I woke up around 7 and it was cold again. I got up and went downstairs where I updated my blog a bit and when I came back to the room the guy there had left with all his things. I got ready and left my bags on an empty top bed and left. I planned to go to the palace at 10.15 which gave me under 2 hours so I couldn't go far and headed west towards some museums. I came to city wall where police or parking attendants were gathered for some morning speech and went past a library which was closed. It was before 9 and I went to see an Anglican church before I passed one of the smaller palaces which opened at 9. I carried on to the Seoul museum of art and a memorial museum both of which opened at 10. I could have gone back to the palace but it wasn't on my list so I carried on to the south gate but there was nothing to see there. I went north east heading towards the palace and went past a police museum that was to open at 9.30 in about 10 minutes but the Seoul history museum was open and free. It was about the city of Seoul, when it was founded and the old Joseon history as well as a more modern section and a model of the city. I planned and did leave at 9.45 so I could make the 10.15 tour and I ran most of the way stopping at a crossing for cars and at the park that was closed yesterday but open now. It was small but quite nice and had a few buildings and such inside. I jumped over the north wall and carried on running and arrived a bit past 10 and the queue was much smaller than the day before so I got my ticket and had time for the toilet before joining the tour. The guide was called Li and there were about 7 of us altogether. I hadn't bought a ticket for the secret garden and as we went around I soon realised I had been here before last time I was in Seoul and had done this tour as well. The place seemed less impressive than it had back then maybe because of other places I'd been to in China and during the tour a woman with us spoke to me as she thought I was from New Zealand as I was wearing the rugby top. We talked anyway and she was from Hamilton, New Zealand and was leaving soon after a week in the Country. She'd bought the secret garden ticket which is on top of the palace ticket so comes to 8k and they had a 10k ticket for all palaces which would have been good value especially as it lasts 3 months. The tour finished up and some left for the secret garden, there was another palace next door but it was 1k and I headed out to go to the science museum and then a park with things in but I changed my mind and went back West to a space museum which turned out to be an art gallery charging 10k entry. It didn't look busy and I went back East again but the path stopped and I had to jump a barrier and walk on the road due to construction work. I got to where the museum was and there were boards up so I went round but there was nothing there and when I came back round it was an art university and there was the site of a kids science museum being built. I was wasting time and headed south where the park was ok but the site was the Joseon tombs I had visited last time I was here as well. I went to the metro station and took it to Inchon and found someone selling some kind of grain maybe semolina thing for 1k which looked fairly substantial although it of course didn't fill me. There was a change of tube lines needed and the train for the last one stop took ages coming and then they had an underpass with travelators to the museum which was a fair sized building although half of it was for a special exhibition on Saudi Arabia which opened in May. I went around the first floor of the permanent exhibition which was the history of Korea from prehistoric to 100 years ago. I skipped through prehistory as cavemen are all pretty similar in every Country and they went through the separate Kingdoms as well. The next floor up was empty and had donated objects like pottery and then some art and things and the 3rd floor had south Asian items all the way from India to Vietnam and then other items like pottery, bronze and Buddha statues. I finished up and took advantage of the free water and had a quick look around the park before going to the Hanguel museum which is about the written language King Sejong created. It was ok but again I didn't learn how to use it and as it was now gone 3pm I decided to go back and get a train to Gyeongju. I went for the tube and just missed one by a second. Could this be a sliding doors moment? Thankfully it turned out I was on a different line from before and the next train came in a couple of minutes. I got a pot noodle and tried to find the train times but it was harder than it gad been in China and the Korail website gad the prices of KTX trains to Gyeongju at 58k which is quite a bit. There was a train at 5.40 that arrived at 11pm for 28k so I went to get that and then on the subway I changed my mind and went with an article I'd read that said slower trains leave from Cheongnyangi so I went there.
When I got there my ticket worked which was good and I got the 500 won refund on the 2 ticket cards I had from the machine. I was on the wrong side for the train station when I exited and had to walk through a market but it looked ok and I almost bought some bananas. At the train station there was no queue for tickets but the next train to Gyeongju left at 9pm and I was advised to go to Seoul station. I checked a couple more things and the next train in the right direction was at 7pm and the 9pm train would arrive at 2.20am, so not a night train. I headed back to the subway and bought 6 bananas for 2k (£1.40) on the way. I was heading to the train station but still wasn't happy about possibly paying 58k (£20) for a train so I decided to go to the bus station instead which was a bit further so when I got there my ticket didn't work and I jumped the gate so I could be Seoul subways no.1 most wanted. There were 2 bus stations so I picked one and it was the wrong one so I went to the other and got a bus for 7.10pm so I had 40 minutes to spare which I spent getting and eating a pot noodle before I realised I should really book a hostel but the bus was there and I couldn't get WiFi so I left without a booking. The bus was pretty fast and it got dark so I used my torch for reading before sleeping a bit. We arrived 4 hours later at 11 and the place was soon deserted as everyone headed off to wherever they were going. I tried to connect to an open WiFi but it didn't work so I went to the street and got some WiFi from a coffee shop or similar. I found a few hostels and one had breakfast and was open until 12 so I booked that and had a 30 minute walk to get there. I went briskly and got there at 11.45 and there was a key in a basket but nobody around so after a minute or two I took the key and went up to the room and the owner was up there and showed me the room and toilet. I put my phone and things on charge, brushed my teeth and went to sleep without even connecting to their WiFi.
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