Seoul (June 8-11, 2019)
Trans-Pacific flight. Aargh. Either we’re getting older or the planet is getting bigger. Nuff said. We decided to start our trip with 4 days in Korea as Russia limits visas to 30 days and we didn’t want to waste a couple on jet lag. Besides, who doesn’t want to visit Korea?
The 1st leg is Zhengzhou, China where we have to pick up our luggage & check into the China ticket office for special status. They have to let the Chinese Embassy know that we have no Visa but we do have a ticket to leave for Seoul. These kids came running up to Deb all excited about wanting to know where she was from yada yada. We think they wanted to practice their English, as Deb often get people talking to her out of the blue and she loves it.
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We arrived at Seoul Airport around 10 PM, and had to get to our Airbnb an hour away using transit. Our host, Joungtea Kim, texted Steve with detailed instructions, including a number of screenshots on which bus to use, how to get transit cards, what the building looked like, the entry, elevator, front door, how to use the washing machine, and everything. In other words, he was extremely helpful even though we never met him! Nevertheless, there we were in a strange airport in a strange city in the middle of the night, trying not to screw up too badly. In the end, everything worked just fine, and we got to our studio apartment in a great location sometime around midnight. Whew! Don’t try this unless you’re adventurous; anyone with a 3-digit IQ would make sure they get there during the daytime!
So, a word about getting around. When you get to Seoul, there is the equivalent of a 7-11 right in the airport that sells ‘permanent transit cards’ for a buck or two, and you can fill them up with money. They work on buses, trains, taxis, subways, everything. If you don’t want to do that, there are vending machines selling single tickets, which is what we did. Step outside the airport terminal, and literally 20 feet away, there are the bus stops that take you anywhere in the city. Bright, clean shiny buses that come and go on time, and it all works, just like everything else in Seoul. I swear these people are a lost tribe of Germans or something.
The next morning, we eventually got going and went looking for breakfast. That turns out not to be a straightforward thing as all the signs are in ‘Paperclip,’ and our little piece of the city doesn’t have a lot of them. We eventually found a hotel with a restaurant that had what was probably our only Western-style meal in Seoul. Once you’re away from the Western hotels, the Koreans eat Korean food! Who knew?
Once that was out of the way, it was time to walk over to the Hop On – Hop Off Bus terminal, which was only a mile or so away, and a good chance to see some of our neighbourhood. The HO-HO Bus is not to be missed, as it runs 2 big loops that cover pretty much every interesting spot in the city. We actually used it twice, once to get oriented and sort out what we wanted to come back to, and the next day to actually visit a few sites. It was, of course, a longer walk than Steve estimated (he always does that), but then we came upon a Buddhist temple hidden in the middle of a subdivision that was really cool and totally unexpected.
Eventually we arrived at the HO HO Bus station, which just happens to also be the stop for the King’s Palace which we are going to visit tomorrow. The bus is excellent, I highly recommend it. It has earbud things that tell you all about what you are seeing, and it stops at 20+ locations around the city. Best tool ever for getting oriented.
Changdokkung Palace was constructed in 1405 by the Choson Dynasty. It is known as the epitome of ‘early’ Korean architecture. In 1997 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The locals get in free if they dress up in traditional costumes and there were a lot of locals dressed up. Quite a nice touch. The King’s Palace is very cool, a Must See on any itinerary. It’s a big place. The front half is basically a day’s work to see, and then there is a Secret Garden thing in the back, just as big, that is guided tour only, and you need to book in advance. We just did the front as we just didn’t have the time to come back.
They had central heating..The high point for Steve (or low point, depending on your point of view) was the King’s Concubines area. It gets cold in Korea in the winter, and we can’t have that, can we, so they installed the Korean version of hypocausts (Roman central heating) to heat the floors and keep the ladies’ bums warm. Some things never change…
They did not build tall doorways then, and even though I noticed that shortly after this photo was taken, I just about cold cocked myself going through one. Deb thought she had ducked, but not enough. She’s 5’3″ and still wiped out.
