30 November 2022
Feels like minus twelve
Waiting to go to Incheon airport
Right now I am typing this on the Arex rapid train to Incheon airport in Seoul.
I will be at the airport way too early for my 23:15 flight, and as far as I know Singapore airlines has no lounge or lounge agreement with anyone in Seoul, so I will have to pay for food and water. Outrageous.
Before all of that which will probably be another minor update at some point, lets go through the long day of waiting.
Finally the cold came. When I woke up this morning, official temperature -7c, feels like -12c, whatever that means. I guess it was a bit windy.
For the first time since the very start of this trip, I put on my jacket and gloves for my morning walk, and proceeded to walk up a hill to the windiest coldest point I could find. It stayed at a high of -4c all day, and as long as I was out of the wind or in the sun, it was generally fine. My hair froze into a lump as I of course went out twice with wet hair, first at 7am, and then I showered again just before getting changed and checking out of my hotel at 11am, so twice I ventured out and froze my head into an ice block. Good times.
The rapid train does not take too long so I better explain the pics before we get to the airport.
First I made a peace offering to the former kings of Korea, promising not to overthrow them again for at least a year.
I started my way up the very familiar phallic Seoul tower to check out the early freezing view on a very clear freezing day. Here is the low down view.
Low down view the other way.
And since I forgot to do this when I came up here the other day, and since I do it each time I come to Seoul, my whole reason for coming up here again this morning was to take the photo with my only friend the duck.
The familiar tower.
The air even looks cold.
Last view from the top. Really, I promise this is the last view from the top of any mountain on this trip.
Next up to kill a bit of time, a visit to the Gyeongbokgung palace, the main palace for Korea. I have been here before, but many years ago. It was free today, not sure why. It usually costs $2.
More palace, people playing dress ups in the cold. One influencer was doing a half naked long boots boob tube thing but I was not able to get a photo. Watching her freeze as she tried to setup her tripod to talk to her fans live was pretty funny.
And more palace.
And back section of the palace. Probably a more interesting shot actually.
Nearby is the also free Korean folk museum. Not sure what it is all about as it has plenty of Palace stuff on the grounds too.
Here is the actual museum, which is not at all ancient.
Inside was... warm. It was a strange place, basically telling the story of every day life in Korea in very boring detail.
After this visit, I spent most of my day in shopping centres and underground, going from cafe to cafe killing time, until now when I am heading to the airport. Further updates from airports with boring pics to come.