Last night in Korea

Asia » South Korea » Seoul
October 2nd 2011

Published: October 2nd 2011

I've been in Seoul for four nights now. Before Seoul, I spent two nights in Jeonju, a city in the southwest of the country. Jeonju didn't have too much going on, so I'll keep it brief. There was a district, right next to my guesthouse, with several cultural and historic sites. Besides that it was just another city. There was a gate from when the city was walled in the past, a few small museums, several old blocks with traditional houses and narrow, winding alleys and some traditional craft shops. I was able to see all of this in about half a day, so I just spent the rest of my time there relaxing. The guesthouse was nice. It was run by a middle-aged man and woman. There were a lot of beds, but most of them were empty, so it was quiet. Jeonju is famous for bibimbap, so of course I had to try some. I ate at a place right across the street where I got a bowl with beef for 10000 won. It was delicious, although I don't know how much better it is in Jeonju than elsewhere.

The second morning I made my way to the train station. I had to catch a bus, but ended up waiting forever for one to come. Very frustrating. When i did make it to the station, I didn't have much time to kill before the train arrived. I got on a local express for one stop, where I caught the KTX to Seoul. The whole trip took about two hours, but half an hour was getting to the KTX station and waiting there. The KTX trains travel at a speed of around 300 km/h, so it didn't take very long to get to Seoul.

In Seoul it was only a few stops and a transfer to get to the neighborhood where my guesthouse was - the Hongik University area. The area right in between the university and subway station is filled with restaurants, cafes, shops and bars. My hostel, Come Inn, was right in the heart of all the action. It was on the third floor of a building tucked away in a small street, but only a minute from the door and there were plenty of places to eat and drink. The owner Jimmy and staff Justin were very friendly. Unfortunately the hostel was booked over the weekend and I could only stay two nights. There are plenty of guesthouses and hostels in the neighborhood, so I was able to find another one nearby for the rest of the time. This place is in a house, about 5-10 minutes from the other place, in a quieter neighborhood. The second place has a nice feel, since its in a house, rather than a couple floors in some building. Both places have been great though.

Seoul is a huge city - over ten million people in the city. So far, however, it hasn't really felt too crowded. Some of the subways are pretty crowded, but not as packed full as in Tokyo. Maybe I haven't been on the right (or wrong?) subways. Who knows. The markets and shopping streets have been busy, but besides that a lot of the places I have been to were not especially crowded. Seoul has plenty to see and if I had more time here I know I could find things to keep doing. The first afternoon, after I arrived, I didn't do much besides scope out the neighborhood. As I said before, plenty of places to eat and drink until the early hours of the morning. I went with one of the other guys staying in the hostel in search of food and we ended up at a chicken galbi place. We ordered a plate of the marinated chicken galbi, which came with a big pile of chicken and onions cabbage and some other greens. In the middle of the table is a grill so they cook it right there and we can just pick it off when its ready. It was really good, although a bit spicy. Not too expensive either - 7500 won per person.

The next day was rainy, at least in the morning, so I decided to do something indoors. I went to the Korean National Museum. This museum was very large and housed exhibits from stone-age Korea to the Joseon Dynasty - which lasted until the beginning of the 20th century. Several other collections were also housed there, including several objects from across Asia. It was an good place to wait out the rain. There happened to be a huge group, or many smaller groups, rather, of schoolchildren who were all over the place. Luckily I was able to avoid most of them once I got out of the bronze age and early Korean dynasties.

After a few hours, the rain had stopped completely, although I had waited out most of the worst of it in the hostel so it wasn't bad when I arrived at the museum. I took this opportunity to visit one of the two famous Seoul markets - Namdaemon market. Namdaemon is one of the four main gates from when Seoul was a walled city. Unfortunately this gate was the victim of arson a few years ago, so it was in the process of being rebuilt and in the Japanese and Korean manner, the entire thing was covered by scaffolding and a screen so you couldn't see anything. Not that there was much to see. The market I wasn't too impressed with at first, well at least not until my second trip there a few days later. When I got there it was still light out and the place was kind of boring. Most of the vendors and shops were selling clothes of some kind. A few touristy gift shops and ginseng shops and others were mixed in too. Some food carts were selling various hot meals - the same few things that were available in carts everywhere in Seoul. Later after dark, some larger carts set up with things they would grill for you. The first time there I didn't spend too much time, since it was kinda dull, so I went back to the hostel and got something simple for dinner.

Day 3 in Seoul I went to visit one of the five palaces and walk around downtown. First, however I had to pack up and move over to another hostel. It was a painless process and the other hostel wasn't far. When I checked in and was ready to leave it was after noon. Of the five palaces, I chose to see the largest one - Gyeongbok-gung. In front of the palace is a huge square with a few statues of Korean kings. At the outer palace gate there were guards dressed in the traditional uniforms. The Korean uniforms are very colorful. Just inside that gate was a big open courtyard. They were setting up some kind of stage there for a show. I'm not sure what it was for. Past that was the entrance to the palace. The palace consisted of several large buildings used for official purposes and residences. Each building, or set of buildings, were separated into their own area with endless walls. Behind the main complex was a pond with a beautiful pavilion on a small island in the middle. There was a smaller temporary residence beyond the pond where the King stayed while the main palace was being rebuild at one point. Off to the side was a raised building over another pond. This was an open building, and quite large. Apparently the royal families were fond of boating around the pond. At the very back of the palace grounds stood the Blue House, the residence of the South Korean President. Right outside the back gate of the palace offered a great view up to the house. The main building of the house had a large sloping, blue tile roof in the Korean style, which I assume the house gets its name.

