Soup is good for the Soul. Books too. Traveling is good for the Soul and Seoul was a great city to add to the ever-growing list of places visited. When I told family and friends I was planning a trip to Seoul, they were quite surprised with the choice. I am a vegetarian so Korean BBQ was out of the question as were most popular Korean foods and delicacies. I do not speak the language either. However, there is more to travel than food and drink and to some extent, language barriers. Call me a geek but I primarily travel to experience the local culture and history. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I binge-watched several Korean dramas on Netflix with Hometown Cha Cha as my first Korean drama. Viscerally through the drama, I could feel the Seoul city vibe and then transition to the small town vibes of a breezy simple beach town where everyone knows everyone else. I wanted to experience that in real life. If you’re looking for recommendations, my all-time favorite Korean drama is Twenty-Five Twenty-One with fencing and growing of age as two primary themes. In the last few years, I have also become a little obsessed with skincare and Korean skincare is known to be the best. I am also fascinated with Korean history and visiting the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was on my bucket list. Flight from EWR to ICN was booked and suitcases were packed!
Seoul has a ton of great neighborhoods but I decided to stay in Myeongdong, the heart of the city. Myeongdong is a bustling shopping area of Seoul, known for its night markets, cafes, restaurants, and endless shopping lines. The area is a great place to stay if you’re in Seoul for the first time as it has plenty of good hotels close to public transportation. It is also central to visiting the city’s top attractions such as Cheonggyecheon Stream, City Hall, Myeongdong Cathedral, and N Seoul Tower, and is well connected by metro to other areas in the city. I love to walk and in Seoul, nearly walked everywhere. It was only on my last full day that I took the city metro, mainly for the experience as a public transportation aficionado. Regarding accommodation, I decided to go with the familiar and expected and stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton Josun, Seoul Myeongdong. The service was excellent from check-in and check-out. The front desk staff was amazing and had my room available at 8:30 am local time, hours ahead of the typical check-in. While not exactly sustainable, the hotel provides water bottles daily which came in handy with the daily heat, humidity, and sun. Stay Hydrated!
Day 1 was a jet-lagged-induced adventure thanks to the unpredictable weather and heat. The day I arrived in Seoul it was hot, humid, cloudy with heavy rains. Raining A LOT. For friends and family who know me well, a little rain (or a lot) will not deter me from my travel adventures. Off to the races we go. To escape the rain, Myeongdong has several underground markets with local clothing, eateries, cafes, home goods, and arts and crafts. Ironically the stores are situated right above the luxury stores including the famous Lotte Department Store. I ended up visiting the underground markets while the stores were still closed (it was early morning) and then walked over to city hall to visit its futuristic interior design. Right outside the city hall, one can see the colorful brand logo for Seoul – “Seoul, My Soul” – which serves to display Seoul as a vibrant and creative city for citizens and visitors alike. Once the rain cleared up, it was clear sailing to walk around freely as the city was waking up and local stores and businesses opening for business. One thing visitors will notice immediately when walking the streets of Seoul City is the number of cafes. Every block has several, often 70% of the local business being cafes. The cafes are not just places to grab a coffee or cake but serve as the social bedrock of Seoul for its youth and not-so-youth alike. I ended up visiting a cafe at least once a day, sometimes more often, and would see groups of friends or a couple enjoying a sweet cake or light meal while conversing about something private. Cafe culture is a big part of Korean culture. Paris Baguette is ironically a Korean cafe and can be found in various locations in the United States. Another big aspect of Korean culture is skincare beyond the mega skincare chains and sheet mask stores found on every street and blocks. I’m talking about a culture that prioritizes skin care and health by putting up large tents and shades at nearly every intersection to protect its citizens from the sun’s strong rays. Glass skin is a long-standing beauty trend from South Korea and it has caught the world by storm. I enjoyed browsing through the various health, beauty, and skincare stores with my favorite repeat visit being the very popular Olive Young. Think of it as a megastore for Skincare and Health & Wellness and that too at a much larger scale than Sephora. Outside of OY, I ended up visiting “Too Cool for School” and dropping many wons on the “egg” sheet masks. “Too Cool” is a brand I was introduced to in Soho, NYC. The NYC store shut down years ago. It served as an introduction to Korean skincare for me, building a long-term relationship that exists to this day 🙂 I picked up several sheet masks including the very popular and viral Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask (link here). After the idleness walking (my best way to see a any new city) I ended up finding a nice vegan restaurant close by to Myeongdong cathedral called Vegan Kitchen and had the delicious and healthy vegan Bibimbap before calling it day. And with that, Day 1 in the books.
After a solid night’s sleep, Day 2 was dedicated to the full-day DMZ tour. Many DMZ tours are available on Viator but I ended up picking one that was both a best seller and highly rated. While hotel pick up and drop off was not included, the meeting area was a 5 minute walk from the hotel and easy to get to. Many tour buses were outside waiting before 7 AM. The tour bus was very unique from the interior with its brightly colored seats and bright decorations, something I’ve never really seen before with tour buses. I won’t go into too much detail on the actual tour but I did find it a bit underwhelming. A few fellow travelers felt the same as me. I wish the tour went more into the history but I can understand the preference to keep it light for tourists. Due to access and timing restrictions to the DMZ, the tour adds some fillers to work around the restricted schedule. Do I still recommend the tour? Yes, I do. Our tour guide was extremely professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. It is still a must-see experience and sheds some light on both the past and current conflicts between the two countries. Lunch was local Korean food and was not included in the tour price. The experience was elevated due to decent weather.
