We’d originally planned to be in Seoul for only 24 hours, but a passport issue grounded us, and much of the last two days was spent at the German embassy getting things fixed. Which they are now - and so we’re headed to Kuala Lumpur in just a few hours.

Seoul is a prosperous, technological city with wide-screen 3D GPS displays in every taxi, indoor golf courses, toilets with dozens of buttons (if you press them accidentally late at night, jets of warm water fire and your droopy eyelids snap to attention, as Stephanie discovered), and combination remote controls for the TV, lights, and AC in the hotel room.

People are super friendly but much to our surprise English is not widely spoken. I’ve been developing new ways to mime “no meat, vegetarian.” I downloaded a picture/pointing dictionary on my phone but Stephanie thinks that’s cheating. She’s got a point.

Speaking of food, I’ve been a long-time fan of bi bim bap in Korean restaurants in the US and was excited to try it here. And I had my first chance on the 15 hour flight from Washington. In-flight bi bim bap, how cool is that? It did not disappoint.

Ok, just now, whilst typing this, we missed our bus to the airport.

Anyway, I’ve had kimchi and bi bim bap as my principle sources of nourishment since we landed here and I’m going to miss them in Malaysia, along with the taxi drivers watching baseball while they drive.

But we didn’t get to do the DMZ tour and 2 days wasn’t enough, so we’ll be back, Seoul. Mark my words.