Souel, South Korea

This is an old post that has been updated with new comments in (brackets) hope you enjoy and if you do get the chance I do recommend traveling to Seoul.

Well I just finishing up a 2 day stay in Seoul, South Korea. Seoul is interesting, very costly, along the lines of Japan costs (I have later found out that South Korea and Japan are very similar in culture and style), but minus the Japanese system and cleanness.

I for the most part enjoyed the city/county. I managed to get a tour of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), which was interesting. I’ve seen the boarder between Mexico and the US and while not exactly the same the DMZ shares many characteristics, like long fences, barb wire and a general sense of displaced people.

The most notable thing from this trip was in my hotel room (ok maybe not the most as I still really loved the DMZ and cherish my barbwire souvenir). Now we have all seen mini bars and I had though the most advanced mini bar system was those that as soon as you take the bottle out of the fridge a computer send notice to charge you for the item. Well here in Seoul they’ve gone further, as in Seoul they have installed actual vending machines within the rooms (see the photo). These 4 and half feet by 2 and a half feet machines sit in the rooms just waiting for you to get hungry or need a bottle of wine and the get this when you turn off all the lights the machine wishes you a goodnight sleep. While not something I expect in a 5 star hotel these hotel room vending machines are effective. My only problem was I didn’t have any money small enough to buy a drink and it doesn’t give back change.

If anyone is coming to Seoul and going on the tour of the DMZ, bring along a large marble. You’ll understand when you are walking back out of the tunnel and if possible record the event and let me know how far it goes down (nobody took this suggestion so far, but the slope is just crying out for someone to roll something down it).

Got to go, as I am just at the airport waiting to get on the plane and head to Vancouver and within 48 it is the 48th country that I have traveled to. I am hoping that #49 is Cuba as really interested to see that country and understand better about its culture and government. Will keep you posted as to which country becomes #49.