Thursday, May 9th, Downtown Seoul

On May 9th it was our turn to do Seoul...on our own!  No translators, no Koreans.  Let's see how much we get done....

A building designed after 9/11.  The middle section of this building descends, like an elevator.

Same building as above.

Gyeongbokgung Palace.  As we were about to get off at our bus stop we saw there was a changing of the guards.

We couldn't see much due to the crowds and we were on a moving bus.

Which one does not belong?

Souvenir.

So excited to be in Seoul.  We didn't tour the Palace grounds, we only went in the front gate.  Had more to see around town.  Let's go!

After putting away the map, we still didn't know where to go.  Just kidding.  Off we go.

Filming from the back of a trailer.  Not sure what, or for who they were filming.

6,871 miles to NYC.

We bought a Seoul City Tour's bus pass to get on and off the bus as much as we want all day to the various tourist stops.

5,576 miles to Rome

Camera stores EVERYWHERE!

Cleaning and selling her fresh vegetables on the sidewalk, downtown Seoul.

Lunch.  Cold soup, noodles, spicy paste, hard boiled egg and a side of pork.  Less then $6.00.  And comes with a side of kimche and pickled radish.

Russel always finds the bakeries. : )

Street vendors.  Although illegal, they get a lot of business.  Inside the fried dough is your choice of: seafood or veggies.  Or, you can get dough on the inside and have it coated with cinnamon and sugar. $1.00

They seem to be a hit with the locals, so we thought we'd try one.

We got one filled with veggies.  We enjoyed it, although very greasy when you get to the bottom-bites.

The following pics are street shots.

A fruit smoothie.  Easy enough to point.  No Korean translator required.

Then we headed a short-walk north of downtown to Bukchon.    Bukchon is a village frozen in time.  A Hanok village (a neighborhood of historic Korean-style homes).

Small streets and narrow alleys.  Very quaint. 

Beautiful trees and scenery. 

The tops of homes.

 A pretty cool house.

A neighbor walking his door.

Another souvenir.  Our second home.  Everyones welcome. : )

The view to downtown Seoul.

In Bukchon, we found a nice pizzaria.  Good brick-oven pizza.  A good stop before heading to the west side of Seoul, to Dongdaemun Market.  We heard there was good shopping and it stays open late.

OH, and look at that, who did we find on our way to the market???  2 sisters street witnessing.  8:00pm.  Do you have any other friends?......

Oh, well, yes we do..........all these friends attend the Chinese Cong. in Seoul.  They are looking for Chinese-speaking pedestrians.

NO KIDDING!!!  Dongdaemun Market is several buildings and floors of SHOPPING and more SHOPPING and more blocks of SHOPPING!!!  You would have thought it was early and they were getting ready for the day.  NO!  It was 9:00pm and they stay open until 4:00AM!!!!

BAGS and BAGS of clothes!!!!

HATS and HATS!
SHOES!!!
JEWELRY!
EVERYTHING! and ANYTHING!
until 4:00AM.

After shopping, we hopped back on the bus and headed back home, at 12:00 midnight.  A GREAT DAY!