Worst. Tourist. Ever.

My complete lack of posts this whole week wasn't without reason. That reason being that I had nothing to write about as I have been the lamest traveler ever this week. All week. From start to finish. Oh yes, I have.

To be fair, Seoul has never been super high on my list of "must see places" (okay, it wasn't on the list at all) and my sole purpose in coming here was to hang out with my friend who is working here. Which I did, so at least I accomplished something this week. But not much else.


Note the TV built right into the bathroom mirror.
Because, really, who doesn't need to watch
TV while brushing their teeth?

I have to admit that jetlag kicked my butt on this trip. Which it pains me to say as I must confess that I've always taken a bizarre pride in my ability to defy jetlag. I scoffed at people that suffered from it, those who needed two or three days to adjust to a place, who couldn't make it through the first week without naps. Those who were bleary-eyed and foggy-minded for days and unable to adjust instantaneously to the local time. I scoffed. And now I am one of them. Doh!


The cushy lounge where we spent so much time, we might as  
well have just paid to stay here instead.

I think the fatal combination this time was being up the entire night before I left (more than 24 hours by the time I took off) mixed with the knock-out punch of losing my cushy seat in first class and ending up in coach, where I have always found it impossible to sleep. Not sleeping one whole night and then only sleeping a sketchy 1 or 2 hours here and there over the next took a toll. No worries, I thought, I'll get one great night's sleep upon arrival and that will be that, just like I always do. But no, no. Instead I spent the first few nights never sleeping more than 3 hours at a shot, spending hours laying in bed, infuriatingly wide awake, cursing under my breath about not being able to sleep and finally waking up for good at obscene hours like 4:30 am (seriously, what does one DO at 4:30 am??). Oh yeah, I was lots of fun to be around those first couple of days.

After an oh-so-sketchy night of "sleep" upon arriving Friday, I had to be out of my hotel by 1:00 on Saturday, expecting to meet up with my friend at that time. But instead unexpected work delays happened and I ended up homeless while between hotels and having to expend a herculean effort to stay awake all afternoon while killing time in various coffee shops, waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more. By the time we met up in the evening, I was pretty useless. And that was as exciting as Day One got.

Day Two and Day Three weren't much more exciting. But we stayed this week at the Conrad Seoul which, if you have to be jetlagged and want to just hang out and enjoy the good life while adjusting, is just about as good as any place to do it. And as I won't see another hotel like it while traveling on my own, I decided to enjoy it for all it was worth: a fat corner room overlooking the river, a cushy bed with mountains of pillows, access to the Executive Lounge (read: free food and drinks), a fancy schmancy swimming pool, an indoor driving range, and service that is so over-the-top it's almost embarrassing. So, yeah, mix hanging out in a luxury hotel with a week spent chilling with an old friend I haven’t seen in a while and it made me one unmotivated tourist indeed.
.

Changdeokgung Palace. See? I DID leave the hotel!

We talked, we laughed, we ate, we swam, we napped, we lollygagged over breakfast (one day until, I exaggerate not, 3 pm), we caught up on the minutiae of each others' lives, we solved all of the world's problems and we talked about things we should do but never got around to. It was delightful.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end. Wednesday J had work that could no longer be avoided so I tore myself away from my cushy surroundings, bundled up, and headed out on my own to navigate the Seoul metro system. I went to see the Changdeokgung Palace, completed in the year 1412 and used as one of the primary palaces of the princes of the Joseon Dynasty, and then wandered around the Bukchon Hanok Village, one of the older parts of the city, filled with traditional Korean style homes and buildings.

Thursday was J's birthday so we yet again braved the outside world (two days in a row!) and went to a really nice, traditional Korean barbecue restaurant. Despite what I already knew to be a distaste for kimchee, I decided to give it another try as, really, when will I ever get more authentic kimchee than while in Korea? Turns out that, yep, I still dislike it. A lot. Ate all sorts of other stuff I couldn't identify, which was made easier by washing it all down with soju, Korea's equivalent of saki.

A sidenote: we walked to dinner and, once we were in the general vicinity, were having trouble finding the actual restaurant so I popped into a coffee shop to ask for help. It created a buzz of activity among all of the workers and eventually one sweet, giggling little girl guided me to the door, me assuming she was just going to point out the general direction. But she ended up walking about 5-6 blocks with us, taking us right up to the door of the restaurant. And as if that wasn’t enough, she kept apologizing the whole time for not being able to speak English. As if she needed to apologize to me for not speaking MY language while I was in HER country as opposed to the other way around. It made me feel even worse for my complete and utter lack of Korean language ability. That kind of kindness that I encounter regularly overseas never ceases to amaze me. If a foreigner in Lancaster asked me for directions, would I drop what I was doing and walk them the whole way to their destination? All I can say is that I will from now on.

Traditional style buildings in Bukchon Village

Yesterday on the subway (I know, out in public again!) I happened to catch the eye of an older Korean gentleman who had the kindest looking face. I smiled at him, presuming a man his age likely didn't speak English. Shows what I know. He struck up a conversation, starting off by chiding the both of us for not wearing coats (the heat in the subway car was blasting and we were stripped down to the bare minimum socially acceptable amount of clothing and were still sweating bullets while everyone else was all bundled up to the hilt - big, fat coats zipped the whole way up with gloves, scarves and hats - as if it wasn't 5,000 degrees in the subway car). And then he tapped the shoulder of the stranger standing next to him and shamelessly started pointing out to him my toe rings (yes, I am still wearing sandals in wintery Seoul), talking and laughing. They seemed to be having a rather amusing conversation at the expense of my feet but then switched back to English just long enough to tell me that "Koreans don't wear rings on feet. We think weird. Very weird". Fortunately, I'm not the sensitive type. 

So this is my last day in Seoul… for now. Tomorrow I head off to begin what will be a few weeks of journeying through other foreign lands before coming back here for another few days on my way back to the States. Warm weather, here I come!