In Seoul

I made it this far! This is the view from my hotel room - there is Namsan (or "South Mountain" - the hill behind the buildings) and the Seoul tower right there in the hazy background. Somehow I managed to get my tons of luggage and myself to this hotel last night, had a good sleep, and spent this morning walking around. Now this afternoon I'm sitting in my cool hotel room and contemplating next steps.

Some early observations:

Traveling alone: not easy! Things that seem easy with a partner seem daunting when doing them alone. Fortunately, the need for food, and money - and coffee! - and the need to learn - force me out the door.

Speaking Korean: Day 1: Total failure! Every time I tried to say something to someone in Korean, they either just looked at me and said "huh?" - or acted as though I hadn't spoken at all. In the end, it was just easier to use English - almost everyone I spoke to had at least a smattering of English, and I became too intimidated to try any more Korean. Day 2 (today): partial success! I could not figure out how to set the air conditioning in my room - so with a combination of English, Korean and sign language I asked a maid about it. Turned out I had been monkeying with the floor heating settings instead of the air conditioner - when she saw what I had done she looked aghast, punched a bunch of buttons, said "hot, hot!' and "No touch, no touch." The air conditioner control turned out to be a remote control device I had overlooked. In all this I did keep saying things in Korean like "It's too hot" and "I don't know how." Whether she understood my Korean words or just the gestures I don't know, but at least she didn't say "Huh?"

Seoul: Wild and crazy! Traffic like Guadalajara (ie it doesn't move; lanes are narrow with no shoulders; taxis, buses, motorcycles, cars all vie with each other over any possible space that opens up to move forward). Layout of the city seems complicated with hills and tunnels and twisting roadways seeming to separate and intertwine sections. Lots of standard, block-style high-rises, and a few spectacularly dramatic modern buildings, art work, arenas, bridges, etc. Lots of pedestrians. In my hotel area, there is a mixture of main thoroughfares and big buildings and places like Starbucks and KFC and Dunkin Donuts and signs in English, and little alleys with little shops and sidewalk venders and mysterious stairways and nothing in English. So far I have only ventured into establishments on the main thoroughfares, but time and growing (hopefully!) confidence may lead me down some of those alleys...

Night comes early here in Seoul; it's now almost 4 o'clock and daylight will end soon, so I'll be off for one more foray.