Backpacking in Seoul – A Quest for Eleutheromania

This write-up is my experience of Seoul, its culture, the people and the customs of the wonderful city. It is about how I felt trying new things that I wouldn’t have been able to do back home, how my expectations had been either met or exceeded and some of my feelings on returning to India. This is my experience with people from all around the world and my interactions with them. I felt that I needed a vacation like this where I could just express and be myself and that’s why I was so exhilarated to go on this trip of finding myself, where I stand in this huge universe and seek my purpose of living.

It all started on the 22nd of October. I jumped out of bed and poured myself a bowl of cereal. I gobbled it up in no time and went to the bathroom. After bathing, I checked my suitcase to see if everything was in place and after lunch, I was ready to depart. I was ecstatic. I had been waiting for this for so long that I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. Within minutes after getting into the car and playing some K-Pop, we pulled off on to NH 66 to reach the airport. On reaching Mangalore International Airport, I checked in my bag, passed security in just five minutes and found my gate, which honestly speaking, was no Herculean task.

One area in which I thought the airport could improve was that there could have been a small lounge for those travelling in SpiceMax or who were Priority Card holders. The gate was very crowded, so I was really lucky to have come there early and find a seat near the small café that the airport has. I tried to call up my friends and this is when I faced another difficulty. The airport didn’t have a Wi-Fi connection of its own, so I had to use my Data connection. I didn’t have a problem with this, but there wasn’t any connectivity in the airport as it was located in the outskirts of the city near Bajpe, Kateel. I was fed up of trying and there was still an hour from boarding which is why I ordered a tub of popcorn and a latte for myself. I know the combination sounds terrible, but its actually pretty decent.

On finishing my snacks, it was around 5:40 – i.e., time to board the plane! However, this is when I got a piece of appalling news. The flight was delayed by 90 minutes. This was nothing new. I had a connecting flight in Bangalore, but I had plenty of time to spend at the airport. At around 7:05pm, the agent started calling people up to board through zones. I was in zone ‘B’, so we were called to board first. As always, an airport bus took us to our aircraft. We were flying on a Bombardier Q-400, which was brought into the market only two years ago. The relatively new bird took us to our destination with very few turbulences. The flight was very pleasant. The ambience was quite nice, the staff were very friendly, there was adequate legroom and the on-board food was indeed tasty. All in all, I thought that they had made up for the inconvenience caused.

Landing was very smooth, and we reached well before scheduled arrival time. I retrieved my luggage from Conveyor Belt 3 and went to the Departure Terminal in Kempagowda International Airport, Bengaluru. I was very ahead of time and the counter would open only after two hours. I found myself a seat and started calling up my friends, girlfriend and my teachers. Here at Kepagowda, I have to say, there was ample seating arrangement and the airport Wi-Fi was very fast. At exactly 9:30pm, the check in counter opened and thankfully, I was the first in line. I dropped off my bags, cleared immigration and passed security in a matter of minutes. As I had a Forex Regalia card with me, I had complimentary access to any lounge in India.

Unfortunately, the lounge was being renovated and thus they could provide lounge access to only Business and First-class passengers and not priority card holders due to space restrictions. There were a lot of irritated customers who’d stood in line for ages only to find out that they wouldn’t be granted lounge access. The guy in front of me, who was travelling to Hong Kong via Indigo, was furious that neither the airport authorities nor his bank had informed him prior his flight to Hong Kong. He threw a fit at the lounge staff and left, furious. However, to compensate, the BLR Int. Lounge staff offered complimentary access to the café right opposite the lounge. The café had a buffet which was free for priority card holders but honestly, there weren’t that many options. I tried ordering `a la carte but the waiters in the café were ‘too busy’ to be bothered by what a thirteen-year-old had to say and didn’t pay any heed to my requests.

