On to Mongolia

We were off early Tuesday afternoon, so there was only time to go for a wander around our local area in Seoul and grab some breakfast before heading to the airport. We were able to explore the Seoullo reclaimed road, which is quite pretty and a nice little urban park in the style of the High Line in New York. Sadly the cafe up there was closed, forcing us to go further afield for some coffee...

We flew MIAT (Mongolian Air) to Ulaanbaatar, always interesting to try a new airline. It was a pleasant contrast to Jetstar in most ways, although the plane was a little dated. Including those little fold down screens which showed a movie everyone could watch together... Still, no real complaints, especially as there was lots of leg room. Gillian loved the way everyone clapped the pilots after we had landed. 

Excitement was building as we touched down and got off the plane to find our driver waiting for us. The first glimpses of Mongolian scenery were already pretty inspiring and we got to see horses (lots of horses) and eagles on the drive into the city. There's something about the scenery that brings to mind Iceland, which we suppose is the lack of trees. Arriving in the central part of the city, you are reminded of the more recent history of Mongolia as you drive through soviet ear buildings. There is so much building going on here. 

We decided to have a relatively early night so only wandered a little way to Sukhbaatar Square. The evening was lovely and warm and there were so many families in the square just enjoying there time together. We wanted to stay a bit longer but the blog and bed were calling.

We're very excited for the big tour starting Wednesday morning, avid readers will have to wait for a while before getting any updates as it seems unlikely we'll have a great internet connection in the Gobi desert...

 

 

Exploring Seoul (first time)

In a short period of time, we managed to do a fair bit in Seoul. It's long been on of James' favourite places to visit, after a whole bunch of work trips to Korea. After the late night (early morning arrival), we didn't get up as late as expected, and headed out for a wander. We made our way to Namdaemun markets to have a look around, and managed to find a tiny coffee stand (yay!) followed by a place that sold a variety of deep fried pastries (the red bean paste filled one was the winner). 

With no space in the bags for any souvenirs, we decided to keep moving and made our way through the city centre to Gyeongbukgung palace. This is an interesting place, having been dismantled by the Japanese during their occupation in World War II, and rebuilt again afterwards to the original plans. There were a lot of people wandering around in traditional dress, due to it giving you free entry. We avoided the queues for the Insta shot with the guards in traditional dress and better enjoyed the wandering through the back sections, which were a lot quieter. 

From there we wandered over to a traditional "Hanok village" area in Seoul - again hugely popular with the Insta crowd. The number of people going through there must drive the locals crazy (it's a residential neighbourhood). They have restrictions on visiting to between 10am and 5pm, although we suspect that this doesn't stop the committed posers. As it was lunchtime by this stage, we made our way to a restaurant for a tasty lunch of japchae and bibimbap, and then on to Insadong, one of the tourism favourites in Seoul with a bunch of shops, restaurants and art galleries. A fun place to wander through (noting the previous caveat about not buying souvenirs), the highlight was a visit to the Teastory teahouse. This was James' 3rd visit, after a recommendation from good friend and colleague Hyuck Cho on his first visit to Seoul. We enjoyed "white" and "yellow" tea, with tasty sesame treats.

The rain that had been on and off all day was starting to settle in by this stage, and by the time we got to the Cheonggyecheon stream running through the city it was pretty steady. It's a pretty walk along the reclaimed stream through the heart of Seoul, and has the advantages of some bridges, which provided shelter during the heavier portions of the showers. With no umbrellas or raincoats (we'll chalk it up to the lack of sleep), we made our way back to the hotel via the subway for a rest. Well deserved too, after clocking up well over 25,000 steps. 

We ducked out to the Myeongdong Night Market for dinner (this time with umbrellas), and were pleased to find a little hole-in-the-wall joint that provided us with jjajangmyeon noodles and seafood pancake for dinner - yum!

Seoul arrival

After a bus up to Sydney, we stayed overnight at the airport, with a morning flight scheduled. this provided an opportunity for a celebratory drink to mark the start of the adventure.

Things didn't start off so well to the trip with a 3 hour delay to our flight (thanks Jetstar!), which meant we landed in Incheon after 11pm. We picked a day flight to avoid the patchy sleep overnight on the plane, the plan backfired a bit... We managed to get a bus from the airport into Seoul station, conveniently we had a hotel close by. Not so lucky were the 3 girls at the airport who had bought tickets (we think) and then found out there were no seats left on the bus, having to wait until the next one. We didn't feel sorry enough for them to give up our seats!

It was a longer walk than we thought to our hotel with confusing navigation and sleepiness playing their part. We were glad to get there, although somewhat taken aback by the size of the room and the configuration of the toilet/shower. There was no distinction between the two, the shower was over the sink, and with the only screen there to protect the door into the "bathroom". As unpleasant as it was (we won't talk about the smell), we decided that for two nights we could put up with it. The room was also tiny, so much so that James was tempted to go outside and grab one of the stray cats we heard to test a theory. Sanity prevailed. But it was a game of tetris to assemble everything in such a way as to be able to easily get in and out of the bed.

Here we go...

Preparations for a 3.5 month trip through Asia are pretty crazy. It feels like the "anti" trip. There's been anti-measles, -Hep A, -typhoid -COVID and -rabies vaccinations. A wild array of pills for anti-nausea, -diarrhoea, -malaria, -inflammation and -headache. Not to mention antibacterial handwash and anti-mosquito and -sunburn creams... 

And who knew you could soak your clothes with an insect repellent/killing solution that will last for up to 6 months?

But after all that we are packed (lightly) and ready to go. The idea will be to backpack to Korea, Mongolia, Korea (again), Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and then Indonesia. We'll try and keep you updated with what's going on as we go - expect a long gap when we head to Mongolia and spend a week with no internet on a trip into the Gobi desert.