SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

January, 2012

After an excellent flight on Korean Air from Vancouver we landed at the magnificent Incheon Airport. This airport was the finest in the world until Hong Kong became #1 and now it is #2. Our hotel for 2 nights was near the airport and had shuttle service. We stayed at the Airtel Hotel which is in an area where there are a number of shops, grocery stores and small restaurants. We ate our meals at the local eatery and bought some interesting sweets off the street. It was a very interesting stopover for 2 nights and we were pleased that we included this stop. The Hotel staff arranged for a city tour for us. We were 45 minutes driving time from Seoul and this involved a long ride over a causeway. It was a very quick tour of downtown,the Imperial Palace, market area and a good lunch.

The weather was cool to cold at +2'c and cloudy. There was not much wind so the wind chill was not much. We were dressed for it with hat and mitts although holding cameras and binoculars our fingers were cold.

While waiting for our flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand the airport had loads of quality shopping, entertainment by the Cultural Group of Korea – dressed in their traditionally finery.. The Group also had a number of activity centers where they were teaching anyone who was interested in their traditional crafts. We had never seen that in an airport before. Air Korea was the best airline we have flown. The food, service, video was all excellent and the seats were about 3” wider than normal. Everything worked comparing to American Airlines where the seats were broken and so was the video and the earphone connections.

Enjoy the pictures we captured of our visit:

At Vancouver Airport waiting for our Korean Air Flight



Flying over Kamchetka, Russia






Downtown Seoul

t
The entrance gate to the Imperial Palace

Ice on the pond

Beautiful and intricate decoration

Sweets from the street vendor


Fish in local market


Street scene near our hotel

Our Hotel and transfer van

Teaching tradional crafts to passengers at airport

Tradional Costumes