The tour started at Imjingak Park. Here visitors can learn about the Korean war, Korea’s relationship with its allies and the Korean refugee experience. Some of the highlights at the park include purchasing N Korean currency. This is the only place where one can buy the currency and multiple denominations are available for purchase. Another tour highlight was the actual drive around the DMZ which is very beautiful with plentiful rice and soybean crops and being able to see across the border from the observatory. There are good visuals and descriptions on what can be found across the border to provide context. Given the excessive rain, the fields were hydrated with a lot of greenery. It would have been nice to get off the bus to take pictures but the area is highly secure and not available for tourists to walk around freely. The DMZ is currently home to many Koreans. While walking inside the infiltration tunnel was a cool experience, there was not much to do or experience in the tunnel itself. It was more the awe of being in a significant area so close to the border. Fun Fact: You need to wear a hard hat inside the tunnel to protect your head due to the tunnel’s low height. The soybeans harvested and grown in the DMZ are said to be some of the finest soybeans in the world and there is a restaurant that serves the freshest Tofu available. I guess I’ll have to come back for that Tofu sometime later 🙂 Some things that the tour could have done without: Gamaksan Red Suspension Bridge visit seemed irrelevant to the tour experience. It is a good photo opportunity and nice walk to the bridge but that is it. Overall the tour was a good way to experience more of the country outside of the main metropolitan city. I would recommend it as a day trip but it did not meet all my expectations.
Day 3 included a long early morning walk to Gyeongbokgung Palace. The metro was an option but I decided to get my steps in before the mid-day heat kicked in. I also had to burn all the black sesame and corn-flavored cream lattes I was drinking as a treat. Side fact: Latte is purely a milk and cream based drink in Korea and not espresso based. The morning walk took me through the historic Ikseon-dong neighborhood, known for its small alleys and homemade arts and crafts stores. It felt like a world away from the hustle and bustle of the tall buildings, and neon lights in Myeongdong and just goes to show the vibrant diversity of Seoul. The area near the palace felt even more earthy with the mountains in the background and the juxtaposition of skyscrapers with mountains is a sight to see. At the actual palace, I highly recommend watching the changing of the guards’ ceremony at the place which takes place twice a day. Get to the area early to secure a good spot to view the ceremony as it gets very crowded. It is an elaborate ceremony that takes visitors back in time. I also recommend the free walking tours provided by the palace. While I enjoyed exploring on my own, the English walking tour guide was knowledgeable and gave context to the history of the palace, the kings and queens who lived here years back, and shared some neat photo opportunities and tips. It provides another dimension to the visit and adds some depth of knowledge if you’re into that sort of thing. The tour was split into 3 chapters: Political, Social and Personal Home Life. Due to the heat, the tour was planned for 30 minutes versus the normal one hour. But our tour guide was so dedicated and really wanted to complete the full tour. She was kind enough to ask for permission to continue the tour for the full hour. Fortunately, a lot of us were happy to stick around and learn more about the palace, the kings and his queens and not-queens. Handheld fans and water bottles come in very handy if you’re in Seoul in August BTW. The tour covered a lot but one fact that stayed with me is this – In Western Cultures, the dragon has negative connotations. But in Eastern cultures, the dragon is considered a positive entity.
Ikeson-dong is a great place to get lunch so I went back after my palace visit and tour. Lunch was at the Osegyehyang Vegan Restaurant which I found online when searching for vegetarian restaurants in the area. It’s a small and simple restaurant tucked away at the end of an alley and very hard to find. I got lost twice and had to ask for directions. The food is delicious so its worth the maze search. I had Vegan Dumplings with kimchi and the Fried Mushroom Roll dish. Everything was hot and freshly prepared and the service was efficient. All orders are placed via an iPad (common in Korean restaurants) with both Korean and English menus. The menu includes photos to help visualize food items. It makes self-service ordering easy. As a software professional, it’s fun to see technology leveraged to bridge the language and cultural gap and just to make life easier and more efficient. Close to the palace (about a 10-15 minute walk) is the Bukchon Hanok Village, another big tourist attraction. Several K-Dramas have been shot at Bukchon. Needless to say, it is a neighborhood and people do live there and call it home. You’ll find signs throughout the village indicating to keep voices low and to respect private property. I ended up getting lost and walking around in circles before finding the actual village. Thanks to the excessive crowds of tourists taking photos at every angle, I was finally able to locate the area. The village is cute and a must-visit. I’d love to live there and ironically some construction and renovation was going on in the area. Maybe a future home purchase? My experience in terms of getting a good photo? Generally hard to get a good picture but there are a few secret areas and corners to take some classic photos. My K-Drama dreams came true during the village visit. The area has a lot of souvenir shops to buy everything from magnets to socks and several places to eat and drink. I ended up getting a black sesame soft serve at the nearby Baskin Robbins. In terms of sustainability, if you’re eating indoors, you’re expected to not use plastic spoons or forks and instead use a reusable one. I originally ordered my ice cream to-go but stayed in and the staff had to ask me to swap out the plastic spoon for a reusable silver one. It is better for the planet for sure and I respect it! Its not very common in America but I wonder if it should be to reduce waste.
Pro Tip: Download the NAVER app for map and navigation. It includes walking directions, metro instructions and worked incredibly well in major cities such as Seoul and Busan. I had no issues using the metro but I’m also very comfortable with public transportation in general. Other travelers may need some more guidance and support. Also, Google Maps does not work well in Korea. NAVER app for the map / navigation win.
More on my Days 4 to 6 in the next post!
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