Seoul

Saturday, June 25

Carl and I decided to take the slow train to Seoul – the S(e)oul train! – because it was cheap and we didn’t mind having a few hours in transit to rest. We got to Seoul around 3pm. We took a taxi to save the headache of figuring out the subway for later. The taxi driver dropped us off at the top of a pedestrian street- Insadong- and pointed down the street with a flick of his hand. I had realized it when I booked it but we were staying at a hotel off of a very busy pedestrian shopping street that was very cute!

The pedestrian street of Insadong had tons of little souvenir and local craft shops. There were also a bunch of traditional tea houses advertising Pat Bing Soo, a Korean desert (like halo-halo) with shaved ice, red bean, condensed milk, rice cakes, and jellies.

When we got out of the cab we realized that Seoul was way hotter and more humid than Busan. We were really sweating by the time we walked up to the hotel to check in. The front desk guy was there and let us check in. But when we went to put our bags in the room it was still dirty from the person before. He said that we could leave our bags and the room would be cleaned soon.

I guess it was nice that we got to leave our bags but it was a real bummer to see our room messy from someone else. The bed was unmade and there was a trash can full of trash and it smelled weird. Still, it gave me a chance to change into a more humid-friendly outfit and we set off again.

Feeling mildly hungarian we stopped at the traditional tea house next door to our hotel. When we walked in it looked like the cute little old lady club was having a meeting. They took up the whole front room and they all had traditional tea cups in front of them which they clanged down as they laughed and gossiped (I assume).

We were given a nice little wooden booth next to the window. I got an iced coffee and Carl got a traditional green tea. We spotted kimchi pajeon on the menu and went for it. Tony’s cheesy kimchi pajeon is still the best, but this one was good. The woman running the shop did everything. She greeted us, took our order, cooked ALL the food, and closed out our bill. She was awesome.

We did some research on how to manage the insane Seoul subway system and made our way to the Namsangol cultural village. This is a tourist village comprised of traditional buildings where there are opportunities for craft making or watching traditional ceremonies. Our timing was perfect because right when we showed up they had started a traditional wedding ceremony. We watched for a little bit, actually enjoying the traditional music.

We were so impressed that everyone in the ceremony was wearing such elegant, layered, traditional clothing in such sweltering heat. We noticed that it only costs about $1,000 US Dollars to have a traditional Korean wedding ceremony here and we did consider it for a hot minute.

Too hot to stand still, we moved on to looking at the traditional houses. In the courtyard some games were available like one where you throw arrows into tiny buckets. They also had the little cloth square flip over game that was the first game in the TV show Squid Games. Carl tried and was terrible at it. A man and his son were watching and they very kindly gave him some pointers. Carl then improved a bit. I didn’t even bother trying.

At the top of the park where the cultural village sits there’s a huge artificial crater with a time capsule in it. Seoul created their time capsule in 1994 to celebrate their 600th year anniversary of being a city. The capsule contains microfilm records of things representative of traditional and modern culture and is due to be open in 2394 to celebrate Seoul’s 1,000 year anniversary. I wish I could be around to see what kind of technology they have in 2394 and whether they even would recognize a CD with images saved on it.

After the cultural village we found a trail through a huge park that runs east to west. We walked the paved trail to the cable car. They packed the cable car to the brim but we were able to see out pretty far despite the haze in the sky.

When we got to the top we saw a multi-storied viewing platform where every handrail was absolutely smothered in love locks. I guess the tradition in Korea is to come here on your 100th day of dating your partner and add your love lock to the collection to ensure your love lasts as long as the lock. Carl and I did some quick math and figured out we’ve been dating for about 2,300 days. So we decided we didn’t really need a lock at this point.

Then it was time to go up the tower. We noticed a couples package that included two tower tickets, two beers, and a love lock that sounded perfect for us. But when we asked the ticket booth person he crossed his arms and said no.

Then there were staff promoting Trip.com by giving discounts to tower tickets. We tried to scan the QR code to get to the website, but everything was in Korean and my phone seemed to reject the webpage. So the staff person asked for our credit card and she used her own phone. If our credit card gets hacked, she’s suspect number one.

We rode the elevator up and admired the views from the top. Like Busan’s tower there were some light show displays along the way so by the time we were at the top we had about 30 minutes until sunset. We looked out into the hazy sky and wondered where the sun even was.

Southeast of us the sky was brighter and the river seemed to shine. We figured this was all the sunset we would get. We descended the tower and found our couples beer pairing and decided to get a churro too. The food court area was terribly designed causing a wind tunnel to blast through between the restaurant and the outdoor seating area. We sat for a bit until I (who had been complaining all day about being too hot) was too cold.

