Day 14, October 8 Busan to Seoul
Today was a full travel day. We woke up, washed up, got dressed and went to breakfast. Then we returned to the room to finish packing and getting things in order to leave. We met Mia Moon, our Busan guide, and Mr. Omb, our Busan driver, in the lobby at 11:30am. From there, they took us to the train station. Mia went in with us, helping us to find where our gate would be, but we had to wait awhile before heading to the platform. She suggested ordering some lunch, because there would be no food on the train. She and Patrise went to order food, while I sat and stayed with the luggage. Mia suggested Patrise wait with me and she would wait on the food. However, when she brought the food, it was not in takeout form, including a big bowl of a glass noodle soup The soup was cold -- emphasized by having a large ice cube in the middle of it -- so we left it alone. Mia went back to the counter to get the fried chicken in to go wrappers. That would be what we ate on the train.
Seen out of the train station food court window, while waiting to board the train.
Ms. Moon led us to the track in a hurry, because we had to board before the train left in the next ten minutes or so. Our train was already sitting on the track, so we had to hasten to get to our car in business class near the engine in the front. Patrise and I boarded, waving goodbye and saying thanks to Mia. We had to do some juggling, but eventually got our luggage pieces in places where they would not roll around. We found our seats and settled in for the three-hour trip to Seoul.
We watched the Korean countryside scenery roll by. Patrise dozed in and out. I read news articles. I took photos and videos -- probably too many, as usual. Here are several of them....
We arrived in Seoul only two minutes after the preannounced time. Two things are certain about both Japan and Korea: (1) the trains leave on time, and (2) they arrive on time, or close enough to rely on. (None of that Amtrak leave an hour late and arrive two or three hours late business.)
We were met on the train platform by our new guide, Grace. Helping us with our luggage, the three of us exited the station and found our driver. (Don't know his name, as she did not introduce him, nor did he speak to us.)
We made our way through Seoul rush hour traffic. Seemed to be as bad as Atlanta's. Grace was explaining things about Seoul, but honestly much of it was not sticking with me this afternoon. I'll do better in the morning. We planned to meet at 9am tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is a national holiday, Hangeul Day, which celebrates the creation of Korea's alphabet. The hangeul was created in 1446 by King Sejong the Great. In fact, there is a statue to honor him, somewhere in Seoul, which I have seen on one of my earlier trips. Anyway, due to the holiday, everything will be busier than usual. As Grace was leaving us at our hotel, we spoke briefly about dinner. She stated she was planning to meet up with some friends at an Uzbek restaurant not far from our hotel.
We checked in and our room is a spacious "residence" rather than a hotel room. Our residence, true to its name, came with washer/dryer, kitchen (stove, sink, microwave), a kitchen table in a high-top, style, and sectional sofa. Here are photos of our initial Seoul views and our hotel room.
We tried to settle in. We wanted to immediately start washing dirty clothes. This took a while trying to use Google Translate to interpret the Korean wording on the washer/dryer to get it started. Then we tried to figure out how to access streaming, so as to use our Netflix or Disney accounts. None of this was easily apparent. So after thirty minutes, we headed to dinner. Based on Grace's plans, we decided to go to a nearby Uzbek restaurant and have a new experience for ourselves. The Grand Samarkand was indeed something new. We wondered why there would be an Uzbek restaurant in Seoul, South Korea. It turns out that the largest South Korean diaspora in Central Asia is in Uzbekistan -- about 200,000 Koreans. South Korea was one of the first nations to recognize an independent Uzbekistan after the fall of the Soviet Union.
We ordered without knowing what we were really getting. We ended up being served a carrot salad (really good), and beet salad (so-so), enough bread to feed the 7th Army, and a dish called plov which is a dish of shredded beef over rice with carrots mixed in. Our drinks were strawberry "mojito" and pomegranate "mojito." The drinks were called mojito, but there was no alcohol in them. The Grand Samarkand was a certified halal restaurant, safe for devout Muslims to eat in there: therefore, no alcohol served on the premises. Here is a map of Uzbekistan and the other "stan" countries, to remind/inform you of where it is in the world, and there are photos of our Uzbek restaurant experience.
(BTW, "stan" means "land of." Thus, Uzbekistan is land of the Uzbek, Kyrgyzstan is land of the Kyrgyz, Afghanistan is land of the Afghans, etc.)
We returned to the hotel, got someone to come to the room to show us how to use the various contraptions, then turned in the for night.
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