Aigoo. The days are really slipping by aren’t they?

Today got a little off track I have to say. Not that I can remember the actual plan I had, but I definitely know I got side tracked, which is a very easy thing to happen here.

My morning kicked off with a trip to the library. Yup, more books. I love libraries. More so even than I love book shops. Having worked in a few, and visited even more, libraries to me are always comforting no matter where they are.

The Seoul Public Library sits right next to Seoul Plaza, a green open community space, and City Hall.

 Not only does it possess rows of books, but  also a nice stepped seating area, desks where you can sit and work (with handy electrical points), and they also have automatic checkout stations for books, very much like the ones in my library at home.

Even more exciting, they have really posh toilets with lots of buttons to push for functions such as seat warming, a bidet, and a dryer! They really like you to take care of your bottom in this library. And yes, I played with the buttons, it was fun! I was so excited I even had to tell my mum about it.

I spent part of the morning in the library attempting to blog. The desk space is very popular. One of the things I noticed here (and to be honest I’ve seen this is cafés too) is that people are quite at ease to leave their belongings sitting about with no thought of anyone walking off with them. If people want to bag a table or space, they just put their stuff down and walk off to do what they need. I got very concerned about this the other day when I met Jaewon, he just put his mobile phone on the table and walked off to the counter to order drinks and thought nothing of it. I however felt the need to keep my beady eye on it the whole time for him. In the library it’s the same way; I see laptops, mobile phones, and even a wallet just sitting on the desks with no occupants.

Anyway, I pass a pleasant hour or so typing away before emerging again into the blazing sunshine – still bloody hot right now. Last time I believe weather reports when travelling. Come to Korea in September, they say. See the autumn season, enjoy the coolness after summer. Yes, OK then. I’ll try to pay no attention to the sweat running down my face and back right now.

Distracting me from the heat right now are some people dressed in brightly-coloured outfits marching about on the pavement on the other side of the road. Hmm. Well, can’t miss out on investigating this, can I?

I dash on over and am rather surprised to find that I am actually stood outside Deoksugung Palace. I had no clue it was right across the road from here. The chaps outside are performing a changing of the guard ceremony. The commentary is interesting, spoken in Korean and English, and describes the performers actions as they move through their paces. What does catch me off guard is the drum. When it is struck, you can not only clearly see the drum vibrate madly, but it literally resonates in your chest as well. Quite awe-inspiring really.

As the guards march off, so does my plan for the day. I’m here now, I may as well just pop on in to the palace. I decided to go all out and buy the full palace ticket, giving me entry into all 4 of the palaces as well as Jongmyo shrine, as at some point I will see them all.

Deoksugung is the smallest of the royal palaces and is very quiet today making for a pleasant stroll. It is interesting in that it contains western style buildings as well as traditional Korean ones, and on my walk I pick out several features I like.

Perhaps though one of the things Deoksugung is best known for is actually its outer wall. It is a very pretty stone wall, I recognise it as being featured in a number of dramas, however I somehow managed to get distracted by some trees and statues and didn’t even take a specific picture of the wall. Oops.

But here is the tree – now doesn’t that look like the tree was hollowed out and they’ve filled it with a type of concrete tarmac to keep it standing?

Also – check out these statues. That isn’t my photo taking that has made them look slight squashed and oddly elongated. That’s actually how they have been sculpted. When you stand and look at them, it really plays havoc with your eyes and brain.

Along my photo-less wall walk, I stumbled into a rather large number of police officers which I felt was a bit odd until I came across this…  

I have since come across another portion of the US Embassy and that too was guarded by tons of police. What makes this stand out to me was that I have since seen a number of other embassies here in Seoul and some had either no police presence (Canada, for one, cause no-one dislikes Canadians) or just a couple of them (including the UK).

Speaking of which, rounding the corner at the end of my wall walk, I did indeed unexpectedly come across the UK embassy. At this point in my trip it had been a few days since the Queen passed away and I had heard mention that here in Seoul there was a book of condolence that you could go and sign in the embassy. Hmm. Well, it seemed the day for unplanned things so I sauntered up to the gate, half expecting to be sent packing. The police did an excellent job guarding in the fact they completely ignored me as I wandered up to the gate. A nice little Korean fellow suddenly appeared on the other side (have to admit, I wasn’t expecting that) and I tried to explain to him why I wanted to come in, but also that I didn’t have my passport with me at that time.

Yup, he didn’t speak English.

Now, I completely understand hiring local people to work at foreign embassies, I get that. But I very much would like to think that if I was in some type of emergency situation (for instance, being chased by a hoard of Joseon-era zombies) and needed to be urgently admitted to my home embassy for help, that the chap on the door would speak the same language as me so I could explain my predicament. Just my hope is all.

We got there in the end by him frantically repeating to me “ID. ID.” I motioned to him I only had my driver’s licence, but he seemed OK with that (no doubt about it, we run a tight ship here in Seoul).

And in I sauntered to the UK embassy.

