Blogs from Seoul, South Korea, Asia - page 13

My wife and I celebrated one year of marriage with a trip to Korea and Taiwan. At the end of a long, busy, and stressful semester, this trip was exactly what we needed to decompress. More importantly, Allie and I got a lot of quality time in exploring the city together. Vacations are good for a marriage. For a long time I have wanted to visit Korea, and we were able to tag on a 6 day layover to our trip to Taiwan at no extra charge. Seoul was fantastic. We snagged an apartment on Airbnb in the center of the city, and had all of our destination (street markets, museums, and palaces) easily accessible via a world-class subway system. The food was marvelous. Seoul has many street markets that make for cheap, delicious meals. We ... read more

Iv'e been wanting to do this hike for ages, and I finally had a free Saturday morning on which I could do it. I always pass this area on the bus, and see all the hikers alighting the subway. I took the Shin-Bundang line, to Cheonggysan Station. The Shin-Bundang line is pretty fancy and the trains are driverless, however that works. I came out of exit two, and there were quite a few hikers about. I had read on someone's blog that this hike is very popular, so try to get there early to avoid the queues. However eight thirty was too late in my book as there were a tonne of people already about. It was a sharp contrast to my hike last week, which was largely people free. I though that the trail would ... read more

What were your impressions before arriving Seoul, Korea? My thoughts were clean, civilised, organised and polite city, similar to Tokyo, Japan. It was true, as I was exiting Icheon airports could feel it and sense the environment. Could not believe the significant difference between cities that are close ie Shanghai and Seoul. It was a business trip for 4 days but had the opportunities to see bit of the city. Being in a taxi for 1.5 hr to hotel, I had a good chat with the driver, although his English was very limited but understandable. It seemed that Korean don't like Japanese but they like Chinese! He wouldn't explain why! Seoul city was clean but very commercial feel. Lots of shopping malls and food places. I didn't have the feeling of historical, heritage or culture as ... read more

It felt good to be back. I was actually more nervous than I remember for this trip. Four countries in under four weeks! Most recently in 2010 and 2012, I had chaperoned 11 kids twice in one country and had jumped over to the Caribbean (Cabo, D.R, and Bahamas) for a week here and there, but it had been awhile since I had dusted of the proverbial backpack (I have upgraded to a suitcase on wheels...so smart!) and been a traveler. And really, most of the trip was planned out and not just by me. I was only in charge of one country, Cambodia. Anne gave me advice about South Korea, Dipendra and Emily were covering Nepal, and Matt had mapped out Thailand, so there really was no need for concern. But I guess the case ... read more

On the top in the mountain of Seoul i saw that everybody writed something on the metal wall.. After i decide also to write a something.. It was a message to all people in Korea... read more