We both very much enjoyed our time in Korea.
The country is mountainous but most people live in the flatter areas with Seoul and Busan being the two biggest cites.
Regarding travel, the primary attraction for me has always been the great outdoors and scenery in particular. In the case of Korea, surprisingly, what impressed me the most were the cities. Given that it was Spring the landscape was still pretty bare and this coupled with the ubiquitous haze that meant you couldn’t see much of it anyway - in the summer I am sure the landscape would be prettier but the haze, which is primarily caused by pollution from China, would still likely be there. The cities on the other hand were full of amazing buildings and bridges and infrastructure in general, along all sorts of random works of art. There was also no litter which is a huge bugbear with me. At least compared to New Zealand, Korea feels like a very wealthy and prosperous country.
We found Koreans friendly, helpful and polite. Most of us are super addicted to our phones but Koreans have taken it to the next level and it was a rarity to see someone without one - we even saw scooter riders riding with one hand on the bars and the other hand and their eyes on their phone!
Compared to Japan, which I visited last year, Korea feels much more westernised with an obsession with American sports and fast food chains everywhere - there are over 600 Starbucks in Seoul alone! There were also far fewer temples and (obvious) local culture than in Japan. The obsession with all things American is understandable though as without their help the North would have won the war and the democratic South wouldn’t exist.
The Korean food was also great with the night market food stalls being a particular favourite.
The train, bus and subway systems were excellent and a great way of getting around. A T-Money card is the best way to access most transport which you use to tag-on and tag-off. The cards can be purchased from airports and most convenience stores and are the first thing you should buy. One peculiarity of the T-Money cards is that while you can purchase them with a credit card you have to load them up with WON using cash although this is no big deal as there are machines everywhere.
For general spending we used WISE cards although for food stalls we used cash.
For navigation we used the Naver app. This was a little temperamental at times but overall was brilliant for getting around.
Also used was the Papago translation app. This was surprisingly useful and got used a lot.
Korean internet and cell phone networks are excellent and really quick. I used an eSIM (UBIGI) for the first time and this worked seamlessly and was a lot cheaper than going on roam with my local Kiwi provider.
01 Apr 25
Fairly uneventful flight to Hong Kong other than sitting in the wrong seats twice - both times our fault!
On the plane I watched the Oscar nominated Brutalist which was basically There Will be Blood for architects. Very long, and not a bad movie but not deserving of an Oscar in my opinion. Also watched was Free Solo and Stop Making Sense both of which I have seen before and both of which deserved a second viewing.
We had a 4 hour wait in Hong Kong for our next flight to Incheon and are both very tired and are getting too old for this shit.
02 Apr 25
The flight from Hong Kong wasn’t too bad, unlike the monster queue at immigration which was too bad.
We stayed for 3-nights at the All Stay Hostel in Jung-Gu. The hostels location is superb, and overall, given the modest amount of money we paid, the place was fine.
The room however was really really small at around 2m x 3m and there was literally no room to swing a cat, although a kitten might be OK.
We were both pretty tired but still did the touristy thing spending the afternoon at the nearby Namdaemun Market.
03 Apr 25
A great day.
We took the number 2 subway line to Jamsil where we visited the 555m tall Lotte Tower which is one of the taller buildings in the world and a sight to behold.
Before going up the tower we walked around the large lake next to the building.
The lake is lined with trees that were just starting to blossom and in another week or so, will, I am sure, look amazing. We had a delicious alfresco lunch of fried chicken and rice balls bought from a nearby food stall.
We then headed up the tower.
Neena chickened out, but I booked the Lotte Tower Bridge Walk. This entailed putting on a bright red suit, a safety harness and a helmet and then climbing up 20 flights of stairs above the main observation area. From here I proceeded to walk across a narrow bridge linking the two towers at the top of the building. It felt exhilarating to be out in the open air at over 500m but wasn’t really that scary. The stairs and walkway were well protected and in my opinion the safety gear was unwarranted, but I guess it is there in case someone tries something stupid, which humans being humans, someone will.
After this we made our way back to the hostel using the somewhat glitchy but very useful Naver app.
