The Land of the Morning Calm: Feet, Buses, and Trains

Woke up this morning and it was raining....AGAIN! I prayed for it to end...and right before our scheduled time to catch the base bus, it ended. We hooed and hawed for awhile. "Should we stay? Or should we go? It might be raining in Seoul."...etc...etc....

We just said let's just do it. At the last minute, we ran around throwing shoes and socks on. Then running around for any kind of jacket to wear, just in case.

We thought we missed the base bus but we were looking at the regular bus schedule, not the weekend one. Whew! Lucky us. We made it to our destination...the walk-through gate. For those who don't have a car, just walk out or show your ID to get back in. Eventually our guide arrived and one other family. So all together...there were 10 of us.

We walked out the gate and right across the street from the base in the city bus stop. Bus #20 was our bus that would take us to PyeongTaek Train Station. Now understand, I didn't take pictures on our way to Seoul. I didn't want to miss anything.

Okay, now let me tell you....Bus #20 was more exciting that the longest roller coaster. The speed was high, dodged cars parked on the side and/or oncoming cars. Every speed bump didn't slow the driver down. As soon as we hit, up my butt left the seat it kept warm. Now if you are pregnant and have back problems, you'll go into labor or your back will become worse or it might go back into alignment. Either way, every five seconds a "squeak" escaped my mouth. I don't know if it was from fear or excitement or both.

We eventually made it safe and sound to PyeongTaek Station. We walked in and had to ride the escalators up. It was like everything I imagined it. Korean people everywhere. We (the tour group) immediately became the main attraction at the zoo. If you know what I mean.....? We all headed to the ticket booth and bought our tickets.

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After purchasing our tickets, we took "care of our business" and then met in the main lobby to head down stairs to the tracks.

Once down the tracks, a train arrived. We boarded it immediately and the "delicately" made our way to our cars. We had car #2. The other family ended up in car #3. Our guide ended up in car #5. We were told after leaving Suwon, the seats were ours. We had to stand up until then. No problem since Suwon was the next stop.

After we left Suwon, we asked the people on our seats to leave. They wouldn't. The lady and young girl showed us that they had the same seats. Memories of the Yongsan bus danced in my head. NOT a pleasant memory. The train attendant shows up and we discover....WE ARE ON THE WRONG TRAIN! The tour guide just saw the train pull up and assumed it was ours. Wrong-O! Thankfully this train was going to Seoul Station which was not overly far from Yongsan Station...the place we wanted to go to. The guide decided we would just tour around Seoul Station instead of trekking over to Yongsan.

But that was okay. I felt like an idiot and apologized profusely to the lady and the young girl that sat in the same numbered seats of the train we were supposed to take. So instead of sitting down, we stood there like some of the others. Lauren eventually got tired and just sat there in the middle of the train aisle.

Another example of Korean hospitality, or maybe because of Lauren's cuteness, the lady asked if Lauren could sit between her and her daughter. So I picked up Lauren and placed her between the two. As Lauren sat there, the lady talked to her in the best English she could. "How old are you?," "What is your name?," and other things that I didn't catch because the racket of the train is pretty loud. Eventually the lady got quiet, probably used up all the English she knew, she pulled Lauren toward her and stroked her hair. Lauren just sat there like a smiling goofball and practically purred.

Eventually we finally arrived at Seoul Station. In total from PyeongTaek, it took about 50 minutes.

Pictures of Seoul Station are below....

These first three pictures are after we got off the train. We decided to go ahead and buy our train tickets back to PyeongTaek in advance so we could all arrive together.

Next are pictures outside Seoul Station as we walked to another area which contained a superstore called Lotte World.

<<<<Notice all the buses. I swear on my life that if this picture could be widened you will see buses as far as you can see.

<<<<Because of the humidity from the morning storms, a thick haze (not fog) loomed in the city. The humidity is the worst I've experienced in my 38, almost 39 years. This is just a bit of downtown Seoul.

Seoul Station houses many shops and restaurants. Even a Lotte World, which to us Walmart shoppers would appreciate. It's very similar. The coolest thing about Lotte World at Seoul Station (a picture I failed to get), was that the escalators were flat so the shoppers could ride up with their shopping carts!!!!!! Obviously, this Lotte World has two levels.

The kids immediately found the toys section, where as I was looking for the music section. Couldn't find it, but I did find a Shinee picture book of Lucifer....(for all my fangirls...kekeke)

Yep, the boys were all "KOREAN WII GAMES! KOREAN XBOX GAMES! KOREAN DS GAMES!" For the love of God, it was like they landed on the moon!

<<< Oh my God, it's a Korean Halo3 ODST!

Eventually we got tired of that store. Lauren was complaining she was hungry and thirsty and it was just time to move on. We walked past a Bennigans. Yes, there are those in Seoul. We didn't have enough time to get in and sit, so we started looking for the ever popular, American friendly, fast food joint we all know and love. Well, not me....I will never stop loving my BK. You got it.....McDonald's! We knew it was in the station and we only had 30 minutes to eat and go use the restrooms.

McDonald's at Seoul Station

This place is insanely crowded. The lines wrapped around. I'm telling you fear set in. We are not at Humphreys, Osan, or even Yongsan where most of the Koreans speak adequate English. We are in downtown Seoul where English is a fad.

We get up to the counter. "One 4-piece McNugget Happy Meal," I said. Girl at the counter, "McNugget....??" Then walks off and finds a laminated picture table and has me order by pointing at pictures. Okay, it was simpler that way but I'm telling you I felt like a loser. The order was okay. She never asked what drinks we wanted with our meals with the exception of the Happy Meal. Bobby's and the boys' drinks were Cokes, automatically. We get our meals and discover we are short a hamburger. The place was so busy and then to have an American with a Korean speech impediment ask for the missing hamburger would have taken FOREVER. So Bobby just ate his fries and drank his Coke. I shared Lauren's fries because I didn't order anything. As soon as we walked in, the smell of frying "bulgogi" made me want to hurl. Oh, that reminds me. The hamburgers were called "bulgogi" burgers. "Bulgogi" is beef, but just cracked me up. "Bulgogi" burgers........kekeke!

McDonald's Ketchup

I must not forget the ketchup! Let me give you a taste of Korean McDonald's ketchup. It tastes like........tomato paste. It isn't made by Del Monte or Heinz (God love them.) But by a company called Ottogi.

As I'm not fluent in Hanguel, we'll just assume the main ingredient is to..ma..to..pa..ste.

The trip back to PyeongTaek was less "adventurous." We bought our tickets and were told that no seats were available and that we would have to stand. I didn't care at this point. I was tired, hot and sweaty. Forgot to mention, Koreans obviously don't believe in air conditioning. It was stuffy and I didn't not feel not one lick of any cold or moderately cool air at Seoul Station.

We rode back in the snack car. The car has console video games to play, a snack counter, massage chairs, internet cubicles.....don't laugh.....even a karoake area! I wish I could have gotten more pictures but I felt weird taking pictures with lots of people staring at me. LOL!