Seoul, South Korea

 Notes from the journal:

5/24:
• After withdrawing cash and buying a transit card at the airport we took the airport railroad and subway to our Airbnb but couldn’t find it
• A group of like 5 locals that began to congregate around us bc we were in a residential neighborhood looking confused…they were so kind but we couldn’t understand a word of what each other was saying and Google Translate could only do so much. They were passing Tyler’s phone around (very few countries you can do this in, definitely not the US lol) trying to help us find our place and were leading us around the neighborhood but eventually we found it on our own. This was definitely a culture shock after being in Japan where locals kept to themselves.
5/25:
• Took the metro to the National Museum of Korea. Some older locals were very intrigued by us on the subway and an old lady made us take her Korean energy drink bc she really wanted us to try it while we were in Korea (it ended up being a bright yellow guluronic acid drink that we did not consume).
• Stumbled upon a beautiful concert from the Seoul Orchestra outside the museum and sat on the steps to watch with a beautiful view.
• Museum contained lots of artifacts from Korean history with LOTS of bowls and pots
• Went to the popular Starfield Library in COEX mall, which was kind of cool but definitely more of a touristy photo spot in a regular mall
• Went to the restaurant on the top of the Express Bus Terminal and had kimchi stew and beer (which was huge and made me tipsy lol)
• Went to the Bamdokkaebi night market and the surrounding park where there was a K-pop festival being put on by a university. There were SO many people picnicking for dinner in the park along the river with a beautiful view of the skyline across the river. There were cool water installations that families were playing in. Ate some festival food and enjoyed the atmosphere (one of my favorite experiences in Seoul).

5/26
• Went to Ikseon-dong Hanok Village and found cafes/restaurants instead of the Hanok village we were promised but stopped at a cute cafe.
• Went to Insadong St and found cute shops with little figurines and a cool shop with gear artwork.
•Went to the very touristy Bukchon Hanok Village and Gwanghwamun Gate Castle in the rain.
• Stumbled upon the International Space Out competition where participants literally sit and space out - very interesting to watch and a bunch of international booths.
• Went to Donuimun Museum Village to see 1960s-80s Korea but wasn’t very impressive.
• Came across a restaurant where we had amazing beef, short rib, and octopus soups, plus a GIANT vat of kimchi that we cut with scissors (I still dream of this meal).
• Went to walk along the Cheonggyecheon stream (a neat but artificial water feature).
• Visited Seoul City Hall, a really cool building with lots of plants and neat artwork.
• Went up to the Jeongdong observatory to see some of the city.
• Went to the Myeong Dong Night Market to get some street food
• My thumb had gotten infected pretty badly so Tyler sterilized a sewing needle in boiling water and popped it which saved me a trip to the doctor in Korea to get antibiotics

5/27:
• Went to walk along the Seoul City Wall and found a beautiful hillside of yellow flowers that overlooked the city.
• Walked to Ihwa Mural Village and saw lots of beautiful artwork in cute village up above the city.
• Walked to Gwangjang Market where I had a Korean pancake and gimbal and randomly found Neosporin for my thumb in one of the stalls.
• Went to Namsangol Park and sat and read in the shade under a big patch of trees.
• Found a great restaurant where we had pork belly and bibimbap before heading to the airport where I accidentally left Tyler behind at security and he had to go get his boarding pass fixed.

Read if I referred you to this post:

• The National Museum of Korea is free and neat to walk through - if you are a museum-lover you may find it even more interesting.
• The Starfield Library is pretty out of the way and is cool for like 3 mins but is definitely overhyped and it wasn’t worth the journey to get there.
• The restaurant on top of the Express Bus Terminal is kind of a local secret and has a cool view of the city but the wait staff were a bit interesting.
• The T money card can be used for public transit throughout Korea and is a physical card that you buy at train stations and reload at convenience stores.
• Google Maps doesn’t really work in Korea so locals use Naver or Kakao Map. We found that Naver had much more English (we had to use the other person’s phone to google translate directions on Kakao) but more locations were available on Kakao.
• Would not recommend the Donuimun Museum Village
• Would medium recommend Jeongdong observatory, Myeong Dong Night Market, Gwangjang Market, Namsangol Park
• Would highly recommend Seoul City Hall, Seoul City Wall, Ihwa Mural Village