(If you want to follow my 27 day trip from the start go
here to Day 0)
Well, my first day of this trip could have started better, or rather, ended better. I got to experience that "classic" feeling at my end destination in Ulsan, when everyone have gotten their luggage from the airplane except you, standing there waiting. Thankfully enough I had some help and came (somewhat) prepared. First I got told what had happened - I should have transfered my stuff from Inchean to Gimpo airport in Seoul myself. The thing is, quite ironically, that I specifically asked the agent there when I got my tickets if this was so, and she was quite sure "You just have to check in at Gimpo airport for a seat ticket, the luggage will be transfered all the way'...I won't make that mistake again. Anyway, the trip by way of Doha, Qatar and Seoul went as smooth as a 22.5 hour trip can be. Both Seoul and Doha airport had free wifi, but not Arlanda, makes me a bit ashamed. Also, nowadays, overnight flights have both usb sockets for your smartphones and often internet sockets too.
They sold these packages in Gimpo Airport in Seoul that looked like moss with some leaves for quite a lot of money (this one roughly 1800 SEK/200 USD)
My header for this day also alludes to the fact that I on my trips to Korea and Japan (this will be my second time around to both countries), the absolute majority of people know or can speak almost no english. It is possible their "passive" understanding is somewhat better, but communicating with the everyday man or woman on the street is a pain to be honest, so come prepared however you may. Korean letters/signs is actually quite easy to learn as they have a phonetic language like in the western countries, so with just a day or two preparation you can be able to translate signs and such to latin letters and then if you have checked beforehand where to go it may help a little.
Anyway, as I said earlier, I came prepared by having snapshots on my Samsung S4 of Ulsan and the bus route to and from the airport, and my hotel reservation receipt, which helped me a lot with both the taxi driver and the hotel. The taxi ride cost about 10000 won (58 SEK/9 USD) which I suppose is OK.
Regarding the hotel, I may be unfair but the name "Venus hotel', the surroundings, and the decor inside actually seems to imply that this may be one of those "romantic" love hotels you hear are not that uncommon in asia. A funny thing in regards to this, is that the Korean pronounciation of the hotel name sounds like "Hotel Penis" (yes, I am not kidding you)...
The pink house in the background is Venus hotel
Entrance through a garage... ^_^
And the suroundings. Looks more flashy in the evening with all the red lights and greek statues on the facades... But a least there is lots of people around so it feels safe.
(Day 2 can be found
here.)
