O Seoul O Mio

Sunday, September 11, 2005

What a great week-end! Sheilagh and I took the bus from Yeonggwang to Seoul. It is a 4 hour ride but it didn't seem that long because of course we were chatting, snoozing and eating junk food! O.K. not only junk food. I actually brought some fruit, veggies and crackers. Sheilagh was really good and brought a sandwich.

We arrived in Seoul about 9 p.m. and made our way on the subway (Metro in Korea) up to the Anguk Guest House (http://anguk-house.com/introduction2.htm - check it out!!) where we were staying for the week-end. Sheilagh discovered this place on the web some time ago and has stayed there often so she shared her secret hideaway with me. It was a renovated hanok - the traditional original style of Korean homes. It is so quaint. It is like our bed and breakfast type accommodations. The owner does not live there however. He was there to meet us when we arrived but he lives elsewhere. It has several rooms - some single and some double. Sheilagh and I had a double with 2 single beds and our own washroom - a very affordable 60,000 Won/night for the 2 of us (about $65 Cdn). The rooms are on the perimerter of the building with a courtyard garden in the middle. On the one end of the hanok (opposite our room) was the kitchen fully stocked with all manner of breakfast food including eggs and bacon if so desired.

It was very peaceful there although we did not have too much time to be lounging around. Saturday morning I actually slept until 8 a.m. which for me is sleeping in. We had a good breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and unbelievably, peanut butter.

By 10:45, we were on our way on the subway again for our 1 & 1/2 hour ride to our destination for our organizing meeting for the KOTESOL conference coming up in October. Once we arrived, and sat through a very lengthy meeting of all sorts of reports, etc., we were informed that we hadn't needed to come but "thank you very much". Thankfully our transportation was paid. That was a bonus we weren't expecting. By the way a one way bus ticket to Seoul (remember 4 hour bus ride) is 20,700 won (approximately $25 Cdn). Very comfortable, airconditioned bus - nice ride!! Amazing that it is so inexpensive. Subway and taxi rides are inexpensive too.

We slipped away a little early because we had some other important business to attend to - eating and shopping!! Seoul is very westernized and we saw a lot of Caucasians there. We ate at The Outback (it was O.K. and then I remembered that I think it's only O.K. in Canada too) and we walked around the shopping area of Itaewon. The shops cater to Westerners (even bigger sizes). I bought a pair of comfy sandals (men's). Found a place to get my nails done(very important) but that would have to happen on Sunday.

About 9 p.m. we headed back up on the subway to our "neck of the woods" Insa-dong. There is a great information booth there where we got information about a GNC store where I hopefully can find some St. John's Wort so I don't become a cranky mess. We looked around the very trendy shops, Sheilagh bought a shirt and we went back to the guest house because we both were "bagged".

Sunday morning we took our time getting up, sat in the garden/courtyard in the sun with our breakfast and got ready to leave. We left about 10:30 and went back over to the trendy shops and we both bought some clothes (what else??). Our next stop was the Lotte Department store to try to find my St. John's Wort. Alas, no luck. They don't import that product. Oh, oh, I'm out of estrogen and I have a hand gun. Don't mess with me!!

Next stop was Itaewon again to get my nails done. By the way, Sheilagh was not feeling very well but was being a real trooper to let me get my nails done. I guess she knew I was out of estrogen too!! Not really, just kidding!! Again, alas, the place I checked out last night did not have the person I needed working today and the other 2 places I checked, the one couldn't do them right away and the other was going to take 2 hours to do and Sheilagh was in no shape to wait that long so we made our way back to the Express Bus Terminal to go back home to Yeonggwang.

The 4 hours on the bus just flew by what with chatting, snoozing and eating again.

On arrival back in Yeonggwang, we both hopped in a cab and went our separate ways.

All in all a great week-end. It was so neat to be in Seoul. For all the 14 million people there, I didn't feel claustrophobic. It's a BIG city for sure but I loved it. We will go back many times over the year I am sure. We are going to check out some other guest houses too. Don't forget to check out http://anguk-house.com to see pictures and get info about where we stayed.

Back to school tomorrow.

**I have finally got some pictures for you to see. Please scroll down to end of pictures to start at the beginning of my trip!!**