<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="65001"%> JAXFAX Travel Marketing Magazine

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DECEMBER 2008
Cover feature: India

NOVEMBER 2008
Cover feature: Anguilla

OCTOBER 2008
Cover feature: VAIL, CO
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SEPTEMBER 2008
Cover: COOK ISLANDS
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AUGUST 2008
Cover feature: SPAIN
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Cover feature: ANTIGUA
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Cover feature: VIENNA
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MARCH 2008
Cover feature: GERMANY
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FEBRUARY 2008
Cover feature: FIJI
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ARTICLE FROM 2007 TO 2001 ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE SEE LIST OF FEATURE ON TEH RIGHT COLUMN OF THIS PAGE.




FEATURES FROM 2004- to 2010
FOR 2011 CLICK HERE

AFRICA
ROUND UPS

Safari Planner 10/10
Southern Africa’s Diversity 5/10
BAHRAIN
Secret Formula • 10/08
BOTSWANA
Southern Africa’s Diversity 5/10
Classical Deviations • 10/07

ETHIOPIA
Northern Treasures 11/10
Riding Modern Wave 0708
Endearing Ethiopia • 01/ 07
Cover feature • 02/ 02

JORDAN
Historical Days & Arabian Nights 7/10
KENYA

Make a Dash for Kenya 6/10
A Great Adventure 3/10
Kenya’s Annual Epic 11/09
Kenya’s Big Five Appeal 7/09
Selling Safaris 1/09
Safaris (cover) • 06/ 08
Under the Stars • 12/07
...and Tanzania • 09/07
Ecotourism Nation • 06/ 07

MOROCCO
Morocco Mosaic 9/10
Marrakesh, so Magically 10/09
Unlimited Appeal 10/08
Millions in Visitors • 01/ 08

Large & Lovely • 08/ 07
Off the Beaten Road • 02/06

QATAR
Flourishing in the Desert 11/10
SOUTH AFRICA

Open for Business! 710
Soccer in 2010 10/09
ASTA IDE 2009 1/09
Re-Invents Itself • 05/ 08
Wine Harvest • 07/ 07
Western Cape • 03/ 07

TANZANIA
Southern Africa’s Diversity 5/10
Safaris Without Borders 1/10
Classic safaris • 09/08
Its Own Mission • 05/ 08
No longer little sister • 09/07

TUNISIA
A Taste of Tunisia • 05/06 UGANDA
Emerges from Shell• 08/06
ZAMBIA
Southern Africa’s Diversity 5/10
Classical Deviations • 10/07

ZIMBABWE

Southern Africa’s Diversity 5/10
Classical Deviations • 10/07


ASIA
AUSTRALIA
Natural Wonders 12/10
Ten Things To Experience in Sydney 8/10
From Culture to Nature 12/09
Aussie Outback 1/09
Melbourne's Wild Side• 0708
Driving Business • 02/ 08
Hidden Secrets • 08/ 07
Stellar Attractions • 02/ 07

CHINA
Beijing Your Way COV 1/11
Hotel Boom Continues 10/10
Voluntourism 7/10
Tthe Real China COVER 1/10
Beijing Hotel Boom 11/08
Reaches for the Moon • 03/ 08
Tourism Wave • 11/07
Guangzhou • 03/ 07

COOK ISLANDS
Live out your dream 09/08
The latest Hot Spot • 12/07
Paradise Contention • 10/07

FIJI
Fiji’s Many Faces 9/10
Tropical Touchdown 10/08
Smile You're on Fiji • 02/ 08
Tropical Getaway • 01/06

INDIA
A Bright Future 10/10
Awestruck in India &
New Travel Products for 2010-11
Expands Tourism Territory 3/10
Cultural Journey 12/09
Mumbai Revisited 3/09
Kochi: Calm, Complex 12/08
Sacred to Sublime • 08/08
Mumbai's Bollywood • 05/ 08
Driving Business • 12/07
Madyha Pradesh • 07/ 07
Maharashtra • 06/ 07
What's New • 05/ 07

JAPAN
Neo-Ryo 11/10
2010 is Visit Japan Year 5/10
Jeju’s Enticing Mix 12/09
Luxury Travel Forum 1/09
In and out of Tokyo • 08/ 08
KOREA
Ceramic Arts 9/10
Historic & Cultura 5/10 COVER
48 Hours in Seoul 11/09
Traveling to Korea to Eat 10/09
Affordable Seoul 1/09
New Arts Center • 09/08
Sancturay in Temples • 12/07

