Goodbye South Korea, Hello India—Breakfast at Paris Baguette and Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral

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... 

Journey from Shanghai to Seoul and Settling Into our Hotel

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Shanghai, China—Seoul, South Korea

A Long Journey from Shanghai and Settling into our Hotel in Seoul

It was a very early start to the day. Our alarms went off at 5.30 am and at 6.00 am, we were in the lobby of our hotel where we had arranged for a cabbie to pick us up and take us to Pudong International Airport for our flight to Seoul, South Korea. He was right on track and waiting for us as we checked out.  All we had to do was pile our cases into his cab and shoot out into the city to get to Pudong.  It was a long ride and it took us exactly an hour. 

Check-in was pretty painless and with our baggage checked in, we picked up breakfast from McDonald’s before boarding our flight to Seoul, South Korea, where we reached after a mere two hour flight. We felt fortunate that a huge typhoon called Solick that was expected to hit Japan and the Korean Peninsula had not delayed or disrupted our flight schedule.

Arrival in Seoul:

At Seoul airport, Llew headed to the internet kiosks to see if we could buy a data package for the next five days to keep us connected. While he worked on that, I made my way to the Information Desk to get a map and obtain directions on how to get to our hotel in Myeongdong in the heart of the city. A bit hungry by then, we opted for delicious dark chocolate covered croissants from a place called Creme de Marrons, a French bakery in the Arrivals concourse. They were absolutely scrumptious. 

With our internet package purchased and directions obtained, we looked for the Airport Express train that ran from Incheon airport (where we had alighted) to Seoul Station. This train is similar to the Heathrow Express that runs from Heathrow to Piccadilly. From Seoul Station, we were told to take a Subway train to get to our hotel.  It was a huge relief to find information personnel who could speak very good English—indeed, we soon discovered that almost every one in South Korea has a smattering of English. This made it much less of a challenge to get ourselves understood and to obtain travel information. Our days of linguistic struggle were over!

Following directions, we did get to Seoul Station but the subway connections were a pain in the butt as they involved hauling our cases through long connecting corridors. (On our way back, we would take the Airport Shuttle which was a far more comfortable deal for the exact same price we had paid for the train! Live and Learn!) We were also told to get off at the wrong subway station and ended up taking a cab from there to our hotel—the Lotte City Hotel in Myeongdong. But once at the hotel, we loved it. Our room was on the 21st floor and we had stunning views of the skyscrapers around us.  

Such a Big Disappointment:

However, we had one terrible disappointment when we were finally connected by WiFi at the hotel. As a result of Typhoon Solick, our conducted tour to the Demilitarized Zone (the DMZ) had been cancelled.  I had gone through hell and high water when still in the States trying to set this tour up on a day that would work for us. And after all the trouble I took, I simply could not believe that nature had stepped in to ruin our plans. I guess we were simply not destined to get there! Or maybe we are intended to return to Seoul some day!

We then asked for directions to find our way to the other Lotte Hotel in which the conference sessions were being held. It was a mere ten minute walk from one hotel to the next and we did it quite easily indeed. We found out that there was a huge department store attached to the hotel and we walked through to get to the hotel.  My first impression of Seoul was that it was very similar to Tokyo in Japan. And it was an impression that stayed with me throughout our four-day stay in the city. Seoul manifested the same level of affluence, cultural knowhow and modern proficiency that we had found in Japan where everything worked like magic. The result is that Seoul is also very expensive and prices were comparable with those in Japan or the US.

Korean Cultural Show and Dinner:

In the hotel, at the Registration desk, I picked up my conference kit, my badge, etc. and made our way into one of the vast halls for the cultural show which was presented with a cash bar. A show of ribbon twirling accompanied by drummers and dancers was followed by a couple of speeches and a sit-down dinner was served. There was a lovely butternut squash soup, a number of pickled condiments offered, great steamed fish with a tomato-chili sauce, a beef stew that was extremely tasty, bowls of rice, salad with a tangy lime-ginger dressing and desert of fresh fruit over pudding. Everything was superbly served by attentive waiters who moved soundlessly between courses. After the long journey we’d had from Shanghai and the tiring ride from the airport to our hotel, it was a sheer pleasure to be pampered with such a fancy meal and we thoroughly enjoyed being spoiled in this fashion.

We walked back to our hotel in fairly heavy rain—thankfully our rain ponchos came to our rescue again. Back in our hotel, we watched some TV and heard with sadness about John McCain’s decision to stop treatment for brain cancer. Then, quite wrung out, physically and emotionally, we went to bed.

Until tomorrow...