I'd picked up a guidebook on the way to Seoul. Nothing unusual there. But I noticed a boxed text entitled "Just Fax Me the Map", warning prospective Korea visitors about the difficulty of finding locations in the country from the address alone. This turns out to be true, and makes me rather glad I downloaded the map, attached to the confirmation email, to my mobile phone. It's rather effective, giving useful details such as the metro station exit to take, and so I'm there, just a few breathless moments later.

Breathless? Yes. In awe of the South Korean megalopolis built up so effectively from the ruins of war? Maybe in part. But mostly because I'd failed to take in the name of the hotel I'd chosen - the Hill House Hotel - while carrying a large rucksack with far too much stuff inside. Yes, it's up a hill. Still, with my Cologne cathedral training under my belt, it wasn't too bad, just not ideal after an overnight long-haul.

I'm on a budget for this trip. Not an incredibly restrictive one, but I'm between jobs, travelling solo, and generally wanting to save money. In addition, my hotel points have all run out. I'm not the frequent traveller I used to be, personal circumstances making me want to stay far closer to home. So it's a modest, impressively cheap 3* independent one, in what turns out to be a fairly interesting area, sandwiched between Namsan and the Namdaemun market, north of the river Han. Many say to stay south of the river, but, to be honest, I can see glossy new buildings and shopping centres pretty much anywhere - the north seemed just that bit more interesting.

But the hotel, reviewed favourably on AsiaRooms, is rather good. The welcome and check-in is quite charming, and the room itself (I splashed out on the more expensive room - think it came to £30 instead of £25) very comfortable indeed. It has a Japanese-style array of slippers on arrival, and I notice that the heating is underfloor ('ondol' - the traditional Korean style). The bathroom is marbly and pristine, and the bath, although not quite designed for my stature, offers a good soak before heading out. No wireless internet in the rooms, but there is a PC (this seems to be quite a common theme in Korean hotels, from what I've seen on the booking sites), so I shiftily half-inch the network cable out the back of that, which works a treat with my netbook. (Skype and webcam to keep in touch with MrsStut!) The bed is good and firm, just how I like it.

Well, it's 3 hours later than I planned, and now dark. It's cold out there, though, bitterly cold - I later find out it was -6C. Luckily, I have a rather good last-minute-purchase of a Uniqlo fleece, which keeps me just about warm enough to wander round. I have absolutely no idea what to eat, where to eat, and so head to the nearby Seoul station, where I reckon there's easy food to be found. And I'm not wrong. There's a massive food court, serving just about every type of Korean and several Chinese asnd Japanese foods. I have little idea what I'm ordering (you order at a central counter - I ended up looking at what was nice, correlating the hangol and ordering) and ended up with... Some noodles in broth. Hooray! Everybody likes noodles in broth. And this is no dissapointment. I have no idea what it was, really, but it was tasty - with the same multiple tastes as before (helped by the pickle side dishes). And I have no idea why I ended up buying a pine drink to wash it down, although it did leave me feeling fresh as a mountain breeze. I quite like the chopsticks here, too, the flattened edge makes noodles that little bit easier to grasp...

So, a wander round. Can't go to bed too awake, or I won't sleep and the jetlag will be prolonged, so I brave the plummeting thermometer, head for the canal area, and go for a walk. First impressions of Seoul and its people are, well, as I suppose you would expect from his location, having many similarities with both Japan and China, mixing the charm and quirkiness of the former with the gregariousness and energy of the latter. A good combination, I reckon. The sights were quite a range: strange under-bridge art installations, ancient shrines, neon-overload shopping streets, neon-clad horses and carriages (hmm), spangly big buildings, mysterious little back-alleys, markets that never quite close with steaming hot food round every corner... And some big, very drunk groups, which surprised me. Giggling, falling-down drunk (not violent or unpleasant). Not shocking - I grew up on Tyneside - but not what I expected in this part of the world. The place had a very happy atmosphere, overall, and very sociable. As I mentioned, I was approached by helpful people at the airport - wandering through central Seoul, I had all sorts of people coming up to me, saying hello and chatting, just for the sake of it. Mostly young, but some old boys who would just say 'hello' and wander off, too. However, the cold was becoming biting (I could see the water freezing in the canal as I watched it), and there were only so many random coffee chains I could sample in one evening (the oddly named Angel-in-us was a favourite) so I headed back. The climbing and endless wandering paid off - I got a full night's sleep out of it.

(When I say a full night's sleep, I mean that I'm up at 6. This is normal for me). Breakfast at the hotel is slightly odd, consisting of toast, jam, fried egg and a dressed salad, all on one plate. A bit of rearrangement, and it works.

For the morning, Namsan, the mountain park in the middle of the city. I'd love to say I continued my climbing theme by grabbing a rucksack, stout stick, Kendal mint cake and ascending it, but that would be an out-and-out like. What I did manage to do, however, was to take a wrong turning on the path from my hotel up to the cable-car and somehow (it's still a mystery) ended up on the gantry leading to the tollbooths for one of the Namsan tunnels. But I got there, and headed up for some rather spectacular views, giving me a good idea of both the context and scale of this place. There's a tower at the top, too - the N Seoul tower - but I didn't really see how much better the view would be from that bit higher, so I didn't bother. I went to walk back down, got slightly lost, found a bus, and hopped on. It turned out to be going to the 'Traditional Hanok Village', so I went with it. The village, quite interesting in its own right, despite being a reconstruction, was mostly under reconstruction, so I didn't stay long. I headed instead to Insadong, which I'd heard good things about.

And they were right, it's an interesting little area to wander around for a wee while - lots of craft-type shops, cafes and alleys to wander down, watching fruit and veg carts dart from place to place, getting ready for lunchtime deliveries. But what I need is a memory card. I note that my guidebook describes the 'biggest electronics market in the world', so what better place to find it - 9 huge floors of every electrical good that could take your fancy. And it does well, too - a big brand, 150x 8GB card for under £25. Another food court, another lunch, another random off-the-menu order, and again, it turns out to be a delicious broth - this time with beef, and served on rice. The ubiquitous kimchi is there, and the food is every bit as impressive as it has been elsewhere.

Enjoying the market atmosphere, I decided to head down to the fish market, a short metro ride away. It's quite hard to find - just about every sign as you leave the metro station is transliterated, but not the one to the market. Are we somehow discouraged from going here? Anyway, it's there, and I instantly regret eating beforehand, as the restaurants upstairs are serving some wonderful looking, any-fresher-and-you'd-be-out-at-sea food. The market, though, is fascinating - I've always loved fish markets, from North Shields to Tsukiji, so am in my element here.

My next exploit is to go for a walk along the river, as I haven't really seen much of it. This is a big mistake - the tall buildings flanking the river make for quite a wind tunnel, and -5C winds are really not pleasant. So I don't last long. I'd hoped to hire a bike and potter around, but the bike hire places are sensible battened down for the winter.

And so it's time to head back to the airport, for the onwards flight to Guilin. I can't miss this one - there's only 3 a week. I do the same route as before, only in reverse, but am not quite so lucky with the timing of the express metro connection to Gimpo, so it takes marginally longer. It's not a hassle, though, and it's before rush hour, so the trains are pleasantly quiet. The journey is hassle-free - things always are that bit more so when you actually know where you're going, have a pre-pay smartcard ticket, a book to hand, and all that.

Some photos of Seoul here,