My thoughts on Seoul:
- Overall, it's an excellent city. It's safe, lovely, BUSY, efficient, and there are tons of things to see and do
- The main thing my brain just couldnt compute is the fact that there are TEN MILLION (that is 10,000,000!!!!) people living in Seoul. TEN MILLION!!!! Jesus. Halifax is like, a tiny little spec comparatively! I was in awe of this fact every single day I was there. What is even crazier still? A friend pointed out the density stats of the city: Seoul has 17,000 people per square km, when NYC has a density of 10,000. WHAT!? HOW?!
- The public transit was insanely great. During my six days, I'd spend easily 1-3 hours on the subway a day, and in total the entire trip was $30 of subway fare. AMAZING!
Here is the Seoul subway map (my personal fave are the little poké balls telling you the big transfer stops):
Just in case this map doesnt impress you right away, let me remind you of Toronto's subway system:
- I would describe our trip as super jam packed, super fun, super interesting, super delicious (restaurants were a mega focus of the trip), super sleep-deprived and exhausting (because of said fun), and overall a really neat way to deepen my understanding of this country
Here are some fun highlights of my time!
This was our AirBnb, which was a tiny little tin can with two bunk beds for the four of us, but it was cozy and very cost efficient!
Checking out the doggy profiles.
When their trainer got there for her shift, the dogs went insane!
Visiting the demilitarization zone (the DMZ):
The DMZ (a 1.5 hour drive from Seoul) was one of the major highlights of the trip. It's basically a gigantic 250km long buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ has been closed for the past two months because of some political shenanigans, so we were lucky to get to see it. It was very interesting to learn about all the craziness of that area (for example, flagpole pissing contests and loudspeaker provocations). There was a military presence there and our passports were registered, but we definitely felt safe.
The ribbons are hope prayers for reunification between the Koreas (which, let's be real, seems very unlikely).
It was crazy because there is an entire little town (equipped with a fully functional train station) that is now completely deserted aside from tourists. The area was built to be a hub for transport between the North and South, but since political relations are so tense with the new NK leader, it's all just a ghost town.
Here we are at the train stop that used to run to Pyongyang station, in North Korea's capital city.
We weren't allowed to use cameras inside, but part of the tour was walking down this tunnel dug by North Koreans in an effort to invade the South years ago. South Korea found a bunch of these tunnels and the North was like, nah, don't worry, it's only for mining! But the black paint on the walls was not much of a cover. It was a very claustrophobic and physically demanding trek, but kind of cool to see where the tunnel hits the border. The only picture I could get was of a sign outside.
In general the border was pretty desolate.
A small market and a scary barbed-wire strung piano.
That tour day was a bit of a marathon because of the sleep deprivation. After the DMZ, we hit up the Korean ginseng museum. Koreans love their ginseng and the museum hailed it as a magical healing potion for longevity and health.
It was a long day but we made it.
The Super Bowl
Unfortunately sleeping in was off the table since the very next morning was the American Super Bowl (apparently some really popular football game or something??????????). I am not a sports person, but I was a (cranky) team player (see what I did there?) and got up at (the ungodly hour of) 6am to go to a bar and catch the game. It was a trying time of my life but I made it through. I drank cider to soothe my woes, while Kat (from Colorado nonetheless) and some other pals from work loved it.
Don't know how, but they were all a happy crew.
But we were rolling with the punches so decided okay, let's see the traditional village.
Only to walk forever to get there and find out that everything was already closed.
Blake was a sleepy bunbun at this point.
Struggles. We then decided okay, we have time to kill before dinner plans, so let's check out the Trick Eye Museum.
Only to fall asleep on the subway and miss our stop by 10ish stations. Which meant not enough time for the museum whatsoever.
It was a challenging time, but luckily the ridiculousness of the day resulted in lots of cry-laughing from exasperation and exhaustion.
Look at this chipper team!
It concluded well though. We met some Canadian pals living in Seoul for some South African braai (BBQ). IT WAS DELISH and the company was lovely!
Some other things that happened:
We got some some dak galbi, one of Korea's most popular dishes:
We spent zillons of hours on the subway
I found a chicken and a lady centaur
The Konglish (horribly translated English) is one of my fave things to find in Korea:
Overall it was a blast.
I'm already looking forward to Spring Break travels! More to come in time :)
This was our AirBnb, which was a tiny little tin can with two bunk beds for the four of us, but it was cozy and very cost efficient!
