Seoul Top Ten: 8 & 7

8. New Years Eve

New Years has always been one of my favorite holidays. Everyone is always so happy, and though it has an "amature night" stigma, I have always had a really great time. This year in Seoul was no exception. I was a little worried that there wouldn't be much to do because Asia uses the Lunar calendar, but I was wrong. Western holiday or not, there is always something happening in Seoul!

The night started out a bit slow. We met up with some of Travis's friends at a bar near his apartment, and then ventured out from there. The initial bar we were going to go to had a long wait so we ended up at Gold Bar, Travis's usual haunt. We had a really good time there, and quite a bit of tequila! There were no TVs on or any formal countdown for midnight, so the bartenders let us know it was time.

After that bar, we went to noraebong, or karaoke. It is really neat. You rent out a private room by the hour and select songs using a remote. There were couches and two microphones. The English song selection was fairly limited, but they had some good ones. It is awesome because you can make a complete fool out of yourself, and it is only in front of your friends, not an entire bar. It was a really great way to cap off the evening. We didn't go home until after 6:00 am!

Renee, Liz and myself. Renee works with Travis, and Liz is also a teacher, but at another school.

The bartender at Gold Bar. Not only did he pour a really heavy measure of whisky for my drinks, he also gave us celebratory shots at midnight!

Travis's friend and co-worker David at noraebong.

7. Cat Cafe

There are many themed restaurants, bars and more in Seoul. My favorite was the Cat Cafe. Travis told me about these while we were in Japan, but I couldn't really believe they actually existed.

Cat Cafes are just that: a cafe that has cats! I went there with Liz, one of Travis's friends. When we first got there, you have to remove your shoes. This is common in Korean houses, as well as some restaurants. They provide slippers for you so you aren't barefoot (Slippers are so common in Korea that they even handed them out on my flight home with Korean Air!). After your shoes are off and your hands are clean, you are in!

Upon entry, we ordered coffee at the counter. If I remember correctly, it was about $6 for an Ameicano, including the entry fee. From there, we got free reign! We found a little table and started checking out the surroundings. There were about 6 other people there, and at least twelve cats. They had really neat climbing apparatuses and comfy beds for all the cats. They also had toys you could use to play with them as well. Initially, the cats were not very interested in us. We tried toys and petting, but they didn't care. Eventually we figured out the key: treats! The cats were very smart, and realised that you weren't worth their time if you didn't have treats. After purchasing treats, we could not keep the cats away!

It was a really fun experience, and certainly one unique to Asia, if not to Seoul. I'm sure with health regulations it would never be possible in the states. Rumor has it there are also dog cafes so there is something for everyone!

Me with my hoard of cats, post treats.

This little boy was so cute. He was trying to climb on the play sets, and instead of dangling the toys for the cats, he just set the toys next to them. He joined us when we had treats and he didn't. When it was time for him to go and leave the cats, he cried. He was just the sweetest!

One of my favorite cats. All of their names were Korean, so I gave them my own names. I named him Bowling Ball. He was in this box the whole time, so I had to manually deliver some treats.

This is Liz with Tiger.

Seoul Top Ten: 10 & 9!

Now that I am back in Scotland, I have had some time to reflect on all the amazing things I was able to do in Seoul. Here are my Top Ten highlights, complete with photos!

10. Bus Tour

I did the Seoul City Bus Tour during my week of hardcore sightseeing. It was a hop on, hop off bus that came every thirty minutes to various stops around Seoul. It was a really easy and affordable way to see all the major sights. A ticket was about $10 and it takes two hours to complete the circuit. Here is a map of the course I took. Since I had been in Seoul for a while, I had been to some of the sights already and didn't need to go back. That was a good thing, since otherwise it would have been a really long day! I would recommend taking the tour early in your Seoul trip to get a good overview of the city, then you can go back to the places you like best and spend more time. Here are just some of the sites:

This is the Cheonggye Stream. It was covered as a roadway during the rapid expansion in Seoul following the war. It was uncovered as part of an urban renewal project and runs through the city. I didn't wander too far down it, but it was really neat. There is also a little waterfall, and I think it would be wonderful to walk down during the spring or summer.

