September 13

We were supposed to meet up with one of my friend's girlfriends that lives in Seoul as an english teacher, but we missed eachother and weren't able to communicate because our cell phones don't even get service in South Korea. So Syd and I set out on our own to a market we had seen from the city tour bus the day before. The market was very crowded with pushy Koreans and the seamingly pedestrian streets were occasioned by honking motorcycles. The market seemed to sell a lot of junk (sorry, can't think of a nicer word) and we couldn't get back on the metro fast enough. We resorted to walking back up and down the street near our hostel, that is less crowded and has much better local shops. Syd bought a really cool stamp with "Cleveland" in Korean and I bought (I actually bought something, yes) a wallet with a Korean drawing on it (may sound lame, but I really liked it). We also tried a few Korean street food items that were largely disappointing and overpriced (compared to a sit down restaurant where Syd ordered a wonderful noodle soup for a similar price). We headed back to the hostel in time to get our bags and catch the hour-long bus back to the airport. I'm afriad I wasn't introduced to the best Seoul has to offer. The airport, although new looking and spacious, wasn't great either (if judged solely on pre-flight distractions such as neat food stalls- even familiar food stalls- or good little shop/bookstores). On the flight we each got two seats a piece by windows (always a plus!) Korean Airs does not mess around with putting on your seat belt during turbulence, many times throughout the flight lights flashed and announcements made to be in our seat with our seat belt on!
Well, I will let you know I did make it safely to Sydney, although this is where my trip becomes a solo journey, as Sydnee and Blake will travel together for a few weeks and then head home to get married.