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Published: February 24th 2024
DMZ
Dave & Merry JoWe are keenly aware that for most, South Korea is not on the top of most people’s travel lists. And we will volunteer that this list used to include us as well. So how does one make the decision to hop on a plane and travel some 7700 air miles to visit? Simple…..you’ve got friends living there and you’ve been invited!
Our friends Denise and Galen have been living in Seoul since July. Galen retired from teaching in Los Altos, California after 38 years and wanted to try teaching in a foreign country and was hired by Asia Pacific International School in Nowon-Gu. With an invitation to visit them, there really is no way to say no to such a wonderful opportunity to explore a new place with friends.
Most travelers have a bucket list of things they want to do some day. Our journey to Seoul is a special one as Dave has always dreamed of riding in first or business class on a long-haul flight. Each time we departed a long international flight, he would stare longingly at the business class seats and hope that someday that would be us sitting in those special seats. He had
a significant birthday in October, and we were unable to travel at the time as he was working. So, the business flight to Seoul was his birthday present.
Our journey took us on Air Canada first class from Orlando to Toronto where we had a four-hour layover. We enjoyed the Maple Leaf Lounge until the Signature Lounge opened at 10:30am. We relaxed with an adult beverage. We were not hungry as we ate an omelet on the first flight, but we shared a bowl of roasted cauliflower soup with three scallops—which was amazing. It was a delightful lounge and next time we would skip the meal on the plane so we could eat in this lounge. The Air Canada food was good but not as grand as we hoped. Shortly after taking off, we were served a nice dinner with a couple glasses of wine which we had pre-ordered the week before. One does not go hungry on this 15-hour flight as they frequently offer meals and snacks. We watched three movies and four shorter segments of TV shows. The ability to stretch out and lay flat cannot be overstated. The joy was immense. We felt comfortable and rich.
Air Canada Business Class
Dave is crossing business class off his bucket list... Sadly, we are flying premium on the way home and we are uncertain how we will deal with future flights as they are unlikely to afford us this kind of comfort and joy. We thought Air Canada did a very nice job and we’d be happy to fly them in the future.
After rising at 3:00 am on a Tuesday, we arrived in Seoul late Wednesday afternoon. How time flies! Sorry, just had to say that…..As it was the middle of February, we had no illusions that Seoul wouldn’t be cold in our chosen time of travel, so we came prepared with hats, gloves, layers and fleece. We have been pleasantly surprised as the temperatures are warmer than we expected the first half of our week and sadly not the latter half. Our first day was mid-thirties and rainy with thirty minutes of a very light snow but the rest of the week has been in the 40’s and one day it hit 59 degrees. We are extremely happy the weather has not impeded our explorations and the rain has been far less than expected. February is a great month to visit here because the city is not flooded
Monk at Temple
Bongeunsa Temple with tourists. Our last three days were brisk to say the least, but we persevered.
On our first day as we attempted to adjust to the time change, we stayed in their neighborhood of Nowon. A neighborhood is a gu so it is Nowon-Gu. Denise taught us how to use the buses and we got some cash out of the ATM’s and then we took off to visit Galen and his school. Galen is teaching literature and creative writing in a private school which is a prep school for students who want to study in the United States. On occasion, Denise substitute teaches in the fifth-grade class, so we stopped by her classroom and played games with the kids for about a half hour. These students were very kind and respectful.
On our way back from the school we stopped at a market in a giant high-rise building that is pink. You can’t miss it. It is about a block from where they are living. As you can imagine with 26 million people Seoul is filled with thousands upon thousands of massive high rise apartment buildings and stores.
Seoul is an enormously large city with 26 million
in the city and surrounding area. The city is spread out and the vastness cannot be imagined… it must be experienced.
Denise and I have talked via what’s app about once a month since she arrived in Korea, and we have watched their You Tube channel called Denise and Galen go to Korea where we learned a good bit about their transition into this culture. It was great to see the park where Denise takes her exercise classes. The people of this country are very fitness conscious and parks around the city and malls have amazing walking paths. The park across the street from their apartment building and parks all around the city have exercise machines outside for public use. As you walk around the neighborhood you have a real community feel.
We’d had many conversations in previous weeks with Denise and she asked us to create a list of things we would like to see while we are in Seoul. There were things on the list that she and Galen had interest in and had not done yet so we arranged those on the weekends so Galen could join us.
On day two we were up
and ready to go exploring. Denise reviewed our list, and we made a plan for the week. In the following days Denise whisked us around the city with ease on buses, trains, and the subway. Denise pointed and we followed. It is strange as we are usually discovering how to use a new public transportation system on our own. It was a treat to be with a local who had already figured out the process…. It certainly saved time. FYI in South Korea the people do not eat, drink, or talk on public transportation, well if they talk it is in a whisper but most sit quietly playing on their phones or napping. The buses, trains and subways are extremely clean including the bathrooms in the stations. It is truly a delightful experience. Even with this knowledge we were astonished by the cleanliness of this entire city and public transportation system. They recycle everything! The U.S. can learn from the Korean people.
