Sunday, October 09, 2005

Journey into the unknown

I'm in Itaewon right now. I don't really know what I'm doing. I've been in Seoul for about 3 hours now. I managed to not find the hostel where I wanted to stay and got tired so I'm staying at some little motel where I paid more money than I would've liked. I took the KTX to Seoul and it being after dark I managed to not see a bit of countryside and didn't appreciate the speed at which I was going. About 300km/hr. It all looks the same in the darkness of night. I just sat there really for however long.

I managed to navigate the subway system with ease. I decided to go to Itaewon. I'm not sure why. It's the only place name in Seoul that I was familiar with and the used travel guide for China that I want to buy is somewhere around here. Well the bookstore that is. I really need to find a guidebook I think. As free-spirited or whatever traveling without a guide may be, I just can't do it. I'm already in Seoul without a guidebook. There was no point bringing it for the one day I will be here although I probably should've at least looked at it.

I somehow managed to find more information about the ferry than I could manage to find in Daegu which makes no sense being that the internet should be the same. Anyways, I found 2 sites that listed dates and times for ferries. I really hope they are wrong though since neither have anything leaving Incheon on Monday. I hope I can trust the ferry company's website that says the boat to Weihai leaves on Monday. I don't know what I will do if I can't leave the country. You'd think I'd be able to extend the exit order by one day. I'll have to go to the ferry terminal tomorrow, there should be an immigration or customs office at least. Otherwise, I might have to fly somewhere or try to rush to Busan and catch a ferry to Japan. I don't think it will come to that though. The Weidong ferry website looks more accurate than the other 2 I saw. If only my life didn't feel dreamlike and I actually made more concrete plans because of some sense of urgency or something. I have no idea what is even in Weihai.... or if I can go there tomorrow. I'm probably too happy-go-lucky for my own good. Not that either is that applicable to me at the moment.

I took the subway from Banwoldang to Dongdaegu station and out of habit I went to the side going back to Wolbae so I had to pay the fare twice. I mean, it wasn't expensive but just reminds me of how my intellect has dulled since I've been in Korea. I've been running on auto-pilot for way to long now. I don't know where my mind has gone. I'm really looking forward to leaving this country for awhile. I guess I don't really have much else to say other than Alex Thompson is a good man. I guess if I don't post anything in the next 24 hours that means I got on the ferry or managed to leave Seoul somehow. Hopefully the next post will be from somewhere in China.

1 comment:

asdfjhn said...

Did you get roughed up by any drunk Itaewon Ami G.I.s?