A Seoul meander

Early start this morning, places to go, people to see. Thought it be would good to take a picture of the outside of our rather salubrious abode. It's down the alley, what looks like it could be the Black Hole of Seoul. It's strange to see it in the light - we're usually struggling back from dinner with friends, trying to differentiate our very dark alleyway from everyone else's.

Keys are very passé in today's Seoul. It's all about the electronic keypad, which is good because dark alleyways are not the best place to be fumbling around for keys, but it is also bad after a night on the soju (I imagine!) when a combination of clumsy fingers and a fuzzy mind can't seem to recall that memorable six-digit code - especially bad in our situation as there are two keypads blocking our way in.

Mum, pre-soju

The weather today has been perfect: a lovely warm sunshine without a hint of sunstroke. Perfect weather, in fact, for drying some chilli peppers, as our neighbour is demonstrating here (although that is quite clearly a valuable parking space - in London those chillis would have been given a ticket by now).

First thing on the agenda today was a quick meeting with Suyoung, a journalist who works for a magazine here in Seoul. Before coming on holiday Mum wrote an article for said magazine which, aside from a rather major translation error, has been useful in advertising our visit to those people not already in the know. The threatening gesture below is Mum explaining to Suyoung that, yes, they had agreed a rate of £1 per word!

Starbucks - the serious journo's choice of meeting venue

Today's major socialising event took place at lunchtime, when we met up with the Chos. A very charming and generous couple, of whom I have very clear memories from twenty years ago, particularly time spent at Mrs. Cho's dumpling restaurant. Today's lunch did not include dumplings but was a multi-course Korean delight, which, I think, ranks a possible no. 2 in the meals eaten stakes. Maybe a joint no. 2 ... it's too hard to decide!

We then found ourselves in the quite luxurious position of not having any more commitments for the rest of the day. So, an easy-going sight-seeing mosey downtown seemed the perfect thing to do. First point of call, Deoksu-gung, Seoul's smallest palace. Like Wednesday's Buddhist temple, it's a bit of a haven from the bustling city just outside the palace walls. Entrance fee: 50p.

I get a little carried away with taking photos at these old Seoul sights, particularly of the ornate roofs, so will refrain from posting all of them. A selection below:

We spotted this happy couple having their photographs taken on the steps of one of the palace buildings. I assumed that they had recently been married but Mum found out that their wedding isn't for another month or so. I suppose you never know from one day to the next when the sun will be out, so get the wedding photos in while you can!

Seoul seemed to be an especially vibrant hive of activity today. Stages were set up on various street corners and squares, music could be heard floating on the wind from every direction. We spent a few minutes watching a theatrical taekwondo something-or-other: a lot of running, jumping and kicking pieces of wood into bits.

Sorry about the back of heads - hard to get a good photo

At the moment the City Hall is clad head to foot with rows and rows of what look like giant mobile phones showing pictures of Seoulites holding hands.

Mum blending in seamlessly

This is King Sejong, who ruled over Korea at a time of great achievements. He is best known for deciding that all Korean people needed a simple script to represent their spoken language (as opposed to Chinese characters). In 1440 he set up a linguistic committee who eventually came up with hangul, today's Korean alphabet. It is notoriously simple and easy to learn, and is perhaps the world's only methodically and scientifically formulated script in everyday use. The Koreans are so proud of it that they have a national Hangul Day on October 9th.

Sejong's alphabet carved into his plinth

Seoul is surrounded by mountains and today was maybe the first day that we caught a good glimpse of them. Despite how sunny it's been since we arrived there's usually a haze blocking a decent view of the peaks. They looked serene and comfortingly protective this afternoon.

Seoul's mountains behind Gyeongbok-gung, the palace that includes the residence of the President of South Korea

The rest of the evening was spent wandering around town, getting things for people back home and ticking things off our to-do list. First stop, Seoul Selection Bookshop, a brilliant place to find books about Korea written in English, or Korean books translated into English. It also has a pretty impressive DVD selection in which I managed to find a film that I'd been searching for for a few years. Now all I have to do is figure out a away around the DVD Region 3 business!

Last stop of the evening was Itaewon, an old shopping haunt from back in the day. I remember going there to buy computer games with Dad and Steve. Nothing original, you understand: all copies - we were piracy trailblazers! It was a bit of a tacky area back in the 80s, but now it is tenfold. Really not a nice place to spend a long time, so we didn't. We headed back to the comfort of our dark alleyway to eat tteok and drink coffee, Korean style of course.

The post-Chuseok moon over Itaewon

(We've just been sent this picture, taken on Tuesday night - the only one of Mother and Son on holiday)