After repeated requests and it was around the ninth time I was asking, was when I got my response. The waiter was initially reluctant to serve me food but after some hesitation, he got me my Hot Chocolate and French Fries. After around an hour, I spoke to the same waiter and deduced that he was a Tamilian. When I told him I was too, he started talking to me with great pomp and enthusiasm. That was disappointing because I would’ve told him I was a Tamilian way earlier. At around 11:50pm IST, I left the café and headed to my gate which was around a two-minute walk from the café

The flight was delayed by around twenty-five minutes, but no one was really infuriated as compared to some passengers on my previous flight who were shouting at the cabin crew nonstop. The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-300 was around 6 years old and while boarding, I met a fellow Aussie. He was pretty old and didn’t have the patience to listen to what I was saying. I asked him about the footy, but he seemed to be against it, so I changed topics immediately. I also met a couple from Bangkok who were of Indian origin. I struck up a conversation with the lady who seemed to be really nice. I was enjoying myself so much already! I thought of the fun I’d then have in Seoul.

On boarding the plane, I went to my seat, 12A. it was a regular window seat. There was a blanket, pillow and a pair of headphones on the seat and I had only one seat neighbor despite the 3-3 configuration of seating on the aircraft. The flight was comfortable, and the crew were extremely hospitable. Just before departure, the crew offered us some water and a packet of assorted nuts. I wasn’t starving, but I decided to take the packet of nuts. It tasted very well and had the right blend of salt, pepper and masala. We then started to ascend. Even though it was around 1:30 AM IST, the dazzling city lights helped me see the whole of the city of Bengaluru and it was an amazing scene. That’s all I could remember before I shut my eyes and dozed off. And boy, it was the best sleep I’d had in days! I got up because of some slight turbulence only to see an outstanding preparation of pasta in front of me. It tasted amazing! The bread, salad and chocolate desert really added to the flavor. After finishing off my meal, we had started our decent into the beautiful city of Kuala Lampur. Although it was a tad bit polluted, the place was very well maintained from what I could see.

The landing gear turned on and we landed in Kuala Lampur at 7:20 AM local time. We quickly deplaned and then I started exploring KLIA terminal 1. It was very bland and simple. My flight however was from the other terminal, so I decided to take a train. I took the shuttle train which gives us a beautiful view of the runway. On reaching the terminal, I decided to look around. It was exactly like a mall with numerous shops. There were plenty of high-end brands and I was astonished as we’d never see something like this in an Indian airport barring CST.

I roamed around and wound up at a coffee shop. I ordered a hot chocolate for myself and then I decided to do some more window shopping. I had six more hours to kill. I didn’t know how I would spend so much time. But then, I saw Billabong. I shopped there for a while and bought some souvenirs. I then went to my favorite coffee shop in the whole world, Starbucks! I ordered a croissant and a latte. It was delicious. The KLIA terminal 2, where I was at that time, was extremely quiet and well maintained. The staff were very kind and helpful. There were adequate signboards to help us navigate. The views of the apron, however, were just amazing! I then looked around at some electronics and then did some more window shopping. I was feeling hungry, so I searched for a café or restaurant. After some searching, I found a decent place to grab a bite and ordered another hot chocolate, this time, accompanied with a plate of delicious, crispy, sweet pancakes. It was truly the best batch of pancakes I’d ever had! It was lip-smacking!

I then went to the ‘Body Shop’ and purchased some cosmetics. I have to say, Kuala Lampur, especially the airport is much more expensive compared to any subcontinental region. A pair of headphones which in India costed Rs 3499, costed around 330 Ringgits which is around a whopping Rs 5800. After collecting a few more Malaysian souvenirs, I glanced at my watch. It was 13:00 and around twenty minutes before the gate opened. As the airport was quite huge, I started heading to the gate. On reaching the gate, I met some really kind Aussies. We hit it off immediately and started talking about our respective journeys so far and wondered what lay ahead for us in the beautiful city of Seoul. They were really nice people and for someone who didn’t even know me, they were very sympathetic towards me. I loved spending some time and chatting to them on various topics.

We were asked to board around half an hour before the scheduled departure time and I was really excited to be on board this magnificent and elegant wide-bodied Airbus A330. The seat configuration was an astonishing 2-4-2 which you don’t see on many of these such aircrafts. Malaysian Airlines had been generous enough to provide us with adequate seating space, storage space and some true Malaysian hospitality. I had once again got a window seat, 26K, this time on the other side of the airplane. Just before take-off, we were offered a packet of chips and I finished it within no time. We also received a glass of water. Take-off was really fun to witness, especially because it was around 14:30 in the afternoon and we could see everything clearly. Around one hour after ascending into the blue sky, the kind and caring cabin crew gave us our meals. This time, we had received some Malaysian cuisine which was indeed very spicy but extremely presentable and exotic. Above that, it was just very flavorsome and scrumptious. I really enjoyed every morsel of it. The apple juice also added to luscious taste of the food.