This is a ten story pagoda located in the National Museum of Korea. The museum's current building was opened in 2005 and is just massive. It is very modern, and the exhibits are beautifully made. You could spend an entire day in here and still not see everything. It is one of the best museums I have been in.

Another highlight of the tour was the War Memorial of Korea. It was a combination of history, education and remembrance. There were many memorials of the Korean War, and this was one of my favorites, the Statue of Brothers. The figure shows an officer in the South Korean military hugging his brother, a solider for North Korea, when they met on the battlefield. The crack up the side represents the division of Korea. It was very powerful.

This was the main memorial, and by far the largest. It has two semi-circles of figures representing the people impacted by the war, including the elderly, women, children and soldiers. Below the ground level, there are columns representing each country that fought with South Korea. The figure in the middle is a tree and bronze sword, representing prosperity and the warrior spirit.

This is part of Memorial Hall. Along with this fountain, there was a beautifully it hallway, and an alter of sorts lit with candles that displayed books listing the Korean and UN Forces dead.

One other monument here I really liked was the Clock Tower of Peace. I wasn't able to get  a photo since my camera died, so I borrowed the linked image from the internet. It has two clocks, one stopped at the time the Korean War began, and one continuing to move forward in hopes of future unification.

I found the Memorial as a whole incredibly interesting, and it gave me a sense of how deeply Korea was impacted by this war, and showed me that there is still a desire to be one country again. Also, my grandpa was an ally in the war, so it was neat to see the monuments honoring the allies as well as Koreans.

9. Palaces

I went to two palaces while in Seoul, Gyeongbokgung and Deoksugung. Both palaces were built during the Joseon Dynastly.

Gyeongbokgung was built in the 1300s and was one of the largest palaces of its time. It has a rough history, and has been burned, abandoned and then almost destroyed by the Empire of Japan. Restoration works are ongoing, but it was a really neat to see. You can't go in to the buildings, but you can walk all around the fairly vast compound. There is a Folk Village on the grounds of this palace, and the Korean President's house, the Blue House, is also very near.

This is Sejong the Great, a significant king of Joseon. The statue is outside of the palace.

Hanging out with a palace guard. These aren't as formal as the guards outside places like Buckingham Palace, as they are there only for tourism. No one actually lives in these palaces. He still didn't want to chat with me, though.

The front gates.

Inside one of the largest buildings.

The grounds of the palace were quite big!

Posing with the Rabbit, my zodiac sign, outside of the Folk Museum.

Deoksugung was also destroyed during the Japanese occupation, and to a more significant extent. Most of the buildings here had to be completely rebuilt. To be honest, I found the palaces quite neat, but very similar. I did not take a guided tour at either location however, so I am definitely missing some distinctions. I visited Deoksugung as a part of the bus tour, though it is very close to Gyeongbokgung.

There was an art museum on the grounds of this palace.

One of the many buildings that have been restored.

I liked this picture because it shows the old backing right into the new. Seoul is like this in many places. There will be something very traditional, and then something brand new right next to it. It was certainly a unique dynamic.

I was lucky and was able to see a changing of the guard ceremony on this visit. It took about thirty minutes, and was very elaborate.

This was the neat band that played traditional music during the ceremony. My favorite instrument was the chimes. There were so many bells!

Well, this took a little longer than I thought it would. Stay tuned for the rest!

Discouragement

Starting today, I am going into hardcore tourist mode. I was just planning my days, when I stumbled upon the gem ,"If you are fortunate to visit Seoul any other time then winter, you should..." on a travel blog. Things are not looking well for me.

Tokyo, Japan

Our trip to Japan did not start out the greatest. My baggage was delayed from Edinburgh, and we almost missed our flight from Seoul to Tokyo. Luckily (or so we thought), our flight was delayed. This delay ended up being several hours. When we finally arrived in Tokyo, it was almost midnight and the subway was no longer running into the city.

