Picked up from the airport by Mr. Kim - (Kim is like Smith in Korea) - jet lagged to death, we were driven for about 3 hours to the hotel in almost dead silence as Mr Kim's English is nearly non-existent. He then insists on treating us to breakfast despite the fact that all we want to do is shower and collapse. He then tells me that there is a meeting that evening at 5pm. Oh God...
That evening Mr Kim tells me that his wife and her sister are willing to take around Seoul and show her the sights. Ann is panicked but we both feel its like a an opportunity not to miss, and hell - what else is she going to do tomorrow?
Mrs Kim and her sister. Mr Kim is about 40 - how old are these two? We've no idea... They take Ann round Seoul in a mad dash - getting on the wrong platform and having to crawl under the barrier to get to the right platform, going the wrong way on the metro and general panic and mayhem... Meanwhile Dave is teaching a bunch of Koreans who clearly understand not a word of what he is saying. Eek.
Some sights - these were a set of scarecrows made by local kids.
Seoul has many fabulous castles, palaces and places of religious ceremonies... Top roofs and walls all of them. Dave is struggling hard with the Koreans lack of English - discovering that they can read, but not understand. So he's writing almost all of it on the whiteboard...
More great walls and fab decorations. Ann is eating food from a street vendor, Dave is eating his fingernails...
Pretty cool places huh?
This is a Korean 1930's bar - why is it here? Er... We don't profess to understand the Korean way of life at all...
Dave and Ann go out for dinner with the boss. He speaks fairly good English with a think Korean accent. "Where did you learn your English?" asks Dave " 'strilia" says the boss with a thick Australian accent. Ann and Dave nearly choke trying not to laugh. Every word he says is heavy with Korean except the word Australia which was spoken with a perfect Australian accent... Too weird.
Final day in Korea. Finally Dave gets to do some sight-seeing (there was nothing near the hotel). This is Dave between two happy poles. By the way, Dave got a round of applause off the Koreans. Was it worth it? Er, no.
This is at the Peace Gate, which was near the Seoul Olympic ParkTel - the Hotel near the Olympic Park that was built for the 1986 (?) Olympics in Seoul - which is where we stayed. Lots of kids there. The children were fascinated with us Westerners - pointing and giggling at our weird looks and odd hair (particularly Dave...). Many also shouted "Hi" and "Hello" and ran away if we said "Hello" back. Cool.
This is Ann at the Peace Gate. Seoul - it was the strangest place. I'd visit again, but preferably not on business, and as part of a round the world trip or something. I'm really not convinced that Seoul is the kind of place that one should go for a holiday!