The flight was comfortable, and we experienced very little turbulence. Just before descending into our destination, we were given another meal, this time it was Indian. The food was good, but not up to the Malaysian Airlines’ standards. The captain turned on the seatbelt sign and I couldn’t believe I was landing in Seoul already. Landing was smooth and on touchdown, I actually saw what a huge airport Incheon was. I quickly called up all my family and friends and told them that I’d reached Seoul. I was terribly excited!

At the same time though, I was pretty nervous. I didn’t know what to expect from the city. I hadn’t been to countries in this part of the world before, so I had no idea as to how it would be. I stepped out of the plane and wished the Aussie couple I’d met earlier a goodbye. I had to walk for around ten minutes until we reached the immigration counter in Incheon. The queue was massive! It lasted for around 150 meters. There were more than 300 tourists and only about seven counters. I thought it’d take forever. But Incheon proved me wrong. We passed not only immigration, but customs too, within fifteen minutes. The lines were moving rapidly, and all the systems were mechanized so it was very quick. This is one of the numerous things I loved about Seoul.

I walked a bit more after picking my bag from the conveyor belt and headed out the airport. I met my chaperones for the trip there, Archana aunty and Vishy uncle who took me to the currency exchange center where I exchanged USD for Won. In South Korea, everything is in thousands, ten thousand and hundred thousand. Two hundred USD was equal to around 235,000 Won. After the transaction, we headed to the subway which was in fact right downstairs. Seoul has one of the world’s best subway networks and gives even London Underground a run for its money. The subway system was very quick, superbly well maintained and extremely cheap.

We got off after around an hours’ journey at Seoul Station. And just after I stepped out of the subway, had I stepped foot in the great city of Seoul. The blend of modernism along with the way the Koreans safeguarded their ancient culture and the impact the buildings had on them was just amazing. You could look at them all day and would still be mesmerized by the way they were constructed. The place, Namdaemun, where we were staying, was basically downtown Seoul and was very systematic and organized, nothing like our very own Koramangala in Bengaluru.

We walked a little and then reached Seoullo, which little did I know, would be the way around from my hotel to our most frequently visited spot, Seoul Station. We walked for around a kilometer and as I looked around, the way tradition blended in with modernity, was exceptional. I couldn’t believe my eyes! After around 15 minutes of walking and clicking photos, we reached our hotel, Ramada Hotel and Suites. I checked in, and it turns out that I’d got a separate room for myself after all. It was on the eleventh floor and the view was just spectacular. The room was equipped with all amenities, was extremely spacious and cozy. I was exhausted and thus, decided to go to bed. But prior to that, I made myself a cup of noodles and watched some television. After finishing off my midnight snack, (it was actually 3AM so yeah,), I hit the sack. I was dead tired slept off right away.

I was up the next morning, because of my phone. Turns out, someone was calling. I looked at my phone and it was Archana aunty. I also noticed one more thing. It was 9:30 AM! I freaked out and answered the call and I was told to meet her at a café nearby. I showered and got ready, all within a few minutes and then headed out of the hotel. I was all alone and this is where I thrived. I loved doing things on my own. Without anyone’s help, I found the way to ‘A Twosome Place’, my go-to café for the rest of my trip. I met aunty there. I ordered a plate of sweet bread and a mango-banana milkshake. The way they use to tell you that your order is ready, was quite amazing. They had these small devices with your order number on it that would beep when your order’s ready. I was really amazed at the level of tech these small cafes used. The food, to add on to the efficiency of the cafe, was just lip-smacking. I gobbled up every morsel within ten minutes. God! I really loved it.

As Vish uncle was busy, Archana aunty and I decided to look around. During breakfast, we’d talked about visiting a few places and left for Seoul Station immediately after finishing our food. We got our subway tickets and boarded the train. We had to stay on the train for around fourteen stops and in this time, I got to have a really nice view of the city, through the window. The train wasn’t, crowded and so, the ride was pretty comfortable. We got off at Gangnam, a very popular suburb in Seoul. It is well known for the song ‘Gangam Style’ by PSY.