A word on Seoul. The city is ultra modern and while it has an oriental flavour definitely feels more westernised than the cities I visited in Japan last year. The are hundreds of tall skyscrapers many of which are impressively designed and way nicer than anything back in NZ which after visiting Seoul feels like some kind of provincial backwater. There are also many works of art and sculptures dotted randomly around the cities streets which give the place a lot of charm.
There are clearly a great many wealthy people in Seoul and there are more Ferraris and Lamborghini’s and Porsches than you can shake a stick at.
04 Apr 25
To me, whenever someone says they have visited South Korea the first thing that comes to mind is the DMZ. With this in mind I somehow felt compelled to visit the area and a little reluctantly booked a tour, as much as anything to avoid spending the rest of my life explaining why I didn’t visit the DMZ when I had the chance.
We duly signed up on a tour and, in order, we visited the Peace Park, the Number 3 tunnel, a border post and finally a small shopping area designed to relieve us of our hard earned cash on souvenirs and other assorted tat.
The Peace Park was nice and probably the highlight of the day.
The number 3 tunnel was dug secretly by North Korea (DPRK) to invade the South but was discovered in 1978 which put paid to their dastardly plans.
Access to the North’s tunnel was via a very steep and long but modern tunnel which when it reaches the DPRK’s tunnel becomes low, narrow, rough hewn and claustrophobic and eventually stops at a dead end where the tunnel has been sealed of to prevent any Northern naughtiness.
This is all well and good but such were the numbers of tourists that you could only really spend a few seconds at the end before turning round for the slog back to the surface. To add insult to injury cameras were banned for “security reasons” which seemed nuts - it is not like the tunnel is a secret as the North already know about it, not least as they built it, and visiting it must be South Koreas biggest tourist attraction!
Next came the border post but that was also frustrating as again the military wouldn’t allow us to take any pictures and we could only look at the North through a glass window - what the heck, we might just as well have watched it on TV! Neena and I however sneaked outside and found a good old fashioned fence to look through. This relatively unimpeded view made all the difference and it was an eerie feeling looking over into North Korea.
In all fairness to the military, there have been heightened tensions recently with the North sending over balloons loaded with excrement and other foul substance’s. The South have retaliated by playing K-Pop over loudspeakers directed at the North which seems like ample revenge to me as shit is indeed shit, but it isn’t a shit as K-Pop (Gangnam Style excepted).
All in all, despite the frustrations, I am still jolly glad we did the DMZ tour.
In the evening we had a traditional Korean BBQ at a nearby restaurant.
We had pork which was cooked on our own very ornate grill by our own chef. The meat itself was very nice and was accompanied by about a dozen small side dishes, all of which were cold. Among other “delicacies”, there was cold soup and various types of kimchi along with a a weird egg dish.
I tried most of the dishes even though I hate cold clammy food, so this was an especially trying evening for me. We also had some Danish Kelly beer, which was the highlight of the meal.
Korean style BBQ restaurants were absolutely everywhere and probably the main tourist “culinary experience” so we just had to do it. It was a fun night out, but neither of us was impressed enough to do it again.
A special note must be made of Queen’s Bakery which has become our go to place for our morning coffee and bun.
05 Apr 25
We swapped from the All Stay Hostel to the rather less claustrophobic Olive Hostel R situated in nearby Myeongdong and close to the Namsan Mountain cable car. The new room certainly had more space along with a small kitchen and even a washing machine. What the place did lack however is a common area, so we were basically stuck in a room with only one chair, although for the price we paid it’s difficult to grumble too much, although we did anyway.
Other than that, it was cold and rainy from start to finish, so a bit of a nothing day.
06 April 25
We woke to another cold, but mercifully dry day.
In the morning we walked to the Gyeonbokgung Palace just in time to watch the changing of the guard. This palace is a big tourist attraction and there were hundreds of the people (locals and tourists) watching dressed in traditional Korean clothes, with the women in particular, looking very fetching.
On the way there we passed a huge rally which I think was in response to the impeachment of the countries president. Whether they were for or against said impeachment I am not sure.
