Korea Day 9 - I Want the Pig Flu

After me and Ken got back form our respective trips to and near the DMZ we wanted to head over to this big tower that looks down over Seoul. To get there we took a taxi to a cable car that brought us up and down. I like cable cars fine but I can't help thinking every time I see one that this is just another missed opportunity for a zip line. At the top of the cable car before the tower there were some weird art displays including these wire outlines of people that were suspended well above the ground like superman flying by and then illuminated by lights. The tower itself had a nice panoramic view of Seoul which was made all the nicer by the neon lights of a clear night. Seoul is a huge city much bigger than it looks from the ground since it is more spread out than most cities of its size. I could see avenues and neighborhoods running in all directions and even a few of the other cities which make up the greater Seoul area. It's still pretty amazing to me that a city as big as Seoul can be a clean or have so little congestion. We hung around there for quite some time as the tower was a nice place to sit and there were all these fun little signs saying how far it was to various points, which I guess is a tired mechanic but I still like it.

The next morning before the flight we had some time so we headed over to what one map said was a really big fish market. It took some finding but when we found it it certainly did not disappoint. To call it a fish market is actually somewhat wrong since so many of the best things there were crabs, shrimp, monstrous squid and octopus and all manor of things that live in the sea. I've never seen any octopus as big as some of the ones that people were tossing around. The place also seemed to stretch on for a mile with just store after store. It was I think divided into some sections but it certainly wasn't too clear to someone just wandering in. I wonder exactly how many normal people just go there on a day to day basis since with the volume they have on display they must have to sell a ton before it all goes bad. we walked around for a while and I'm not sure all the people who were working really appreciated having us there but it was just too interesting not to go. After that we still had a lot of time before the plane so instead of taking a bus out to the airport we took a series of subways which got us there pretty fast. You couldn't see to much but I respect any airport which you can take the subway to.

The airport itself had been voted best airport in the world or so the endless parade of banners kept telling us. Actually I like the Shanghai airport better since the Seoul airport seems to intent on selling you stuff that it's actually hard to find where you're supposed to check in. After we checked in though they had this cool little place where we could make free handicrafts. We were given a little box with pieces to a dollhouse sized desk and some glue and paint. I didn't take too much care with mine but Ken was all about his, though he left it on the plane by accident. The girl who was telling us what to do actually took part of mine apart and redid it because I was apparently gluing the table together in a non-proscribed way.After making our little tables and going to the flight we had one more surprise ahead as when we landed in Shanghai due to the pig flu scare they had people in moon suits go through the plane and check everyone's temperature. It actually took a really long time since if they wern't sure about someone they had more tests to run. A few people got pulled aside and I really wanted to be one of them. I heard about how nice the places they were putting people up were and I had nothing to do for about two weeks before I was going back to the US so I had no problem with getting put up in a nice Shanghai hotel by the government. Alas it wasn't to be and my damn lack of a fever just had me sent back to Changzhou on the train.