Trip to Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea - Jan 31st 2010

Breakfast at 8am. Shops wouldn't be open until 10 o'clock and we had to check out at 12 so The Boy and I played two games of pool and a couple of games of chess. At 10 The Boy and I went shopping for souvenirs - t-shirts, bookmarks, etc. I'm amazed that the shop owners have no problem changing between Korean, English and Japanese to service their customers. The amusement arcade was open so we played a couple games. Soon enough it was time to head back to the hotel to check out and say goodbye to Keiko. We even bumped into her in the souvenir shops.

No 3rd or 4th floors in the elevator.

Restaurants everywhere in Insa-dong.

Great Korean food on offer.

Souvenir shop in Insa-dong.

Quality pottery available in Insa-dong and not just cheap souvenirs.

You can buy almost any souvenir here.

Bit risque woodwork in Insa-dong. It is the suburb for artisans.

View from our hotel room.

Somerset Palace Hotel is a much awarded residence.

Grabbed a taxi to Seoul Station after checking out. The food hall at the station was pretty good and the menu had some funny Konglish items. Miky's best friend, Mi-ja, had booked KTX tickets for us from Seoul to Daejeon. An adult ticket was W32,100 and that for a child was W22,700. About A$32 and A$22.50 respectively. The reduced prices, for Korail members, were W22,900 and W11,400. It's good to have friends who can save you money. The journey took 58 minutes and we reached a top speed of 303 km/h.

Couple Rried Rice.

Noodles with Hot sause.

Hot soup.

300 km/h on the KTX.

The Boy is quiet when he sits next to a stranger.

Miky's sister, Ju-min, was a bit late to pick us up from the train station which gave me the opportunity to hound the tourist information lady who had a great deal of difficulty understanding the word "attraction". Apparently there aren't a lot of tourist attractions in Daejeon. When Ju-min arrived she took us to the apartment. A short while later Miky turned up with Mi-ja. They talked for a while before we went out for dinner. There were a lot of people waiting for a table and we had a 15 minute wait. But the wait was worth it as the meal was incredible. Porridge, fish, kimchi, sashimi, seaweed, rice, dweng jang jiggae, rice in bamboo with red beans, etc. The food just kept coming and there were six of us. I couldn't believe that the total was only W51,000 (A$51). Miky's sister drove us to Baskin Robbins and we all sat and enjoyed ice cream. Mi-ja gave some money to The Boy to play a machine for picking up toys and he picked up a huge gun which dropped just before he could collect it.

The restaurant in Daejeon.

Special meal 1.

Special meal 2.

Special meal 3.

Special meal 4.

Korean-style parking - grab any vacant spot.

Baskin Robbins.

The Cousins.

Dropped Mi-ja off at Daejeon Station and returned to the apartment. Went through a random breath test which was a bit unusual. The police officer waved a rectangular device about 5cm in front of Ju-min and she just had to blow in the air. I wouldn't have thought that would be too accurate.

F Floor - superstitious people.