Seoul Searching - Blogabond

We took off at 8am on 2 June from Orlando to Seoul - too early! Pretty good flight though, not a long layover in Detroit, and then straight to Seoul. Delta lost one of Kris' bags so we got that a few hours later (not bad actually). The Grand Hyatt Seoul is pretty nice, there is a huge gym that we have already hit up twice over the last few mornings. Normally I don't have much jet lag, but for some reason, I just couldn't stay up on Sunday when we arrived and we ended up sleeping from 5pm - 1am. Soooo now I am way off! We've been going to the gym around 3am! Yesterday, we woke up (super-early yes) and had a great breakfast in the Hyatt (club floor :)) We headed to the concierge to get some city info (awesome girl named Sonnie). Ryan is on business travel with Kris, so he accompanied us on the first day's adventures.

Kris and Elaine at the Hike Midpoint on the way to the Needle

Sporting our gym shoes, we took a cab to the bottom of the trail leading up to the Seoul Tower (Needle), and we hiked up the hill, maybe about a half hour to the base of the Tower. We were so early, we had to wait for them to open! Kris was going to show me the tile he made me a year or so ago, but they had taken it down apparently.

Kris and Ryan Winded After the Hike to the Needle

The Seoul Tower is pretty cool and the theme is all about love. Love for every culture and everyone.

Seoul Tower (Needle)

View from the Needle

Mom and Dad's Post Card Sent from the Top of the Needle

I sent mom a postcard from the top :)

Our Lock on the Lock Tree Outside of the Needle

Keeping in tradition with our locks when we travel, we added a lock to the lock tree outside of the Needle. Kris insisted on climbing all the way to the top of the highest tree and 'installing' our lock there

After we left the Needle, we went to Itaewon by the hotel for some traditional Korean lunch, but we were so early that we had to grab a beer before any places opened for lunch! After a quick lunch, we headed to the art district,Insa-dong. There were tons of streets with handicrafts and hand made art, ranging from utensils to jewelry and herbs to candles. Everything is so colorful and 'happy' here in Korea. Tons of anime characters and tasteful graffiti is everywhere. People just love to write all over the walls on the streets and markets and even inside the restaurants. We grabbed a coffee and some cake at a coffee shop where Kris had written some graffiti himself last year. Check out the photo, we added another date to it :)

Love Note at Between Pages Coffee Shop

Kris and Ryan at Between Pages Coffee Shop, Seoul

After leaving Insa-dong, we headed to the fashion district, Myeong-dong in search of my favorite Singapore store, bYSI. After searching where the concierge said it would be, we were informed that it had closed. BUMMER, because I love that store! Well maybe I'll come back to this section of town to check out some other things :).
We were pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel for some shut eye at like 5pm! Damn jet-lag!

written by

blondie on June 4, 2012 from Seoul, South Korea

from the travel blog: Asian Persuasion - June 2012

tagged Korea and SeoulTower

Send a Compliment

Looks like a great beginning -- I am awaiting my postcard, which looks very special -- love you, MOM

written by MOM on June 9, 2012

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