Farewell to Seoul
Sunday 1st November 2015
Photos:
Seoul – Yongsan Technology Market
Seoul – Insadong
“Follow your arrow wherever it points” – Kacey Musgraves
Tomorrow I will be following my Garmin arrow which will hopefully get me to my hanok stay at Yangpyeong, about 55 Km east of Seoul along the Hangang River. Meanwhile, I have been making the most of my last day in Seoul.
Breakfast at the hotel had finished by the time I surfaced at 9 am this morning, so I went to the Paris Croissant café around the corner. First established in 1988 there is now a chain of the Paris Croissant cafés around South Korea and they provide a welcome change from the local fare. They a similar in style to Breadtop in Sydney, in that you also pick up a tray and tongs at the entrance and help yourself to a variety of pastry delights. However, Paris Croissant cafés are a little bit more up-market … you can dine in and can get reasonable lattes and cappuccinos. Although the name is French they are no match for the boulangerie patisseries I frequented in Normandy and Brittany a few months ago.
Once again the temperature got down near zero overnight, but by the time I completed breakfast it had turned into a reasonable day. Yesterday I managed to visit most of the main tourist spots, but there were still a couple that I had planned to see while in Seoul so with my camera charged I headed for the National Assembly Station near the hotel. I couldn’t help noticing how many police are on the beat in Seoul, with a group of 5 or 6 standing together on nearly every corner. I think this is probably more as a deterrent than expecting something to happen. From what I have seen South Koreans are very decent, well-behaved, polite, people who treat each other with respect and co-operate well with each other. If there are ice-heads or drunks here I haven’t seen any.
My first place of interest was the Yongsan Electronics Market which I had failed to find the other day because it actually goes by the name of i-Mart Mall. The nine floors include everything electronic that one could imagine, including electronic games, cameras, digital electronics, digital home appliances, computers, computer games, i-weddings, mobile communications, and even an e-sports stadium. Whilst I enjoyed browsing each of the floors, I resisted the urge to but anything because I can’t carry it around with me. One thing that struck me was that there was a whole floor of laptops with many vendors and few customers, whereas the smart phone floor was well patronised. How technology has changed!
The next place I set out to find was Insa-dong which, according to Visit Korea, is supposed to be one of the most memorable attractions in Seoul, representing the focal point of Korean traditional culture and crafts. Although I didn’t find the area where all the crafts are, I found it interesting browsing around the back streets with all their street stalls and restaurants selling cheap authentic Korean food.
Now I must start packing my pannier bags and focussing on the ride tomorrow. I am looking forward to beginning my 12-day, 4-Rivers, bike ride from Seoul to Busan, after an amazing few days in Seoul. I hope you have been enjoying the adventure so far and invite you to follow my daily progress on my blog.
