Jeongja to Sinchon via Seolleung

So, it's 4:30 and I'm trying to persuade my body that 4 1/2 hours sleep is enough and actually feeling pretty chipper, ok, I don't really like americanisms but this one just seems to fit nicely.

So my journey each day begins in the suburbs of Jeonja, which, judging by the number of perms is probably a 'senior' town. The subway in Seoul is stunning clean, efficient and busy, really busy. Rush hour is apparently from 5am to 10am although I have yet to confirm the 5am start it doesn't surprise me. I'll take some photos later today and try and have them uploaded tomorrow. My journey from Jeongja to Sinchon takes the best part of 2 hours so I am thankful to Bridget Kendall for the BBC World Service 'The Forum' podcasts which are my little daily english indulgence and perfect for the journey.

The subway is really a tribute to Korean engineering and a good example of the South Koreans' desire to maximise efficiency in all things. This of course means they are not designed for anyone over 5ft 6 and everything is either slightly to low or just too high for real comfort, I never thought I'd miss the London Underground!

The trains arrive every 4 or 2 minutes during rush hour and travel smoothly and at speed on newly laid tracks to their destination. It is as though the trains, the people and the operators are as one and share the same objective, by this I mean that the everything seems to connect to and compliment everything else. The train drivers almost knowingly braking very slowly knowing that 90% of the seated commuter passengers are asleep and not to be disturbed whilst the other 10% are on iPhones, LG or Samsung smart phones watching the Korean equivalent of a cat jumping into a flip-top-bin or whatever is the Korean equivalent of YouTube.

Ok, well, off for breakfast, probably another raw broccoli in garlic and a boiled egg which I'm a little partial to, the egg, not the broccoli!