I spent about a week in Hanoi shooting through crowded streets on a scooter and eating dangerous street noodles but in the end, I was thankful to finally be going home. I got on the plane on the night of the 6th and woke up on the morning of the 7th at Incheon Airport in South Korea.

I had an 8 hour layover in Korea and there was no way I was going to spend it hanging out at the Duty Free stores. I went and pestered the information desk girl for several minutes until I had all the details I needed to get out of the airport and into the city of Seoul. Apparently, this is not a very common thing to do since it took much cajoling of the security people and immigration officers to explain why I had no boarding passes or bags with me and that I’d be in and out of their country in less time than it takes to make kimchee. Nevertheless, I managed to enter my sixteenth foreign country on this crazy trip.

I was surprised to learn that many places don’t open very early in Korea. It took me a while to find someone to sell me a bus ticket as the booth was still closed at 8:00 AM. I took a wild guess and jumped on the one headed to Seoul Station.

On the bus, the white gloved bus driver addressed us formally in Korean then whacked in a tape of cheeky, poppy electronic feelgood music – think of the soundtrack from life aquatic. Everyone snored into the big, bland city.

seoul station
We arrived at the Seoul Station and as I predicted, it was a major hub of other forms of travel within the city. I paused to have my picture taken in front of the old train station by a middle-aged couple who luckily were Japanese, a language I can speak with some capability. Afterwards, I wandered around for a while unsure of what I should do with my four hours in a huge city I know nothing about. I stumbled past a McDonald’s in the train station and spotted two American college students. Hoping to get a recommendation, or at least get a peek at their Lonely Planet, I approached them.

They turned out to be two kids from Utah, one of whom spoke Korean very well from his days as a missionary. They not only recommended a place to me, but actually took the subway with me a couple of stops and pointed me down an interesting street. I thanked them, then they left me to go visit the DMZ.

I walked down the street to Gyeongbok Palace, a restored palace in the north of the city quite similar to the Forbidden City but with fewer eunuchs. There were lots of Japanese tourists there. The Japanese like to travel. Someone should get them a bigger island.

Afterwards, I walked down a street full of Korean restaurants. My mouth was watering for more bibimbap or maybe some seafood pajeon. Alas, as I said, many places don’t open early in Korea. Even though the doors were frustratingly open and menus prominently displayed, every restaurant I walked into had someone cleaning the tables or vacuuming the floor who, upon seeing my drooling face, would make an X sign with their arms and shake their head. I eventually stumbled across an open-air grill serving “toasts” with egg, thousand island dressing, and lettuce. It was weird, but it hit the spot regardless.

In my last hour in the city, I managed to stumble across a very cool little market / mini-mall full of young, hip designers of clothing, jewelry, art, books, and so on called Ssamzie Gil. Most notably interesting were SSBA, a crafty illustrator’s shop, and MMMG (millimeter / milligram), a stationary store.

After shopping I bid farewell to Seoul and made my way back to the bus station and to the airport. I hate saying that I’ve “been” somewhere that I only spent a few hours in, but in this case, I feel like I got a pretty good bang for my buck. My first impressions: Seoul is a lot like Tokyo but with more hills, spicier food, and prettier girls.

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