We walked a bit and reached a place my friends wanted me to visit, the SM TOWN Museum. SM TOWN, a Korean company owned around three K-Pop bands that were pretty successful and the museum, had a lot to offer. I got to see a real-life dance room, where bands practice their super awesome moves, an up-to date dressing room and much more. I learnt a lot about the albums the bands had produced and sang songs on the karaoke machine too. Moreover, there was this place where we could take photos with our favorite idol too. All in all, it was just a fabulous and breathtaking experience.

When I roamed around the museum, Archana aunty had decided to go around a little too. So, after exiting the museum, I decided to find her. She sent me her live location through Naver, the app that we use in South Korea for navigation. This is because Koreans don’t want to be tracked by the US, or for that matter, anyone at all. Thus, they’ve banned Google Maps, as it uses Satellites. I was really stunned by this. Anyway, I reached the place where Archana aunty was.

It was a public library. But it looked nothing like that. The library was massive, around twice the size of our entire school building. I found aunty on the top floor. I went up to her, through one of the many escalators and then clicked some photos. There was a passage on the ground floor of the library that led to a huge shopping mall. I was superbly fascinated at the way the building had been designed. The architect must’ve truly been a genius. The planning was just so cutting-edge and perfect. The only downside, I would say, was that they didn’t have any English books.

We left the library after around twenty minutes and walked towards a place Archana aunty wanted to visit, the Buddhist Bonguensa Temple. On reaching the temple, we decided to look around and that is when we saw the most peaceful place ever. It was just amazing. I climbed up the stairs, clicked some awesome photographs and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The prayers going on were really soothing and relaxing. The whole visit was very rejuvenating.

I believed that, in those surroundings, I was in the abode and presence of God. I felt I was extremely close to God. In a way, I was in communion with God’s power. I could feel that a certain force was with me; I felt I could do anything.

I sort of felt like a mountaineer after climbing Everest, with feelings of gratitude, humility and peace. The lush, green surroundings of the temple were just so eye catching. I wished I could stay there forever. The place was one of the most beautiful places in the world. I thought, after exiting the temple, that it had indeed got me closer to God, but rather than God, I’d become one with the nature, the spirit and the joy that lives there.

We then left the temple, boarded a bus, and went to the World Trade Centre. The Olympic stadium, the magnificent park, and the museum were located here. The museum, unfortunately, was closed. We decided to take a look around the park and it was indeed exceptional. I saw a lot of Seoul’s unexplored wonders. The nature was stunning. The park was built around a lake and that added to the scenic beauty. Loads of couples were present there to take pre-wedding shoots as well. You could say, it was a very romantic place. I got some much-needed exercise and even got a chance to look at the wall of fame, all the medalists at the 1998 Summer Olympics, Seoul. It was really nice, and I was pleased that I could learn something new.

After around an hour and a half of roaming around the park, I met Vish uncle and Archana auntie’s new friends, which I would henceforth refer to as, ‘Seoul Mates’. The group consisted of a really active and fun bunch of people who Vish uncle had met at a conference, here at Seoul. There was Suresh Ramanathan, who worked at Great Lakes, a senior man, aged around 54, Anupama Jain, from SP Jain, who was about to get married, and Joel Pannikot, my personal favorite, who worked at Bloomberg. Unfortunately, I couldn’t meet Prof. Suresh as he had left the previous day itself.

I really liked the group and after taking a few photos at International Peace Gate, we decided to grab some dinner. Now, as both Vish uncle and I were vegetarians, we needed to go to a vegan place to eat. Luckily, Archana aunty had found a vegan restaurant for us. So, we all boarded a bus, stayed on it for three stops, changed buses, stayed on the second one for five stops and then boarded yet another bus for two stops which took us right to our destination, ‘Loving Hut’.

The restaurant was lovely. The ambience was top class and the food was just outstanding. It was all made by this couple who lived there and had turned it into a restaurant. I had ordered a Bibimbap, which was traditional Korean cuisine. Bibimbap is basically a bowl of white rice, some noodles on top, a lot of veggies and some gravy that is served with kimchi and soy sauce. It tasted absolutely wonderful. For dessert, we all had the good old classic, ice cream.

