Sunday, August 26, 2018
Seoul-Shanghai-Bombay
Goodbye South Korea, Hello India
Our last day together had dawned and I felt deeply sentimental about separating from Llew for a whole year—almost. We awoke and walked towards the little streets of Myeongdong looking for Paris Baguette from where we hoped to get a good breakfast with some fancy baked French goodies. We found that the almost croissants had disappeared already—even though it was Sunday and the working crowds were absent. We picked up three savory pastries instead—a crab croquette, a chicken cheese stick and another croissant with coffees—and they were all simply superb. We found a spot in the back of the bakery where we settled down to enjoy our last breakfast.
Mass at the Korean Catholic Cathedral:
The Korean Catholic Cathedral was just outside this bakery and we decided to go in there for a short visit as it was Sunday. We had no idea what time the masses were—so we were very pleased to have found that Mass had only just begun. We were able to hear Mass in a packed church said by an Irish priest in a beautiful church that was built in 1875. It was a lovely service and we were glad to be able to receive Communion as well.
When Mass was done, we walked back to our hotel to check out and pickup our cases. We found it, to our delight that the airport shuttle bus had a stop right outside our hotel. For 15,000 won, it would take us to the airport in comfort and without us having to lug any of our cases through long corridors of the subway system.
Journey to the Airport:
And that was exactly what we did. There were other passengers waiting to board the Airport Shuttle as well. It showed up in just ten minutes and after we had stashed our baggage in the trunk of the coach, we took our seats and began our journey out of South Korea. We reached in exactly an hour and made our way into the concourse. Llew’s flight was 6 hours after mine, but he decided to go to the airport with me and find a way to pass time at the airport. I checked in, we found an early lunch at Creme de Marrons—excellent almond croissants and chocolate croissants—and then we said goodbye to each other as I hurried away to claim tax refund on our hotel expenses. I carried out the formalities associated with that chore and hurried off to my gate where I boarded my flight and left.
Out travels in China and South Korea had come to an end. We were very fortunate that the expected typhoons had passed us by as they. Could have affected us in really unpleasant ways. As it turned out, all that had been cancelled our trip to the DMZ—which we had been really poking forward to seeing. Still, that disappointment apart, South Korea had proven to be a very good experience and we were so glad that we’d have the opportunity to visit the country.
Flight to Shanghai and from there to Bombay via Delhi:
My flight to Shanghai was only two hours long. The China Eastern Airlines folk did a competent job in keeping us comfortable. In Shanghai, I had a four hour wait and was one of the first people at the Air-India counter for my connecting flight to Bombay via Delhi. That was a very light flight going out to Delhi. I had a lovely G&T on the flight and a good dinner and then settled down for the night on a three-seated as there were so many empty seats on the flight. At Delhi, however, where we had a two hour layover, the flight filled up—but since it was only a two hour flight to Bombay, it did not matter.
It was Monday—the start of a new week—and dawn was breaking over Bombay and over my new life in Bombay began. I was nervous and I was excited.
Until tomorrow...
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