After I had finished up at the palace, I started walking east, towards a Insadong - a street with all sorts of touristy shops, galleries, antiques and more. There were some interesting shops there, but most of the stuff was either too touristy, or too expensive and fragile to take with me. Next on my walk was a small park around the corner from the end of Insadong. This park was apparently the first western style park in South Korea and was created at a temple site. Currently there are two national treasures standing in the park. The main attraction is a ten story stone pagoda. The pagoda is covered with glass to protect it, but it is still very impressive. A similar pagoda stands in the main hall of the Korean national museum as well. Each level is carved in the shape of a building with a relief on each of the sides. I continued onward towards one of the royal shrines, but unfortunately you can only enter as part of a guided tour (pretty cheap), but I had missed the last english one of the day. In the park area in front of the shrine, however, was a crowd of middle-aged and older men playing baduk (go) and Janggi (Korean chess). I wandered around and watched a few games for a little bit. I wasn't in the mood to play though.

I continued on towards Dongdaemon, the Eastern gate. This gate is still standing, and quite impressive. Around this area is the other famous market in Seoul. This one was less interesting than Namdaemon, I thought. There were plenty of places to buy fabric and everything you need to make clothes, as well as plenty of hats and clothes. It didn't have a very exciting feel to it. Maybe I didn't make it to the best part. Who knows. I decided to go back to Namdaemon after I was finished here. Namdaemon was more interesting at night. I decided I should buy at least something. I found a cart with some shirts for only 7000 won (some more expensive ones too), which seemed like a pretty good deal. I picked out one that I liked, hoping that it would fit. The woman had one out, so I could kind of gauge the length, which was fine, but I couldn't really tell how well it would fit otherwise. Luckily when I tried it on later it fit more or less. The sleeves are a bit short, but otherwise it was fine. At 7000 won it was a pretty good deal for a button-down shirt. I probably could have gotten it for a little less if I really tried, but I didn't. I'll save my haggling for later.

Day 4 I took a day trip to Suwon, a city about an hour south by subway. Luckily the Seoul metro subway goes there, and for only 1700 won each way. The subway here is really cheap. Suwon's main attraction is the fortress and palace inside. The fortress is in the center of the city, a 15 minute walk from the train station. For an admission fee of 1000 won, you can walk around the fortress walls. To walk the entire wall takes about an hour and a half or more, depending on your pace. Where I started was at the base of a hill. The wall went up the hill to a command post on top. Luckily once at the top, everything was mostly flat or downhill, which made the walk pretty easy. Turrets and sentry posts were placed at regular intervals. Four main gates provided access to the fortress as well as four small secret gates. The walk was very nice. It was kind of chilly (it has been much cooler in Seoul), but once I got walking it was not bad at all. After finishing the walk along the walls, I made my way to the palace, where I did a fairly quick walkthrough. It was much smaller than Gyeongbok-gung, but still nice. In several of the rooms scenes were staged with mannequins. This was nice, since usually almost all of the rooms are closed in the temples and palaces I've been to before. Along some of the walls were the servants quarters - tiny rooms, only a few square meters. It was very interesting to see how the people lived in these places, so that made the visit worthwhile. I caught a bus back to the station since I was getting tired and headed back to the hostel. I didn't do anything other than venture out for food. I went back to that same galbi restaurant as before and ordered some chicken galbi fried rice. This was cooked in the same way - grill the chicken and then throw on the rice. Again very good and even cheaper - 5500 won.

Day 5 (today) I went out in search of a bookstore. I looked briefly online and it seemed that there was an english language bookstore in Itaewon - a very international street with lots of foreigners. Itaewon is full of international restaurants, tailors, and touristy shops, as well as many foreigners. I found the bookstore after wandering up and down the street. Fortunately they had a used book section, so I was able to buy a few books to keep me busy for a while in China, since I am almost done with my last one - one I picked up a few days ago along the way somewhere. I also got what I needed the most - a good Mandarin phrasebook. Overall it wasn't expensive. I picked up lunch afterwards at a Turkish kebab place where I got a good pita wrap with lamb and chicken for 5000 won. Now that I had what I was looking for, I decided to check out a few areas around town. I went to the COEX center - a big convention center and mall, which was not exciting - just a big western style mall. I went to walk around another part of downtown and a park near the river. The park was nice, but it was getting dark when I got there so I didn't have much time. On the way back I picked up some fast food at Lotteria for dinner. Overall it wasn't a bad day, just not one of the more interesting ones.

A few thoughts on Korean drivers before I finish: Koreans are not very good drivers and the traffic system is pretty bad here. Basically at each light, each direction gets to go one at a time, which means it takes forever if you are trying to cross the street. Korean drivers, especially taxis, tend to run red lights and drive down streets crowded with pedestrians. Its hard enough to walk down those streets at a decent pace, let alone drive. They also park pretty much anywhere - sidewalk, street, wherever. And they use their horn whenever they feel like it, half the times I can't even tell why they are doing it. Luckily the subway is pretty good in Seoul. The fares are cheap - 1000 won will get you pretty much anywhere in the city center. The fare to get to the other side is only a couple hundred won more. To get to Gimpo airport from my hostel will only cost me about 1000 won. Incheon is about 3000.

Thats pretty much it from Korea. I'll post some final pictures when I get a chance. Tomorrow morning, I will be off to the airport and flying to Beijing at noon.

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