Seoul's got Soul! (part 1)

After five weeks in Nepal, the thought of a large, modern city was quite a change in pace. Seoul was a free stopover in our itinerary as we flew Korean Air from Kathmandu and to Hawaii. While only a short five hour flight, it was certainly entertaining. The flight had a large traveling group of Nepalis, all wearing red hats. For most of them, it must have been there first time flying and the flight attendant call button was going off at a comical rate and at least half a dozen flyers couldn't figure out the lavatory door!!

We arrived shortly before 6am and as usual, there was not much sleep on the plane. After taking the limousine bus (just a normal coach) into the city and a short walk to our hotel, we were ready for a nap. However our room was not ready yet so we had to kill a couple hours. There was a McDonald's next door. After four and a half months of staying strong against McDonald's, the temptation was too much and the sausage egg McMuffin was just so good. With McDonald's fueling our exploration, we set off on a brief walk around our neighborhood to get familiar and kill a few hours. 

Seoul is an interesting mix of traditional and modern. They had the ability to modernize after the Korean war and took full advantage of it. The major streets were wide and could handle the traffic generated by a city of eleven million. The skyscrapers were also set back to create wide sidewalks to give a very open feel to the city. Nature was integrated very well with large trees providing shade as well as quite a few parks where the old men of Seoul like to hang out. After a couple hours we were able to sneak in a quick nap before our walking tour of the neighborhood. 

Various shots from wandering around the Insadong neighborhood

 The city of Seoul offers quite a few free walking tours of various areas so we signed up for one in the Insadong area. We met our guide, Mr. Park, and found out no one else signed up so we ended up with a free private tour! He was very helpful in explaining the history of Korea, which neither of us really knew much of. Most of the tour covered the area we had walked in the morning but came with much more context. We traveled Insadong road, which is a lively shopping area (a theme of Seoul), but was much quieter when we had walked it in the morning. We stopped in some shops that had been around for 100 years and ended our tour at a local Buddhist temple that was being decorated for the Buddha's birthday. The grounds were adorned with all sorts of colored lanterns arranged in special patterns that were individually sponsored with a note attached to each lantern. 

Colorful lanterns prepare for Buddha's birthday

Afterwards, we walked down to see city hall and the south gate. City hall is a large, modern building constructed next to the old city hall which is now a library. The new building has a large glass exterior with a living wall inside. Ivy covers the indoor structure and rises a few stories high and is still growing. The south gate is a restoration of one of the actual old city gates. In it's day, I'm sure it was quite intimidating to visitors but now it's dwarfed by the surrounding office buildings. It's just another mix of the old and new that makes Seoul such an interesting city.

Old Seoul city hall with the new, modern one behind it

Living wall inside Seoul city hall

The imposing south gate to the old city dwarfed by modern buildings

After a short break, we headed out to dinner. Our search for Korean BBQ led us down a side alley, covered with signs we couldn't read. We only found the place after seeing a picture of the door on the trip advisor page. Once inside we knew we were in the right spot as we were the only tourists inside. The meat was delicious, the sides were great and they had many varieties of lettuce for wrapping. The rice was also cooked inside bamboo. It was a delicious meal to serve as Jess' introduction to Korean BBQ. We left stuffed and stopped back at the temple to see the lanterns at night before calling it an evening.

Our first Korean BBQ. It was delicious!

Buddha's birthday lanterns lit up at night

Day two was a bit of a later start compared to the previous day. After a pastry breakfast, we set off to explore Geongbokgung palace. This is one of five palaces in the city that served the Jeosong dynasty. The grounds were very beautiful and offers an escape from the modern city. We were able to see what a traditional village would look like as well as a glimpse of ancient life at the folk museum. We also stopped to watch a rehearsal of a group playing traditional Korean instruments which was entering, especially when they started playing "Fly me to the Moon". The best part of the visit was watching all the young people running around in hanbok. Hanbok is traditional Korean dress. There were stores all throughout the Insadong neighborhood where anyone could rent the outfits. As we found out later, admission to the palace was free if you were dressed in hanbok. 

Even the coffee cups have character

Geongbokgung palace and folk museum

Hanbok was everywhere. The guards had glued on facial hair!

After a morning of history, it was time for an afternoon of shopping. We had our first metro experience as we traveled to Myeongdong. The highlight was the announcement of arriving trains. A trumpeting sound, similar to a royal entrance from a medieval themed movie, was played to let you know the train was pulling into the station. Myeongdong is a huge shopping neighborhood with tons of shops in a pedestrian area with restaurants on the upper floors. On the main street, food vendors would set up their carts for the evening crowd. Our lunch was a BBQ chicken and cheese toppoki. BBQ chicken was tossed with noodles, cheese and other veg and cooked in a broth at our table. As well as all the shops, we also checked out a department store. Lotte department store was enormous with an amazing food court that was packed. They had half a floor dedicated just to golf apparel. After walking around all the shopping and not buying anything, we needed some ice cream! Jess opted for the vanilla ice cream in the carp shaped cube topped with honeycomb while I opted for a strawberry and mango soft served 32cm high! After our ice cream we started the walk back to the hotel. There was a small bar district south of our place so we stopped in for a drink at a bar overlooking the busy street below. It was another busy, enjoyable day.

An exciting afternoon in Myeongdong

Day three brought more entertainment. After a breakfast at Tom 'n Tom's coffee, we set out to walk down to Namdaemun market. On the way, we happened to catch the changing of the guard at Deoksugung palace. It was quite an affair with brightly colored traditional dress and a large drum that was right by us. After they had finished their performance, the public was allowed to get pictures with the guards and performers. 

Changing of the guard ceremony

Beating the drum. It was quite loud to stand next to

Post drum banging photo op!

Namdaemun market is a bustling market that ended up being right by the south gate from our day one exploration. This was a bit more traditional market with small stalls and stores lining the street. They sold a bit of everything and had streets whole streets for watches and jewelry, stationary and children's just to name a few. There was also a fish street and food street with a few restaurants populated with all walks of life.
  

Sights, sounds, and smells of Namdaemun market

After exploring the market, we took the metro over to the Hongdae area. This is the area surrounding Hongik University, so it's very popular with students. Just getting up to the street level, you could feel the youthful energy of the area. We had lunch at BHC, which was a chicken and beer place. Both were good and the beer was easy as instead of ordering with the bar or server, you helped yourself and put the empties in a basket which you paid for at the end. After walking around for a bit through even more shops and markets, we stumbled across an arcade. I couldn't ignore this so we stepped inside. While the first floor contained only the claw machines containing stuffed animals, the upper levels provided much more entertainment. The second floor contained the usual entertainments like air hockey and basketball. Our competitive spirit took over though I managed to prevail in both air hockey and basketball (a one point victory). I celebrated my victory by watching people play dance dance revolution. As expected, it was a sight to behold. All three machines were in use and feet were flying everywhere! One guy even brought his own towel to wipe away his sweat in between songs! Neither of us had the courage to give it a go, but I did attempt a drum game, much to Jess's amusement (there were many blurry action shots!) I also gave a fishing game a good effort but couldn't land the big one. We finished off with a game of darts before heading back. On our way to the station, we popped into a cafe with a large bookshelf that claimed to hold over 5000 books, but its popularity meant no tables were available. From there we went back to our hotel to rest up to meet our guests!

A fun afternoon in Hongdae!

To be continued...