Yangon to Seoul via Kuala Lumpur was the first time I have had any significant delays in the over 180 flights I have been on in the last 10 years. Normally the KL to Seoul flight takes about 6:30 hours, this time it took nearly 14 hours. When we arrived over Inchon there was fog so we circled for 1:30 hours then were diverted to Gimpo to refuel and wait, not allowed off the plane. After 3:30 hours we were allowed to take off and more circling before we finally landed at 21:05.

Seoul, one of my favourite cities. It’s huge with a variety of restaurants both big and small,  craft beer is popular and the people are friendly and helpful. It also has the best public transport system on the planet, well organised, spotlessly clean and not expensive. This will be the third big city I have visited on New Year’s day, New York, Istanbul and now Seoul. Christianity is the largest organised religion (28%) in South Korea so Christmas is also celebrated with all the usual trappings. It is also very cold in winter with temperatures below zero most of the time, dropping to -13c overnight at one point. Definitely stay indoors with comfort food and beer kind of weather hahaha.

This is the best and cheapest place to buy your SIM card for Korea http://www.krsim.net/. You buy and pay for it online and pick it up at the airport, it will only start working the following day if you arrive after business hours.

Day trip to Yeongwol, this is the town to which King Danjong who became King at the age of 12 was exiled by his evil Uncle and later murdered. From Yeongwol I drove with a friend to the Buseoksa Temple. The people who built these monuments and temples always built them on top of hills obviously to punish the sinners on the way up before forgiving them if they managed to make it to the top.

New Years Fireworks

Seoul Sky – the top of Lotte World Tower, 5th tallest building in the world.

Night visit to Mount Namhan to see the lights of Seoul, very slippery.