After dinner, the group wanted to go clubbing. Obviously, as I was a minor, I wouldn’t be allowed and so, collectively, we’d made the decision to drop me off at the hotel. We took a bus to the metro station and then boarded a train all the way to Seoul Station. After disembarking, we bid adieu to Anupama, who was leaving the next morning, back home to India. From then on, it was ‘cool uncle Joe’, Archana aunty, and Vish uncle. They dropped me off and left. In the room, I decided to call up a few friends and then after around an hour decided to hit the sack. My first day in Seoul was officially over. I couldn’t believe it. Time had passed so fast.

The next morning came as fast as ever, and I got out of bed to spend my second day in Seoul. I walked past Seoullo as always and went to Seoul Station. I found Joel waiting for me there. We headed upstairs to the food court and I ordered something that seemed to be vegetarian. It was a pot of noodles in soup which tasted great to be frank. However, I found pieces of beef and an egg in the mix. As it was an opportunity to try something new, I did. And I loved it.

Soon, aunty and uncle arrived there too. We went to the Lotte Mart to pick up a few Korean groceries to bring back home. We decided however, that we’d come later to buy them and hence, just looked around the supermarket. I was amazed at the way the mart was built. It has four floors, all around half a kilometer wide, and a food court too. The best part was that there were free trials for numerous items, so Vish Uncle and I tried a variety of Korean Tea. It was just awesome!

After that, we caught a train to Anguk, a suburb in Seoul. I bought a bottle of tomato juice as aunty had told me we’d have a long way to walk. After walking just a few hundred meters, we reached Hanok, the heritage village in Seoul. It was magnificent. We got to look at traditional Korean houses and the traditional attire of the Koreans. I truly learned a lot about their culture and traditional. The aspect that I loved the most was the way they had preserved their culture and the way they had blended modernism and tradition.

On our walk, we passed a hat store. I thought of buying a hat and so entered it. The collection was really nice. I liked a beanie and after some thought and comparison, purchased it. The beanie was nice and could be worn both ways. I loved the mix of colors. It was very enthralling. We then enquired about the owner who had apparently visited Agra before. We struck up a conversation with the man who was a really nice person. We even took a photograph with him. He was very kind and compassionate. It was a very nice to experience to talk to a local.

After exiting the shop, we decided to head to another place. On our way back, we bought some character socks, which was the current trend in Korea, for my friends. After that, we wandered upon a nice café, and had some juice and ice cream. I ordered a banana smoothie which tasted wonderful. It was delicious. We left the shop and proceeded towards the subway station again. But this time, we left in a totally different direction. We went to Gwangjang, a traditional Korean food market.

The food lover that I am, I was extremely excited to go there. We went there and saw all types of Korean food. It was mostly all non-vegetarian, consisting of beef, mutton, chicken, fish, squid, sting ray, octopus, pork and much much more. We went to a stall and Joel and aunty tried out a local delicacy. On the other hand, I decided to try some Gimbap, which is identical to sushi. Surprisingly, it was vegetarian, and I loved it so much that I even decided to parcel a pack. After eating one pack of Gimbap, I ordered a bowl of cold, buckwheat noodles, which really mesmerized my taste buds. We even met a few people who were part of a famous Korean YouTube channel. They gave us a challenge to try the spiciest noodles in the world. We absolutely loved those noodles. But they were definitely too spicy for consumption. We clicked a photograph with them as well. Walking through the market, we stopped at a gift store which was owned by a local.

I purchased some souvenirs and then we left. We exited the market and took a bus. After around four stops, we got down at Myeong-dong. It was a shopping area, packed with international fashion brands, luxury department store and homegrown Korean cosmetics. Joel bought some really nice cosmetics for his wife at one of the stores. I also bought some anti-aging lotion for my dad and after leaving the shop, we went to another one, and another one and another one. Finally, we finished shopping and all the adults went to get a massage. I was alone, so I decided to do some window shopping. When I was at Adidas, a pair of track pants really called out to me and after quite some thought, I purchased the black track pants.

