27 / Seoul and Incheon

On Saturday (May 7th) we took a bus from Gunsan to Seoul. The Seoul bus station is on the lowest floor of a gigantic department store (~10 stories). The department stores in Korea are a little different than the ones in the US. While both countries tend to organize at least somewhat by brand, in Korea this is a definitive feature. By this I mean that on each floor there are more than a dozen little branded divisions that all have their own sales clerks and are kind of only working for that brand. It is somewhat of a cross between a mall and a department store. We decided to eat at a restaurant on the top floor, where I had a dish with delicious little octopi in it.

The seafood here is awesome

Next we hopped on the subway to attempt to find a hostel that government of Korea website recommends. The subway system is incredibly nice by comparison with any subways I've ever been on before. The stations were all very clean, well maintained, and 20 years ahead of the US technologically. The cleanliness part was the most surprising to me, and always surprises me here--especially because Korea doesn't seem to believe in trash cans (they're inexplicably hard to find). Subway tickets in Korea are cards with RFID chips in them, so you only need to wave them by the machine (not swipe them). The price of your subway ticket here is dictated by what your destination is. Getting into the area with the trains feels futuristic because there are no turnstiles, but if you fail to wave your card when you walk through a gate will pop out and stop you. There are giant touchscreens where you can plan your journey and it will tell you the best way to get there. The train cars themselves are also clean and modern. LCD screens play soundless ads while at the bottom it tells you the next stop in multiple languages. The stop name is also played over the sound system with crisp clarity in Korean, English, and sometimes Chinese or Japanese.

The subways are also different from the US in that they're chalk full of Koreans

Finding the Hostel we set out for was a mess. The instructions were clear, but the landmarks they used were well hidden. We ended up wandering around in pretty much every direction from our stop before we happened upon an information area where they clarified how to get to the hostel. Turned out we basically had to go down a hidden ally, so that made kat and I feel better. The information people also made us aware that even though the Korean government website told us to find the Seoul Backpackers Hostel, it was actually called Banana Backpackers. Yet when we got there, the sign said it was called something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. This seems to be a common trend--that the government website is outdated, or just flat out incorrect. Anyway, we ended up staying somewhere different because it was full and as expensive as a regular hotel.

We ened up going out to explore the town that night. It was especially lively because a festival for Buddha's Birthday was going on. There were colored lanterns and lotus flowers, traditional korean outfits and parades. It was fun.

Cool owl lanterns

One of the parades

Awesome dragon made of paper in a parade 

There were a million of these all over the place

It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but there are several of these Buddhas and they are ENORMOUS. Probably around 4-5 meters tall for the Buddha itself.

Big paper lanterns of kings and elephants and other things

The city that night

The next day my friend BC met us at our hotel and took us around his homeland that is South Korea. We explored the daytime version of the festival, walked up and down Insadong (a street to buy things and get streetfood), and went to a palace from the 15th (I think) century.

All of us in front of "some place where the king chilled" as BC put it

The inside of that place. I think the lightbulbs are an addition since the King's time.

Another place where the king chilled. "I guess the king needed a lot of places to chill," BC said.

A tree that was struck by lightning many years ago. Half of it is now petrified.

BC mounting a horse, theoretically

Festivities during the daytime. Their hats are crazy.

Me catching some mad air, as I participate in what I believe is some kind of traditional jump roping?

There were tents describing all the different types of Buddhism

The ancient buddhist game of ridiculously large Jenga

BC said that all they eat is bark

One of the many types of streetfood we tried. It's what the guy is making in this video. It's thin strands of honey and cornstarch wrapped around your choice of either almond, peanut, or chocolate paste. Very good frozen.

Later in the day, we took the subway with him back to Incheon where he's from. I'll post about that another time.

-Harrison