Category: 2003-11: SIN, NRT and ICN

Sunday was a verrrry long day, mostly because of that International Date Line thingy. Here’s how my day went.

Late Sat. PM: Had silly idea about going to sento after more drinking after we got back to Myung-Dong. Silly idea disappeared after shochu kicked in.

Sunday 0700: Woke up. Left hotel. Trudged to bus stop for 1 hour ride to Incheon.

Sunday 1100: Left for NRT after contributing to South Korean economy by spending at Duty Free.

Sunday 1300: Arrived at NRT and cleared customs & passport control. It’s raining here. Again.

Sunday 1600: Retrieved baggage, repacked, moved to Terminal 2, checked in, cleared customs and passport control (again) and waited for late flight. In desperation, I bought a bowl of ramen from airport concession. As I’ve said in the past, it’s a rule that airports gank you when it comes to food being overpriced.

Sunday 1700: Left for SFO on 10 hour flight. Didn’t sleep on long flight. ANA Air Hostesses are awesome, food was excellent but seats weren’t much better than UA. So it’s pretty much SQ for me if I have a choice.

Sunday 1000: Arrived SFO.

Sunday 1030: Cleared customs after being subjected to secondary inspection for food items. It’s raining here too.

Sunday 2300: Finally went to sleep.

That was a freakin’ long day!

Today was my first and only full day in Seoul. Besides breakfast, the one thing I wanted to do was to tour the DMZ.

The DMZ, despite being the most fortified border on Earth, where the nuclear tripwire is still in effect, is a tourist attraction.

There are tour groups that highlight Panmunjom, the village that straddles the border and where there is a line that dissects a building in half. That’s where they held the armistice talks. The two big tunnels that were dug by the North that can move thousands of fully armed troops from North to South without detection. Etc, etc.

Except that you need 24 hours notice to join a tour group, so that the US Army can do background checks and all that stuff.

So instead I saw the Changdeokgung Palace instead. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the few examples of “culture” on this trip.

Also went to a very nice kaiseki (I think) dinner. This was just the beginning of the meal. I think the table has a Kill Bill feel, dun you think?

These were appetizers. Then they were empty.

We all also drank a huge amount of sake, shochu and some Korean (ginseng?) wine. Wound up taking subway back. For 45 minutes.

Also, I was told that no visit to Seoul isn’t complete without running into these guys.

They were assembling at their staging area to return to barracks after a demonstration. Interesting…check out the face of the guy above as I snapped that pic.

IHN is a new airport, built 2 years ago. Very new, clean and nice.

Just wish that they built a rail link while they building the airport because you have to take a bus to town on a road that seems to go on and on and on.

No rail. Just a really long road that seems to go to nowhere. Then you hit Seoul and you know you’ve hit it because there’s a lot of traffic out.

We are staying in the Myung-Dong district. Kinda like the ROK version of Shibuya. I’ve already found the Citibank.

I flew with Yumi to Seoul tonight.

We flew out on UA in Business Class. She said it was almost like when we first met except the seats are bigger and it’s a shorter flight.

The food was atrocious. Bad. Sushi plate looked like 2 day old maki from local 7-11.

The entertainment on the flight was non-existent. Three channels, one being the map, one being a special on the turkey and one with BBC America.

I think SQ really spoiled me…