Jeju Island • 02/ 07
ASTA Expo • 01/ 07

LAOS
Cave City Opens • 04/ 07
MACAU
Beyond Gaming • 01/ 08
Taking a Bow • 07/ 07

MALAYSIA
Sizzling Malaysia 3/10
Sight seeing • 02/06
NEW CALEDONIA
The Secret is Out • 07/08
NEW ZEALAND
A Taste of Wine Country
Bumped Ski Season 08/09
Discounted Five-Star 3/09
Luxury & Adventure • 04/ 08
Hidden Secrets • 08/ 07

SINGAPORE
What Makes Singapore Hot for 2010? 01/10
Singapore Corners SE Asia Market 10/09
Value and Deals 7/09
TAIWAN
Lantern Festival 3/10
Warm Welcome • 03/06



THAILAND
Welcomes Visitors Back 8/10

City Chic to Rural Respite 5/10
Asia’s New Island of Tourism 3/10
Elephant Back Riding • 08/06

Exotic Bangkok • 02/06
VIETNAM

Luxurious Adventure • 09/07

CARIBBEAN
ROUND UP FEATURES

Caribbean Family Holiday 11/10
Summer Deals 5/10
Passion in Paradise 1/10
ANGUILLA
Happy in Eastern Carib 12/10
A Sliver of Shangri-La
Big Agent Plans for 2010 10/09
Branding of Anguilla 11/08
New Celebrity Status • 04/ 08
Winter Curtain Call • 01/ 08
Secret is out • 05/ 07 cover

Off-Posh Prices • 04/ 07

ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
The Beach is the Beginning 10/10
The Sandy Sister 02/10
Spread Carnival Fever 7/09
Festive Side 09/08
Wedding Bells- 07/08 Cover
Tropical Paradise • 05/ 08

Blessed with Beauty • 09/ 07
Twin Deals • 06/ 07

ARUBA
Easy as A-B-C: Selling the Dutch Islands 810
Divi"s Inside Edge 12/08
BARBADOS
A Blue Sky Holiday 6/10
The Bajan Macation • 04/ 08
BAHAMAS
Cable Beach • 06/08
BONAIRE
Easy as A-B-C: Selling the Dutch Islands 810
CAYMAN ISLANDS

CITE Report on Caymans 7/09
CITE Report • 09/ 07

CURACAO
Easy as A-B-C: Selling the Dutch Islands 810
Onsite Report 4/07
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Five Star Race • 0608
La Romana • 11/07
New hot Spot • 0107

GRENADA
Moves into Tourism
GUYANA
Land of Many Waters • 04/06
JAMAICA
Tie The Knot In Jamaica 0111
Jamaica on a Roll 710
The Heart of Jamaica 11/09
Luxury in Jamaica 11/09
Committed to Tourism • 8/08
Cool Green • 02/ 08

Waterparks • 10/07
Hidden Charms • 03/ 07

MARTINIQUE
Isle of Flowers • 05/ 07
Living Well • 02/06
PUERTO RICO
Beyond the Surf, Sand...3/10
Golfing 08/09
Star-Studded 12/08
SAINT MARTIN
Paassionate & Plaayful
Taste of Europe 12/08
Upper Market • 07/08
SMART Report • 07/ 07

ST. KITTS
Caribbean’s Sweetheart 910
Expansion Plans • 03/ 08
ST. LUCIA
The Newest Edge 12/09
For Kids & Grown-Ups 10/08
Almond Smugglers • 09/ 07

From Golf to Marinas • 06/06

ST. VINCENT &

THE GRENADINES

Island Hopping • 03/ 08
TURKS & CAICOS
Gold Coast 10/09
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

America’s Caribbean 3/10
Team Spirit 12/08

EUROPE
ROUND UPS

Jewish Heritage 0111
Central Eastern Europe 03/10

AUSTRIA
Vienna Tops the List of Best Cities To Live In 6/10
Waltz through Vienna 11/09
Vienna: Hip & Festive 3/09
Vienna's Passion 10/08
Vienna Culture • 05/ 08
Along the Danube • 04/ 08

