market was a lot harder though and took me almost an hour. Street corner maps are a lifesaver. On the way, I came across a small river in the middle of the city. I imagine it must be even more beautiful in the spring when the trees bloom.

The market wasn’t as crowded as I had expected, but was still quite busy for a Monday morning. The narrow corridors were lined with merchandise from shoes and blankets to pots and wristwatches.

I wandered around for a while before I found the alley with restaurants. They all had their dishes lined up in front, and I was herded into a restaurant by an ajumma touting an English menu. The place was quite cozy, and I ordered manduguk, a soup with dumplings.  It was delicious.

I then tried to find my way back to the hotel, but failed miserably. I wandered around for an almost two hours before giving in and taking the subway. 

Along the way, I found an exercise park, where a few old men were working out on the equipment. I took some stalker photos of them because they looked hilarious.