We were able to grab a bus to Tokyo station, which was around two hours. From Tokyo Station, we were able to take a cab to our hostel. Travis had the foresight to contact them before we left Seoul to let them know we would be late, so they were waiting up for us. We finally got checked in and into bed around 2 am!

Neither Travis or I had put much thought into what we wanted to do. We spent our first day hitting up some of the major sights, like the Imperial Palace, the Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Dome. It was actually a lovely afternoon, around 50 degrees, and was by far the most temperate day I have had in Asia!

For the rest of our trip, we tried to plan each day around a specific area of the city or landmark. Tokyo is split up into many different districts, and each one has a different vibe or speciality. It was very easy to get around using the subway. We got an unlimited ticket each day for the subway, and there were two lines very close to our hostel. We spend a lot of time in Akihabara, or the Electric City, which is the electronics hub of Tokyo. We found lots of cool video game stores and arcades there, and it was really fun to hang out in.

We also went to Shibuya, a major shopping destination, and Harajuku, a district known for street fashion. Unfortunately, it rained while we were in Harajuku, so we missed the "lolitas". We tried for a night out in Roppongi, but it was very expensive ($10 for a half pint) so we didn't stay long. We also had 10 am sushi at the Tsukiji Fish Market, one of the largest in the world. It was the best sushi I have ever had! They really rushed people in and out, but it was very reasonably priced. Some other major places we went include the Uneo Zoo, the National Museum and, of course, the Pokemon Center!

The weather was quite cold most of the time we were there, but not as cold as Korea. It was a really relaxing vacation because we had enough time to spend in Tokyo that we could really take our time and do what we enjoyed. It was my first break since starting school, and Travis hadn't had any time off since he started teaching in January, so it was a well earned rest. Our DSs got a pretty good workout, however! We both played Pokemon quite a bit.

The new Pokemon games have a neat feature where you can connect to other people playing the games around you. During our second visit to the Pokemon Center, there was an event going on for the Japanese version of the games. I didn't have mine, but Travis had his, and he connected with over 200 people! It was pretty crazy. I was also very jealous.

Apparently, my photos didn't upload in the correct order. Bear with me!

The Imperial Palace moat. There are relatively few buildings here now, and it is a quite lovely open space. It was really nice to walk through here.

One of the many, many arcades.

Dinner! Ramen and a fresh salmon salad.

We ate at these restaurants quite a bit. You put money in a vending machine and choose the meal you want. A slip pops out, and you give that to the cook. Super easy! I had vegetable soba noodles and Travis had udon with a cake of sorts.

McDonald's was selling exclusive Pokemon calendars, so of course we needed to stop!

On our way back from Roppongi, the subway didn't bring us all the way back home. We had a bit of a walk. We stumbled across some neat things. This was the river near our hostel.

A lion outside a temple we found.

Enjoying some of my beverage. We had to keep our energy up for the walk home! Yes, I am sitting on a pig.

Travis outside the Pokemon Center!

A Pokemon Christmas tree.

It is hard to tell, but I totally beat Travis at Mario Kart.

A cross walk in Shibuya. The amount of people in Tokyo is incredible.

A view of Tokyo from the Metropolitan Government Building. They had an observatory on the 45th floor. My ears popped on the way up! We went back again during the day and were just able to see Mt. Fuji in the distance.

A German Christmas market near Tokyo Tower. Those things are everywhere!

One of the many, many mascots we saw in Asia.

In front of Tokyo Tower.

Travis tried almost every odd soda/energy drink he found. There are probably thirty pictures just like this but with different drinks in his hand.

At Uneo Zoo! The animals were really great.

Outside the museum.

Another view in the Imperial Palace.

The temple we found in the night.

Mostly because of the weather, we opted not to travel out of Tokyo. The views and scenery would likely not have been enjoyable. As I have learned on this trip, I hate sightseeing in the cold! I do hope to come back to Japan again during the spring or summer and enjoy more of the country. Tokyo was lovely, but incredibly expensive. I have heard that other cities are not nearly so expensive. Hopefully I will be able to make it back when I am in Shanghai!

Thank you again to Leanne and Bob! We had an absolutely wonderful time. Thank you for the tickets!