The alarm wakes me. Thank goodness I set it. I rise quickly, shower, get packed-up and go down to check-out. I catch a taxi to the ferry terminal. My boat leaves at 8:45. But, since it is an international trip all passengers must go thru the formalities of exiting thru Japanese immigration and paying a departure tax (400y). After checking in I get a small lunchbox (for me it will be breakfast) at the little store in the station. We soon board. I am in seat 32A, upstairs window. The upstairs area is only about 30% filled. I manage to wolf-down my meal before we leave the dock.
It is another beautiful day--sunny, breezy, blue waters. The boat is a jetfoil. We motor away from the marina area at slow speed, and then the captain opens it up and we are skimming along at about 40 mph. Most of the time the ride is like a slightly bumpy airplane ride. When we are in the open sea there are some rollers, and some passengers are fighting seasickness. I manage to stay reasonably comfortable though. During the trip the video screen is showing the Cubs-Marlins NLCS game live! Wow! I watch the Cubs take a 3-0 lead into the 8th inning, and then the Marlins score 8 runs. I can't see the end of the game because the trip is over!
The trip to Busan took about 3 hours. Busan has a natural harbor area, and rises up the hills behind and to the sides of the harbor. The reason the city exists here at this place is obvious (it is Korea's main port). After clearing immigration and customs I find the tourist info booth in the terminal building and ask about the train to Seoul. The clerk directs me to a travel agency booth about 50 feet away, where I buy my ticket for the 1:00 PM train. I better hurry--I have 45 minutes to get there! I exit the terminal and catch a cab to the train station. It is about a 6 minute ride, and costs me about $1.20 US. Very reasonable!
I enter the train station. It appears to be undergoing renovation and is very confusing. But I find my way to the train information counter, and the clerk directs me to the proper place. I ask about food, and decide to get another box lunch. I go outside the station and find a woman selling rice rolls with veggies inside. Cost is 2000w, less than $2.00. I go back in, and while walking to my track I pass a food booth that has cakes and pastries. They have what looks to be a chocolate cupcake. I ask, "chocolate?", and the clerk says yes, so I get it. Another 1000w.
I find my train track, and a few minutes later I am on the train. I am in car 4, seat 46, an aisle seat. My seat mate is a Korean lady. She shares some crackers with me, but we do not share much conversation--she does not speak any english. The trip to Seoul is very peaceful. The train car is quiet--most people are sleeping or at least resting. There is a video playing on the video screens. You need headphones to hear the program. Later I eat my lunch and satisfy my chocolate addiction with the cupcake.
We arrive in Seoul at 5:29. I need to find a hotel room. After some effort I find the tourist info center in the train terminal, and tell the clerk I want a lower price hotel. She refers me to the YMCA Hotel, which is near a subway station that is two stations away from my current location. I call the hotel from a payphone (70w for 3 minute call, about 7 cents!) and confirm price and availability. About 40 minutes later I have checked-in. The room is adequate, but a bit worn. For about $55 per night it is OK.
I then go out to see about food. On the street in front of the hotel there are several food booths serving a variety of foods. Some of them look pretty good, but I decided to wait until tomorrow to try them. I go into Millenium Plaza, which is a very modern looking office building with a food court and a small mall area in the basement. It is connected to the subway station. I go into the food court. There are counters for each type of food--Korea, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Fusion, Curry. I look at all of the displays and finally pick Japanese. I get a large "lunchbox" set, with tempura, sushi, sashimi, miso soup, kimchi, and some cooked fish, all for 8000w. It is OK, but not as good as in Japan. While eating a young western-looking couple sitting nearby say hello, and I go over to greet them. They are from Moscow, and unfortunately I speak as much Russian as they do English. But we wish each other a good trip. I then go to the internet café in the building next to the hotel. It is open 24 hours, and the price is very good (1000w). I then go back to the room. I am tired and I want to get a better night's sleep tonight.
I had a good night's sleep in spite of the noise out my window, which overlooks XXX street, a major commercial street. I found a nearby McDonalds, had breakfast (pancakes), and hen went to the internet café. The day is sunny and cool, absolutely great weather to be outdoors. I then came back to the room and after looking thru my tourist info decided to take a bus tour.
The Seoul City Tour Bus has 4 different tour bus routes. I decide to take the Downtown Tour because is goes to Seoul Tower. My info says that I can catch the bus every hour at any of the stops on the route. I don’t know where the other stops are, but I do know where Seoul Station is, and so I take the subway there. I ask at the tourist info desk where I can board the bus, and they direct me to the nearby bus stop, which is marked with a blue pole. After about 20 minutes the bus comes and I board. Each seat has its own headphones and your choice of 5 languages. I select English and put on the headphones. As we near each stop on tour I hear recorded info about that stop. I remember a similar system on a tour bus in Berlin.
Several stops later we reach Seoul Tower, so I get off. The roadway to the tower took us up a very steep hill, and the views from the bus over the city were very good. The entrance to the tower is at the top of the hill, so there is a bit more walking to do. I am surprised at how steep the hill is. It is about the same as some of the streets in San Francisco. About a third of a mile later I reach the top. Off to my left is the tower. I get a ticket that will allow me to go to the observation decks (5000 won, less 20% tour bus discount), and enter. The place is full of school kids. It appears that this is a popular place for school field trips. I ride up the elevator with about a dozen high school age kids. When we reach the top we exit.
We are in a round room with windows all around, and the view is really breathtaking. The entire city is laid out before us. To the south the Han River. To the north the XXX mountains. I can probably see into north Korea from here! Below the tower I can see the hillside. The trees are just getting into fall colors. In another week or two it will be really good. After taking some photos it is time to leave. I head back down.
After exiting the tower I walk around the grounds. There are several cafes and fast food shops around the base of the tower, some with outside seating. It is really very nice. From the tower I had seen what looked like cables for a cable car, and after looking around I find that I am correct. There is a cable car that runs from just south of MMM, the Seoul financial district, to its terminal just below the top. As I walk over to the cable car station, a group of school children, about 6 yrs old, are headed the other direction. When they see me they smile and all of them start calling out "hello", "hello". So I tell them "hello" back several times, and they wave to me and I wave to them. It is very sweet and charming.
I decide to take the cable car down instead of getting the bus. The one-way ticket is 4500w. There are several people waiting. I am not sure, but I guess that the cable car runs about every 15 minutes or so. After a short wait we board the cable car and head down. The ride takes about 3 minutes. I try to take a photo of the other cable car as it goes uphill, but one of the cable support towers is in the way. Oh well. The ride down is fun. I get off and try to figure out how to get the rest of the way to the MMM area. On the map it looks like it should be a short walk. With help from a Korean family that has a family member visiting from the states, I get the necessary info and start walking. The main street would be a long walk. But per my new info I turn down a narrow side street and 5 minutes later I am at the bottom of the hill adjacent to MMM subway station. Very good! And, just a 100 yards away is the bus tour stop (which I had passed earlier when on the bus). continued on next page....see link below
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