Where's the dog? And Yellow Dust....

I was gonna title this The Heart of Seoul, but that would have been far too cheesy.

So anyway, it turns out that despite my best efforts, I was unable to master Korean in two weeks in anticipation of my recent trip to Seoul. Despite this, I did manage to grasp enough of the alphabet to have a fair go at reading Korean, which did come in handy, if only to be able to order 비빔밮 (bibimbap), 불고기 (bulgogi) and 두부스테이크 (tofu satay, I think...) off the menu. I suspect the proprietors must all have thought I was weird, as having ordered one of the above, they'd ask me something else and I'd have absolutely no idea what the heck they were talking about. Of course, having mastered the alphabet, I realized that much of Korean was actually English, as in 휱넸크래브 (fitness club) and 고러프타운(golf town). OK, I kinda made those up, but it's something along those lines, anyway. So, in fact, a little Korean goes a long way.

I must say that I hadn't heard very encouraging things about Seoul before I went. Outwardly, it does appear to live up to its reputation of massive concrete, industrialized, commercialized, Americanized urbanicity, and the fact that there was a huge six-storey Tesco Home Plus store right opposite my hotel didn't bode well. Seriously, I've never seen anything like it. But in the little time I had to look around, I did find some redeeming qualities to the city. Changdeokgung Palace (창덕궁), the city's second Joseon dynasty palace, was built in 1405 and served as the king's residence following the destruction of neighbouring Gyeongbokgung by the Japanese. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the palace has been restored, as have the city's other five Joseon dynasty palaces.

The area between the two palaces is a great place for a stroll, particularly around the Bukchon Joseon dynasty village, and there's a quaint network of streets full of small stores, restaurants and cafés. Further south is Insadong, a traditional street that's now home to a number of art galleries, tea and calligraphy shops and souvenir stores. Koreans certainly appear to have an interesting concept of space, and seem to pour all their individualism into whatever square foot of space they have available in their premises, making for some fascinating architectural features.

Seoul is apparently also renowned for yellow dust, which travels in sandstorms down from the Gobi desert via North Korea, collecting all manner of sulphurous and metallic particles on its way through China and leaving behind a thick layer of yellow nastiness that is related to all manner of health problems. I'm informed that it's particularly bad in April, although I did manage to witness speckles of the stuff as they landed on my mobile phone screen.

But what about the dog, I hear you ask? Well, I asked myself the same thing. My Japanese hairdresser had informed me all about how there are only some seven dog dishes in South Korea, in comparison to North Korea, with its considerably more extensive canine cuisine. Despite my piqued interest, I didn't consciously come across any dog cuisine and nobody took me anywhere that served dog. I did feel a rush of excitement while having lunch at a restaurant in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong the following week, when I spotted 'dog' on the menu board. But on closer inspection, I realized that it read 热狗 ('hot' dog.......). So I'm none the wiser.

OK, I'm not really serious - I don't have particularly have any interest in sampling dog cuisine........