and the 3rd day

Are you still ok???

Today we took first the subway.
It looks more complicated than it is really :-)

In the subway there was a big dim sum. No joke!!! This was a girl with a big coat in form of a dim sum.

Very impressive!!! I was laughing inside!!!!

I have no picture but make your imagination work :-)

Then direction the flea market, you see this is written.
Actually this is a big help, otherwise this is not always easy!!

Well not really flea, it was more people buying some commercial clothes.
So I was a bit disappointed ...

After that some energy was needed. So I took a bulgogi with rice.
See this is written!!!

This is smiced meat , very good.

This was in a food court where you get a number, then you have to hold.
But you have to know where and also give your plate back in the right place!!!

In Korea some of the food is very spicy, see the red thing this is not only decoration!!!

But still not enough so we have decided to go back to France to have some croissanterie.
You know with the teletransportation this is quite easy.

So look some pain au chocolat and croissant, hum very good.

Then direction one of the biggest herbal market in Asia.

They sell everything possible!! I have no clue what this is !!

Dry fishes, in all sizes

bigger ones

strange mushrooms

And some ginseng for sure!!!
Some of them are very expensive!!

Today was a bit of sun, but as you may see it was still hell freezing!!

And that thing too, but that I really don't know …


So in the evening some meat was needed to recover. We try another barbecue and we had some instetine and some beef. This was good, but intestine is not my favorite a bit hard or too faty, but nice to try!!!

That was the 3rd day in Seoul. Hold on one more to go :-)

2nd day in Seoul :-)

Today breakfast in the room (cereals, toasts): nice!!
And then I was so tired that I slept until noon :-)
And then this is time to have a lunch, yeah, as I told you!!
And because we are in Korea we went to a real japanese restaurant :-)
Wouah that was very nice and cheap!!!

After that we went to Changdeokgung palace to visit the secret garden and the castle.
We took a guided tour for the private garden.
See that's her :-)

1,5 hour of visit, very interesting.

The buildings have very nice colors

But this is getting cold.As you may see it is snowing now!!

this garden was for the king and the queen and the people they invited.
That's why it is cold secret garden.

These simple buildings are for the servants.

And this is the last building with a straw roof.

As you see on the stones this is written in Kanji. This is because Korean was a spoken language for a long time and they used kanji (Chinese) to write.

Since it was very cold not so many people were visiting, this is great.
And with the snow it has a special cachet.
Great visit, but inside there is nothing to see.
Makes me remember the forbidden city in Bejing.

Then direction Bukchon hanok village.
These are small streets with korean traditional houses.

There are also many cafes and light.This is very nice, very cosy and with the snow particularry nice.

Looks more european and all these small cafes are pretty :-)
It was very nice but ...

Outside this is -5 degrees (well nothing compare to what I will have very soon), but pretty cold!!!
So back to the room.
This is some artistic work in the subway.

For the dinner another traditional korean restaurant: chicken and beer.

Very funny, we took the one with french fries but otherwise there is only chicken and big beer.
This is delicious!!!
Not very healthy but who cares?
Not me, and I did worse!!!

You see that, all that, this looks delicious, so I had to try :-)

I took the kumquat muffin!!!
Yes it has to be, by this kind of temperature you need some ernergy :-)

And that's end of day 2 :-) And the temperatures are dropping !!!!

What did you think????

that I fall in a hole or that I was kidnapped or worse that I was killed??????

No no no, nothing so exiting, I just couldn't connect my computer in Seoul :-)
So now I have 5 days to explain, that's a lot, so I will do multiple posts, be ready to read!!!

Let's start with the 1st day after Busan….
Once upon a time, hum sorry… the 2nd of January 2011 :-)

After the breakfast, direction the busan station to take the ktx, the speed train to Seoul.
This is the electronic ticket for the train.
Since we have the rail pass we can travel as much as we want, this is very nice !!

Inside the train, well very strange, we are in France or what?
Are we going in Paris, this is the TGV!!!
I am at the end of the world and there is the TGV!!!
NO way
And worse...

Paris baguette, I am in the wrong movie :-)
But inside this bag this is very good :-)
Ok after 2,5 hours finally Seoul, very big city.
Direction the subway and 2 stations to the hotel.

In the subway an hold guy is very happy to see me, he checks my hand and want to carry my luggage.Which is ok, except that he has to reenter the subway to continue with his friends
But he is so happy to talk with me, that the doors are closing!!
He managed to put his head inside, some part of the body but not the legs, and the outside doors are closing tooHorror, I really thought he will loose his legs, but he managed, what an adventure!!!

After that the hotel, very very big room, but a bit dirty ...
But we are near to a great districts with a lot of shops and restaurants.
But this is freezing here, so we put a lot of clothes!!

This is the street near the hotel and some decorations on the restaurants, but this is kind of expensive there...

But very nice with the lights!!

You know there, they were not the most ugly :-)
There were some are krishna white guys, singing, giving some prospects and having very strange eyes.
Kind of scary….

A very nice small mall with a lot of lights and nice mini shops

For the dinner we found a korean barbecue, not expensive, full of Korean, but not really in english.You see the menu, can you order?
Yes we can :-)
Pork was ok, and then show some part of your body hoping they understand!!!

And then you get that, which looks pretty good!!!

And after a while you have that :-)
Delicious!!
You have to cut your meat with the scissors !!!

This is the street with all the restaurants, full of lights and people and noise, but great!!

This is a very big building near the hotel, where we came back because this is freezing, did I mention already???
Ok that was the first day in Seoul, can you continue with the next one????

Yes I love spa

After a good sleep to start the new year not too tired :-)

direction the train station to exchange the rail pass and book the ticket to Seoul. Good idea because the trains are started to be foully booked!!
And then in the same time have a lunch.
Maybe you don't see but the size of this pizza is kind of ridiculous, and next to it this is honey :-)
Well not really that but kind of ok!!! (but for the moment I miss japanese food….)

After that direction a spa, yes I love spa :-)
First take the subway. While trying to get a ticket a lady gave me a day pass!!
Great, thanks very much!!!!
There was also a retired guy speaking english helping people there.
I have to say this is nice!

So after that, direction the spa.
Big street with big buildings on the way :-)

He is showing the way, but asking people also help when you don't know :-)

And there it is, this is written a great spa!!
So this is naked and separated men and women.
So inside there are many baths: from very cold to very hot (like more than 45 degrees)
There are also some saunas and steam baths and some bath outside.
You have lemon, cheery, champagne, tv (yes yes with a tv), salt, alkaline,… baths.
Very nice, but very crowded that day.
But I really enjoyed!!!

Well there the ladies where looking at me, especially my breast :-)
But well I guess this is ok.
Inside an old lady was washing her hair where she shouldn't.
Another one was offended, she was saying everybody to tell her something, she was showing her with the finger, very funny actually, to see her face :-)
So after 2 hours it was time to go (back to the cold!!!)

But before that some energy.
The spa was located in a hotel with some patisserie.
Here some delicious flan

and there some chausson aux pommes, but less good than expected!!!
And then back to the hotel!!

This is some illumination near the hotel.
It says welcome to Busan!

For the dinner I didn't wanted some korean food, so some hamburgers were great, sorry sorry, but for the moment except the barbecue, the korean food is not my thing :-(