We then had an early lunch of Korean dumplings and sweet pancakes at a roadside stall. The pancakes in particular were superb.
After this we jumped on the subway system and headed to Gangnam, which was of course made famous by PSY.
For some reason I thought the area would be a little low rent but the reality was quite the opposite with Gangnam oozing money from every pore.
After Gangnam we decided to walk to the “nearby” Han River . An hour and a half later we finally made it. It was actually a nice walk and a great way to see parts of Seoul not normally visited by tourists. All in all, we walked at least 10kms which was a surprise to me as I have a long term issue with pain in both my feat and can barely walk at times.
All in all, a pretty nice day.
07 April 25
Another long day doing the tourist thing. Lovely weather.
We walked to the Hwanghakdong Flea Market. On the way we passed a load of motorbike shops which had all sorts of weird and wonderful bikes, many of which are not available in the West, or NZ at any rate. My favourite was a cruiser style bike with a flat-6 engine. Only Honda make these kind of engines which are used in their Goldwing and Valkyrie models, but this particular bike looked like neither, although I suspect was a modified Valkyrie.
After much mooching around the flea market, I bought some biscuits and Neena Moringa tea and some Muchi.
When then headed back to our hostel in Myeongdong for a quick cup of tea and then headed back out again.
We took the nearby Namsan cable car to the Namsan Seoul Tower. We quickly brought our tickets and then not so quickly queued for an hour and a half for the bloody cable car.
When we eventually arrived, the views over Seoul made it worth the wait.
By the time we arrived back from the cable car it was getting late so we by-passed the hostel and went straight to the local night market.
The market was huge with thousands of people there and hundreds of stalls. The original plan was eat at a restaurant but we are both fans of dining alfresco so it was the stalls for us.
We shared fried honey chicken, egg loaf and pancakes. The egg loaf was especially good.
Also had was pomegranate juice, which despite some trepidation on my part, was actually rather nice.
By this stage we were both pretty shattered and my knees and feet were killing me, so it was a cup of Moringa, some biscuits and then bed.
08 April 25
It’s train to Busan day, hopefully without the zombies.
We travelled to the nearby Seoul Station and then booked tickets to Busan on the KTX bullet train.
The scenery for the first part of the trip was a bit bleak as the terrain was flat, often industrial or otherwise bare, along with the ubiquitous Korean haze. As we got closer to Busan the terrain became more mountainous and varied and interesting. The train itself was smooth, quiet and fast.
We stayed at the Residence Mumum Hotel. This was a step up from our previous accommodation if not quite as good as its internet reviews, so no surprises there then.
In the evening we had chilli chicken and beer at a local restaurant. The meal was great and I also learned a valuable life lesson which is to wash your hands before (and after) you go to the bathroom, especially if you have been eating red hot chilli’s. - you have been warned.
09 April 25
The plan of action for the day was to visit a (locally) famed cherry blossom tree street and then travel to the even more renowned Haeundae Beach.
The cherry blossom was in full bloom so we couldn’t have timed it any better. It turned out that the street is very close to the sea so we walked down to the coast and found a lovely wide beautifully maintained and engineered path. There were some skyscrapers in the distance so we decided to head towards them and see how far we got.
The skyscrapers over here are huge and consequently are further away than they look and we ended up walking for miles to reach them.
On the way we came across the somewhat unheralded Gwangali Beach. The beach was lovely and sandy and in need of a paddle, which was duly done.
We eventually reached the skyscrapers and as it was such a nice day we just carried on.
Eventually we reached Haeundae Beach which really was a stunning sight, so I can see what all the fuss is about. After lunch and some loafing about we headed back to the hotel.
We had originally intended to take the subway to Haeundae Beach and had no intention of walking. For us, it is often these spur of the moment making it up as you go along days that are the most rewarding, as it was this day.
We did indeed take the subway when we came back and it is a measure of how far we walked that it was 26 stops on the train line before we got back to Busan.
Dinner was at a cheap and cheerful local restaurant. We were the only foreigners there and the vibe and food (Tofu and Rice and Beef Noodle Soup) were great.
10 April 25
We visited the Gamcheon Culture Village today. This entailed a subway ride and then a trudge up a dirty great hill.
