Friday, December 16, 2011

Looking for the 411 on Korea!

Okay - here's a quick post for all my traveling friends! I'm wondering if we know anyone who's been to Korea - specifically around Seoul? We have about a 10 hour layover there on our way home in a few days, and we really need some advice!

From what we can tell, the airport is about an hour away from Seoul. We were hoping to head into the city and find a market - but we have no idea where to start! You see, some dear friends of ours are adopting a precious little girl from Korea, and we wanted to buy a few items (jewelry, scarves, art?) that they could auction off to raise money for their adoption. So - if you can give us any advice on the following questions, we would really appreciate it!

1 - How do we get from the airport to Seoul? Subway? Taxi? Ferry? (it appears that the airport may be on an island?)

2 - How long does it take to get to Seoul? (We need to plan our time carefully!)

3 - Do you know of any good markets? I was hoping to find a street market, which is where I usually shop in India, Thailand, etc. We want nice things for a good price! Anyone have any suggestions? (maybe we could give the name/location to a cab driver to get there?) And do you know if they are DAY markets, or NIGHT markets?

4 - What items are "special" in Korea? For example - Thailand has pearls and silk scarves.... India has wall hangings.... Swaziland has batiks. Is there anything (that isn't crazy expensive) that is unique to Korea? And do you know what a good price is for it?

5 - What is the exchange rate for Korea?

6 - How do you say "Hello", "How much?" and "Thank You" in Korean? Are there any other cultural things we should know? (I don't want to offend anyone while we're in-country!)
7 - Is there anything else special/exciting/unique that we should try to see in Seoul while we're there?

I realize I could (maybe) find some of this info online, but we don't have very good internet so I don't have a lot of time to search. If any of you could help us out with this little project, we would appreciate it so much! Thanks friends!

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