Brent, Soo and I met around 11 a.m. on Saturday morning and hopped on the KTX (bullet train) at 11:33 a.m. and began our journey to Seoul. We actually purchased four seats, because it was cheaper than just buying three. It worked out great though, because we had seats that faced each other with a table in the middle. The train ride itself was really nice. It was very smooth and really didn't feel like it took that long to get there. There were a few stops along the way, but not enough to be annoying. Sometimes you could tell that the train was moving really fast and other times it just felt like a regular train's speed. It was a fun little trip up there nonetheless.
Brent and I went all out for this one, staying at the JW Marriot in Seoul (actually, they had a promotion where if you stayed two nights, you got the third night free, but still). We had two nice beds with a decent view, cable television and a shower that gave us all the hot water we wanted! It was conveniently located by the Express Bus Terminal subway station, though being located by any subway station would have been convenient for Seoul, because the subway system is huge! Here in Busan, we have three lines with four transfer stations. Seoul on the other hand has 11 lines with most stops being a transfer station. It really is quite amazing to look at the Seoul subway map and think that people who live there probably have that thing totally memorized. This was actually probably the most frustrating part of the trip, because transferring lines is not quick and easy in Seoul like it is here. You're walking up or down massive flights of stairs and traveling long distances to switch subway lines in Seoul, and it can really be draining when you have to transfer two or three times.
Anyway, the first thing we set out to do when we got there Saturday night was to find a Mexican restaurant. Soo knew how much Brent and I have been wanting to have Mexican food, so she made sure to do some research and find places for us to go. Soo isn't as familiar with Seoul as she is Busan, so it took some wrong turns and asking a local resident, but we finally found our destination, Casa Loca. It was honestly just so exciting to walk up to a restaurant that had a Mexican name. Now, this place was no Acapulco or El Torito or anything, but it definitely served its purpose. The chicken fajitas I had were awesome, the guacamole was good and the chips and salsa were unlimited. The rice and beans were a little sketchy, but it wasn't enough to ruin my first Mexican meal in two and a half months. I was in heaven and loving every second of it. It really was the perfect way to start the trip.
After the Mexican food, Soo took us to this building called 63 Square right next to the Han River. We went to the top floor of the building where there was an art exhibit, though that wasn't the real reason we went up there. The view from the top was really cool and gave us a neat look at the city at night. One thing about Seoul that is very different from everywhere else I've seen in Korea, is that it's flat. Aside from Namsan Mountain, the city is very flat, whereas the rest of Korea, Busan included, seems to be very mountainous. This may have been a contributing factor to this location being chosen as the capital so many years ago. Anyway, we left the 63 Square building after about 30-45 minutes or so and took a short walk along the Han River, before getting in a taxi and calling it a night.
The next day, we met Soo and her cousin early in the morning and set out for Gyeongbok Palace. This is the main and largest palace built by the Joseon Dynasty in 1394. It's always interesting to go places that are so old and have so much history behind them. Lucky for us, Soo's cousin was kind of knowledgeable about Korean history too, so she was able to share some fun facts and other interesting points with us. While at the palace, there was a multi-cultural festival going on, where they had musical instruments from different places around Asia and even traditional clothes from various countries. I of course could not let this opportunity pass by without trying on some of the clothes. I dressed in a Russian outfit and two Chinese outfits and posed for pictures, which you'll see below. For some strange reason, they didn't have any traditional Korean outfits to try on. Anyway, we had a great time there.
After leaving the palace, Soo attempted to have us walk to our next destination, but like I mentioned before, she is not Seoul savvy, so after a few more wrong turns, we got in a cab and had the driver take us to Insadong. This place is a tourist's dream, because of all the shops, restaurants and people here. It was souvenir city and we had a lot of fun walking down the main road. I even bought myself a traditional Korean stamp with my name pronounced in Korean on it. While we were at the stamp shop, Soo and her cousin recognized one of the guys in there just sitting and talking with a couple people. It turned out he is some famous fashion designer and they ended up getting their picture taken with him and were very excited.
From here we went to Itaewon, which was foreign people central. At this point, we were already amazed at how many foreigners we saw in Seoul, but this place was the hub for all foreigners. We later found out that there is a military base close by, which explained the large number of people who "looked like us." Here, we met another one of Soo's friends and had lunch at Quizno's. It was nice to have a sub sandwich for a change, because it had been so long since I last had one. Anyway, we didn't stay in this location for very long. After lunch we headed for Seoul Tower, which included a very long bus ride up Namsan Mountain and then a nice little hike up the street to get to the base of the tower. We didn't actually go up Seoul Tower, which bummed me out a little, until it was pointed out to me that we just got a nice view of the city the night before at 63 Square. Oh yeah. Anyway, we did ride the cable car down the other side of the mountain which was fun.
From there, we walked to another popular shopping area, where we sat down for yet another Korean round of Cold Stone. Sorry Mariana. This was another location we didn't stay at for too long. At this point, Soo's cousin and her friend had left us and it was back to the three amigos, or three chingus if you will (Chingu is Korean for friend). Soo next took us to some area with a lot of restaurants that apparently many Korean celebrities hang out. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the area. It doesn't matter though, because we didn't run into any celebrities, though Soo thinks there were some models sitting a few tables down from us at the fried chicken place we ate at. Anyway, it was a good first day in Seoul and going back to our awesome hotel room was, as we found out, a perfect way to end every night.
