In the Land of Kimchee - part 1

안녕하세요!

I had few "I'm going to Korea!" moments in the past already, but there was always something else in the way.  Luckily this time I was determined enough to go, so nothing could stop me. I bought my ticket on Thursday and flew out the next day after work, on Friday evening. The decision was quite spontaneous, but as it usually is with spontaneous decisions (at least in my experience), it was worth it.

Korea Train eXpress KTX (한국고속철도)

Even though I got to Seoul quite late in the evening the first day was, to say the least, very active! I met with my old Korean friend from London, we had some beers, flavored Soju and some good food! If that wasn't enough we ended up in a Norebang (노래방) signing away our stresses and every day problems! This kind of amusement is very popular in Korea. Koreans start their journey at bars and restaurants and then end up in Norebang. Did I like it? Oh yes, great fun! Not that I'm a good singer of course. Actually I'm probably terrible! Thanks God I do this only when drunk...

Fried chicken

Grapefruit Soju

Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin in Noreabang

I took with me Lonely Planet guide to Seoul, but don't have any strong feelings about it. It was ok. Seoul is a big city and there's many sights to see. I'll describe shortly few things that I found the most interesting.

Close to one very busy street is Gyeongbokgung Palace which was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. It was built in 1395 but a lot of it was destroyed during wars with Japan, so not a lot of it is original. It's also a great place to chill out as basically the surroundings form a huge park. You can easily spend there a whole day wandering and admiring "ancient" walls, chambers and buildings. There are free English tours as well, it was hard though to decode the guide's English accent. Good luck with that :)

Bukchon Hanok Village, stunning and beautiful traditional Korean housing from old ages. It definitely has the far east vibe! I loved it. Also I found a bar there where I could buy a local Korean Ale. That doubles the reasons why one has to visit that area when in Seoul ;)

Korean Ale

Makgeolli (막걸리)

Another good spot, Cheonggyecheon, amazing recreational space in the middle of Seoul city, something like Regent's Canal in London. Clean and green, just buy a beer, sit down and enjoy!

Han river, rent a bike, cycle along the river. Insadong, Hongdae, Gangnam (Psy's Gangnam) and other fancy districts where you can eat, drink and buy stuff. There's also Itaewon which is a district for foreigners, one of the largest party districts after Hongdae AFAIK. It's right next to the huge US base in the heart of Seoul!  How did they pull that off? I mean such a huge space in the city centre for a military base? I guess that's what you can do when you win a war. National Museum of Korea, The National Folk Museum of Korea, War Memorial of Korea (ehh, missed this one, next time) and so much more. There's plenty to see. Great city, great culture, taking into account how poor South Korea was 50 years ago. Great Wi-Fi everywhere you go too! :)

It's getting late and I still haven't written anything about the most interesting thing about Seoul and South Korea in general, at least from my point of view. Today is the fifth year of my existence in the city of London and you know what? It's flat, and I'm not talking about my existence, although sometimes... no no, let's not go there! The area is flat. London is flat. Very often I envy people living in Zurich or let's say Edinburgh. Now I envy people living in Seoul as well. You see them everywhere: "mountains" (in quotes, because these are not very high, at least not the ones in Seoul itself) and hills. It feels great to see them everywhere and from anywhere. I didn't plan to do a lot of hiking in Seoul (a lot? rather none!), but I think I ended up doing quite a bit. Namsan Tower, easy, very popular among tourists and locals, looks sweet during night time with the Seoul N Tower lit up.  Ingwansan I did with a CouchSurfing friend, very nice, quite steep. Ansan, I did an amazing night hike with a local Meetup group.

The best was yet to come though, and that was Bukhansan National Park. If you look at Google Maps and Seoul, you'll see a big green patch north of Seoul. That's a real National Park (yeah, reeeaaal National Park almost within the city?! That's an appropriate reaction after 5 years in London...)  with "mountains" and tons of hiking trails. The highest peak, Baekundae (836.5 m) I also hiked with a fellow CouchSurfer. In South Korea it's super funny, because me and me friend went there in shorts and sport shoes whereas all other Koreans, regardless if it's a simple hill or a mountain or whatever, are in full gear! Top brand backpacks, shoes, waterproof trousers, hiking poles. It looked like hiking gear expo!

Food... I feel that food in Korea is very important. It's also very important to go and have food together with your friends and share. Believe me, there's plenty of good food in Korea. I'll restrain myself from mentioning all kinds of food that I had, because I could dedicate a separate post for that and maybe I should. You'll have to take my word that it's absolutely genuine and delicious. With regards to drinks, there' Soju (rice wine) and my favorite Makkgeoli (rice wine with some kind of yeast extract). These alcohols come in different flavors and are very cheap. I have to say though that the best food I had in Busan. Busan is a city located in south of Korea to which I will dedicate a separate blog post. Busan lies at the seaside, so seafood absolutely rocks there.

Mung beans pancake and sides - Seoul

Bibimbap - Busan

My friend's mom made breakfast for me - Busan

Street food - Busan

Gimbap

These are few facts about South Korea lifestyle that I heard from Korean people I've met during my stay there:

- Parents have very strong influence on their children in Korea.
- There's a lot of English teachers in Korea. Interesting lifestyle, it's possible to go even on 6 months contract. They get free accommodation. Not always good opinion about them.
- Seeing non-Asian people on the tube or street is quite rare. Not a lot of immigrants.
- Koreans party quite a lot, you can see a lot of "dead" bodies in Hongdae at 5am on Saturday :D
- European/Western countries perceived as a better place to have proper work/life balance.

Party in Hongdae - Seoul

If you're going to South Korea make sure you get KakaoTalk installed on your mobile phone. CouchSurfing community in Seoul has a big KakaoTalk group. Find the right people and they will add you to the group. They do quite a lot of activities, so it's definitely worth it, especially if you're travelling on your own.

I really enjoyed that trip. It was also my first ever trip to Asia. Seoul is an amazing place for a tourist. From what I've heard it's not that good for perfect work/life balance. Still, it's a magical city full of very kind people. It's also very safe. Seoul though is not the only interesting city in South Korea. After Seoul I went to Busan which is a coastal city in south part of South Korea! I'll tell you more about it in my next post though.

Busan

Me in Busan ;)