New Properties • 09/ 07
atcb Unites Region • 06/ 07
Vienna Happenings • 03/ 07

BELGIUM
River Towns 12/10
FLANDERS for the Casual Connoisseur 9/10 COVER
FLANDERS
Cultivating a
Taste for Finer Things 3/10
FLANDERS Antwerp 12/09FLANDERS: Stellar Sites 10/09
Arrive as a Visitor, Leave as a Belgian 08/09
Belgian Hotels • 07/08
Wallonia • 10/07

BRITAIN
Trail Back to London 3/10
Weekend in London 12/08
Top Hotels 06/ 08
Liverpool • 04/ 08
Eurostar Paris/London • 1107

BULGARIA
Central Eastern Europe 03/08
CANARY ISLANDS
Classics in Canaries • 01/08 Sunny Canaries • 11/ 06
CROATIA
A Country for All Seasons 910
Croatia’s Adriatic Coast 3/10
Europe’s Newest Riviera 4/09
Something big in 2009 • 09/08
Wine Country • 04/ 08

Cultural Circle• 10/07
Heart & Soul • 04/ 07

CYPRUS
Highlights From the Birthplace of Beauty Cover Nov. 2010
Cyprus thru Centuries 1/10
Golden Anniversary 10/09
Cypriot Primer 10/08
From Wine to Water 6/08
Loving the Island • 10/07
Cool Cats • 09/ 07


CZECH REPUBLIC
Gentle Evolution Cover 7/10
Bohemian Attractions 12/09
Footsteps of princes 10/08
For Young at Heart • 08/ 07

DENMARK
Scandinavian Smorgasbord 810
Culture & History • 01/06
FINLAND
Helsinki By Design 810
Scandinavian Smorgasbord 810
Not just in Summer 10/08
Helsinki's New Face • 04/ 08
Rauma • 05/06

FRANCE
Design Hotels In Paris 11/10
France’s Big Summer Festivals
Still Among Top Five 1/09
Rhone Alpes Region • 02/ 08
ASTA in Lyon • 12/ 07
Eurostar Paris/London • 1107


GERMANY
Promoting Health & Wellness 10/10 Cover Feature
Mainz and Much More 6/10
Designs on creative Germany 3/10
Oberammergau Passion Play 08/09
GTM ’09 Visits Northeast 7/09
Networking in Bavaria • 09/08
Beating the Euro • 04/ 08
Posh Palaces • 03/ 08

Automotives • 03/ 07
What Not to Miss • 02/ 07
Dusseldorf • 09/06
GREECE
Northern Escapades 10/10
Greek Suppliers • 08/08
Greek Cruises • 02/08
Island Trio • 08/ 07

GREENLAND
New Access • 05/ 07
HOLLAND
Rembrandt & Tulips • 01/06
HUNGARY
High End Value, Old World Ambience 5/10
Budapest Live Arts 12/08
Celebrating Budapest • 04/ 08

IRELAND
Go where Ireland Directs your 310
Finding Yourself • 03/ 08
Dublin • 11/07
Foynes SeaPlanes • 10/07

ITALY
Salerno, Amalfi Coast 11/10
Get Lost in Erice, Sicily 5/10
The Veneto 1/10
Tuscany 03/09
Roman Revival1/09 Cover
Ri mini celebrates 11/08
Deals & Sunshine 09/08
Affordable Italy 6/08
Western Sicily • 01/ 08

Abruzzo • 07/ 07

LITHUANIA
Close up at Vilnus • 08/ 07
MALTA
Historic Tempos 12/08
Many Faces • 05/04

NORWAY
Scandinavian Smorgasbord 810
Stavanger • 04/ 08

In the fjords • 01/06

POLAND
Fall In Love With Warsaw 810

Top Summer Destination 510
Old cities Revisited 11/08
New Found Power • 04/ 08
Gdansk • 05/ 07

Krakow • 02/06

PORTUGAL
Azorean Journey 0111
What’s New in Portugal? 9/10
Invests for Tomorrow 10/09
Heritage Travel 1/09
Affordable Luxury • 07/07
Hosts Wine Tasting • 10/07

Out of Lisbon • 11/07
ROMANIA
Town and Country 11/09
CEE Round up • 03/08

Great Value • 06/06
RUSSIA
Siberia and the Trans-Siberian: The Mother of Rail Rides 07/09
St. Petersburg • 07/08
W inter Festivals • 11/07
St Peterburg • 02/ 07