Touring with Denise is fun as we had a plan of the day, and we lovingly say she ran us nearly to exhaustion a couple of days attempting to see all the items on our list. Denis
and Galen are wonderful hosts and Denise is a crazy good navigator and guide. One thing that made this week more special was spending time with the friends Denise and Galen have made since they arrived. Often times, we were a party of six or eight when going out for meals. The food was extremely delicious, and we’ll tell you more in another blog.
Here are some of the highlights of our time in Seoul:
The Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) is a stunning pierce of architecture and an urban landmark that features 40,000 aluminum panels of varying sizes. It is dubbed the largest three-dimensional atypical structure in the world. The DDP is a stunning piece of art. Additionally, as you move around Seoul, one is impressed with the modern and attractive skyscrapers. Many have won awards and after visiting this massive curving building, we understood.
We traversed the
Sky Garden Walkway on a cool, crisp, and sunny day. Being winter the walkway had a rather stark beauty to it and we could image how vibrant it would look in spring or fall. This walkway is reminiscent of the Highline walkway in New York city, although much shorter.
Jogysea Temple
Most significant temple in Korea according to our reading. From this sky garden we had city views and were able to watch the slow-moving traffic.
The city planners have done a marvelous job in Seoul putting in wide, safe, and scenic walkways and parks in every neighborhood to encourage exercise and enhance the beauty. One walkway goes along
the Cheonggyecheon Stream with its 22 bridges. We enjoyed some lovely birds along the stream and waterfall. We didn’t walk entire length so we must trust them when they say it has 22 bridges.
Seoul offers two towers with fantastic views of the city. We suspect the more famous of the two is the Lotte Tower, but we opted to explore the
North Seoul Tower. The area is impressive and provided 360 degree views of this spread out city and surrounding mountains. To say the least, the views are stunning. Seoul is a city that is encompassed by mountains. Most cities spread out as they grow….this one grew straight in the air. Skyscrapers fill the view from this perch and leave you speechless. As Dave said, “that’s a lot of concrete.” At the tower, each day at 3pm they offer a traditional drumming and machete performance. We watched the
gentleman practicing before the performance with the machetes, chopping bamboo stalks so we only stayed for the drumming portion. It is good to see traditional drumming passed on to the younger generations.
On Saturday, we enjoyed a fine warm day and took a day trip to the
Suwon Hwaseong Fortress (1776). This is a UNESCO site that we were very excited to see. It took us nearly two hours to get there but was well worth the adventure. At the last minute we opted to take a cab. We ended up with a driver who had very poor driving skills and forgot to end the ride on Uber, so Denise kept getting messages stating we were still in the car. Eventually, it all got sorted out. We spent about two hours walking along the fortress walls reading the boards that provided historical information. This fortress was the first fortress with a defensive structure during the Joseon Dynasty. We read that it differs from fortresses in China and Japan as it combined military, political and commercial functions. The walls follow the hilly topography of the land and enclose the city center of Suwon. We wandered the quaint city streets in
Exploring at night
Seoul stays up late. the older part of town that is surrounded by the fortress. A friend of Denise had recommended a Japanese restaurant where we had a fine lunch. This UNESCO site is well worth the visit.
Sunday found us bound for church services. We are not religious by any means, but our research told us that 46%!o(MISSING)f Koreans did not claim a religious affiliation, 23%!a(MISSING)re Buddhists and 29%!a(MISSING)re Christians. On this morning we attended service at the
Yoido Full Gospel Church. We often visit churches when traveling for the architectural beauty and serenity but from time to time we attend a service as we did in Northern Ireland, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, and Seoul. Yoido is touted as the largest church by membership in the world, so we wanted to take a look. Our good friend and fellow travel blogger Alex visited this church and few months ago when he was in the area and this piqued our interest. We read they have 700,000 members and at the service they stated their goals are to increase by 50,000 this year. We were immediately recognized as foreigners and were whisked upstairs where all the foreign guests are seated.
Denise & Galen
Suwon Fortress As one of about 12,000 in attendance at one of five services that day, we were assigned a seat and given headphones where it was translated into English. We had a wonderful experience as the choir is excellent and the small symphony very talented. Yoido offered multiple large screen TV’s providing close views of the choir, symphony, and pastor. The sermon was written on one of the screens so you could follow along as well as listen in the headphones. They technology used in the church is amazing. You can go on their website and watch the services as they stream them around the world. They had nice people waiting to talk with you post-service if you were interested in joining and they assured you they would have you out the door in less than thirty minutes.
With a large Buddhist community we wanted to visit a couple of temples available and found ourselves at the
Bongeunsa Temple, founded in 794 during the reign of King Wonseong, the United Shilla Dynasty.. This temple offers temple stays for those of you who have always wanted to live the life of a monk. The lovely ancient-temple architecture was an interesting
Two Young Students
Asia Pacific International School 5th Grade backdrop with a modern city in the background.
We are fortunate to have visited temples in the past, so we did not feel we needed to see all the temples in town. Denise and Galen’s friend Nick suggested a couple that were his favorites, so we trotted off to Bongeunsa. The beauty and architecture of this temple presents a calming place of worship and meditation. We enjoyed the statutes and shrines to the four heavenly kings.
