More trip-reporting goodness from
jpatokal... just what I like to see.
I'm impressed by your efforts with recognising hangeul in Korea, though I agree that they are easier than they appear. I managed to memorise part of the symbols for a certain type of restaurant (specialising in the traditional style 'banquet', where before you know it your table is heaving with about 50 different bowls of food of varying levels of palatability and recognizability) as I didn't want to be dragging our guidebook around Seoul when we went out in the evening, and to my amazement navigated my way to an excellent little place in Insadong. I hadn't really thought through what would happen next, however, as I spoke no Korean and the charming proprietor spoke no English. In fact, the only word we both had in common was
birru, so at least our drinks were taken care of.
In the end, we just trusted in fate, and the food just kept on coming... no still-wriggling octopus though, thankfully.
You're right, Korea does seem to be the forgotten country in Asia, and for some reason Seoul has a reputation as being incredibly boring, whereas I found it fascinating.
Looking forward to your final instalments...