Some cityscapes:
A trip to Bau House, the dog cafe:
Yes, dog cafes (and cat and even racoon cafes) are popular in Seoul. In sum, you buy a drink to spend some time around the live-in pups of the place. It was probably the most chaotic hour of my life, there were dogs EVERYWHERE and there was barking and dog pee and fur balls and treat stealing, but I got to pet dogs which was all I wanted in life. I miss lil fluffy babies so much!
Checking out the doggy profiles.
When their trainer got there for her shift, the dogs went insane!
Visiting the demilitarization zone (the DMZ):
The DMZ (a 1.5 hour drive from Seoul) was one of the major highlights of the trip. It's basically a gigantic 250km long buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ has been closed for the past two months because of some political shenanigans, so we were lucky to get to see it. It was very interesting to learn about all the craziness of that area (for example, flagpole pissing contests and loudspeaker provocations). There was a military presence there and our passports were registered, but we definitely felt safe.
We got picked up at 7am for the tour- the early morning almost did us in.
It was crazy because there is an entire little town (equipped with a fully functional train station) that is now completely deserted aside from tourists. The area was built to be a hub for transport between the North and South, but since political relations are so tense with the new NK leader, it's all just a ghost town.
Here we are at the train stop that used to run to Pyongyang station, in North Korea's capital city.
We weren't allowed to use cameras inside, but part of the tour was walking down this tunnel dug by North Koreans in an effort to invade the South years ago. South Korea found a bunch of these tunnels and the North was like, nah, don't worry, it's only for mining! But the black paint on the walls was not much of a cover. It was a very claustrophobic and physically demanding trek, but kind of cool to see where the tunnel hits the border. The only picture I could get was of a sign outside.
In general the border was pretty desolate.
A small market and a scary barbed-wire strung piano.
That tour day was a bit of a marathon because of the sleep deprivation. After the DMZ, we hit up the Korean ginseng museum. Koreans love their ginseng and the museum hailed it as a magical healing potion for longevity and health.
We were totally exhausted, but our plans weren't over yet. Next up was a SUPER COOL escape room! Obviously I can't dish the details, but it was a super fun experience!! The premise was that we had built a time machine, and someone broke into our lab to wreck our machine and steal our laptop. Using the clues/logic puzzles/info hidden in the room, our mission was to fix the machine, solve the mystery, and escape. We had an hour, and solved it all with 6 minutes and 31 seconds to spare. SUCH a fun experience!
It was a long day but we made it.
The Super Bowl
Unfortunately sleeping in was off the table since the very next morning was the American Super Bowl (apparently some really popular football game or something??????????). I am not a sports person, but I was a (cranky) team player (see what I did there?) and got up at (the ungodly hour of) 6am to go to a bar and catch the game. It was a trying time of my life but I made it through. I drank cider to soothe my woes, while Kat (from Colorado nonetheless) and some other pals from work loved it.
Don't know how, but they were all a happy crew.
The day of fails
The struggle was real on our last day in the city. We were exhausted from too much fun for days, and our plans just wouldnt cooperate with us. First, the one place I wanted to see ended up being in a wildly different location than we originally thought. We didn't have four hours to spend on transit. I was super sad that I would miss it! We decided, okay, let's check out the temple instead. So we subwayed over, only to find out that it was closing in 10 minutes. Our visit was like "QUICK! TAKE A PICTURE!" and then we left. Tourists of the year folks!
But we were rolling with the punches so decided okay, let's see the traditional village.
Only to walk forever to get there and find out that everything was already closed.
Blake was a sleepy bunbun at this point.
Struggles. We then decided okay, we have time to kill before dinner plans, so let's check out the Trick Eye Museum.
Only to fall asleep on the subway and miss our stop by 10ish stations. Which meant not enough time for the museum whatsoever.
It was a challenging time, but luckily the ridiculousness of the day resulted in lots of cry-laughing from exasperation and exhaustion.
Look at this chipper team!
It concluded well though. We met some Canadian pals living in Seoul for some South African braai (BBQ). IT WAS DELISH and the company was lovely!
My homegirl from my undergrad and I reuniting in Korea of all places.
We got some some dak galbi, one of Korea's most popular dishes:
We ate CUPCAKES!
We spent zillons of hours on the subway
I found a chicken and a lady centaur
The Konglish (horribly translated English) is one of my fave things to find in Korea:
This seems legit.
I think this place has a sale?!
Overall it was a blast.
I'm already looking forward to Spring Break travels! More to come in time :)
