Some thoughts on Russia and Seoul.

Russia was a great country to visit, DH and I really enjoyed our time in Russia and Siberia.

 The trans-Siberian rail journey, that we achieved will stay a treasured memory.

It is really the best way to see the real Russia, to blend with the Russian people, their cultures and way of life. 

A little word of advice when travelling".."..........

Siberia is a region of Russia.

when you order tea, milk and sugar is extra, specify black or green.

You need small money as they do not like to give change

You need coin for the toilets, 20-30Rubles

Seoul, South Korea. 

Now onto Seoul, we arrived at Incheon airport after 3 hours of flying, got the limousine coach to our hotel, which took 2 hours, checked in, then out to find something for dinner.

Our first experience of a Korean BBQ was not good, with limited English and Korean on both parts, we were not sure of what we were getting. There was one other customer in this little restaurant and he ushered us in, force fed meat to us and told us to sit down, we pointed to one price and nodded, but we think that we were duped and also paid for this other customer, who kept talking in Korean to the owners, long story short, do not agree to something you do not understand.

DH nearly had an apolexy when he got the bill.

First day was a visit to the embroidery museum.

Then later we travelled to Ganghnam food street, a little frustrating to find, but we managed on the metro and asking around. We are surprised at how limited the young ones are with English, not many English menus.

We had lunch then explored the streets, architecture and sculptures.

Gang nam actually means south.

Seoul has 10,000,000 people and has 17 bridges over the Han river and I feel that we will cross most of them over the next six days.

These gates are all over the city, this one is in Dongdaemun.

The next day we were up nice and early to catch the metro to Dongdaemun markets, this area is dedicated to anything related to fabrics. As we are now proficient with the subway we got out at the right stop and off we set to explore.

I might mention at this time, DH is long suffering and does it very well.

The subway stop was right there and if you get of at the right exit, it was just across the street.

100's of stalls dedicated to lace, embroidery, fabric, buttons, books, ready made quilts etc.

I did buy some vintage ribbon and some embroidered patches.

After an hour or so I felt that DH had suffered long enough and we had lunch and then set of to go and visit Bukchon Hanock Village.

Most of the Hanocks are now used as handicraft stores, cultural centres and museums.

We spent a couple of hours exploring and had the opportunity to see some handiwork classes in progress and was treated to a demonstration.

We also visited an embroidery museum and was shown the students work, I also had the opportunity to show them some of my quilts and was shown in return some Korean patchwork, where they use silk, handspun linen and organza.

Such intricate work.

Korean patchwork.

Lovely to walk around Bukchon and see all the traditional dress, donned by teenagers, if they hire them to wear, they actually get into the palace for free. The palace near Bukchon is Gyeongbok and Changdaeokgung  Palace.

Painted ceilings

Kings throne room, check out the minimalism.

A very productive day had by all, tomorrow we will visit the DMZ.