Day 8 - Last day in Korea, fly out in the evening Checkout is at noon, plane out is after 9 pm. What to do. Pretty tired, foot still hurts, and now I would have the two full backpacks to lug around (yeah, I overpacked - should know better by now).
The instructions form AirBnB host are to separate the trash and take it downstairs to the bins in the garage. Would think that's part of cleaning fee, but whatever. Not much trouble and the place has been great, and a great value at something like $95/night. This is my trash for the full week:
The small bag on lower right is the fish bones of the leftovers from the Busan meal. Downstairs in the building there are a couple eateries, and seeing how I am running low on Zone bars (I knew I wasn't bringing quite enough), I decide to have the local convenience eatery experience. I pick one of the two places, for no particular reason. They are very similar. Neither has any instructions in English. Both have screens where you order and pay, then a pickup window to get your food when ready.
With no English descriptions it's a digital version of point and grunt. I poke at the screen, insert credit card when it seems to be asking for one, then wait for something that looks like what I ordered to come up at the pickup window. It eventually does. The metal chopsticks and spoons in the under-table drawers are efficient. I didn't see them at first (the pictogram is small), but the staff point-and-grunted me towards it.
The food is delicions, and no consequences. Very reasonable cost-wise too. This was all of $5 I think.
So, what to do with the day? First thing I drop off the clothes backpack in a locker at the train station, electing to carry the laptop bag on me. Risk management. One thing I wanted to do is check out the hilltop tower near city center. It is co-located with portions of old city wall and is not far from the palace. One can walk up the long set of stairs, but I'm too worn out and take the cable car instead.
The views are cool, and there are thousands of ritual locks symbolizing couples' vows to each other. Me myself and I are not interested in adding to that (don't laugh, I'm a Gemini), but are ok with taking a couple pix.
A curious feature is a 'sky bathroom', with urinals having full view of the city below. Yes, I did.
On the way back down there's a martial arts demonstration at the base of the tower. Cool to watch for a bit.
Next destination is the Namdaemun traditional market, another recommendation from a friend. It is a relatively short and easy (if it were not for foot and backpack) walk downhill.
Being almost out of Zone bars I buy what seems to be a pound of squid jerkey to snack on. That comes in handy both now and later. Done with the market, might as well visit the inside of the palace which is just a short distance away. I take a bus there, just because I'm tired and sore, and still have cash on the Tour Card that I need to spend.
Once inside the palace, I'm very glad I decided to visit it. The place is very cool, not too crowded (allowing numerous people-free shots), and has a calming effect overall. The weather is perfect too.
Judging from this admittedly very brief visit, Korea seems to have two parts - the ancient, exemplified by the palace and the fortress, and the modern. There doesn't seem to be much in-between. Unlike Europe for example. From the palace it's a bit of a walk to the train station but manageable. So I walk. Some cool sights on the way.
Retrieving the bag from the locker I am charged for extra time. The charge is KW800 and I can pay with Tour Card. Perfect! I had KW900 remaining, so this takes the balance to KW100 - about 7 cents US. Optimized. Then navigating to AREX express platform, boarding the train, and the 50-minute ride to the airport.
A fair bit of walking around with two bags and still-sore foot. But this is the final stretch. And for this leg, I have treated myself to biz class which means I also get to use the KAL lounge while waiting to board. Free wine included.
Nice conclusion to this part of the trip. A good tailwind gives us extra ground speed, almost 1,000 kph. The flight is only 8 hours compared to the 10 hours inbound. Hawaii layover is next.
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