SCOTLAND
Scotland's Spirit • 12/07
Glasgow with Style • 0706

SLOVAKIA
CEE Round up • 03/08
10 Reason to Visit • 10/04
SLOVENIA
CEE Round up • 03/08
SPAIN
Road to Santiago 3/10 Cover
Valencia Shimmers 11/09
Barcelona & Costa Brava
Discover Galicia 1/09
Barcelona 12/08
Great Off Season Value 10/08
Andalusia (Cover) • 08/08
Malaga's Culture• 05/ 08

Zaragoza • 01/08

Iberia's Capitals • 12/07
Prado's Debuts • 11/07
Cutting Edge Madrid • 08/ 07
Valencia • 04/ 07

SWEDEN
Scandinavian Smorgasbord 810
SWITZERLAND
Eye on Premium Prize 7/09
Cultural Lavaux • 02/08
Basel, Fribourg • 09/ 07
Basel Quietly Classy • 05/ 07
Scenic Postbus • 01/ 07

TURKEY
Cave Hopping in Cappadocia
Turkey’s Treasures 12/09
Seductive Istanbul 5/09
Hideaway 'St. Tropez' 11/08
Land of Sunrise • 05/ 08
Endless Mysteries • 07/ 07

UKRAINE
Top Ten Sights • 07/ 07

LATIN AMERICA
Round Up Feature
Live The Dream 1210
S. & C America • May 2008
ARGENTINA
Summer Escapes 0111
Maté to Malbec 810
24 Hrs in Buenos Aires 12/09
From A to C • 11/07
Learning to Tango • 10/05

BELIZE
Accessible Inland/Island Vacations 810
Belize Cruises 1/10
Heritage Groups • 02/08
Family Adventure • 07/ 07

BOLIVIA
May 2008
BRAZIL
Big, Fat Party in Brazil 10/09
Heart & Soul • 08/08
Bossa Nova Beaches • 03/08
Carnival • 09/07
Agent's Bargain • 05/ 07

CHILE
Comunas to Cordillera 710
Atacama Desert Gets Hotter 3/10
Chilean Surprises 11/09
From A to C • 11/07
Isla Negra • 07/0
6
COLOMBIA
Islas del Rosario 5/10
Cartagena Day Trips 08/09
Takes Giant Leap • 12/06
COSTA RICA
Natural Wealth 9/10
Eco Tourism at the Source7/09
Green Pot of Gold • 07/08
T he Greening • 10/07
A Front Runner • 03/07

CURAÇAO
Down Under • 04/ 07
ECUADOR & GALAPAGOS
Best of Both Hemispheres 710
Visiting Paradise 08/09
Secret Pacific Coast 3/09
Ever Changing 11/08
Traveling Mindfully • 01/08

Fragile & Focused • 08/ 07

EL SALVADOR
New World (Cover) • 11/ 07
GUATEMALA
Meet me at the fountain 12/08
Land of everlasting Spring 05

HONDURAS
Hello to Honduras 2/05 Cover
May 200
8
MEXICO
Colonial Mexico 10/10
Fulfilling Your Basic Needs 6/10
The Soulful Side 12/09
Los Cabos for Luxurious Adventure 7/09
Hotel Chains 12/08
Uncommon Retreats • 0708
Report from Tianguis • 6/08
Puerto Vallarta • 12/07
Yucatan Glory Days • 07/ 07
Yucatan Peninsula • 05/ 07

NICARAGUA
May 2008 Round Up
Natural Beauty • 01/06

PANAMA
Growth Spurt • 0/ 07
Boca del Toro • 05/06

PARAGUAY
May 2008 Round Up
PERU
Amazon Odyssey: 11/10
Ancient Powers • 0908
Machu Picchu • 4/ 08
Festivals • 04/ 07

URUGUAY
May 2008 Round Up
VENEZUELA

May 2008 Round Up

THE MIDDLE EAST
DUBAI
Dubai’s Shifting Reality 3/09
EGYPT
Enduring Appeal 12/10
Beyond the Pyramids 810
Ancient Times, Modern World 4/10
Tourism Growth 12/09
Captivating, Affordable 12/08
Gaining Marketshares • 08/08
The Future is Now • 4/ 08