Soon after that, I went and bought some more cosmetics. By the time I finished my shopping, it was seven forty-five, i.e., time for dinner. As Archana aunty and Joel wanted to try out some Korean delicacies, Vish uncle and I, decided to go to another place, Sanchon, which served traditional Buddhist cuisine. It was quite close by, we presumed, and we thought we could walk the distance. We did walk the way, but it drained out a lot of our energy and took too much time. When we reached, it was eight thirty and the owner of the restaurant informed me that they would be closing. Sad and hungry, we decided to go back to our hotel and try and find something there. But our hotel was really far from there. We were currently stranded there, lost, not knowing what to do.

But that was when we saw a restaurant that saved us, from our very own motherland, Little India. We entered inside only to find an averagely sized restaurant with very few staff. My first impression was that the ambience was great, and the service was very quick too. I ordered a plate of Samosas, a North Indian Thali with some Adrak Chai and Chaas. Vish uncle, as he was very strict about his dietary requirements, ordered some Pakoras and some vegetarian Fried Rice. The food was honestly superb, and the service was top class. The food was served hot and was extremely pleasing to the taste buds. I was indeed both surprised and ecstatic that some Koreans could prepare such tasty Indian food, much better than what many restaurants in India served. We took a picture with the owner, whom we also had a brief chat with.

He was not only the owner, but also worked as a waiter there. The restaurant was run by his family and they’d learnt to make Indian food because of his dad, who’d travelled to India, in the past decade. I truly admired the humility and respect for Indian culture that the man possessed. He was truly an inspiration. After an awesome meal that we did not intend, we left the shop and went to the nearest metro station. At the metro station, we had to walk for over two kilometers and finally after the long walk, boarded our train, all the way to Seoul Station. After disembarking the train, we walked again, this time via Seoullo, to our Hotel. We also bid adieu to Joel, who was leaving, early next morning. I was exhausted and hit the sack immediately after reaching my room. I had thoroughly enjoyed Day 2 at Seoul. It was tremendous!

I woke up pretty early the next day and was quite disappointed that we were leaving this beautiful city that I’d fallen in love with over the past two days. With a heavy heart, I packed my bags and we checked out of the extremely hospitable Ramada, that had been our residence for the past two nights. We exited the hotel and went straight to my hangout, A Twosome Place. We ordered the usual and after finishing some extremely tasty breakfast, decided to head to Lotte Mart, an outlet store, something like More or Big Bazaar here in India. We shopped for around an hour, buying various Korean items to take back home. There was so much to take back, we had to literally cram everything in our bags. My bag looked like a stuffed potato.

We returned once again to Seoul Station, but this time it was just Vish Uncle and I as aunty wanted to buy a few outfits for her mum. We decided to go to N Seoul Tower, a place uncle and aunty had visited a few days before I got here. Instead of taking a train, we decided to take a bus. As the tower was situated on top of a hill, we had to climb around eighty steps just to get to the base of the hill. After climbing all those stairs, we bought our tickets and stood in line. It was only a matter of a few minutes before we were at the front of the line and boarded the cable car. The view was exceptional. The nature that blended with the buildings, was indeed wonderous to look at and I felt I could stare out of the window of the cable car for eternity. On reaching the top, we decided to look around and I fell in love with the surroundings immediately. There was one problem though and it was the temperature. It was absolutely freezing up there but luckily, I had my sweater with me.

N Seoul Tower is such a romantic place. There were so many couples out there putting up love locks. Legend has it that if you do so, your relationship will be cemented for eternity. Vish uncle and I also tied a love lock each. We roamed around the place for some time until I saw some sort of machine where you could mint your own coin. We had to insert 200 Won and so we did. But the machine wasn’t working properly, and it didn’t give us the coin we’d asked for even on inserting the money. We were struggling out there because everything was in Korean. It was pretty obvious that we were lost and that we didn’t know what to do. Momentarily, a man walked up to us and offered to help us. I was amazed. We didn’t even know this man, we had no connection with him whatsoever, but there he was, going out of his way, to help us. He signaled us to wait and so we did.