The next morning we met Soo early again and set out for Seoul National University. From the moment we met Soo, you could tell she was really tired. Turns out she stayed up late the night before talking to her cousin and she was just out of it that morning. Add that to the long walk up hill to the university and the day did not start out well at all. There really wasn't much to see at the university, because well, it's just a school after all. This is one of those times where the cultural differences come into play I think, because I'm sure Soo thought it would be really cool to take us to the best university in all of Korea, because that's what Koreans her age would do. For us though, going to see a university isn't really that exciting. I mean, when you go to New York, I can almost guarantee that visiting Columbia University isn't on your list of things to do. Anyway, we hopped on a bus and left the university after being there for maybe 30 minutes. The bus ride was really long, which gave Soo a chance to catch up on sleep, and gave Brent and I a chance to actually check out more of the city, since we weren't on a subway underground.
Later that day, with Soo refreshed from her long nap, we visited Dongdaemun, which was the major eastern gate in the wall that surrounded Seoul during the Joseon Dynasty. This actually isn't the most famous gate however. Namdaemun is the most famous gate and was located in the southern part of the wall that surrounded the city. We didn't visit Namdaemun because it was actually severely damaged in a fire last year, so the major renovation it's currently undergoing wouldn't have allowed us to see much. From the pictures, Dongdaemun and Namdaemun actually look exactly the same, so it's almost like we saw it. For whatever reason Namdaemun is the more popular gate and the first among the National Treasures of South Korea, of which there are 307. Anyway, near Dongdaemun is a long public recreation creek called Cheonggyecheon. This is an area where kids play in the water during the summer and many residents go just to hang out. Even when we were there, people had their feet in the water, of which Brent joined. After hanging out there for a while, we went to the Gangnam area of Seoul, which is the upscale part of town that apparently many Korean celebrities live. It's like the Beverly Hills of Seoul if you will. Here, we ate at another Mexican restaurant, which wasn't as good as the first one, but still, a burrito is a burrito!
We left this area to go to the local amusement park, Lotte World. Now, in case I haven't discussed this before, let me just mention that the Lotte company pretty much owns this country. Everywhere you go there is Lotte something. From department stores to apartment buildings, and baseball teams to amusement parks, this company has its hands dipped in just about everything going on in South Korea. It's really amazing. So anyway, we got to Lotte World after 7 p.m., which meant we got a nice discount, but also meant we didn't have much time to really do much. It was really crowded because of the holiday, so we only had the chance to experience two attractions. One was a 3D show about a haunted house, which actually was pretty creative. If it had the extra 4D effects, it would have been much more enjoyable. We caught a little bit of a show that was going on in the main building of the park, and then decided to check out another show that didn't have a long line. This one was kind of a mistake. I don't remember the name of it, but as Brent put it, it was more like a modern art piece than an amusement park attraction. I really can't describe the 15 minute show we experienced, and to be honest, I really don't want to anyway.
Our last day in Seoul didn't give us much time to do a whole lot, because our train left in the afternoon. After checking out of the hotel in the morning and leaving our bags with the concierge, we met up with Soo around 10 a.m. and ventured to the Seoul Arts Center where we walked around a bit and checked out one of the free exhibits. After that we headed to another area in Seoul famous for having many restaurants. We ended up at an Indian restaurant and had a good time just chatting away. Unfortunately, we had too good of a time chatting and kind of lost track of time. We weren't sure of exactly what time our train left, because Soo had the tickets in a text message on her cell phone, which she accidentally left in the locker at the subway station by our hotel. We knew it was around 3 p.m. though and we didn't leave the restaurant until 2 p.m., which meant we had to rush back to the hotel, grab our stuff and rush to Seoul station to catch our train. When we got our bags and met back up with Soo, who now had her cell phone, at the Express Bus Terminal station, she confirmed that our train left at 3:10 p.m. She said we'd be okay if we took the subway, so we got on as quick as we could and rode for a couple stops, before we realized there was no way the subway was going to get us there on time. We hopped off and grabbed a taxi, and unfortunately still weren't able to make it on time. Our train left without us and we had to pay a little extra to catch the next train out of there. We ended up leaving at 4 p.m. and didn't get to sit by each other on the way back, but at least we made it out.
It was really a fun trip. I had no idea how different Seoul was actually going to be, compared to Busan. Seoul is definitely a western-like metropolis with people from all over the world. The city itself is just massive. I've read that almost half of South Korea's population live in the Seoul National Capital Area, and nearly a quarter in Seoul itself. Pretty amazing numbers if you think about it. It is no doubt the capital of everything in Korea except for seafood, of which Busan owns that distinction. Everything from fashion to food is simply more glamorous in Seoul. Of course, this city is so big that we were only able to do so much, so I'm looking forward to going back and experiencing more of the Korean capital.
Lotte World
Dongdaemun
Seoul Tower
Chinese Rob
Gyeongbok Palace
If you ever get sick of teaching at least you know your theme park experience will look good on your resumé for a position at Lotte World.
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