Ah-nyeong-ha-Seoul-o!

*Note: most of these photos were taken with a cell phone camera.  Don't judge me!!

Ah-nyeong-ha-se-yo!

Day 1:
Singapore Air into Incheon. No one in the middle seat. Plus a feast. Opted for the Asian meal of course. Nice.

Took the AREX express train from Incheon to Seoul Station. Failed to acquire a T-money card (chargeable card for bus/train/cab/mini mart) at the airport.  The help desk was closed for the night and you can't get them out of a machine.

One way metro ticket FAIL.  The machine takes my money but the card doesn't work.  The station is busy so me and my big bags need to get out of there.  I hail a cab who CANNOT find my hotel.  He has a gps.  I have the address of the hotel in Hangul.   Sigh.  I may have super overpaid him as well.
Come on man! It's left at the HONDA motorcycles (there are hundreds of motorcycles/scooters parked on the sidewalk) and left into the alley by the billiard club. Duh. ;-)

My hotel:
Hyundai residence.  Good price.  Good location. Hard bed.

 Yep.  There's a washing machine.

 The FLOORS are heated!!! Controlled by this device:

 Because a peep hole is too low tech:

 Left in the pantry presumably by another guest:

 I have no idea what this does:

View from the room:

Day 2: beautiful weather
T-money card & cheap transit. W900 per trip

Namsang Tower (Seoul Tower) with Dave

 "I wish I'd come in summer..."

 A shout out to my roots:

 Hi mom!

Insa-dong

Some youngsters approached me who were studying English.  They later pointed me to a cool accessories 4 story shop (Ssamziegil).

The street food is delicious. That is all.

Fashion:
All the girls are in skirts, tights, and either trendy heels or uggs.
Fur is BIG here. And not subtle fur. In yo face fur.

And my map is already super torn up:

I met a man on the subway who swore I was Korean.  No he wasn't a tourist.