Our plane touched down at the ungodly hour of 3am and we knew we were about to start a gruelling tough day.  We drew on our bottomless reserves of travel fortitude and groggily made our way through the formalities before waiting another couple of hours for the first bus to take us into our final destination on this three month trip – Seoul, South Korea. 

We dropped our bags off at our hotel and with sandpaper eyes and 38°C (100°F) temperatures began another day of exploring a new city.  Well, not completely new because three months ago at the beginning of this trip we spent a morning in the downtown area and enjoyed a great free walking tour.  That tour gave us a taste for other places to explore and despite the circumstances we were pumped for the sparkling city of Seoul.

Battling jet lag and the melting heat of the day we alternated between air-conditioned coffee shops and walking the busy footpaths until we reached the sprawling Changdeokgung Palace (Palace of Prospering Virtue).   Changdeokgung Palace was first built in 1405 as the ‘East Palace’ of the ruling Joseon dynasty and suffered many sackings, burnings, rebuilds and reuses over the centuries.  It was the home of the last King in 1910 and despite harsh treatment by the colonising Japanese it’s numerous buildings, courtyards and gardens still retain much of it’s imperial charm.

We walked down to the huge covered Gwangjang Market with it’s all-purpose shopping of clothing, household goods, food, casual eateries and the usual clamour of locals going about their daily business of shopping, eating and socialising.  It was a great scene and we ate in two different spots – first a fried pancake shop and then a stand serving delicious dumplings.  Of course when eating in Korea a bowl of Kimchi – basically fermented vegetables, mostly cabbage – is never far away and we enjoyed our fair share of it.

After some downtime in our hotel that afternoon we explored our local streets and found it to our liking – many little bars and casual restaurants, crowds of people moving about, great atmosphere.  Our stamina lasted as long as a Guinness in one place (okay, not very Korean) and a couple of local dishes in another before we called it stumps for a very long hot day.

Our big planned event for our time in Seoul actually wasn’t in Seoul at all – it was a day trip to the famous Demilitarised Zone, or DMZ, the arbitrary line drawn in 1953 when the armistice was signed between North and South Korea, effectively ending the Korean War.

With the heat already sky high, we picked up our tour bus at 7am and travelled north out of Seoul, across the rolling green hills and through a mix of densely populated areas and rice fields packed in everywhere else.  We were handed lanyards with our tour guide’s name – Kelly – and heard a mixture of history of the DMZ and the many rules and guidelines of such a visit. 

Our first stop was the Gamaksan Suspension Bridge which was built in 2016 to commemorate British soldiers who defended these mountains against the North Koreans.  We clambered up the hill and walked across the red bridge as it swayed and bounced with all the human traffic on it, enjoying the top views of the mountains around us. 

We then hopped back on the bus and after stopping briefly at Imjingak Park to buy tickets and ice cream, for this blistering hot 38°C (or as my app said, ‘feels like 44°’) demands multiple ice creams, we came to a huge parking area for what is called the Third Tunnel.

As the slightly propagandist video we had to watch outlined, the South Koreans caught the North Koreans building a series of tunnels which were presumably intended to surreptitiously invade the South.  The tunnel now open to tourists was discovered in 1978 and was the third out of four tunnels they found. 

So after locking up all your belongings and donning a fetching yellow hard helmet we were allowed to descend the South Korean side of the tunnel and then through a long section of the much smaller North Korean side until we got to within 170 metres of the demarcation line between the two countries.  Not for the claustrophobic, that’s for sure, but it gave us another aspect to this crazy DMZ situation.

We then made our way to the Dora Observatory, a new complex perched on a hill that provided expansive views across the demarcation line and into North Korea.  As was the case in the tunnel, we weren’t allowed to take photos but it was kind of cool to gaze down on one of the most impoverished, mysterious and threatening countries in the world.

We ended the tour at the village which sits inside the two kilometre buffer zone on the South Korean side and enjoyed a late buffet lunch before returning to Seoul.  The whole trip was highly orchestrated and regimented, including soldiers coming on the bus to check passports, a mandatory video viewing, go here, don’t do that, etc, but we really enjoyed the excursion, particularly getting an insight into what is still today one of the most contested and controversial borders in the world.

It was exhausting stuff, this sightseeing in the extreme heat, but by nightfall we had regained our mojo, caught the metro to Hungdae, one of the trendiest and busiest places to be seen on a Saturday night, and enjoyed mixing with the hordes of locals before sitting down to a very fun Korean BBQ. 

The next day we only had three items on our list but we also knew it was going to be another scorching hot day.  At 10am we joined a thousand other visitors, mostly locals enjoying the weekend activities, to watch the changing of the guard at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. 

Originally built in the 14^th century but destroyed twice by the invading Japanese and left in ruin for 270 years at one stage, today the expansive palace grounds, including dozens of buildings and other structures, a couple of lakes, walls, huge gates and a whole lot more is the pride and joy of the Korean people.  We explored the main buildings, some of which had been rebuilt just in the last few years, and soaked in as much Korean history as our wilted bodies could stand.

We then walked up to one of the most popular Hanok villages in Seoul, called Bukchon.  A Hanok village typically sports traditional Korean architecture from centuries past, usually along narrow winding roads or walkways.  Today these roads are lined with souvenir shops and trendy cafes with very little vibe from past eras.  Maybe it was just too hot or the weekend hordes robbing some of the atmosphere but we thought the whole scene was a bit meh.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the impressive Jogyesa Temple, Seoul’s largest and most important Buddhist temple.  That night we drank and ate local, enjoying their cold beers and spicy hot food in very local establishments. 

The last day in Seoul, indeed the last day of our three-month trip across seven countries, was another absolute scorcher but we conjured up enough energy to travel by the super-slick metro again and caught the cable car to the top of Mt. Namsan.  From here we had 360° views of the huge sprawling city, high rises stretched as far as we could see through the haze, just an extraordinary mass of people all in one place.  I guess ten million people can’t be wrong.

Our five days in Seoul have provided us with a fabulous chance to see this amazing city and it’s unique history of the 500-year-old Joseon dynasty and the modern day challenges of the Korean people being divided by a demarcation line separating north and south.  We can only hope that situation sorts itself out somehow in the future.  But it’s time to get home, see family and friends, return to the familiar groove of life in our own wonderful city – Sydney – and everything that comes with it.