How's the Weather?

Effing cold, that's how the weather is in Seoul, Matey.  I realize one tends to say that every winter in a really cold climate, but the record book is backing me up here.  The Korea Times headline sums it up pretty well: Seoul records coldest January in 5 decades, and says in part:

In fact, the weather during January was the coldest in nearly five decades, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Monday.

The average temperature during January in Seoul recorded minus 7.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 1963, when it hit minus 9.1 degrees. The lowest daily temperatures averaged minus 13.6 degrees, while the average of the highest was minus 5.7 degrees. [...]
According to the agency, there were 18 days when the mercury was below minus 10 degrees, which also followed a record of 25 days in 1963. “The cold has continued because of the so-called ‘blocking effect.’ With a northwestern air current pushing cold winds to Korea and warmer currents from the lower latitudes surrounding the peninsula, the cold front has had all its exits blocked,” said Kim Ji-young from the weather forecast department at the KMA.

The forecast high today was 0 C but I don't think it ever got there, since it started snowing again at about 1 PM.  So far, so good.  Then the article makes this mysterious, paradoxical claim: "The continuous cold spell has made it hard for those who are looking into taking trips and enjoy their time during the Lunar New Year holiday."

As one who was out in the very snow I just mentioned trying to find a bank where I could buy Thai baht, the cold has made it much easier to look into a trip, much easier in fact to overspend on my plane tickets, even easier to pay the bank a 4 freaking percent premium to acquire said baht.  I checked the forecast today before I set out--Koh Samui will have highs around 82 and lows around 75 (that's Fahrenheit, of course) for the forseeable future,

So, Dear Reader, it is official: Tuttle will kick around a deserted Seoul through the Seollal weekend, catch the Superbowl early Monday morning in Itaewon, then it's off to Thailand's southwestern gulf islands to find a quiet beach and catch up on his reading.