Touring • 11/07
Alone & Neighbors • 6/ 07
Temple Trekking • 7/06

ISRAEL
COVER: Negev Desert 12/10
Acre’s Old City 10/10
Exploring The Eco-Way
Israel Young and Old 11/09
Return to Little Screen 11/08
Spotlight on Haifa • 09/08
Sweet Secrets • 6/08
Eilat in Winter • 3/08
Beyond the Bible Belt • 1/ 08
Wine Routes • 11/07
Beyond Spiritual Ties • 9/ 07
Promises & Potential • 5/ 07

JORDAN
Plans for Next Millennium 7/09
New Sporting Life 3/09
The Royal Way... • 2/ 08
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Oman–An Arabian Odyssey 910
Dubai Sands & Seas 12/08
Business in Dubai • 2/ 07
US

CANADA, HAWAII
ROUND UP SPAS
Dude Ranch Summer Deals 5/10
When Healing is More than Skin Deep
1/10
ALASKA
Fairbanks • 02/ 07
CALIFORNIA
Napa & Sonoma Wine Country 910
San Francisco • 01/ 08
Los Angeles • 01/ 07
CANADA
72 Hours in Montréal 710
Discover Quebec 7/09
Canadian Rail • 02/ 08

COLORADO
Vail’s Green Approach • 10/08
Supreme in Snow • 01/ 08

DISTRICT of COLUMBIA
Perfect Weekend in DC 5/10
Gaylord National Park 11/08

FLORIDA
Orlando’s Attractions
Orlando’s Eternal Appeal 11/09
Orlando • 09/08
Naples • 03/ 08

Palm Beach • 11/07

HAWAII
Star Studded Courses • 04/ 08
Aloha Appeal • 08/ 07

LOUISIANA
New Orleans Child’s Play 8/09
New Orleans • 05/ 08
MAINE
Northeast Foliage 810
MAUI

Unforgettable Maui 5/09
NEVADA
Las Vegas, New & Renewed 6/10
Las Vegas • 04/ 08
Mandalay Bay • 12/07

Downtown Las Vegas • 07/ 07

NEW YORK
New York Deals 12/09
Big Apple Waterfalls • 08/08
TENNESSEE
Nowhere but Nashville 070
WASHINGTON
San Juan Island Adventure 11/10
WISCONSIN

Scenic Vacationland 1/09

CRUISE
ANTARTICA

In style in Antartica • 02/ 08
ASIA
China’s Heavenly River With Viking River Cruises 12/09
Yangtze River Rises to Star Status 08/09
China Yangtze River • 01/ 08

Viking River Cruises • 12/07
The South Pacific • 06/ 07

EUROPE
Ships & Itineraries Update 5/10
River Cruising • 03/08
Louis Cruises • 02/08
River & Canals • 03/07
The Danube • 01/07

LATIN AMERICA
Cruising Latin Beat • 11/07
WORLWIDE
Oasis Overtakes the Seas 1/10
Celebrity’s Solstice 1/09
Short & Sweet 09/08
High Seas Holiday • 09/07

SPECIAL INTEREST • SKI
WORLDWIDE

Passion for food 05/07
GOLF
Off Shore Courses • 10/07
RAIL
Europe Rail Travel 6/08
SAFARIS
African Safaris 3/10
African Safaris 6/08

SKI
Skiing the Northeast 12/10
Best US Ski-Cations Without the Crowds 11/09
Colorado • 01/ 08
Snow in right places • 12/ 07
Western USA • 9/07


Discovering Seoul Affordable, Rewarding and Easy

By Marian Goldberg

I have visited East Asia many times, but I had never been to Korea. I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly. Was it going to be like Japan or China or MASH? Since I would be traveling alone, my biggest concern was safety, cleanliness, the ease of getting around, the cost of getting around, and if would I be able to have a rewarding and enriching cultural experience on my own. I discovered this and more …

Plenty of English Spoken
Wherever I went, someone, even little children, tried to speak to me in English. Street, highway, and attraction signs were in both Korean and Roman letters. English-language tours of palaces and museums and English descriptive brochures and labels at museums and attractions were widespread. Even the subways offered announcements in both Korean and English.