We walked down hill and stopped at a few city view points before getting to the bus stop. Our plan was to get the bus back to Insadong and find some light dinner around there. The hoard of people waiting for the bus was daunting but when we bullied our way on we weren’t even that squished.

When we got off at the pedestrian street in Insadong I remembered that our hotel reviewer comments had said all the restaurants in the area close at 9pm. It was like 9:05pm as we speed walked from place to place – seeing people eating inside- as the restaurant staff held up crossed fingers and said ‘no’.

The only thing open was a chicken and beer place. We decided to get chicken and beer one last time. The chicken was well cooked and the beer was cold but after we were more than ready for a detox.

As we walked back to our hotel on the deserted pedestrian path we heard some live music in the distance. Someone was doing a Coldplay cover as if the universe was saying “I didn’t forget, did you?”

Sunday, June 26

(BTW I forgot a crucial story about COVID testing in Korea when I posted the blog for Busan 1. I just went back and updated it. Not sure how I forgot to write it before because it was so traumatic).

We started the day with a good ol’ COVID test. Technically we don’t need one to go to Egypt but we read that sometimes Egyptian officials don’t accept non-QR code vaccination cards. The US is one of the few countries (I actually don’t know another one) that does NOT have a QR code for vaccine cards. Hilarious that some people believe the vaccine has a tracking chip in it when our country’s level of technological sophistication is so low that all I have is the flimsiest piece of paper that I have to clutch dearly and keep in a cool, dry space.

I was really nervous about the test (see Busan post, day 1) but it ended up being fine. We determined it was still the second worst COVID test of our lives, but nothing could top the time in Busan.

We treated ourselves to a trip to Paris Baguette. PB is a Korean chain that has meh coffee but all kinds of yummy, fresh baked pastries. We got one with a hot dog (a must have when visiting Asia), one with red bean (ditto) and a very chocolatey looking one.

We decided our main objective of the day was to see the palace and then Carl and I had some errands to run before our last barbecue dinner in Korea.

We were able to walk to the palace from our hotel. On the way we saw many hanbok (traditional dress) rental shops. We thought it was a cute idea to dress up and take photos in the historic place but it was way too stinking hot to be putting on rental clothes let alone a big dress.

Again our timing was magnificent because right as we showed up they were preparing to hold the changing of the guard ceremony. We watched as the guards came in the west gate and marched toward the South. Then a man hit a huge drum that was SO loud it gave everyone such a fright. He did it a few more times and, even when you knew the sound was coming, it sent shivers down the spine.

After the ceremony we walked into the palace and lead ourselves around on a self guided tour. The buildings were beautiful and it was interesting to see the historic furniture that’s been preserved. There was the tiniest, short reading desk in the King’s quarters that made my knees hurt just looking at it.

We went back to the traditional tea house next to our hotel for some Pat Bing Soo to cool down. It was traditional style -more beans than sweet candies- but it was really good.

Then Carl and I split up to accomplish some chores. I was on the hunt for a used clothing store to swap some clothes. Carl was looking for a haircut. There was a thrift store near us but it was closed on Sundays. The next closest place I could find was about 40 minutes on the subway. I trekked all the way there with my bag of clothes.

At the counter I started pulling out clothes and indicating I wanted to sell them. A tall, lanky boy who looked like he should be in a skatepark somewhere, swaggered over and stared at me. I held up my shirt and said, “sell?”. In monotone but perfect English he said, “we don’t do that here”. He watched me as I shoved my clothes into the tiny plastic bag again. For some reason it all felt pretty embarrassing.

But I didn’t want to leave without getting a light long sleeve shirt so I swallowed my pride, hefted my bag o to my hip, and looked around. I found some items and went to the dressing room and noticed a text from Carl, referring to his haircut, “you might have to fix this”. So it was an embarrassing afternoon all around.

I ended up buying a shirt and a long skirt and then leaving my bag of clothes in front of the closed thrift store. Hopefully someone will take them. Carl ended up having to go to three different barbers before finding an old man in a basement that agreed to cut his hair. He definitely had an Asian style fade, but it wasn’t as bad as his text implied.

The best reviewed barbecue restaurant in our neighborhood was actually just a block from our hotel. When we approached we saw a bunch of people waiting out front. The man that appeared to be the host checked names off a list on the wall but didn’t ask for our name or even look at us. I scanned the list and saw Hugo and a UK phone number. I gestured to the two western looking guys sitting near the front and they confirmed we write our own name on the list.

The wait wasn’t bad and then we were brought in to a table already decorated in banchan. We ordered pork belly and shoulder and they cooked it for us. I think Carl enjoys the cooking part but it was nice to not have to worry about it and they did a really good job. The meat was perfect. We cheered (geon bae!) to our last night in Korea.