The place was very picturesque and full of shops selling tourist tat, but we were unable to find out where the culture was. There was even a British themed cafe selling sausage and mash and full English breakfasts but limited ourselves to some English breakfast tea and watched the world go by.
11 Apr 25
We took the TKX bullet train to Seoul. This wasn’t as straightforward as it should have been. As is our want, we turned up at the ticket office in Busan Station at about 11am only to be told that there were no seats available until 8pm, but that there were some “standing seats” available for the 1pm train. We didn’t fancy hanging around, so that’s what we went for, even though if it was going to mean standing for over 3hrs.
The standing area, which was pretty small, was located near the toilets at end of our carriage. In the end, it didn’t work out too bad as the area had two small flip down seats, which Neena and I, being some of the first passengers onboard, managed to bag. It still wasn’t the most comfortable journey but it could have been a lot worse. My tip is to do what we didn’t do, and book in advance.
We did meet a very nice lady on the train who was carrying her cat in a bag with a transparent cover and breathing ports. The bag was strapped to her chest and the cat very large so Neena offered to cat sit for the lady who was only to keen to oblige as it was literally a weight of her shoulders.
The cat was very pretty and had a lovely temperament, and as ever, much nicer than our Libby, even though we love her despite all her faults.
Once again, we are staying at the Olive Hostel R. To be honest, not the first choice, but by central Seoul standards it was very cheap and got the job done.
We had dinner at the local night market.
12 April 25
We hit the subway again and visited the Starlight Library and also PSY’s famous Gangnam Hand statue, which was nearby.
The library really was quite something with shelves at least 10 metres high housed in a stunning looking building. Libraries are supposed to be places of quiet contemplation and study but there was not much chance of that given the numbers of tourists and you would need jolly long arms to reach the books.
Next was the Gangnam Hands statue where Neena and I duly did our best PSY impression, which given the results, still needs a lot of work.
Not long after this rain started to fall and we made a strategic retreat back to Myeong-dong.
The rain continued to fall and it got progressively colder, so dinner consisted of a quick soggy trip to the night market.
13 Apr 25
Cold and windy with snow flurries!
A bit of a nothing day as all we really did was get some coffee and I brought some chocolates for work. This was in part due to the weather but mostly us being in holiday wind-down mode and looking forward to getting back to NZ.
One big plus point on this trip has been my feet. I was barely able to walk prior to coming here and so experimented with high 12mm drop trail runners which is a big change from the zero drop shoes I have been using the last few years. The difference has been something of a revelation with my now feet about ten times better, although still with some discomfort.
In the evening we had Chicken Galbi at a local restaurant. This is a traditional Korean shared dish of marinated chicken, rice cakes, sweet potatoes, green cabbage and perilla leaves, whatever they are. It was an enjoyable meal but could have done with a little seasoning, which I think would have raised things up a notch.
After the meal we headed out into the cold and very much on the spur of the moment had coffee at a cat cafe. This was pretty pricey but the cats were great and who, once again, put our cat Libby to shame.
These kind of cafes are primarily for sentimental cat lovers like us, so it was an unexpected surprise at how great the “complimentary” coffee was.
After this we headed back to the hostel watched the obligatory real-crime show and went to bed.
14 April 25
A cold wet and miserable day - a bit like a British winter, but with better food.
We took the train to Incheon.
We arrived at around midday but our hotel’s (The Seattle) check-in time wasn’t until 4pm so we took refuge from the cold and the rain in a local cafe and started planning our next trip to the not-so-good-old US of A.
I had a non-coffee toffee nut latte, which was divine. Neena had a proper hazelnut latte, which as usual, she couldn’t taste.
We had dinner at a small unassuming restaurant just over the road from our hotel. We had Korean spicy sausage and rice soup. Neena also had her beloved Kimchi which is basically fermented cabbage - about the only good thing I can say about it is that it tastes less awful than the German equivalent, Sauerkraut . Kimchi aside, the food was delicious and reasonably priced and as an added bonus we were the only foreigners there.
15 April 25
We flew back to Wellington.