I was then approached by a very sophisticated looking lady (Korean) who spoke impeccable English (she would do fantastically well running the gate), and was escorted into a little room containing a table with the condolence book and framed photo of the Queen sitting on it, and behind a video screen with the dates of her life on it.

I have to say, I’m usually a little on the lighter side of British patriotism myself. But sitting at the desk, signing my name in a foreign land for the Queen, I felt like I was doing a good job somehow representing my country.

I was in and out in less than 10 minutes, but it did really tickle me that the only other British people I saw on site where two builders; totally promoting the builder stereotype with the roughest London accents explaining to the posh lady guiding me that “Nah we’re not here for the Queen love, we’re here to fix the roof, like”. And just for that moment I silently giggled into my face mask and missed home for a few seconds.

Final task for the day – a trip to Lotte Department Store.

I can pretty much guarantee you there is no-one in Korea who doesn’t know the name Lotte. They are a MASSIVE company and a chaebol one to boot (chaebol – super mega rich business family/monopoly). They sell food products, run departments stores, have hotels and resorts including a theme park, and a humongous tower that is 555m tall, making it the tallest building in Korea and the 5^th tallest in the world (according to their website).

Therefore, a visit to the store was a must. My opinion? It’s another one of those place that if you have tons of money to blow for no real reason, this is where you do it. The department store is head to toe covered in big names brands with even bigger price tags to boot. The only part of the store I enjoyed was in the basement – they have a food hall there which amongst other things (and for a hefty price) will stock items from other countries. This is where I would come if I lived here and just needed a smidge of a taste of home. Mostly cheese really.

All in all, a random kind of day.

This pretty much matched in turn with the following one.

I spent most of the day in the library typing (seriously, you have no idea how long it takes me to think of something semi-coherent to write…), but randomly also had a bubble tea with a new chap I met who is an English teacher here. He gave me a very brief run down on life and work in Seoul and we agreed to meet up later in the week to have a chat and he even offered to let me come and observe one of his lessons.

Needing a break from sitting in front of the computer, I decided to go for a stroll in the Myeongdong shopping area not far away in search of some rather elusive EXO k-pop goods, and was promptly relieved of about $50 for two DVD’s and photo books (look, just go with it).

It was also at this point that I discovered my new reason for needing to live in Korea…

This is hotteok.

It’s basically a hot pancake filled with a sugar syrup. And I’ve decided this is the only thing I’d like to eat for the rest of my life. Even if I do need to walk 400 miles per day to burn off the calories.

I made one more final stop this day at the tourist information centre in Myeongdong which has a fairly impressive amount of helpful brochures, but also really super nice and helpful staff, including a lovely lady who phoned the local National Park Service office for me to find out if they have any more stamp books for hiking (they don’t). I was really touched that she helped me out after I explained I couldn’t speak enough Korean to phone them, so she did so on my behalf.

It was also while I was here that I realised I could go and get a trail map and stamp book for the Seoul Trail from the information office in City Hall. I’ve been toying with the idea of trying to hike the trail, it’s about 100 miles in length and encircles the greater Seoul area. It is split up into 8 sections and you can use the subway to ferry yourself to and from each section, making it possible to complete as day hikes.

Off to City Hall I go. I feel slight trepidation walking in, it is the City Hall after all, where local government things happen. But interestingly enough it actually contains several public areas (including a seating bit downstairs where it looks like they have mini music performances) and is welcoming in its feeling.

Right, I practice my very basic Korean in my head (which is basically “Seoul Trail map, do you have?) and approach the front desk which has an information sign on it. I roll out my sentence, and although the man looks a tad confused or at least like he’s about to say he can’t help me, he replies with a whole stream of Korean and hand signals (I’m starting to wonder if just by saying one or two words in Korean, people here are automatically assuming I must understand the language at large, I can only guess that very few foreigners try to say anything, so this just gives the impression if you speak any Korean this therefore means you speak all Korean).

I have to admit, I didn’t catch a single word of what he was saying, but once again, body language is universal and I take the point where I want to go to get my map is downstairs. I thank him for the help and descend.

At the next information desk, I am about to try my sentence a second time when I get asked if I need help in English (I tell you, there are some days I feel I need help with my English). I am very excited when my request produces not only a map, but also a stamp book!

I do understand that you might not get the fixation with stamps, but let me tell you, after you have practically killed yourself on a hard hike, your knee feels like it’s about to pop, your calves are burning reducing you to a shuffling walk, your back needs immediate relief by lying flat on any surface no matter what it is, and general exhaustion is about to claim you; there is something about being able to stamp a flimsy little piece of cardboard to show for the effort you made that makes it all worth it.

I tell you, if there was one thing about hiking that Appalachian Trail that makes me a little sad now I think about it, it was the fact we had no little stamps along the way to show for it.

Sailing in a sea of delight over my newly acquired map and book, I decided to wander along the stream that I‘ve come to cherish so much, a homing beacon that takes me back to my accommodation, stumbling across this on the way…life in Seoul is pretty darn nice.