#169 Seoul South Gate... burnt :(

You may want to check this:

#142 Seoul Trip Two: Rainy Day

or you may want to check this:
Seoul landmark fire

#156 Busan @ 300 kmph... KTX

Hi everyone... this may be my last posting from Korea, but I am not sure...

This Sunday I travelled down south to city of Busan (Pusan). Busan is the second largest city of South Korea, it also hosted the Asian Games in 2002. Busan is a city with many hills around. Roads are up and down and smaller than Seoul and Incheon roads. Overall, I think Incheon is a modern city with much better planning.

It is said that night life is best in Busan, but I neither had the time nor the luck. I also felt that Seoul / Incheon girls are much much prettier than Busan girls :) hahah :)

The key point of the trip was travel by KTX. It is the High Speed Railway connecting Seoul to Busan and the technology is French (TGV). The top speed was 303 kmph and the average speed was 140 kmph. It was just awesome to whizzzzzzzzzzzzz past the beautiful Korean country side. Also the return journey was splendid.

The bus ride, that cost me just 40 % of the KTX fare, took just 4 hr 45 minutes for the 430 km!!!! Isn't that awesome? And on top of that, I got down from the bus right near the university.

KTX route from Seoul to Busan

Just outside Seoul Station

At the entrance of Seoul Station...

Cool architecture at Seoul Station...

Once inside... Ticket Counters

Waiting lounge and cafeterias...

Go up the stairs to board the KTX...

Entrance to the tracks... you cant just reach the platform, without a proper ticket!


The tracks... come come my KTX...

Voila!!!! C'est tres bien!!

Ohh!! Let us accelerate, oh my KTX... read 260.9 km/h

Wowie... Top Speed: 303.6 km/h

Korean country side whizzing past...

Inside the cabin...

zzzzzzzzz Sleepy heads...

11.50 am: Busan Station

Architecture Magnificent! Simply Awesome structure @ Busan Station
Front view: Busan Station

A part of Busan City :)
Station Square...

Pretty picture... Candid!

Look at the double decker bus... I wish I was in it!

Haeundae Beach... Most famous in Korea

And more...

Choding Power :P

And more...

And more... aham aham

Goding power...

Ooooohhh!

Aah... this was somewhere between Seoul and Busan, on my way back to Seoul. It is a river, with embankments constructed to convert it into a picnic spot. The Koreans love to sit by the river and fish!



.....................

All in all a good trip, and great journey!

Note: Well, there are more pics, but I dont think they are suitable for public display ㅋㅋ (kh kh). Contact me personally if you wanna take a look :P

#126 Hi Korea...

This happens to be my first ever trip beyond the shores of India. And what a pleasure it is...

May 5th, 2007, 3:30 am
KE-656 BOM-ICN Korean Air Flight.
I am fortunate that there exists a direct flight from Bombay to Incheon. 6.5 hrs non-stop, over the Himalayas, over the Great Wall of China, over Shanghai and the Yellow Sea, into Korea.

May 5th, 2007, 2:20 pm Korean Time
Incheon Airport.
Rated World's best airport for 2007. And indeed it has to be. I walked out of the airport merely 10 minutes after the aircraft landed on the runway. Awesome construction. From up there it looked like a music player.



What is Incheon??
Huh, Incheon is a west-coast city in South Korea, barely 50 km from downtown Seoul. Was a part of Seoul, but later made into an autonomous metropolitan city. The new international airport that serves Korea, is situated on an island in the Yellow Sea west of Incheon. This has become the favoured stop enroute to the US for many Asians, instead of the traditional routes via London or Frankfurt. It is also a port, which serves as the most important international port, connecting to China and other countries.

Yunseong and his girlfriend came to receive me at the airport and wasnt difficult to spot them! From there it was a short ride on the airport limousine to Incheon city, and then a taxi ride to Yunseong's home. They dint lemme pay a penny.

Yunseong's House:
A very typical "student one room" flat. With a folding bed, a storage cupboard, ultrafast internet connection, desk, shelves, chair, washing room and electric stove to cook food. Very compact and cosy for a student. Aaaaa this is Korea... forgot to add. There was this little regulator, like we have a fan regulator, that regulates the room temperature and water temperature in the taps as per our needs. Check the pics in my next post. Ive reached posting limit for this post.


Had dinner with Yunseong and his girl friend. Went to a small traditional Korean restaurant. The walls did not have a paint or wallpaper. But wallpapers. Small memo notes were stuck on the walls and it covered all the walls, tables and chairs of the restaurant. Every visitor could write his message for anyone in particular or everyone in general and stick it. Stationary was kept available in plenty! We made our note and bang on the center of the wall!

Next day, went room searching and found a Korean house that rented me a tiny, very cozy room. Met Professor Won who gave me this opportunity to visit this wonderful place and hopefully have a great learning and visiting experience.

Korean Girls are damn pretty, very fair and very fashionable. The Koreans are very fashionable and want to adopt western culture. In this cold weather at 16 degree centigrade, Korean girls hang out in very modern clothes. Amongst Korean girls... as Yunseong would help me put it his way... 1. His girl friend, 2. Jyun Ji Hyun, 3. Son Ye Jin [:P], but I would say, 1. My girl friend, 2. His girl friend, 3. Jyun Ji Hyun + Son Ye Jin!

Anyway... I dont have much time to blog, as I am here to study... but will keep you updated.