These pieces were spectacular/unbelievable. They are covered in Mother of Pearl. Being a lover of pearls, these are the most stunning pieces I have ever seen in my life.
Insadong Market:
Insadong is a touristy pedestrian-only street about 6 blocks long with several side streets/alleys, chock full of eateries and kitschy little shops. An excellent place to waste a day!
This last photo is of a calligraphy brush shop. I never knew there were that many Calligraphy brushes. It was fascinating.
We found a little East Indian restaurant called the ‘Halal Restaurant’ there, the only one we saw in Korea. The food was excellent, and the beer was better.
Debbi had got wind of a market just a kilometre from where we live which, besides being an enormous market, was also a great place to try the local food. So that was our intended breakfast location if we could find it – and we did! The food market is pretty big, and there are endless variations on soup, pancakes, fritters, health juices, seafood, etc. You probably think you know what goes into a pancake, but until you visit Korea, you have no idea. They put in everything but the pancake. This first dish is called Kimchi. It is spicy pickled cabbage, and it’s really good. It automatically comes with every dish.
Several deep-fried tempura items: on the bottom are fish, up top is zucchini, eggplant, egg something, and ?? Can’t remember, but they were all good.
Those flat things at the bottom are fish, battered and fried whole.
Sushi
filling for pancakes, sushi, or…
Watching the Dumpling man
This market had about 5 aisles, each aisle was 1/2 block long, and each shop was about 12 feet wide. There were crafts there also, but pretty much just food.
We are staying in the Lighting District, and literally every second place for blocks around is a lighting place. It’s quite a place to walk through, especially at night when they are all on…
Then it was time to figure out the subway. Once we understood that just because stairs were going underground didn’t mean it was a subway, it could be a shopping mall, things went pretty smoothly. The subways, of course, are sparkling clean, well organized and signed, and work perfectly. We only got a little lost just the one time.
On the way home, we came across a stream running through the centre of Seoul for about 11 km called Cheonggyecheon that was reclaimed in 2005. It has 22 bridges. At one time, it was a popular place to do laundry, but now it is where people go to relax. There are lots of big carp, and along with the carp come the Herons. It was a crappy half-buried sewer thing until a few years ago, when the city decided to re-wild it. It’s 20′ below grade and has a 2-lane street on each side, has two upper walkways and a stream-level walkway, they have created a viable stream with wild vegetation, there were at least 3 species of fish visible, and there were even herons fishing. In the middle of an enormous city. Just an absolute gem, shows what you can do if you want to make it happen!
The biggest bubble I have ever seen.
Then it’s off to the subway to catch the HOHO Bus for the viewpoint at a park in the middle of the city. This is a BIG park, all forested, chock full of walking trails and quiet places to just hang. At the top of a substantial hill, there is a 30-story tower that provides a stunning 360-degree view of the city – and sells beer! And of course at the base of the tower there’s all the touristy things that make being a tourist so much fun. …spectacular view.The Namsan Seoul Tower is 237 meters tall. When you look out over the city at a 360 degree view, you can see that the city is built in the dips and valleys that make it look like a river of city, and the hills are left for parks and are heavily treed.
part of the old wall
These are ‘love locks’. They are EVERYWHERE and I am glad they did something creative with them here because they have ruined quite a few views throughout our travels.
Make a wish and touch the pigs nose and your wish will come true
part of the old wall
Once back at the bus station, we went for an extended walk through the downtown area, which is very interesting. Lots of statues, monuments, very cool architecture (their high-rise building are light-years ahead of ours), little parks, etc. There’s literally a surprise around every corner. To keep the physically disabled in wheelchairs or the visually impaired on the right track, there are these raised tiles on all the sidewalks. The lines keep you on the sidewalk, and the raised dots tell you when there is an intersection. I would like to see this done in all of North America. It was very helpful for us ‘looky loos’ who are looking up at the tall buildings instead of watching our feet.
