Cheonggyecheon Stream - Seoul

Yesterday marked the beginning of my teacher training, as well as my first trip to Seoul.

We headed out from the school and took several different buses, although I probably couldn't remember which ones. Public transportation is very, very efficient here. As I previously said, it operates mainly with computer chips, which can be inserted in all kinds of objects (mine's in a keychain, but they can be cards or any other little trinkets) with which you can simply go to a convenience store to fill up with money electronically. Anyway, I scanned mine away to pay the fare, and, surprise: my fare is cheaper than everybody elses. Instead of the usual 1000 Won, I paid 720. (about 0.72$) Then the following ride, same thing. I have no idea why this happens with only my chip, but who'm I to complain? Should save me a lot of cash - Scooore.

The buses seem to be divided into three classes, based on the route you're taking. The lowest fare (1000 Won) is for common, smaller routes. It's also filled with advertisements on the seats themselves, at the top (Kind of like a pillowhead). There's a second type of bus with a little less advertisement, and a slightly higher fee (1400 W if I remember correctly), which is for longer inner-city routes, and the very long routes (between Cities such as Incheon and Seoul) are 2200 W. They're also extremely comfortable, with no advertisement.

Once we got to Seoul Central station, we took the metro to what I was told was 'Old City'. It's a very, very beautiful section of town. The highlight was Cheonggyecheon stream - a stream over which for many, many years a highway was built over, and hidden from the public, until it was finally restored in 2005 for about $900M. While the Rideau Canal does have its charm, the Cheonggyecheon stream was rebuilt with the purpose of being a highlight of downtown Seoul.

After walking alongside it, we took a walk to a nearby market. I had forgotten my watch back at home, so I bought a new one for 5000 Won (5$!), which is of very decent quality. Most things are much cheaper than in Canada. Meals in particular are very cheap - Gimbop, the Korean equivalent of Sushi, costs 2000W for about 8 or 9 slices. So it's notably cheaper to eat out than to make your own meals.

Anyhoo, the training continues tomorrow. I'll give my full impressions once the training's complete.

'Ciao til then.