OK, I'm not that smart a cookie. For some strange reason, I assumed that I was going to land at the Seoul airport, regardless of the fact that the Seoul airport is called Gimpo and all my tickets and what-not say I'm going to Incheon. It didn't click with me that these are two different places, although Incheon is the international airpot serving Seoul.

So I looked like a bit of a twit when I confidentally went up to the nice girl behind the information counter and asked for directions to the subway. Of course, there are no directions to the subway, because the subway goes to Gimpo, not Incheon. Doh.

But, I'm finally here, and my first impression is that the difference between Vietnam and Korea is like the difference between Cambodia and Vietnam. It's obviously from the first look more developed - more comfortable, if you like.

The weather here is cooler than Vietnam. It feels like a nice spring morning in England.

Driving on the highway from Incheon airport is a little surreal. Just about the first thing you see are these massive land reclaimation projects on both sides of the highway. It's like looking out onto an alien landscape. Add to that an early morening fog (smog?) that makes everything more than half a kilometer away look a little hazy.

There are a few oddities, though. The bathrooms actually have a little yellow box where people are meant to wait if all the cubicles and latrines are full.

Labels: big trip