South Korea: a travel diary

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08.09.2014 Seoul (SOUTH KOREA)

We haven't slept for many hours but it's a dream to wander the alleys of Seoul with a thousand glittering, colourful signs, gigantic ideograms that amaze you, and we're already on the road again...

09.09.2014 Seoul (SOUTH KOREA)

[Stefy]: "After an abundant breakfast in our "Fully Guesthouse" we go out to discover this wonderful city full of things to see, to eat but above all to share with our first travel companions! We take a walk around the "Bukchon" district, where we admire, fascinated, the ancient Korean architecture. It really has the power to give a unique sense of peace.

Inside "Changdeokgung Palace" we reach a garden, called the "forbidden" one, because once it was accessible only to nobles. It's full of pagodas, each of which was used for different purposes. From here we manage to get an idea of what the ancient traditional life of this people could have been like!

We decisively change area to visit the crowded "Insadong" district. We looked like children at an amusement park, our eyes didn't know where to look anymore; colours, lights, little dolls, strange foods never seen before, women in traditional local dress, lots of pairs of teenagers dressed the same way (we'll later notice that this is a very widespread practice among young people). We taste many strange things we come across along the way: ice cream in a long corn cone, octopus served like skewers, red-bean-cream sweets...

Finally we head to "Gwanghwamun Square" where we take lots of fun photos, watched severely by the majestic "Gyeongbokgung Palace".

At dinner the wonderful Way takes us to the "Tosokchun restaurant" to taste a ginseng chicken soup with chestnuts, dates, various seeds and rice.

Way is an extremely kind and sweet girl; without her we couldn't have explored the city in such a Korean way."

10.09.2014 Seoul (SOUTH KOREA)

Today we head north, towards the so-called DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), a very tense zone at the border with North Korea. Such a nation, so inaccessible to tourism!

We listen to many accounts, see images and videos showing the many problems they have to face here only because a mad little brat threatens the world with his nuclear warheads.

The atmosphere is very tense; there's even an American military base right at the border to monitor this delicate situation, also because a whim of this dictator could easily give rise to a third world war. Once again man risks annihilating himself.

The town of Dorasan, on the border, seems to hope for reunification with its northern brothers; evidence of this is the railway that is already ready to connect the hyper-technological Seoul to the northern capital Pyongyang. The signs proclaim that only 250 km separate them from there.

Back in Seoul we take a leap back in time when we watch the changing of the guard in front of one of the many majestic ancient Korean palaces. Those costumes from another time, those oriental musics and their proud gazes gave us a clear idea of what society could once have been like...

11.09.2014 Seoul (SOUTH KOREA)

[Stefy]: "Seoul Tower. At the top the view is extraordinary. We notice a large terrace with 5-6 trees completely covered in padlocks left by lovers as a seal of love.

Mark unexpectedly pulls one out and we have fun imitating the Korean sweethearts, selfies included! At a certain point two girls approach and ask if they can take photos of us; they then insist when they ask us to get into Korean-style poses or walk hand in hand or sit down etc., and I was thinking to myself: "imagine these two having to waste all this time with us..!" until I discover that it was Mark who had organised it all! He had contacted them a month earlier from Italy and they had offered to do this sweet surprise!

In the evening Way takes us to eat Korean Barbecue at "Palsaik", a really nice place. We taste seven slices of meat marinated in seven different ways, then vegetables, soups... all exquisite!

We end the evening in one of her favourite venues: "Jazz Story". Inside, all the furnishings were "recycled", the tables were bathtubs with a pane of glass on top, the chairs: old cinema armchairs...

But the highlight was the band! Phenomenal! I wished they'd never stop playing!

Seoul really captivated us and all this happened above all thanks to Way, a special girl, by now our friend! Thank you Way!"

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