We had resolved to be up early and sort out our accomodation and plans for the next two days but we've lost an hour from Hong Kong, or some other excuse, and don't leave the room 'til checkout time, noon. In fact we'd seen another nearby hotel which, based on reception, looked better and just booked in there followed by booking a trip to the Korean DMZ for tomorrow morning ("a must" says the literature).
We go back to our chosen sandwich shop for brunch where the proprietress very kindly gives us two paper cups of the extraordinary strawberry juice that everyone else is buying -- a whole blender of strawberries is used for one proper glass. Thanks, Joe's Sandwiches. She did ask me three times, though, if I wanted sugar in my latte.
We amble off in search of some tourist information passing a bloke inthe street trying to sell four tiny bunnies. 
We sort out the several ways to Gyeongju, an ancient city on the south east coast, and head downtown via the Lotte department store where we marvel at the quality of the HDTV 60inch screens (a mere US$8,000). Sony will need to pump out a few more lumens from their projectors to keep up. Helen pines for a W22,000,000 baby grand piano but refuses to try the one in the shop. They do nice beds (including stone ones!) and roll-up wooden beech strip carpets. Cool.
We stop en route to the South Gate for an extraordinary sweet cup of tea -- a nation of sweet teeth? As we watch the world go by it's a pleasant change not to be pouring with sweat, indeed to have the tea warm you up against the chill but also there are hardly any caucasians here. We've seen maybe half a dozen all day (excepting the Tourism Office), no wastrel hippies slouching around the place making money out of third world naivety.
Round the corner is the Southern Gate. Resplendent in its finist, um, style, surviving intact during all wars waged in these parts. You are requested to use particular places for taking your imagery one of which has a lamp post front and centre. 
We skirt through the edges of Namdaemun Market which looks like a sprawling market nestling in the streets. The map suggests quite a few streets... A lot of the stallholders are arranging rain covers though there's no obvious sign. I think it's about 16C but we have no evidence. There's only so much time you can spend in markets and we head off past several outdoors shops. The weather's too dull to go up the Seoul Tower so we head off to City Hall which is thoroughly uninspiring, especially in the light drizzle that's started.
The palace over the road looks closed but the map suggests the United Airlines office is round the corner -- maybe we can sort out our air miles, we're due a few. The woman is very helpful and says she can help though seems to regret that when the flurry of paperwork falls over the desk. The boarding cards are useless, it seems, only the flight coupons count. Maybe that's because we've followed the coupons exactly and they have more information on them. She says to check our accounts in a month. That quick, huh? Accepting our fate we bring the final flight forward to May 10th, three days after leaving Hawaii. It'll have been a good trip.
It's now been raining a bit harder so we pop back into the Tourism Office and use the Internet for free. A connection quick enough for me to copy up the latest pictures from CD, though we're supposed to be looking for hotels in Tokyo. They look a bit pricey -- at least US$100 per night (Budget: nil). After an age -- lesson fifteen: don't copy files from CD over the 'Net, copy to disk first: four fold improvement -- it's late, dark and very wet. Not far round the corner we spot a pasta shop and partake of their expensive, adequate food. We buy cakes and beer for pudding and settle down to the Discovery Channel. I could try interpreting the KBS Gulf War broadcasts but it's a bit taxing. Unlike many channels they prefer to talk to the viewer rather than over the top of a video stream. My Korean is about as good as my Thai, Malay, ...
Hotel Prince, Seoul N37.56158 E126.98622 Elev. 40m
Copyright 2003 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.