Seoul, South Korea

“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”

John Muir

The largest city I have visited to date is Seoul; South Korea’s capital, a city teeming with life at all hours of the day, full of culture, food, and history. I had ignorantly thought that the largest cities in the world were the likes of San Francisco, New York City, but Seoul was a whole other ball game with a population of 9.6 million. I spent about a week and a half here, and still did not get around to seeing everything.

My visiting friend Alli and I quickly got acquainted with the cheap, yet efficient, public transportation system of Seoul. I got to add to my collection of reloadable transit cards here, and anywhere you went, you could find a bus or subway line to take you there. It was easy to spot some differences from Japan right off the bat, with people dressing a bit more stylish, wearing more makeup, and many having dyed hair. In fact, one day Alli and I went to a salon to get trims and Alli got part of her hair dyed purple and blue!

On our first night, we ventured off into a market nearby, and decided to have dinner at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant where very little English was spoken, and lots of soju was being poured.

Due to a language barrier, we may have ordered too much food, but we managed to finish it all, and split a bottle of soju. We observed at the table next to us that each individual was sipping on their own bottle of soju, while we were already feeling pretty tipsy from splitting one bottle!

Our historical visit was to the Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was quite crowded with tourists on a Friday. If you dressed up in the traditional Korean clothing, called the hanbok, then you were allowed free admission to the museum.

So naturally, we saw dozens of people dressed up in all sorts of colorful dresses, which really added to the atmosphere of the place. Despite the beauty of the palace building, there wasn’t much greenery in the plaza, so we ventured off after a short time to look for gardens.

We eventually walked through more temple grounds nearby that had various flower bushes and you guessed it, cherry blossom trees! They were in full bloom here in Korea, which was a nice surprise to me because I thought I wouldn’t see them again after Japan.

There are tons and tons of coffee shops in Seoul, and Alli and I both have a weak spot for coffee. We let ourselves indulge and then run around sightseeing while feeling all jittery.

After Alli had left, I also visited the Changdeokgung Palace on my own, for which you can book a tour to see the “secret garden.”

This was gorgeous, and a nicer promenade than the Gyeongbokgung Palace in my opinion; probably because there is a limit on the amount of tourists per hour and the presence of a garden.

Parks

Surrounding Seoul are mountains, and we were keen to go on a couple hikes while staying in the city. One park was actually quite close to our AirBnb, and we went on a walk there where at the top, we had nice views of the city of Seoul.

The architecture of the city is not very impressive, as you mostly just see white blocks scattered throughout; apartment buildings. They all look the same too, with a similar numbering system.

From the top of the mountain, we at first couldn’t tell which building was ours, as we saw at least four in the surrounding vicinity with the label 104!

About an hour’s subway ride from Seoul, you can get right to the entrance of Bukhansan National Park, which was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most visited national park in the world.

It’s proximity and accessibility to the city make it a prime choice for going on a trek during the weekends for locals. The streets leading up to the park entrance are filled with shops selling outdoor and traveling gear, some for very cheap prices!

We did not have time to do the most popular hike that takes you to the highest point of Bukhansan Park, but we did some other trails that were shorter. With coffee pulsing through our veins, we stormed up the mountain, trying to reach the summit of a particular trail before we had to be back for our flight to Jeju.

We didn’t quite make it to the top, but got close enough. It felt like a rewarding walk, and great exercise since we were practically running up the mountain! The city was a bit smoggy that day so the views over the city were not quite as nice because of the haze, but still nice nonetheless.

DMZ

Alli and I both really wanted to visit the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, so we booked a trip using TripAdvisor. A bus picked us up in the morning and took us the 31 miles (50 km) north to the border of the two nations. Before entering the DMZ, there is an amusement park and a memorial park.

I had not been aware that North and South Korea are technically actively at war with one another, and there is a lot of security at the DMZ. You cannot wander around on your own, as there are land mines in certain areas. Our tour guide took us up to a the Dora Observatory, roughly 1.1 miles (1.8 km) away from the border between the two countries.

