Concrete Jungle and Skyscrapers of Seoul

As we landed at Seoul Incheon Airport on an overcast Saturday morning, the tropical feel of Bali quickly disappeared.  My wife and I hoped a day layover in Seoul on our way back from Bali would lessen the blow.  However, this logic was flawed from the start.  Going from the sunny skies of Bali and temperatures in the mid eighties to the gray skies of Seoul with temperatures at least forty degrees cooler was a harsh reality.  None the less, my wife and I were determined to see a little bit of Seoul.  We took the KAL (Korean Airlines) Limousine Bus from Incheon Airport to our hotel in central Seoul.  The KAL bus has drops at certain hotels all around Seoul so we picked our hotel, the Ramada Seoul, based off where the bus stopped.  The bus drop is directly in front of the hotel so it was very convenient.  Once we arrived at our hotel, we were both going on less then a couple hours of sleep.

Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the Mug and Hug Festival

After a quick coffee to awaken us from our post-flight coma, we set out on foot to walk around the central part of the city.  We had no particular agenda other then to soak in the atmosphere and get a general feel for this large city.  What was a typical Saturday like for the people of Seoul?  Well, like any other city, it appeared people enjoyed shopping and eating.

A Typical Saturday in Seoul

As we walked along a pedestrian mall, throngs of consumers soon filled the streets.   The sun gradually poked its way through the overcast sky warming us up a little bit.  After walking for several hours, we worked up quite an appetite. Soon, the smell of street food overcame us and we enjoyed a few Korean treats.

Street Food in Seoul

The newfound energy allowed us to continue our walking tour around Seoul.  To put it plainly, there is a lot of concrete in Seoul.

Walking path along a man made stream in the middle of the city

We missed seeing parks or green spaces as it just seemed to be endless skyscrapers.  There was nice walking trail along a small stream in the middle of the city but open spaces were lacking.

The only green we saw in Seoul

Finally the time had come for dinner.  We entered several restaurants but the menus did not contain any English so we really didn’t know what type of food was being served.  Finally after walking around for a couple of hours we settled on Korean BBQ.  We were the only english speaking patrons but managed to order by pointing to pictures of the food.

Korean BBQ

Our day in Seoul had come to an end after walking well over ten miles, sampling street food and Korean BBQ, and getting lost walking back to our hotel at night.  Seoul is certainly an energetic and large city but it is not a place I would make any effort to return to unless on a layover during a trip to other parts of Asia.