Seoul

I had a couple of ideas for the title: Seoul man, Seoul music, Heart and Seoul, Lemon Seoul... But all a bit corny hey? I've had a bit of a cold for the last few days, so sorry if this is a bit unhinged.

I've been in the South Korean capital for four days now, and I haven't really done much to be honest. The place I'm staying, Lee and Nos guest house, is really relaxing. There is a free breakfast of eggs, toast, cereal and fruit juice, free internet (actually I've had that in all the places in South Korea - unlike in Japan, Australia and NZ), and even free use of the washing machine. I've ben doing yoga on the patio every morning before the other guests get up, and the rest of the time mostly chatting or reading a book (I picked up Iain M Banks' Matter of the shelf here, its a weighty tome).

Speaking of books I read two great ones recently: Hokkaido Road Blues by Will Ferguson, about the Canadian authors hitchhiking journey across Japan, and Last Seen in Lhasa by Clare Scrobie, another travel book, this time about the authors various trips to Tibet and the people she meets, including an amazingly hard sounding female monk.

So far in Seoul I've been for food in the local area, the university district. There are loads of cafes with twee-sounding names and even twee-er decor. I went to meet my mate Rob in Myeongdong before he jetted back to the UK, he was with some ex-students of his, a Korean man and woman. Plenty of drink went down, including a crazy cocktail called Hwajinkamnehsu (that's spelled from memory), loosely translated means "happy ending", consisting of a shot of Soju (rice whiskey) in a shot glass on top of another shot of something sweet (we used this weird Korean raspberry wine), in a half pint glass full of lager, that then had to be chugged. We ended up in a cool bar (LP music bar), where the walls were lined with LPs and requests could be made (I got the Doors, Riders on the Storm). I also had a look at some of the districts in the day, mostly malls, shops and restaurants. At least I got some tacky fridge magnets for my collection.

The monsoon rain I was experiencing in Japan has finally caught up with me, its been pouring down all day. It eased off earlier on and I went for a walk in the Bukhansen national park. It is very pretty there, with lots of exposed granite outcrops sticking out over the misty forests. I had to do a bit of rock climbing to get onto a ridge section, which made for an interesting change as a lot of the walks I've done recently (both here and in Japan) have been so well-maintained as to be almost dull (nicely formed paths, staircases going up hills etc., probably really good for limiting erosion I suppose but it takes the wildness factor out). It wasn't so interesting to be lost in the park in a thunderstorm, but I made for the nearest place that looked on the map like a main road and managed to get a bus. Ended up totally drenched, including my so called waterproof hiking boots, not sure if I want to carry them on the plane with me to Hong Kong, I might as well just have a pair of sandals.

A bit of a frustrating day but at least I got out of the hostel. Its Friday night and I know I should party, but can I be arsed?