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There's nothing truly spectacular in Seoul. It's no Tokyo in terms of things modern and no Beijing in terms of things ancient. Yet I think the city borders on sheer awesomeness. Here's what I'd do if I had five days in Seoul.

1. Walk around Insadong-gil (gil is the word for street). Now you might say what kind of a tip is this as Insadong is the prime tourist area of Seoul. The thing is, the city isn't touristy at all, so the few Westerners hanging out there don't make you feel like you've walked into a another tourist trap. Instead I was caught up in a street theater performance in which I assume, I was made fun of to the point, that five hours later, when I passed the place again walking back to my guesthouse, there were people there pointing at me and laughing. It was brilliant. I also spend some time watching a tae-kwon-do performance and a bad Korean band. And it's all free, folks.

2. Seoul's palaces are hardly a match for their Japanese counterparts (Japanese raids have made sure of that) but I really liked Changdeokgung. Even though in order to see it you have to join a tour, which is both rushed and poorly guided, it's a nice place to visit. Biwon, the secret garden, is rather pretty.

3. Take a hike! Seoul is probably the only big city in the world which boasts hiking trails within the city's central area. The Inwangsan peak offers a nice walk up along trails which feature some pretty random shamanistic points of worship (they looked like big rocks to me).

Not only is there hiking within central Seoul, the Bukhansan national park can be reached in about 30 minutes by subway.

Both get really busy on the weekends. I didn't mind the crowds as I thought it was quite funny to pose for the Korean hikers to whom I seemed to be a bigger attraction than the sweeping views I failed to photograph.

4. Party hard! Seoul has a two very different centers for nightlife. My favorite is the area around Hongik university, where the cool kids congragate. Beats me what I was doing there. It has a bit of an indie music scene and some bigger clubbing venues. (Subway: Hongik uni).

A truely surreal party scene can be found in Itaewon, the expat part of the city. Friday and Saturday nights are at their bizarrest at 1.45AM as the curfew for the good old boys from the nearby US military base is at 2AM. So till 1.45 you can just gape at the sheer madness of their partying and then within 15 minutes they are all gone. The military police patrols Itaewon on weekends just to make sure that the boys, many of whom have been stationed in Afganistan and Iraq before, make it to bed in time. I had a mad fun night in Itaewon, the highlight of which was shaking hands with a member of the US olympic basketball team in a bar on a strip aptly called Hooker Hill. Beats me what I was doing there. (Subway: Itaewon)

5. Take both of the two USO tours to the de-militarized zone on the border of South and North Korea. Gape at the North Korean soldier looking at you through binoculars (not the one in the pic on the left), visit the little blue house were they hold peace talks and slouch in the North Korean infiltration tunnel. Take the tour in the beginning of your trip as it gives you a quite an intriguing perspective to the country.

Further recommendations:

6. Namsam hill and tower for views and lovers locks. (in the pic on the left)

7. Han river for people spotting.

8. Dongdaemum market for night time shopping.

9. Dongbang Sauna for bathing (Subway: Hongik Uni)

10. Seodaemum prison for some fake blood and torture exhibits.

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