(Allie and) Hart in Seoul

Kor-e-a! We're finally back in Kor-e-a!

It's 9:20 am local time here, and we just endured a 5+ hour flight from Bangkok. As we're now facing the difficult task of re-adjusting to Central Time, we chose to stay awake all night - because, of course, a red-eye here is during the afternoon back home, and that's a bad time to sleep for a few hours. So we're more than a little punchy now, and have to wait another 2 and a half hours before our flight takes off for Chicago. We leave here at noon local time (10 pm CDT) and arrive at O'Hare at 11 am.

Not much to report since my last post. We spent Monday morning on the beach and at the pool, getting in our last taste of glorious Samui. We also had a chance to see the cutest little airport ever, in Samui - the entire thing is thatched-roof huts, with an open-air courtyard in the middle of everything. When you get to the "gate", there's a courtesy counter full of free juices, tea, and little snack items, as well as free internet. It's just the most adorable airport! It's worth going to Samui just to see it - but if you're at the airport, you may as well take a few days at the beach, too.

We got back to Bangkok without any trouble, left our luggage at the airport, and headed back to the Sukhumvit area. We browsed the night market as it was getting started, and then headed to the Bed Supperclub for dinner. It's a funky "in" restaurant where you eat on a bed. The tables aren't tables; they bring you to a section of a huge elongated mattress, and you stretch out, and they bring your food to a little table resting atop the mattress. Delicious food, and we really got a kick out of the kitsch factor. It was a great last meal and a great way to enjoy our last night in Bangkok without facing the dirt and grime.

Couldn't completely avoid it, though. Sukhumvit is one of the more popular areas for Thai women engaged in the world's oldest profession to find foreign customers. I learned this while Allie was getting a massage, when one drunk and/or stoned woman directly blocked my path and pleaded that I spend some time with her and have a drink. No thanks, I said, repeatedly, but I literally had to tear myself out of her grip (she'd grabbed onto my arm). It was really unnerving - one thing to see these women standing on the street and waiting for customers, and entirely another for this one to be as blunt as she was. I think it's quite sad that there's such a market for this behavior in Bangkok, and yet it fits in with our observation that it is a large, fast, and dirty city.

That distasteful note aside, all went well in our final few hours in Thailand. It's hard to believe we're back here in Seoul and that in less than 16 hours, we'll be back home. But now we have to earn some money to pay for these adventures...

So there you have it! Allie may post to the blog with her own observations, and we may provide some links for pictures when we can download them onto our computers from Allie's camera. Oh, and as for these spammed comments, I'll remove them from home; I can do it here, but I can't understand the Korean on the screen.

Signing off from Asia...thanks for keeping us company! :)