In a few minutes, a member of staff came to us and opened up the machine. She pulled out the coin we wanted and even gave us another one to make up for the inconvenience caused. This was magnificent! I couldn’t believe how kind people here were. We left the tower via cable car and this was yet another opportunity for me to take some stellar photographs. On reaching the exit, we climbed down those steep stairs and left the place. Overall, it was a really enjoyable visit.

Our next requirement was lunch. And the only vegan restaurant that we knew of was Sanchon, the restaurant with traditional Buddhist cuisine. We boarded yet another bus to reach our destination. On the bus, Vish uncle and I were discussing about the location of the restaurant. A man overheard our conversation and told us to get off the bus. He told us that the road ahead would be blocked due to some political rally. We were extremely grateful that again, some stranger, had been, so kind to us, despite having no connection with us. I was just speechless at the kindness and the hospitality of the Koreans. It was no less than the Indian hospitality.

We got off the bus and walked a fair bit until we reached a very familiar spot. I realized where we were immediately. Vish uncle took a bit of time to deduce that. We were ultimately at the end of the shopping street we’d been to yesterday, Myeong – Dong. I was thrilled because of two reasons. Firstly, because I had identified the place and now had some sense of where I was and could henceforth find my way around. Secondly, we were only about 3kms walk from Bonguensa, which only meant one thing… Satisfaction for my growling stomach – LUNCH!

It was now two fifteen in the afternoon. We walked up a very familiar path and eventually reached Sanchon. We sat down and then food kept arriving one by one. It was four course meal with around thirty-seven different dishes. The meal not only tasted delicious, but also was very elegant and presentable. The lunch was wonderful and satisfying. When we finished our lunch, it was around 4:30PM, time to go back to the hotel and check out.

We took the very familiar way back to the subway just as we had done the previous day. It was quite a long walk, but it helped us digest the food we’d eaten. We got our tickets and soon, boarded the train. After reaching Seoul Station, we walked via Seoullo, back to the hotel. It was now 6pm. We had another 6 hours till we’d leave this marvelous city and get back to our normal, mundane lives.

At six thirty, we left the hotel and walked all the way to Seoul Station with our luggage, through Seoullo, knowing it’d be the last time we would do so on this trip. Archana aunty and Vish Uncle were as emotional as I was when we were walking through the streets of Seoul. Nevertheless, we bought our tickets, and after around ten minutes of waiting, got on the Airport Train.

It took an hour and a half for us to reach Incheon. On reaching Incheon, we went to the terminal, reached the check in counter and stood in a very long queue. There were some people unloading large bags and suitcases, the size of a dining table. They were creating quite a ruckus which got on my nerves. However, something that got me back on my road of smiles, was what the airline staff said. She said that since there were no window seats available, she would upgrade me to premium economy class. I was thrilled! We checked in our bags and passed security and immigration within minutes. We walked a fair way to the gate and sat there around an hour prior the flight. I kept my bags with uncle and aunty and ran back to grab a croissant and a cup of coffee. On my way back to the gate, I relished those condiments and grabbed a seat. We waited for around ten minutes when boarding started.

The flight was another Airbus A330. On my seat, I found a pair of headphones, a blanket and a pillow. The seat had extra legroom, so I could tell this was going to be a journey to remember. But Malaysia Airlines proved me wrong. There was a half hour delay. During this time, I made good friends with my seat neighbor. He was the Marketing Head of a company which manufactured essential oils. He was a really good guy and seemed pretty knowledgeable. After some chitchat, we heard the engines buzz, and knew it was time for takeoff. Just after takeoff, the cabin crew offered a small snack and some mineral water. The sandwich was good and the water, refreshing. I then decided to sit back and watch some movies.

I fell asleep while watching a movie and was woken up by a stewardess to find a tray in front of me. There was a truckload of food in front of me. It was some rice, a dal, some veggies and salad and curd. The food tasted great, but it was pretty cold. The mango juice that I opted for was decent too. After another movie, prior landing, we were offered another meal and I was mistaken to even think about it. The food was stale, cold and very hard. I couldn’t chew it at all. It didn’t taste that good either. The only good thing about it was the orange juice that came with the meal.