Easy Access and Seoul Sources
The Korea Tourist Organization (KTO) sponsors a helpful 24-hour toll-free telephone service that can provide valuable travel information or translation assistance. If your taxi driver doesn’t speak enough English, if you need help with a restaurant menu, if you are lost on the street or if you simply have a travel question, you can dial 1330 from your cell or hotel phone, and be immediately connected to an English speaking information officer.
One additional point that I found out when writing this article is that this service is even accessible when dialed from abroad! From the United States, dial 011-82-2-1330. Of course the local U.S.-based offices (see end of article for contacts) are also excellent resources to consult with prior to departure.
Additionally, as of February 2008, there is also a brand new tourism organization for the city of Seoul, and in September 2008, the Seoul Tourism Organization hired its first International Marketing Director for the Americas and Europe. Maureen O’Crowley (E-mail maureen@seoulwelcome.com) is a former travel agent and travel journalist from Los Angeles, who grew up in Seoul as a child and has a love and passion for the city.
Visit www.seoulwelcome.com/index_eng.html and http://english.visitseoul.net/visit2007en/

Cell Phone Rentals
Having a cell phone with English-language prompts and instructions when you are traveling – especially on business or independently – provides an extra level of comfort and security. In Korea, the cell phones, which can be picked up and returned at the airport upon arrival and before departure, are very inexpensive to rent, with inexpensive outgoing call rates and free incoming calls. The standard daily rental phone fee is KW 3,000 or about $3, but if you register for the phone online in advance through the KTO website at: www.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/RE/RE_EN_1_2_4_1.jsp, you will not only receive your phone number by e-mail in advance -- so you can tell everyone before you leave -- you will also receive an additional KW 1,000 off the daily rental fee. I rented my phone for six days, made and received a fair number of calls, and paid less than $30.

Efficient Ground Transportation
With experience in New York and Tokyo, I was more than a little nervous when I learned that my accommodations, although five-star, were not located in the center of Seoul. My first hotel, the Grand Hyatt, perched atop Mt. Namsan, in an area coveted by foreign diplomats with gorgeous panoramic city views, was 15-20 minutes from downtown (depending upon traffic).
My second hotel, the Grand InterContinental, in the trendy Jamsil district south of the Han River and connected to the modern COEX Entertainment complex (including an Imax Cinema, the Kimchi Museum, Seoul’s largest Aquarium with 40,000 sea creatures in 90 tanks, and numerous shops and restaurants) was half-an hour drive to the city center. However, despite this, I learned that a taxi from the Grand Hyatt to City Hall costs less than $6, and a taxi from the InterContinental to the Presidential Blue House -- for a must-do drive-by --was less than $15. The latter distance in New York would have cost me $40 plus tip, but tipping isn’t even expected in Korea. Additionally, the taxis were clean; the drivers wore white gloves, and most were friendly and excited to practice their English.

Hop-on-Hop-off Bus Tour …
Despite the affordability of taxis – especially if two or more people are traveling together -- I wanted to familiarize myself with Seoul’s neighborhoods and get a good overview of all the attractions and their locations individually and relative to each other.
Fortunately, the Grand Hyatt was a stop on both the Downtown and Night Routes of the Seoul City Tour Bus (www.seoulcitybus.com/eng/index.htm). The “Downtown” hop-on-hop-off Single Decker motor coach (KW 10,000 or about $7.50 per adult day pass) departs every 30 minutes from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the new Double Decker bus (with free internet access onboard; KW1200 or about 90 cents for adult round-trip) departs every hour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Both offer a two-hour tour of the major attractions on the north side of the Han River.
The “Night Tour” departs once a day at 8 p.m. It’s a 1.5-hour tour proceeding south from City Hall passed the Namdaemum Market (a 10-acre all night wholesale market with over 1,000 above ground shops and stall venders flanked by several nearby retail department stores and an extensive underground shopping arcade) and the Myeong-dong mid-to-high priced shopping district (9th most expensive street in the world in terms of floor space rents) back and forth several times across the Han River and then returning after encircling the Namsan Botanical Garden and the North Seoul Tower (KW 10,000 per adult for a Double Decker Bus or KW 5,000 for a Single Decker Bus). Both Day and Night buses operate Tuesday through Sunday year-round, plus Monday from July 4-August 15 and on Monday holidays. Each seat is equipped with a personal audio headset in a choice of languages including English (just push the “English” button), and the commentary proceeds automatically as the bus approaches the next site/stop. In addition, a genial, multi-lingual young woman is available to collect tickets and answer additional passenger questions.

