Travel Log 24

I flew into Inchon International Airport (Seoul) and it lived up to the title of world’s best airport as everything just seems to go so smoothly and it so clean and really well designed.  I caught the last bus to Suwon which is a small huge city on the edge of Seoul and then a taxi to the Chinese couchsurfer and her husband’s apartment. They live in one of hundreds of the exact same apartment blocks which Suwon has and one of millions which exist all over S.Korea.

The busy travelling in China had tired me out and knowing that Japan would also be the same I had decided to take Korea easy and catch up on doing nothing for a while this is also easier because S.Korea gives British citizens a 90 stamp on entry and so I didn’t have to worry about when I had to leave the country.

So the day after I arrived I joined Nancy for a game of tennis with one of her university friends. On Sunday Nancy had planned to join her university friend to go bungee jumping as said that the price was only £20 so I thought sounds like fun lets do it. And off we went bungee jumping.

Bungee jumping is the most terrifying and most amazing thing you could ever possibly do. First you take a lift up to the top of crane which is 60metres high (a 20 storey building) then you wait at the top while you get cold in the wind looking and freaking out about how high you are. Then when it is your turn (I went first) you get attached to the bungee cord, then they open the gate for you to walk the plank to the edge of the platform all the while you are hanging on for your life. Then when you think you are at the edge they say that you have to step closer so that your toes are actually off the edge. Then once you really have soiled your pants they say you then have to hold your hands above your head and then on their count you jump – 5-4-3-2-1 and you jump (the counting was really quick). About half way down your heart starts again and you can scream and you do… really loud. Then you bounce up and down for a while before they lower you down. For the next five minutes your heart beats at a million times a second. So terrifying! So amazing!

After that everything else I did in Seoul was very tame. I spent four nights in Suwon and then a further week and a bit hoping from couch to couch in Seoul. One thing I will mention in Seoul is that they have the best tea I have ever had in a café. Real Earl Grey leaves in a teapot with a tea strainer – really good.

After Seoul I went to Busan where I was to catch the ferry to Japan. Again I really didn’t do much in Busan either. I couchsurfed at an American girls flat for a couple of nights and then moved to a Korean girl (Jiwon) and her family’s house. Jiwon and I went to see some pretty awesome cliffs.

Oh and since I also stayed at a Korean girl and her family’s house in Seoul I noticed that Korean families eat the same food at home all the time. Same for dinner as for breakfast. They have the rice and same side dishes ,of which there are many, on the table always and only one main dish changes and therefore it always taste very similar. I think this is strange – no variety. I think it is also possible true of Chinese families.

Next Japan!