The sun was shining brightly at Incheon airport, as we came into land even though it was about 4 am UK time, which being nine hours behind Korean time, it's hardly surprising. The airport is infeasibly spacious and clean and modern. No-one is there to meet me when I emerge from Arrivals Gate E, which is a tad depressing, but not surprising since (as an expensive phone call subsequently reveals) my host Seoncheol Kim from the NIKL is waiting for me at Arrivals Gate B. He seems a bit flustered, which is also unsurprising. And off we go in his car through the sunshine, over the long bridge, round the miles and miles and miles of super highway madness that surrounds Seoul, and eventually into the Hotel Extremely Posh, where he hands
over wads of cash for my spending money, tells me exactly where I have to be and when for the next three days and then disappears, allowing me to shower and collapse into this very large and comfortable bed for an hour or two. When night falls, I get up again and go for a walk outside where it's bitterly cold
but there is amazing spectacle of lights across the road where couples and families with small cute children wearing funny hats are walking around taking photos of each other. So I do same. Street vendors are selling octopus-related stuff on sticks, and what look like large fat brown grubs, as well as more conventional fare such as soup and noodles and chestnuts. After wandering about an hour or so, I
dive into a nice small noodle bar and contend with the joy of kimchi and the headache of korean chopsticks for a bit. By now it's getting late and I am fading fast so stagger back to hotel to write up my birthday adventures so far.
The sun was shining brightly at Incheon airport, as we came into land even though it was about 4 am UK time, which being nine hours behind Korean time, it's hardly surprising. The airport is infeasibly spacious and clean and modern. No-one is there to meet me when I emerge from Arrivals Gate E, which is a tad depressing, but not surprising since (as an expensive phone call subsequently reveals) my host Seoncheol Kim from the NIKL is waiting for me at Arrivals Gate B. He seems a bit flustered, which is also unsurprising. And off we go in his car through the sunshine, over the long bridge, round the miles and miles and miles of super highway madness that surrounds Seoul, and eventually into the Hotel Extremely Posh, where he hands 
over wads of cash for my spending money, tells me exactly where I have to be and when for the next three days and then disappears, allowing me to shower and collapse into this very large and comfortable bed for an hour or two. When night falls, I get up again and go for a walk outside where it's bitterly cold 
but there is amazing spectacle of lights across the road where couples and families with small cute children wearing funny hats are walking around taking photos of each other. So I do same. Street vendors are selling octopus-related stuff on sticks, and what look like large fat brown grubs, as well as more conventional fare such as soup and noodles and chestnuts. After wandering about an hour or so, I 
dive into a nice small noodle bar and contend with the joy of kimchi and the headache of korean chopsticks for a bit. By now it's getting late and I am fading fast so stagger back to hotel to write up my birthday adventures so far.
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