As I drove into Seoul yesterday, I pondered how the traffic seemed light. It wasn’t till I grabbed a newspaper that I saw it was a “car-free day.”

That meant that the 4.6 million owners of private vehicles in South Korea’s capital were encouraged to take the bus, subway or walk. Buses were free early in the day.

This is the second year Seoul has tried a “car-free day” since 2000, and if news coverage this morning is any indication it will become an annual event.

Participation was not mandatory, except for a stretch of the main Jongno Street, the wide boulevard that crosses the city center.

I’ve been to Seoul a couple of times in the last few years. This time, though, I chose a new hotel in a new area of the city. Walking around last night, I definitely had a “Lost in Translation” moment. No restaurants with menus in English. Lots of finger pointing. In its own way, Seoul is as exotic and different as Pyongyang was earlier this month.