The restaurant designated for breakfast was a cafeteria style and I chose mainly Korean items. The dishes looked plain and uninviting, but the taste was not bad. After breakfast, I contemplated the day's plan over a cup of coffee as I had six to seven hours before departure in South Korea. It's really nonsense just to kill time in the hotel. However, I had no preparations for visiting and sightseeing in Korea. I didn't even have any Korean map and cash! Additionally the battery of my PC was dead. I couldn't even access the internet.
The tourist attraction that I most wanted to visit was Odusan Unification Observatory (link) which is located on the lip of Imjin River, which is the border between South and North Korea. I had seen the observatory itself from the highway to the border when I visited Panmunjeom a few years ago. Every time I watch on the TV that varied VIP, like the U.S. President and the Secretary of State, visit there and have a poor view of North Korea, I'd like to visit the same place. I asked a hotel clerk how long it would take to visit it and come back to the hotel, but he couldn't figure it out. I also wanted to see a junior high school (link) in Incheon City, which must have been ten or twenty minutes from my hotel, but I thought my friends wouldn't want that. Finally I decided to enjoy sightseeing in the heart of Seoul.
(Vocabulary)
plain (デザイン的に) 飾りけのない, 〈衣服などが〉無地の,〈紙が〉罫(けい)のない; 〈食べ物が〉あっさりした味の, 淡白な
a plain wooden table シンプルな木のテーブル
The food was plain but delicious. 食べ物はあっさりしていたがおいしかった．
uninviting 〈場所などが〉 魅力のない, 行く気のしない
Imjin River/Rimjin River 臨津江／イムジン川 （ハングル表記：임진강 〔イムジンガン〕、朝鮮半島中部に源を発して黄海に注ぐ川。下流では漢江と合流し、川幅が広がる。
Panmunjeom 板門店
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