Day 3. Tour begins. 6 April 2024.

We met our guide Alex at 9:00 and bundled into another black van – Staria. Not quite as swish as first one but comfy nevertheless.

Alex’s first question- would we mind swapping out two days around? Why?

The cherry blossoms are not close by hotel so going there today as they only last about a week and have been out for a few days already. So today is Modern Seoul and tomorrow will be Cultural Seoul.

We head off going South to Gangnam.

Alex clarified a few things (sort of)

Dong – signifies small area about 2-3 kms diameter. Every place seems to have dong on the end so this is good to know.

Gu- medium size area. Eg Gangnam Gu (goo) , Sochi Gu.

Then there was something like Che??? Which is larger like Seoul is.

The bird nests we are seeing everywhere are evidently a magpie – which we saw a few of today looks like a jay to me. I’ve googled and it’s an Oriental Magpie.

Traditionally loved by the Korean people, the magpie is believed to be an auspicious bird and a messenger of good news. According to a folktale, magpies formed a bridge to help two star-crossed lovers to reunite. It was also chosen as the national bird of Korea in 1964, getting overwhelming votes in a national contest.

Driving south and across the river we hit Itaewon -Dong – rich people, houses/luxury. About $3mill AUD. It was hilly and very secure, almost austere. Passed by largest private museum Leeum by Samsung.

Alex gave us a bit of a history lesson cos we asked something. Here’s what I gleaned – the Republic of Korea began in 1948.

Joseon was the last dynasty and was collapsed by Japanese in 1910. 1945 freed from Japan by the USA. Between 1945-48 lots of turmoil. USA and Soviet Union came too and drew a line on 48th parallel. No Joseon were people allowed to cross this line . The USA governed the South, Soviet the north.

We Visited Hangang River Park. There was a wedding here today – we saw them briefly disappearing into the building but check out the banners etc heralding the wedding. A lot of work gone into preparatory photos.

Gangnam area is upmarket. We visited two shopping centres – downmarket (Go to Mall) upmarket (Shinsegae). The first was like the old Queen Victoria market on steroids but underground. The second a bit more Chadstone like.

Then off to Dosun park and memorial to Dosun Ahn Chang Ho in one of the good suburbs.

Lots of swanky shops and drove past most of the top brand car showrooms -Polestar, Tesla, Bentley, BMW others I can’t recall. Alex explained about Korean history – very complicated.

We then grabbed a bite to eat – traditional chicken with a bunch of trimmings. I enjoyed it. Some bits not so much.

After lunch we were chasing Cherry Blossom – firstly at Bongeunsa – Buddhist Temple. There was restoration happening and a lot of preparations for Buddhas birthday. There was lots to see – some monks, lots of people going to pray, Cherry Blossom, a huge statue of the Maitreya Buddha, huge bells and drums, heaps of brightly covered plastic ‘paper lanterns’ for Buddha’s birthday in May, some bronze pigeons.

Piled back into the van and off to COEX Starfield Mall where we saw the Starfield library – there are a few of these around and we’ve seen them on Instagram but still not certain how or if books can be borrowed or if it’s all for show and a gimmick.

Next stop was the Children’s Park…

…for yet more Cherry Blossom. Lots and lots of people, a zoo, a nice bit of Cherry blossom around the park where people had set up for the day with tents and picnics and games for the kids.

So many people enjoying the good weather and cherry blossoms. Young people and old everywhere taking the perfect pic with the cherry blossom. The zoo part was distressing- the enclosures were small and horrible with no stimulation or environment for the animals. Without looking we saw zebra, kangaroos and alpacas in appalling circumstances- didn’t want to see it. We hurried back to the gate to meet Alex as we were on a timeframe for Sunset at the Lotte Tower and we still had a lake with Cherry Blossom to check out.

As it turned out the Lake was situated right beside the Lotte Tower, so we snagged a park and hot footed it upstairs and out to the Lake. Suzie stayed up top and Alex, Susie and I ventured into the huge mass of a madding crowd that were walking around the lake to see the blossoms and capture the perfect pouting pic and relish the beauty of it all. It was pretty impressive, really. After we had gotten our own pics – maybe not perfect and certainly not pouty.

We headed back up to meet Suzie and quickly move up stairs and lifts elevators to get to see sunset from the observatory on Lotte towers. Again it was busy and we were pretty knackered but we finally made it through the queues and followed Alex’s instructions to go up the final levels to the observation decks. Despite a very smoggy outlook sunset occurred and we saw Seoul from 500m above. In the East side the city lights were starting to shine and it was a pretty cool outlook.

Then back to meet Alex, we decided to bail on dinner with Alex , we let him off and were happy to return to hotel.

Ended up with whatever we could get in the Lotte Department Store food court. Sushi for Suzie, a sandwich for Susie and a focaccia for me. The food court was closing at 8:30 so we couldn’t order from any of the amazing options we saw yesterday.

Back to rooms for showers and rest.

I took another short walk around the corner for some Pepsi and snacks from the convenience store, followed by shower and blog.

Now I’m cooked and ready for bed.