First trip into Seoul

Trip Start Aug 07, 2007
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Trip End Ongoing


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Saturday, September 15, 2007

No sleeping in today. Four teachers and one US Army soldier headed into Seoul early this morning. We walked the streets of Uijeongbu for about 30 minutes to the nearest subway line. The subway here is extremely clean and enormous. There are 10 lines crossing all over the metropolis that is Seoul and it's satellites. They run above and below ground once closer to the city center. The subway system is like an underground city with lines crossing over and under each other. We road one line in and changed to another after a 30 minute ride by descending into the Earth. The trains are colour and numerically coded and the stops are clearly displayed making it very user friendly. With a good map and some experience from the other teachers we soon arrived in the foreigner district in Seoul where our first stop was at a travel agent to plan an Xmas trip to Thailand. We should get a trip for 1100.00 CAD all in. As we explored the streets I noticed the abundance of non Asian people here. I guess like any major metropolis, you will find an influx of foreigners A Rotating parking garage in Uijeongbu
A Rotating parking garage in Uijeongbu
 . This place was a true melting pot and in my people watching adventure I wondered what these non natives did for work. Probably stuff like teaching, military, running a business, or what ever one can imagine. As I contrasted the population of Uijeongbu (a very homogeneous population...I am clearly one of a hand full of Caucasians living there) to Seoul I noted the variety of people there.
We had lunch at a restaurant/bar called Geckos. I had a buffalo chicken sandwich and a beer for 10,000 Won (approx. 10.00 CAD). After that we went to an English book store and I decided after I rip through my library I brought from home I will read H.G. Wells. The ladies rounded out the day shopping at some sports stores (Nike, Adidas, Reebok) all which have similar prices to their North American sister stores. We then headed home on the subway. I now sit in a PC which is packed. Testament to how connected this society is to the internet. They give you a mug of juice as you plug away at the key board. I discretely fill my mug with beer when done the juice. I will now join the leagues of online gamers for some Warcraft 3 action.
Alive and well: work is awesome, the spicy food is delicious, poker night with the boys starts next week, the running is great and the internet is everywhere.
Kevin Teacher
DMZ tour postponed for two weeks.
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