Rocking around the non-existent Christmas tree.

So, Christmas has been and gone in the blink of an eye. The celebration seems even quicker than usual as there are no twelve days of Christmas here so the festivities do not linger. We have a five day break for the Christmas period, which has also gone very quickly. We go back to work tomorrow.

Christmas has been lots of fun though. The day itself involved a fairly relaxed morning of opening presents and preparing the vegetables for the main event later on. We decided to have steak as we only have hobs which obviously don't facilitate any roasting or baking. Eveybody came round to the house for about 3pm where we cracked open the bubbly, started cooking the food, opened more presents, played charades, sang along to Christmas songs and watched 'A Christmas Story.' It was a small gathering with about ten of us, but it was nice to keep it intimate and we really liked all the people that came. Fun was had by all.

On December 26th we took Korea's fast train, the KTX, to Seoul. Travelling at speeds of up to 298km/h, it was definitely very fast and we arrived in Seoul in about 2 1/2 hours. The train was really comfortable, pretty similar to the National Rail trains of the UK with a little less leg room, but a whole lot more efficient. Yes, Korea's trains actually run on time.

We reached Seoul Station at about 5.30pm and it was cold. In fact, it was freezing- the difference in temperature between Gimhae and Seoul was remarkable, at least 4 or 5 degrees cooler (even in daylight the temperature was always under zero). We went and grabbed some food immediately and then headed to Insa-dong which is where we had decided to base ourselves for the next couple of days. The underground train system in Seoul was a baffling experience. There are fourteen different lines with 436 different stations and therefore the map looks like a piece of post-modern art with wiggles and different coloured lines darting all over the place. Five of the lines are marked in different shades of blue, which adds to the confusion and some lines have different routes. Anyway, we figured it out and as the sun was disappearing behind the towering apartments and glitzy department stores we went in search of accommodation.

Insadong is a 'dong' or a neighbourhood in the Jongno-gu district of Seoul. It used to be a very wealthy area but during the Japanese occupation its residents were forced to move and sell all their valuable belongings. Due to this, Insadong became a place for antique trading. Now it is a great destination to find traditional arts and crafts and if you wonder off the main street down one of the alleys you will come across shops selling all sorts of beautiful artistic work. The following day we spent the morning wandering through these alleys and browsing all the wares and wonderful creations that were on offer: traditional Korean fabrics, Chinese silk, delicate paper crafts, Korean scrolls, wood carvings, jewellery and quaint tea sets. For me, this was very exciting as I was beginning to think that Korea did not have arts and crafts markets. I was wondering if artistic talent did not exist as it is so prominent in the rest of Asia but I had seen very little on offer in Korea. But, thankfully, it did exist in Seoul and the originality of the goods on offer and the friendliness of the people selling them enabled me to forgive Korea for not having these markets scattered in abundance elsewhere.

And I must emphasise that the people we spoke to in Seoul were really friendly and helpful- not just the ones providing a service but everyday people in the street. When we looked lost (a common occurrence) people asked us if we needed directions and people smiled at us out of goodwill. We had been told that Seoul was full of selfish, surly people- but I entirely disagree. It helped that, generally speaking, people had a good grasp of English. The times when I tried to use my pathetic knowledge of Korean... “Outa- backa- udin- ju-seo?” I was greeted with a chuckle and “Hey, where d’ya wanna go? Outback steakhouse- just head down the street!” I’d forgotten how much easier life is when you can communicate with those around you.

In the afternoon we took the metro to Yongsang where Asia’s largest electronics market is located. We only saw a very small section of this market but it was phenomenal. The market is made up of 20 buildings (all about eight stories high) and there is a grand total of 5,000 stores selling everything from MP3 players to washing machines. It was ridiculous! We were interested in Camera lenses so we darted to the first ‘camera market’ that we saw. It was basically a massive department store dedicated entirely to cameras and camera accessories with pushy salesmen trying to sell you a billion things that you don’t want. I was glad I had done my research and before walking into the store I knew exactly which lenses I wanted and how much I was prepared to pay for them. So, when they tried to sell me inferior lenses I was quickly able to dismiss them. We spent a good few hours in the store- intent on getting the best deal possible. I walked away with two superb brand new Canon lenses complete with international warranty and Hoya filters and I paid the equivalent of £550 less than the UK Amazon.com price. I was a happy bunny.

Stepping outside of the electronics megastore we realised that snow had been falling for the last couple of hours and there was at least an inch or two of the white stuff covering the ground. Despite the feeling of frostbitten feet, it was really quite beautiful and something about snow makes me feel all fuzzy inside. After a steak dinner we headed back to Insadong where we had already chosen our accommodation for the night. ‘Tomgi Hotel’ was recommended in the Lonely Planet guide for being luxurious so we followed its pink neon lights as if they were a guiding star. Opting for the VIP suite, we were not disappointed, the room was extravagantly decadent! Stepping inside we were ecstatic to find a king size bed complete with heated mattress, memory foam and controls to elevate and recline either end. At the foot of the bed stood a 50” flat screen TV and to the right was the bathroom. The bathroom consisted of black marble floor with a huge two person whirlpool bath, a separate steam and shower room and a separate toilet with a heated seat (it doesn’t get better than that.) At the other end of the room was the lounge area and beyond that was our own private mini DVD bang (mini cinema.) All this for £60...what would you get in England for that price?!

After an evening of luxury we awoke to find that the streets were thick with snow. We took a treacherous walk to the nearest subway station and stopped at a charming little park en route which was covered in a layer of snow. Then we took the metro to Namdaemun market. ‘Namdaemun’ means ‘Great South Gate as this was the original gate to the old city. The market is huge and pedestrianised which meant we could amble around without worrying about the crazy taxi drivers. From what I saw the goods on sale were mainly clothing, but the selection was huge- everything from real fur coats to children’s clogs. We managed to purchase some winter jumpers and I got a black onyx ring and a jade bracelet which are very pretty. After a few hours of browsing we warmed ourselves with a much needed coffee. I cannot reiterate how cold it was- after being outside for 20 minutes my feet had turned numb and blue (this was not helped by having worn boots that were not waterproof.)

We jumped on the KTX at about 4.00pm and got into Gimhae about three hours later.

We both had a great time in Seoul though. It gave me a much needed buzz as I was starting to tire of life in Gimhae where variety is pretty uncommon. Although some areas of Seoul are just a mass of corporate feeding, there are some wonderful parks, beautiful tea houses and the arts and crafts on offer give the place a bit of depth to its character. I can cope with the ridiculousness of electronic superstores because they are on such an extreme level that they feel pretty bizarre. In Gimhae there are just lots of crappy shops and the markets only sell Kimchi and dried fish. So, in conclusion, I am a fan of Seoul and would definitely like to return before we head out of South Korea.

Below are some photos of the last few days. Please click on the images to see the full size version as some of the ones shown here are cropped.