Super Subways
The subways were very easy to navigate because not only are the stop announcements all made in English (in addition to Korean), but each stop is named, numbered and color coded! For example, the Grand InterContinental was located by the Samseong Subway Stop, which is #219 on the Number 2/Green Line. The “2” Corresponds to Subway Line #2 and the “19” means you count 19 stops from the first stop on the line. All this can be matched to an English subway map, which is obtainable from the Korea Tourism Organization before departure or at their extensive downtown travel information center (40 Cheonggyecheonno, Jung-gu), at “I” Information booths at the airport and throughout the city (including at the COEX complex), or from any hotel concierge. Most subway ticket clerks speak enough English, but there is always another subway passenger who will come forward to assist.
The cost of the ticket from Samseong Station to Downtown Seoul (a 45-minute ride) was just KW 1,200 (about 89 cents). Quite ironically, when riding the subway, I actually ran into someone I had met two days before on a bus tour.

Extraordinarily Clean
I was impressed with how clean the city was – not a speck of trash on the streets or in the subway and very low air pollution. Although bottled water is prevalent everywhere from hotel rooms to vending machines, the tap water is perfectly safe to drink. I didn’t see any homeless people, although I did see several people walking around with surgical masks on their faces. Having traveled to Japan, I knew this meant they had a cold and didn’t want anyone near them to catch it. I also had the good fortune to enjoy the Korean spas at my hotels. As in Japan, one showers first before entering the 105.8˚F natural spring Jacuzzi bath, so the water stays clean for everyone. I didn’t have a chance to indulge in the indigenous ginseng-based spa treatments, but I was told they were extremely popular with foreigners.

Friendly Locals

It was an extremely cold December afternoon when I took the Seoul City Bus Tour, and for the first half-hour, I was the only guest on the bus. Consequently, I chatted extensively with the young woman site announcer, and since it was the last Downtown tour of the day, I invited her to join me for coffee after the tour. To my surprise she spontaneously agreed! We ended up at an affordable Korean tavern-style restaurant called Jung To Jip (“jongto” meaning “owners” and “jip” meaning “house”; address: Jungno-ku, Insadong 130; call 02 723-9046). We enjoyed a delicious traditional grilled fish fillet, “Atka Mackerel” (KW 8,000 ora bout $6 for a decent-sized platter) with a side order of “DoTori Mook,” an acorn-based Jello served with sesame leaves in a red pepper sauce (KW 4,000 or $3).
We washed it down with “Makgoli,” a fermented rice wine served to each table in a large bowl (KW 4,000 or about $3 for the table’s bowl) and consumed individually in smaller rice-size bowls. The dinner was one of the highlights of my trip to Seoul.

Three Little Words: Explore, Explore, Explore

Once I got my bearings straight I was able to walk and taxi around the city on my own.
I took guided walking tours of two of the six restored palaces; explored traditional neighborhoods, such as Insadong (www.lifeinkorea.com/travel2/9) -- famous for it’s cultural goods and souvenirs; checked out the city’s traditional Hanok Villages -- some with houses almost 600 years old, and I traversed the grounds of the historic Bongeunsa Buddhist Temple (www.bongeun.org), just steps away from the Grand InterContinental hotel. Although reconstructed several times over history, the temple was originally built in 794. I was also surprised to learn that 23% of the Korean population consider themselves practicing Buddhists.
In just a few days I was enriched and rewarded by the Korea’s deep-rooted culture reflected in its history, cuisine, language, religion and the warmness of people – and this was just in the capital of Seoul, a city of 10.5 million inhabitants (the population of the entire country hovers around 49 million). The culture of the countryside provides even more wonderful tales to tell.

Resources and Contacts
When planning my trip, in addition to KNTO, I contacted Asia Pacific Travel Ltd. (800-262-6420; www.southkorea1on1.com), whose President, Walter Keats has been organizing groups to South Korea and now also North Korea) since 1972.
The Korean Tourism Organization operates a 24-hour call center in English at the Incheon International Airport and downtown for visitors in Korea: call 822-1330.
The Korea National Tourism Organization operates three offices in the U.S.: Los Angeles, 323-634-0280; E-mail la@kntoamerica.com; Chicago, 312-981-1717; E-mail chicago@kntoamerica.com; and New York, 201-585-0909; E-mail ny@knto america.com, or call 800-TOUR-KOREA (800-868-7567); or visit www.tour2korea.com