No guessing here and no running into each other. The red lane is for bikes only. The crosswalk has arrows showing which way you are to walk. Keep to your own side as you only have 15 seconds to get across a wide intersection, and you don’t have time to pussyfoot your way around people walking in the wrong lane.
In the subway, they have doors that close after the train leaves, so that no one can fall onto the tracks. Notice the yellow line with the raised bump. Stop
This was really cool. This is a subway bathroom. This is the “waiting room” with great seating. People hanging out, drinking coffee. At every subway entrance, there is a bathroom, some not as fancy as this one, but they are all clean, and most have some ‘western toilets’.
Some of these buildings are pretty futuristic, but great designs and fun.
This looks like a ship breaking into a building when in fact, they are separate buildings.
All tall buildings have these lights on them
I thought the patio umbrella idea was refreshing. I guess sometimes that light can be rather long if you are stuck in the rain or the hot sun
The best tourist information booth I have ever seen.
After a number of false starts, we finally landed on a Korean barbecue dinner. Quite expensive, food was underwhelming. This is the ONE time we thought we would go to this ‘traditional place’ for supper. Holy Suffering Succotash was that ever hot!!!! It was so hot that we left most it. Not even all that beer could quash that burn. Steve: “My experience with food generally is that these people have no idea how to cook, which I guess should be obvious when you realize that their national food is pickled cabbage..”
Breakfast at the market again. Steve is starting to like the pancakes (not).
Deb: I love murals. I have taken photos of them in every country I have been to. Here are some of my collection. And I also like statues. They can be so much fun.
This is a car park garage.
Its good to be a goof.
This statue is TALL..We noticed there are a lot of tall statues in Seoul.
The pots for making Kimchi.
The ‘floating island’…very very very expensive for food & drink. But they have a ‘play room’ for kids that looks like it would be a good time but if you don’t have a kid, you aren’t allowed to even look inside.
My kind of beer..instead of Dos Equis its Quatro Equis.
Street dress up.
I don’t know who this is, but he frames that street rather well with the mountains in the background.
The balloon girl statue..loved it.
The airport…We thought we were leaving from Terminal 2 but we were wrong. So, a long journey back to Terminal 1 but I’m glad otherwise we would have missed these great statues…and yes, they are tall..taller than the light standard
So, a couple of impressions looking back. There’s just so much to see in the city, it would be easy to spend 10 days there and have every day full. It’s beautiful, full of history and culture, and really easy to get around. We were both really impressed with how well everything was organized and carried out. Oh, and don’t try to cram 10 days into 4. Our feet just won’t take that anymore! Better to have 4 good half-days. Now, if we can just remember that in the next city…
Deb: I thought Seoul was beautiful, interesting, and I would go back if I could spend more time. It has so many ‘districts’, you need a few weeks to do it justice. So much to see, so little time..We just grazed the city with its history.
Some things to note here…Everyone pays with the code app/tap&pay. Not everyone will take cash or credit cards. Makes it hard for tourists unless you have several code apps downloaded. At the China airport, we went to McDonald’s for a coffee, but we did not have ‘the app’ so they would not serve us.
The Korean currency is ‘won’ (waun), and the voltage is 220 with the straight prongs. I have some Korean won left over if you would like to purchase it from me, and I recommend bringing the international electrical plugins/attachments if you are going. If you are staying in Air B&B’s or hotels, don’t bother packing a hair blower as they are supplied everywhere you go.
Words you need in Korea: (say it the way it’s spelled & it’s all one word)
Thank you…Gamsa hamnida Hello… An nyeong haseyo Yes… Ne No…Aniyo
Where is the restroom?…hwa jang sil odieyo **Washroom/bathroom/restrooms are all referred to as “Water Closets” and will show WC on signs.
Well, I have approx 300+ photos of Seoul, but you will just have to come visit if you would like to see them all. Make comments if you like, and hopefully this site will register them so we can see. Onward & upward….