Good for the Seoul...

I've escaped from the from the freezing cold wind blowing in from Siberia to an immense internet "Cafe". The place is bigger than my university lab and it even has smoking and non-smoking sections... Its actually a typical sort of place for this part of the world. It seems Asians are obsessed with IT. I recall a dinner in Hong Kong where every person in the restuarant was either on the phone, watching a handheld TV, or playing on a PSP.

I've had a very brief stop here in Seoul as I only arrived at my hostel at 11pm last night and I leave again on a 10am flight tomorrow morning for Beijing. I didn't originally plan to visit this country but when it turned out I was going to have to spend one night here I thought I might as well make it two to give me a day to check it out. I'm glad I did.

I wouldn't recommend Seoul as a destination on its own but its always interesting to compare places and cultures given the chance. I haven't managed to see a lot of the city, partly due to the cold and partly to the remnants of my hangover from Hong Kong. I only rose quite late as, even though I was exhausted, the hostel I'm in is crap and the dorms are cramped, meaning I got a person snoring loudly in each of my ears all night! But I dragged myself through the cold to see the Korean War Museum first up. That might sound a bit random but I've always had a soft spot for history and remember from my high school lessons that South Africa was involved in the Korean War back in the 1950's. The museum was actually really good with a lot of hardware outside and many great displays inside - even dedicating a large space to the expeditionary forces' involvement. If I'd had more time I'd have loved to go into the demilitarised zone to get a feeling for the current state of affairs...

The Korean War Memorial with a view of the Seoul Tower behind.


Go SA!

And I even found some cherry blossoms in the park outside, pity it was too cold to appreciate any feeling of Spring!

After my education I took myself off to explore more of the city centre and ended up having a late lunch in a great little side alley place. I really enjoy hunting down cheap local places to eat. It often proves to be quite a challenge to find one with either an english menu or at least pictures of some of the dishes. And lets just say the restaurants with live baby octopi in tanks outside didn't quite do enough to lure me in...

A cool piece of local woven art on display in the city.

I haven't tried the local food speciality of the doggy variety yet, and I'm not sure if I can stomach that with the memory of my gorgeous golden retriever, Jonty, still fresh in my mind! Maybe one of these restaurants has cat though...