Swissboy in Korea

Woke up at 8 and still felt a bit tipsy from yesterday. The other guys in the hostel invited me to drink with them. It was a really nice evening. In total there are 5 others. Lena and Lea from Germany, Jamie from Columbia, Kati from Russia and Colette from Hongkong.

After my little breakfast, where I burnt my toast, Jamie showed me how to clean a room so I can start doing it myself tomorrow. At 1 we went together for Korean BBQ. It was so delicious. The owner of the hostel, Allen, invited us. Top lad.

Afterwards I decided to do something for my cultural education and visited Changdeokgung Palace. The Palace is located 200 m from my hostel. It was built in 1405 by the Joseon Dynasty. On the main picture you can see the Injeongjeon Hall, which was used for holding the most formal of state events. Inside the palace is also a big garden, unfortunately I couldn’t visit it because the only provided guided tours and it was already to late. So I took off but not visiting the toilets first. There I was confronted with modern technology. You were able to choose from different setting how to get your bottom washed. So first it blew water up my ass and later dried it. It was thrilling.

I went back into the city and visited a big mall but I couldn’t decide what to buy so I postponed it. That’s already it for today. I am currently writing with some Koreans over an app called meeff it’s built like a dating app but people use it to find friends. Often Girls have „no perverts“ in there profile. Like that’s gonna help.

The day started chill. I woke up at 9 and met another workaway girl her name is lea (I think). After a small breakfast I went on my way. I chose to go right at an intersection and from there always straight without purpose. After a while I saw the Namsan Tower (TV). So I decided to go there. It took me around an hour to get close. The Tower is surrounded by a park in which you can wander around. On the trails in the park there are a few spots where you can workout. Normally it’s just attended by older people but today this young model was there as well so he quickly made 3 pull ups with his bag and then went his way. I think they are still talking about him.

I came to conclusion that I should head back to the hostel. On my way back I grabbed myself a beer and some Korean snacks. Back I wrote my first entry for the blog and rested for an hour. At 4 pm I went on another stroll. This time I headed in the opposite direction. There are a few hills surrounding Seoul. I was completely alone on top of the hill so I was able to make some pictures of myself (I usually don’t because I think I look like an idiot). The view was stunning. You were able to look over the whole city. I continued my walk back down and into the city after a quick stop at a small convenience shop I encountered my first problem with Seoul. There are almost no goddamn bins. I am really unable to understand how they keep everything so clean. Do they take every single thing back home? It stays a mystery. After 500 m I finally found one.

The hammock next to me just spilled my beer over the keyboard, not happy.

So thats pretty much it for today. I walked 23km and sweated like a dumbass and I think it will get worse the next few days but better then rain. My mission for the next days is to go to specific places I looked up beforehand and to find some friends. Fingers crossed.

My journey started at 4 pm in Wil. From there I traveled to Zurich airport and took the plane. I had to make a stop in Istanbul. Planned were 2 hours but the connecting flight had a delay so I waited 5 hours. I was really tired but I also couldn’t sleep. Luckily I somehow managed to connect my laptop with the wifi (It was more difficult then usually) and I downloaded a few movies.

During my flight the alarm on the phone of my neighbor went off but she had hear headphones on and was asleep so i tried to weak her up by gently pocking her arm. After 10 pokes she finally woke up and I tried to explain that her phone was ringing but she still had her headphones on and told me „yes she could hear her music its all fine“ so tried again and this time she just showed me her tongue. I felt humiliated. She later understood what happened and apologized but her tongue still haunted me in my sleep.

When the plane landed in Incheon it was 9 pm. I took an airport bus till Changdeokgung Palace. From there I tried to find my hostel. A map was given to me and it seemed fairly simple to find it but it was already dark and the small streets weren’t visible on the map so the first road i took was the wrong one. With a few more wrong turns I was able to find my location. The reception was already closed but they left a key and a note with some information on the desk. I went up to my room. There I met Jamie (25, Colombian). He was really friendly but after half an hour of talk I decided that it’s time for bed. For some odd reason he didn’t start the AC so we had a room temperature of maybe 300° but luckily I survived. The next morning we both thought that maybe it’s a good idea to turn the AC for the next night.