Day 6, 7 Seoul, Day 8 Beijing

Seoul came and went very quickly. Our two full days there were spent working. The Autodesk office in Seoul was very nice, but short of my first night there, and my last night there, I did not really get to see too much of Korea itself. Last night, I went with Shawn and Doug to a more "authentic" part of Seoul. By the time we got there most of the shops had closed down, but this part of the city definitely did feel a little different. I was starving by this time and could only think about food. Every meal in Seoul had so far been great, with the one exception of a Chinese lunch (that are hosts took us to) that did not sit well with me.

Anyhow, little too much info there, we went to a restaurant that one of the ladies at Autodesk Korea told us to try. I asked a nice couple where it was (we had the korean name printed on a napkin) and we happened to be standing right in front of it. So much for being the experienced traveler.

As we get inside I go to the bathroom to wash my hands. I get out and Doug and Shawn go, "So Matt did you suddenly start to speak Korean or something". I thought the joke was kind of lame till I realized that they were blankly staring at a menu without a word of English. Rather than tuck our tails as I did in Japan we decided to make the most of it and try new things. After about a 5 minute straight interpretation of the menu through our waiter's broken english I settled on seafood and rice in a stone pot and a skewer of some sort of beef ... I think it was pork (Isaac, your email got to be a few hours too late, but thanks for the food suggestions anyhow).

The dinner ended up being great. After eating we took the subway back to the hotel and I packed up my bags in preparation for the last leg of my trip: Beijing.

So far all I can say about Beijing isn't very positive. The smog here is thick. My hotel is pretty grand, so that is good. The people here drive like fucking maniacs (and the use of the f-bomb there is definitely warranted). I have actually noticed that in Korea the same was true but to a much lesser extent. I am off now to explore and take pics. Tomorrow it is either the Great Wall or the Forbidden City. Everyone is telling me to do the wall, so that is probably what it will be.