The ferry from Osaka, Japan to Busan/Pusan, South Korea was far nicer than I expected it to be. I was prepared for the worst, no food for the nearly 20 hour voyage, no security/safety, less than desirable sleeping conditions. I was surprised all around. There were two meals provided (dinner and breakfast), both buffet style, though they were only open for about an hour, and were pretty good. My room for four only had two, and was not bad at all and included a locking door. On top of all that, my student card gave me a 20% discount, so the somewhat high fare become reasonable.
During the trip, I started talking to a Canadian guy. He studied history in college so he was able to give me some more information on what I had seen in Japan and what I was going to see in Seoul. He was good company and quite talkative, which made time go by faster. Of the course of the trip, we had a couple of good conversations on some interesting topics.
Once we (myself, Canadian guy, his roommate) took the Korean high-speed train, the KTX, to Seoul. The three hour trip was nice, but there is not too much to see in South Korea besides Busan and Seoul, so I did do much looking out the window. Once in Seoul, I took the subway to my hostel, HEY Backpackers.
Apparently HEY is a bit of a famous place. It is in the heart of Seoul's primary nightlife area. I put my stuff down in my room and headed to a tourist office to get some maps and information. On my way there I saw a guy wearing a Phillies hat and asked him who won the game that I saw briefly while on the ferry (my room had a TV and baseball was the only thing on that both me and my Japanese roommate could understand and enjoy). He said the Phillies had won and if I knew a place to stay for the night. I brought him and his two friends to HEY.
These three guys are stationed in Korea with the US Army. After they put their stuff done, they joined me to look for the tourist office. We could not find it and decided to have a beverage instead. One beverage lead to another and before I knew it I was fully engrossed in the Seoul nightlife.
The following day I did almost nothing as I had had a bit too much fun the night before. However, the following day I went with a German guy and two other Americans to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the boarder of North and South Korea. It was pretty cool and interesting. This trip is just about the only important cultural thing to do in Seoul. So, over the next few days I did some walking around and some sightseeing.
I had only planned on spending three nights in Seoul but ended up spending five, partially because the first night neutralized the following day and partially because I could fly to my next destination (Beijing, China) cheaper if I delayed it for a day, which, of course, I did.
Seoul is a really cool place. The city is nice and there are a good number of places to see around. The local food is pretty tasty and cheap. Cultural/educational items are a bit slacking, but I hear the museums are getting better and better (I hear one is pretty good but I did not feel like going to it). However, I think the main reason people visit Seoul is for the nightlife. To illustrate how crucial the nightlife is to the city, consider this: very few stores open before noon, unless they serve food in which case the usually open around 11AM. The tourist office that was seeking the first day I was there had the hours of noon to 10PM. Just about everybody goes to sleep after 2AM, often closer to 6AM, so the city is kind of empty before noon. I will also point out that the nightlife significantly detracts from how inexpensive the city is.
In the end, a very cool place that is a good place to spend a some time and have a good time.
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