Korea, part 1

Having finished finals, I flew to Korea for a week, via China, to visit a friend.  Quite an interesting trip.  Chinese airplanes.  You know, those Chinese on the flight with me were rather loud.  And many of them carried what looked like tall votive candles with tea leaves, which they refilled from from hot water dispensers around the airports in Shanghai and Beijing, or from hot water brought them by the stewardesses.  Pretty interesting?  In the Rome airport, they used these for glasses for tepid water while waiting for someone to open the check-in counter for our flight.

Here is a map with a very general outline of the trip.

Then, I got to Incheon Airport in Korea, eventually, where my friend me.  We spent the first night in a nearby hotel, full of amenities.  There was the usual bar of soap, but also toothbrushes, packets of toothpaste, packets of conditioner (but no shampoo), and disposable razors.  Also, in front of a mirror on a desk were bottles of skin toner and conditioners, hair gel and mousse, and a hair dryer and curling iron.  And a box of Q-tips.  The toilet was in its separate WC, while the bath and shower were in a large-ish room in the opposite corner.  The sink was in the main hotel room.  It was one of those rooms where you have to put the key in the light switch just inside the door (where there was also a little space to leave your shoes, with a pair of indoor slippers waiting to replace them) in order to turn on the electricity in the room.  Outside the door was the room number in brass in one spot, and LCD in another (which turned off when one inserted the key in the light switch, thus alerting housekeeping to the presence of guests in the room).

Once we got to the hotel, we walked around outside a bit to find supper and get our bearings, as we were to take the subway into Seoul the following morning.  For supper, we settled on an octopus restaurant across the street.

Then to sleep for a long summer's nap.  Day 2 to follow...