I Broke My Toe in Seoul

No really, this is not a bad country song title, I actually broke my toe in Seoul. My flight from Hanoi left at 12:40am on Friday morning – which was really the middle of Thursday night – and arrived in Seoul at 4am my time. So after two hours of sleep I had to face an 11 hour layover in Seoul.

I decided to try and shake off my sleepiness as much as possible and head out into the city rather than spending the day trying to sleep in the business lounge or window shopping at the couture stores in this fancy airport. The tours were well organized so I just went through customs, gave them my $40 and hopped on the bus with the seven other day tourists.

Unfortunately, it was South Korea’s independence day, which meant that half of the roads in the downtown area were closed for either events or demonstrations. Although we never saw a demonstrator, we saw enough riot police fully outfitted with shields and helmets to have stopped an army. I never did understand what they were protesting as all the guide could say in her broken English was that they had a different opinion.

After an extended trip around the city being turned around by detours, an alternate plan was developed and we headed off to the Namsangol Hanok village – a recreation of old houses built for tourists (or at least that is my impression). It was interesting to see the housing design and the beautiful gardens. It was amazing how the temperature dropped as soon as you stepped under the shade of the trees in the garden.

We then went to a Palace, which was very impressive, even if I don’t remember it’s name. It was amazing to look up from the courtyard surrounded by ancient buildings to see the towering skyscrapers of modern Seoul around us. It was here where I was attempting to step back into my shoes (which had to be removed to enter the palace) and I slipped and somehow my toe went one way and my foot the other. I am quite known for breaking toes, but it’s not my fault that they are freakishly long and delicate!

Fortunately, when I hobbled back into the airport I discovered that I had been upgraded to business class! Even better was that in spite of the turbulence I slept for at least 9 hours of the 13 hour flight – the best sleep I have ever had on plane. I guess I needed it!