South Korea, a quick rest point.

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Flag of Korea Rep. Seoul, Korea Rep.
Sunday, November 28, 2010

The Beetle Catamaran from Fukuoka to Busan, South Korea, was a smooth 3 hour journey. However once we were in Busan there was a definite feeling of 'Your not in Kansas anymore'. Busan was a little scary, just a port town with lots of freight crates lying around. We just had to walk a short distance to the train station. Already the drinking culture South Korea is known for was evident and this left us feeling a little nervous. We wanted to get to Seoul where things are a little more Westernized. A further 3 hour train journey on the KTX (South Koreas version of the Bullet Train) to Seoul, they only had standing tickets but that was fine, we entertained ourselves with some good old fashioned pen and paper games!
Once we hit Seoul the city was thriving. Getting into the metro was like cramming ants onto a needle point!

Finally at the hostel, conveniently located on top of a coffee shop we could relax

.

It was freezing, snowing in fact, in Seoul and all we had was layers and a hoodie, everyone else was in puffa jackets (very trendy in Asia) and hats, scarfs and gloves! Tomorrow we would find a coat!
We headed to a nearby flea market to try our hand at haggling and find ourselves some coats to last us through China as well. Ellie got a lovely green number and Emily a dashing navy blue!

South Korean food is all very meaty so we struggled here for things to eat, they don't seem to understand "We don't eat meat".

We just relaxed in South Korea, it was only ever going to be a stop over point and a trip to see Debs, and after racing through Japan we needed a bit of a break.
On our third night in South Korea (our last night) we headed to Incheon where Debs lives. She kindly put us up for the night and it was lovely to see her and Alex. We headed out for some local food, extremely spicy soup and sushi, then onto a couple of bars. Luckily Debs knew where to take us as in South Korea the build upwards and most of the best places are situated around the 5th floor on buildings where you wouldn't expect a bar to be

. After two bars we were ready for some Karaoke Sing time, and sing we did. In fact we sang until 6am! With no windows in the karaoke booths and beers flowing we were totally unaware of the time! After almost loosing our voices it was time for a taxi home, especially as we have a ferry to catch tomorrow and Debs is due at work tomorrow!

It was really nice to see Debs, finally a familiar face who we could speak English to. Thanks for having us Debs!!!

After relaxing in South Korea we are now ready for our long ferry journey to Waihei China!

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