The bed at the Inns Tourist Hotel was so comfortable and cosy I was content to stay snuggled up for hours but Ian had other ideas. We made it downstairs to breakfast just after 10:00 and paid a fortune for a breakfast that had very dry toast served with fridge chilled butter. By the time we retreated to our room it was fast approaching check out time so I made use of the hour catching up with my late March journal entries which I failed to write at the time and was harangued by Ian to pack my bag and get ready. We settled the room bill and left our bags behind reception before setting off into the coldness of South Korea.
Pleasantly, the cold air of yesterday had vanished and I now no longer required my fleecy hat and could well have done without my fleece too in favour of something lighter, or perhaps I just needed to remove another layer from underneath. The sun was shining and the skies were blue. Out came my sunglasses!
We walked up the main streets toward the station passing by a few pet shops on the way. One had half a dozen small rabbits in cages outside, in each cage was one rabbit sitting in a food bowl accompanied by another snuggling up to it. At the top of the street another pet shop had some tiny spaniel puppies in the window that we had seen last night. They were very playful with each other. We reached the station and booked our tickets on the return train to Seoul at 16:32, in first class, because second class had sold out. It's a popular train!
We walked to the Gyeongju National Museum past Anapji Pond and stood looking at the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok. As we were about to step back and photograph it we turned to see three large coachloads of school children bursting through the entrance and charging in our direction. It was a frightening sight. We stepped away to allow them to quickly look and move on, finding that we were of much more interest to the children than the historical bell and received many gazing glares. We progressed to the museum buildings and again were charged by children so we stepped out of the way to allow the conveyor belt through at terrific speed. It wasn't long before I realised that the object of their captive gazes and amusement was the great terrific height of my partner. The big friendly giant. Certainly in Korean terms anyway.
Back in towards town we came across some groups of tiny school children all dressed in pink, each carrying an identical backpack. They soon realised that they were being filmed and that we were not Korean and all shouted 'hello' and waved at Ian who was filming them walking towards us. It was a great sight.
We took lunch in The Terrace again and I made the mistake of ordering green tea thinking that the waitress confirmed 'Korean tea'. It was repulsive. It tasted like it smelt which was hideous. I never knew there was a consumable item that smelt of singed hair! Disgusting!
Our bags were collected from the hotel and we staggered to the station, pausing to look at the gorgeous puppies in the pet shop again. Some more, tinier ones, had appeared. We boarded the train as soon as it arrived and had connected to another train and we departed at 16:32. First class travel meant 'quiet class' travel and we received complimentary drinks and newspapers during the journey. We arrived back at Seoul at 20:59, 4 hours 27 minutes later. We took the subway to Myoung-dong, checked into the Prince Hotel and in doing so received a free upgrade. We returned to Alo Alo for some bar meals and beer. We completed our evening by making the Seoul vigil to the 7 Eleven to purchase more beer and consumed it while playing bao.
I find it quite remarkable that it is considered inetiquette to blow your nose into a tissue in a restaurant or in a public area yet it is quite acceptable to hack and spit on the path, in public, or even gob into an ashtray in a restaurant like the woman on the next table to us did this evening. How bizarre.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.