I embarked on the plane for my first stop, Seoul, Korea. I would be here for 15 hours so I decided to sign up for a tour of the city. Before the tour, I exchanged US dollars for won, found a locker to check my backpack and headed to the tour counter.  The tour of the city would begin at 9 am until 2 pm. Perfect, just enough time to rest a bit at the airport.  I was tired, the flight was 13 hours and my inflatable pillow, deflated on the plane. Are those all rigged not to work? Note to self: don’t bother with an inflatable pillow. I would say this airport is well protected. In a fifteen-minute period, I counted 8 to 10 police officers pass me. Walking in pairs they each carried semi-automatic weapons.  They were quite ominous dressed in their black uniforms, helmets, boots and bullet-proof vests. I didn’t really feel safe or protected.

The air-conditioned bus was playing American pop and country music as we loaded on. “Jane” our tour guide spoke English and had us introduce ourselves. We had two people from Boston, they just spent three weeks in Mongolia with 50 people on a backpacking trek to see the solar eclipse. Two people from the Philippines on their way to visit family in New York, San Francisco and Toronto. One gentleman from Hawaii was coming back from a month in Vietnam where he was born and lived for 19 years. And Me on the way to spend 4 weeks backpacking with my son in SE Asia. We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace also known as the Northern Palace. It was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty built-in 1395. I’m so glad I had a tour of this massive palace with so many different buildings and places. The grounds were stunning but it is so hot, it was hard to appreciate them.  Jane told us that ere are three levels of Hot days. One being the hottest. “Today, this is a three day,” She says, “This is a day people like to eat dog.”**   Next is the National Folk Museum of Korea which is actually on the palace grounds. Inside are dioramas, displays, sculptures, and art depicting Korean culture. Very enjoyable time. We drive to a shopping area and for 30 minutes we can shop. Just make sure we all meet back at the 7/11 at 12:10! I’m not going to buy anything because my 16-pound backpack already feels like a 26-pound backpack.  Lunch is next and it’s my first bibimbap bowl of white rice, mushrooms, bean sprouts, carrots, seaweed, no kimchi for this zero-star person and an egg still cooking in the hot ceramic bowl. Jane insisted that I try the red pepper chili sauce that was in a ketchup squeeze bottle. “No thank you,” I said. “Oh, just a little,” said Jane as she squeezed sauce on my egg. No egg for me. I slept on the bus back to the airport.

** A day people like to eat dog. According to a UPC interview in 2015 with American food writer Joe McPherson. South Koreans who eat dog meat eat much of it during boknal, the hottest days of the year, in July and August. Some believe consuming it revives energy or virility sapped by the heat. They consider dog meat in a stew as “a soup form of Gatorade”.

Tags: South Korea