After finishing the meal, the captain made an announcement saying we would be landing in KL soon. After landing at 5:45AM Malaysian time, we had four hours to catch the next flight to Bengaluru. While aunty and uncle crashed at the lounge, I decided to roam around the terminal. I knew the way and thus, did some window shopping to pass my time. With three hours left, I decided to get a massage on one of those massage chairs. After half an hour of getting a massage, I went over to the café I’d been to on my transit to Seoul, and ordered the same old, delicious, hot chocolate and Pancakes.

After finishing my meal, with 1.5 hours to go, I went to Starbucks and grabbed a coffee and a croissant. It was super tasty! I then went upstairs to the Plaza Premium Lounge where uncle and aunty were. We met and then went back downstairs as there was only an hour left for departure. We took a train and went to the other terminal. After reaching the terminal, we walked a bit and finally reached our gate. I met a lot of aussies here as well.

We sat the gate for fifteen minutes and were the last to board the plane as we were in Zone A, at the front of the plane. After boarding, we went to our respective seats. A few minutes into boarding, a flight attendant came to me and asked if I could move a few rows back as a disabled passenger was going to seated in my row. I happily agreed and moved two rows back. The good thing was that I now got a whole row all to myself. The even better thing was that I was seated in the emergency exit row, the row with extremely extra legroom, just like premium economy. I was overjoyed.

This was a Boeing 777-300er which was around four years old. The cabin was very tidy and, on my seat, as usual, I found a blanket, a pillow and a pair of headphones. The cabin crew seemed to be very polite and friendly. I really thought this flight would be pretty decent. And it didn’t just meet my expectations, it exceeded them.

Take off was very smooth and there wasn’t even a two-minute delay. Soon after takeoff, the cabin crew offered us some assorted nuts and apple juice. This snack tasted really nice and even when I asked for a second serving, the gave it to me with a smile on their face. I watched a bit of a movie, but it was pretty boring. So, I decided to catch up on some sleep. But it turns out that’s not possible on a four - hour hop. The cabin crew started with the meal service and it was nice and hot. We got some lasagna which was really tasty as well as presentable.

After eating to my heart’s content, we started our descent into the wonderful city of Bengaluru. We reached at 11Am sharp, fifteen minutes before our arrival time. I had to fill up a form to get past customs, but after that, I just flew passed the security check and picked up my bags. I met uncle and aunty there and we exited the airport and went straight to the taxi counter. We grabbed an Uber and went to auntie’s brother’s house in Koramangala, the happening place in Bengaluru.

It was a good two hours’ drive to the apartment. There wasn’t much traffic and the car was comfortable. On reaching the flat, I decided to just take some rest. I read a book and fell asleep soon after. At 5pm, uncle and aunty asked me to help set up the house for the pooja. It was Diwali and we had to celebrate it in some fashion. We started decorating the house, and it truly looked beautiful.

I was even dressed for the occasion. I wore a dhoti and a shirt after such a long time. We ordered dinner from outside and the meal was delicious. After finishing dinner, uncle, aunty, her brother Arun and I stayed up till midnight talking about a variety of topics. At around 1AM, I was feeling a tad bit drowsy, so I decided to hit the bed.

The next morning, I packed my stuff and after breakfast, at around 11, aunty and uncle dropped me off to the bus stop. I bid them adieu and took the Airport Shuttle all the way to Kempagowda International Airport. It was another comfortable two-hour ride. After reaching the airport, I printed my boarding pass and cleared security with half an hour. There were still two hours left for my flight, so I decided to grab some food. At the restaurant, I got myself an extremely appetizing spaghetti. After finishing my meal, I headed downstairs to the gate.

After a ten - minute wait, we boarded the bus that would take us to the plane. As usual, it was a Bombardier Q400 which was eleven years old. The flight was very pleasant. The ambience was quite nice, the staff were very friendly, there was adequate legroom and the on-board food was quite tasty. In just forty-five minutes, we started our descent into the wondrous city of Mangalore.

As soon as we landed, I called up my dad and informed him that I’d touched down in Mangalore. I met my driver after collecting my baggage and we drove out of the airport in a jiffy. After an hour’s drive, we reached the evergreen temple town, Udupi. And then Manipal. It had been a good week away from home, but I longed to be back where I belonged, home sweet home, Suvarna 12, Tapmi Campus, Manipal.