One Day in Seoul

Arrived at the Ramada Songdo Hotel, not (very) far from Seoul airport at 0500, following a slightly delayed flight and a long wait for baggage. I slept a couple of hours, but wasn't settling, so eventually I got up and went for breakfast. No knife to butter toast?! Never mind, use a spoon...

I took a taxi to the Sorae Wetland Ecological Park (about $9). This was a good idea - it's very interesting with reconstructed salt beds, bird lagoons and reed beds, as well as mudflats for "experiencing". There were gulls and ducks (ferruginous, I think), grey herons, one with a youngster, a blue heron, egrets, and lots of grebes, one of which had a nest in the reeds within sight of a hide. It was very hot out in the open, but there were shelters and observation hides at frequent intervals. It was quiet away from the visitor centre, even though it was Sunday. As I arrived back at the pick up point we had arranged, the taxi drew up and took me back to the hotel.

Experiencing mudflats!

After an hour or so resting and reading, I walked up the hill behind the hotel - Cheongnyangsan mountain. It looks as if everyone uses it as their evening exercise place, it's quite busy but not noisy. There are pine and oak trees and big granite boulders, and it's very picturesque with viewpoints over the city and out to sea. Seoul does seem to be quite hazy, I think it may be pollution, but the result is rather misty pictures, with the bridges out to the airport island barely visible in the haze. I'd expected it to be hot, but it was very shady and pleasant under the trees and the pines smelt lovely. There were lots of steps, some sandy tracks and a long stair down from the final viewpoint which is made to look like a boat.

Back at the hotel, I had to explain that I didn't want meat or fish with my salad, which was clearly not normal! When it came, though, it was a lovely crunchy salad with delicious kiwi dressing, which seems to contain kiwis and lime, maybe in yogourt. I'll have to try making some...

I tried to type some blog posts, but couldn't get the hotel computer to type in English, so back to the notebook until later...