A couple of days later we visited the
Jogysea Temple which is stated to be one of the more significant temples in Korea. We slipped off our shoes and sat quietly in the back while peaceful mediation took place around us. The Jogysea Temple has three buddha shrines, shining in bright gold for worship.
Each trip usually includes a tourist stop and this one was no different. The
Starfield Library is located at the Coex Mall and we are told it is a bookstore made famous on Instagram so we’re uncertain why they refer to it as a library. We took a few minutes and stuck our head in the mall to check it out. It is lovely architecture. It is
a few feet away from the
Gangnam Hands so we took a quick photo. We weren’t in the age group where that dance mattered much to us, but it did give South Korea a lot of attention.
Changdeokgung Palace is an impressive group of edifices that represents the life of past emporers in South Korea. Most of the historical buildings have unfortunately been destroyed during conflicts. This one is restored nicely and offers a glimpse of life back then. Even on a rather brisk day, many locals, especially young ladies were dressed in traditional clothing (rented locally) for picture taking. The community encourages locals to wear traditional clothing by letting them in for free if they do. We also noticed a young couple getting what appeared to be wedding photos on the day we visited.
Touring the DMZ. One could write an entire blog on this experience, as it encompasses many themes of the latter half of the 20
th century related to wars, and the Korean Peninsula was not spared the atrocities that armed conflict brings.
But first, a little background: Japan had annexed all of Korea in the early part of the 20
th century. The U.S.
Cheonggyecheon Stream
The birds enjoying a sunny day. and the Soviet Union liberated Korea, then the lines were drawn, with the USSR administering the northern half and the US the southern half. With the dawn of the Cold War, the occupation zones became two sovereign states, with communism in the north, capitalism in the south. In June of 1950, the North invaded the South and a nasty war ensued. When an armistice was signed in 1953, there were over 3 million civilian casualties along with the destruction of all major cities on the peninsula. 22 nations sent troops and support. The U.S. lost over 39,000 lives in the conflict.
A tour of this area reveals an amazing amount of history which is still being written as the Korean War is not officially over by any means. Almost 71 years later, there are two countries which are technically still at war. Masses of troops and munitions are a big part of this land mass.
Our tour on a particularly blustery and snowy day made us harken back to the days of the cold war, revealing skirmishes, tunnels built by the North Koreans to facilitate invasion and the notion that it could all go bad very quickly under
the right circumstances.
The DMZ tours allow you to explore Imjingak Freedom Park and see the Unification bridge as well as go to the Dora Observatory where you can see a North Korean guarded watch tower off in the distance through a telescope. In the past North Korea continued their aggression and four very deep tunnels were discovered before North Koreans could use them to invade. Tunnel number three has been turned into a tourist destination and we were allowed to walk down there and look at it. It certainly put in perspective the perseverance of the North Korean military. We took a tram across the Incheon River with the intent to explore a U.S. military building. It was actively sleeting and snowing and the walk to the building was too slippery for us to continue…. So close….yet so far.
In the past, part of the tour included the Joint area between North and South Korea. There is a building that you could stand in and the glass room jets out into North Korea. One really would not count that as being in North Korea but I’m sure it is an interesting experience. This area has been closed
Traditional Drumming
Performed at the North Seoul Tower for several months as last summer an American soldier dressed in civilian clothes ran across the border and was arrested…. eventually to be released back to the U.S. and discharged from service. Due to this incident the North Koreans have continued to restrict these visits to tourists.
Ikseadong, Insadong and Bakchon Hanok Village wonderful examples of Korean traditional and current shopping and architecture. We enjoyed wandering the areas and taking in the shops and smells of a different time. We found lunch one day in a simple, yet incredibly tasty soup and dumpling establishment…. but more details on that in our next blog which will discuss food. Being such a large city Seoul has endless neighborhoods to explore. We enjoyed staying in a local area where there were less than an handful of Americans.
Seoul and South Korea are staggering examples of how a city and a country can come back from total ruin and become an economic powerhouse in a little over 70 years. It is a very modern place and one of the cleanest cities we’ve visited. Public transportation is easily affordable and takes you almost anywhere you want to go in Seoul.
We hope
Korean Drumming
Performance at the North Seoul Tower you will look forward to one of our next blogs where we will discuss all the food experiences! (and man, there are plenty!) The title may end up being “Savory Seoul, Music and Spas!”
We will add more photos than usual to the blog so our friends back in Ohio who grew up with Denise can see more of where she is living. Plus, it will serve as a preview for their California friends that will visit soon.
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Dennis Brennan
non-member comment
Time has been good to South Korea
So, almost 30 years ago, I traveled for business to South Korea on multiple occasions. As you two know, I love the cultures in that region of the world. I must say I am happy to read your impressions of how clean and progressive you found things. That was not the case when I was there. They were still struggling to get to what you find there today. The pride of the people was so obvious and hard not to admire because general living conditions were still on the mend. I look forward to the food blog to come next. P.S. - Lisa's oil painting arrived yesterday. Lot's of good memories attached to that beautiful oil. :)