Today would be the beginning of our multi-day journey home, and right away we had trouble getting Riley up, but then I did not really want to leave either.
We packed up everything, keeping a few key items in our carry on as we would check our luggage and not see it again for two days when we finally arrived in Seattle. We then walked to the pier and to no one’s surprise the ferry was running late. So we sat down for some drinks and a few hands of hearts.
While waiting, we heard from some girls that left Railay Beach the day after us. The seas were so rough that the longtail that brought them from the ferry to the beach crashed in to the rocks and tipped over. They were all pretty cut up and bruised, and beyond the fixing power of standard Superglue. It was clear and calm when it was finally time to board the ferry. So today’s problem would not be the weather but the captain. He had a little trouble docking and it took him over ten minutes. The only problem was that he was at the wrong dock, so he had to pull out and try again at the correct dock. Ten short minutes later and people could finally board, once the previous passengers pawed through the bags to either find theirs or to upgrade to a nicer model, and get off.
We sat inside on the ferry today and somehow survived the exhaust fumes. Although Kim’s seat was a little loose and broke off when she leaned back. She found a new seat and we tried to nap for the next two hours. We got to the pier in Krabi and found our bags, deciding not to upgrade at this point. We caught a ride to the airport and checked in. It was great that Thai airways was a partner with Korean air so we could check our bags across three flights over two days all the way to Seattle. We never even worried about our bags not arriving. Riley had a few beers to help him fall asleep on our one and a half hour flight to Bangkok.
We got to Bangkok and went through transfers. We had around four hours and went in search of food. We then settled in for our five and a half hour flight to Seoul. We arrived in Seoul around 6am and our flight to Seattle did not leave until 8pm, so we signed up for a city tour to kill the time. Looking back I’m glad we did this, however at the time we were all so tired I think we would have all been just as happy to get a room at the hotel airport and get some rest. We went through immigration in South Korea and headed to Noryangjin Fish Market.
They had everything, both dead....
And alive....
And dead....
While we got to see a lot of crazy things here, many of which we do not normally see. The merchants here got to see us, which they do not normally see. In fact Riley almost got stolen, this sweet old lady, who was one of the fish mongers, came up and grabbed Riley. She thought he was so cute that she wanted to hug him, it kind of caught us all off guard.
We then went in search of lunch, however we would come up empty handed with nothing here tempting our palette.
Our next stop was Namdaemun market which included the South Gate. The South Gate was actually rebuilt back in 2008 because a homeless drunk started it on fire, he is now in jail.
You can find pretty much anything here, assuming you can read Korean.
The food court.
Footwear.
Housewares.
Air conditioners.
And bags, I could keep going with this but we were getting very tired.
We then climbed almost 1000 steps to get to the North Seoul Tower. It’s called a tower but it’s really just a building on top of a hill, you do most of the work to get to the top.
At the top are amazing views.
On the way up our guide told us he was impressed with our fitness, most of the time Americans take twice as long. He even told us that his van can hold up to 9 people, however when he is asked to take Americans he says it only holds up to 5 people to be safe, never knowing what to expect.
And the greatest view of all, a cold, crisp, CASS beer, because in South Korea you drink CASS beer.
And if you drink enough of these you will need to use the facilities, which is an adventure as well. You can look out and pretend you are peeing all over the city of Seoul.
Many couples bring a lock to the top and lock it to the fence to show their unbreakable love for each other.
We ate lunch at the top, trying many local Korean dishes from the buffet. The most impressive to Riley was the dessert, assorted fruit. One of which was an orange slice that had him going back for seconds and thirds. Apparently he had never seen an orange like this and asked what it was. His past orange experience limited to canned oranges. Barely able to stay awake we headed back to the airport. We checked in and got on our final flight to Seattle. This time only taking ten and a half hours, 20 minutes less than flight the out here, due to the rotation of the earth or something. Our crew boarding.
It was a bumpy flight home, making sleep even harder. And then just like that it was all over, we were back in America, waiting in long lines to go through customs and immigration, and paying way too much money for a simple ride home.
VIDEO: South Korea
VIDEO: Conclusion