The actual DMZ is a large area, 160 miles (250 km) long and 2.5 miles (4 km) wide. From the tower, you could see the landscape of North Korea, and the border of the two countries. To be honest, the sights are not that spectacular, but the history and meaning behind what you are looking at is what I found fascinating.

We also were able to visit a train station constructed in the DMZ, with the hopes of having a train run from South to North Korea, to Russia, which currently is an empty building, being used as a bit of a museum. You can even get a stamp of the train station from North Korea. We were warned to be sure not to place this stamp into our passports, as it includes the name of North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang. You would certainly get held for a bit of time at airport security for having this in your passport!

One particular interesting activity was walking through what is called the 3rd infiltration tunnel. This is a tunnel that North Korea was secretly building into South Korea, though they deny it, and South Korea found it. The tunnel itself is not particularly interesting, and you basically walk with your head ducked down for roughly a kilometer, and then you promptly reach a wall, since the tunnel has been barricaded. Again, this activity was fascinating due to the history and symbolism behind it all, than actually having something to look at. 

At the time, the Joint Security Area was closed, where you can actually see the soldiers from the two nations standing near each other and can get a glimpse of North Korea up close. This would have been very interesting to see! Alli and I enjoyed this tour of the DMZ and I highly recommend it. Despite not having a lot to look at, our tour guide did a great job of making the tour come to live and teaching us a lot about the history behind the two nations.

Food

No trip to South Korea is complete without tasting the food. Ranging from raw fish to Korean barbecue to various street foods, I felt like I had it all. Korean barbecue is quite delicious; I had been trying to stick to a low-meat diet prior to Korea, but I failed miserably once I was here.

At most barbecue places, you are required to order as many dishes as there are people, and so you pick your type of pork or beef. Then they bring out the coals to place on the grill in the middle of the table. You then get about half a dozen side dishes of various salads, fermented vegetables, and sauces to go with the meat.

For us tourists, we got help from the staff on cooking the meat, and knowing when to cut up the big slabs into smaller chunks. When the meat is ready, you wrap it up into a piece of lettuce with some onion, garlic, sauces, and anything else you want to put in there, and then eat it. It is so delicious!

At pretty much all meals, you are given a bowl of kimchi; I had consumed so much kimchi by the end of the trip! And fun fact, instead of saying “cheese” when posing for a picture, the Koreans say “kimchi.”

At one restaurant, we shared a huge pot of kimchi soup, which was incredibly spicy. By the end of it the meal, I had red stains all over my white shirt, my face was red, nose runny, and I felt like my mouth was on fire. The guys sitting next to us were amused that we randomly went into this restaurant without any idea of what we were about to be served. 

And of course, when not eating at restaurants, there is always street food. On the particularly well-known shopping alleys, there are tons of vendors selling various grilled or fried food on the streets, such as grilled shrimp skewers, octopus skewers, mochi balls, fried chicken, dumplings, and more. It was yummy! 

Along these streets with food vendors, there are tons of stores selling cosmetics and skincare products, as well as clothing. One of the most popular cosmetic stores is called Innisfree, where you can load up on face masks, face creams, and more. We saw these stores on every corner!

There are also some interesting cafes in Seoul, such as a poop cafe, which is exactly what it sounds like. You can order lattes that come in little toilet bowl cups, and waffles with whipped cream that looks like pieces of turds. We were very amused here! 

In addition to poop cafes, there are also various animal cafes. We decided to visit a raccoon cafe, although it was as disheartening as I expected it to be. These poor fat raccoons just sit around and look at people.

They’re docile and allow themselves to be petted, but best not try to pick them up. In the same space as the raccoons there are also several dogs that reside there. I think perhaps this was my last visit to an animal cafe, as it just makes me too sad to look at these caged up wild animals.

I never had a problem with finding WIFI, as Korea is so technologically advanced; I frequently saw 5G signs all around the city. The company Samsung makes up over 15% of the country’s GDP!

I spent my last few days in Seoul shopping, relaxing, and preparing for my next country: Nepal. I knew it would be quite different there than any other place I had visited so far, so I spent lots of time researching. Nepal is not quite as technologically driven as Korea, so it may be awhile until my next post which will include a two-week trek through the Himalayas!

-Anastasia