Seoul, the capital of South Korea or sparkling Korea as it is called, is well connected with most big cities of the world. Also referred to as the land of morning calm, Korea is the seventh largest economy of the world.

The city is a unique blend of the traditional and the modern- what with being home to temples, palaces, pagodas and ancient gardens on the one hand and a large number of skyscrapers, shopping malls and multistoried apartment blocks, on the other. Seoul is about three and a half hours flight from Hong Kong and we flew from New Delhi to Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific and then further to Seoul.

On landing at the Incheon International airport, the first thing that strikes one is the enormous size of the airport, well-designed and kept sparkling clean; pretty and petite Asian women rushing past hurriedly the length and breadth of the airport, with the airport staff very efficiently handling all queries and also very pleasant to deal with all. The airport was a window to the way Koreans are with visitors- the people are ever ready to help and extend a lot of warmth and love to the visitors.

Language is a still a barrier although nowadays most of the people within the city speak broken English and the signage and subways display instructions in English. Still it is only good enough to survive! Barring language, Seoul has a number of touristy things to offer such as visiting palaces, museums, art galleries, theatre, as also ski resorts, river cruise, amusement parks and the like.

One of the palaces we visited was the Changdeokgung palace which is almost 700 years old and is registered with UNESCO as world cultural Heritage site in 1997. It was meant to be used as a secondary palace but after the Japanese invasion, became the main palace for 270 years. It was quite an experience going through the palace and even better was the narration of history by the tour guide who shared humorous anecdotes about the king and queens’ lifestyle. In fact left on our own, these would have just appeared to be huge architectural monuments, a journey through which only tires you out but a good tourist guide tends to infuse life into otherwise lifeless structures, giving a perspective of the times and traditions of that race.

For instance our guide explained the importance of the dragon architecture, which finds its way in all buildings of the king's importance, but is absent in the palaces of the queen. Seoul is a fun place for seafood lovers and there are dime a dozen joints available roadside. But they offer food which is not only cheap but they are unbelievably clean and hygienic that one feels tempted to try them out.

Interestingly Indian restaurants have made inroads here and the ones we tried were Ganga and Indian Gate. Besides there are many Korean restaurants and tofu specialities served in addition to the presence of multinational chains such as Pizza Hut.he good thing is that even a vegetarian can find options to eat here. Another place worth a visit is the DMZ or demilitarized zone between North & South Korea. It’s a high security place and one has to carry ID proof. It is 2 km one either side from the line of division. At the northernmost observatory in South Korea one can see soldiers and armed guards moving about, through a telescope. In fact if you have been to the Line of Control in Kashmir Valley, you would know what it means to visit a sensitive zone. There is also a bronze statue of Kim II Seong north. The whole DMZ area has a couple of tunnels, which are dug by the North Koreans and discovered here much later to facilitate the movement of soldiers from Northern side.

One such tunnel called the third tunnel is open to tourists, and is a must see. It is only 52 km away from Seoul in the district of Paju and is 1600 m long, 2 m wide and 2 m high. So one can literally touch the walls and roof quite easily. It is big enough to allow an army of 30,000 fully armed North Korean soldiers to pass through it within an hour. It runs through bedrock at a depth of 73 m below ground and is evidently designed for a surprise attack on Seoul. Giving a sense of the various features of the tunnel, our guide told us that the walls of the tunnel were charred black, as the North Korean soldiers marked the walls with charcoal, while they fled the tunnel in order to give it the appearance of a coal mine.

However, there is hardly a trace of charcoal in the entire region of the DMZ. The tunnel is at an angle of 3 degrees, sloping down towards the North Korean side, so as to provide drainage of water. The Seoul tower is another exciting place to be, if you want to get an aerial view of the whole city. It is situated on a 262 m high peak in Namsam park and is 370 m high. One can get an enchanting view from the top, of the whole city especially at night it looks just like a fairyland. It is an experience not to be missed.

For commuting, the subway/metro is good means of transportation, besides being cheap, fast and reliable, it also provides a tourist with a glimpse of the lifestyle of the local inhabitants. It takes one to most parts of Seoul and the suburbs, and all signage and instructions are well marked in English.

For shopping, Seoul offers the most modern of shopping malls as well as traditional Korean wares which can be bought from the souveneir shops in palaces etc. The store manager was a lady who showed us many artifacts and mentioned these were signs of ‘good luck’. They seemed to be much like the feng shui products which are a rage back home too. Seoul has something or the other to offer people of all ages and interests. Best time to visit is summer and autumn because winter is really harsh and does not allow too much activity.