Braving Seoul

We finally got ourselves in DBIDS.  What DBIDS is, I don't really know.  I just know you have to update your military id in this system before you can leave the military post.  I've been dying to get off post and see something, but up until we did this, we couldn't.  So finally yesterday, we got in DBIDS and left the post.  

Our first trip we wanted to take was to Seoul Tower.  You can see it in the distance from just about anywhere in Seoul.  You can always take a taxi anywhere, but we wanted to see if we could navigate the public transportation.  So using our Ahn young ha seh yos (hellos) and our kamsahamnidas (thank yous) we attempted to make our way to Seoul tower.  First, we walked outside the post.  You can see the post to the right of Ryan with the barbed wire on top of the wall.

                                                   

Next, we walked through Itaewon.  This city translates to something like "Foreigner's City," and it definitely feels like that.  There are several street vendors selling inexpensive goods to foreign shoppers.  There are also a lot of English signs and stores.  You can see one in the distance behind Ali and Ryan.  You can get just about anything custom made here.  It's quite the fun shopping experience.

From here we had to find out where to catch the bus.  We knew we wanted the number three, but it took a while to find the stop.  Once we did, and the bus showed up, then we had to pay the driver in won.  We knew how much we needed to pay the bus driver, but he wasn't thrilled that we didn't have exact change.  Oops.  He let us on the bus, but didn't make change until the first stop light.  Things move quickly on Korean buses and you don't want to hold them up.  (It reminded me of Seinfeld's Soup Nazi.  Luckily he didn't say, "No bus for you!")

We listened closely for all the stops, but when it came to ours, it was pretty obvious which stop we needed.  This was the view from the base of the tower.  We got there right as the sun set and it was beautiful.

 The tower lights up at night.

 From the top of the tower, the view was amazing!  You can see the city in all directions.  

They had distances to world wide cities posted on the windows.  Just in case we didn't feel far from home, we now know we are exactly 11,180,48km.  Good to know.  :)

All in all, we loved our first outing.  We used our smiles, our few Korean words, our maps, and our won to successfully get ourselves where we needed to go.  We can't wait for our next adventure!