Not 1 day after I became an official resident of Iwaki, I was part of a party of 4 traversing to South Korea. After one night in Tokyo, we took an early flight and spend 4.5 days and 4 nights in Seoul. We ate some amazing food, visited some very interesting sites, sang kareoke, and hung out with great friends old and new.
Day 1
We arrived in Seoul around noon and decided that the first thing we should do (after finding our hostel) is eat some of dat dere Korean food. The public transportation system is almost on par with Tokyo. The subways are efficient and punctual and the only differences are that there are simply more lines and the trains come more frequently in Tokyo.
A map of all the Seoul Metro Lines
After making a couple of wrong turns, we eventually found our hostel and it was a quaint building with a very sociable and friendly owner, Mr. Lee. If you ever travel to Seoul I would definitely recommend staying at The Birds Nest. The nightly rate is fair, you have a good amount of space, and it just feels like a home away from home :)
We set our stuff down and decided to just explore the immediate area near our hostel to decide on a place to eat. We came about this average looking building with some interesting looking food and decided that this would be our first meal... and what a meal it was. I don't know if the dish had a specific name, but it was Jjukkumi 쭈꾸미(baby octopus) with sliced pork belly.
Just chillin on the grill
It was quite spicy but it definitely added to the taste. We waited 10 minutes for the food to cook on this specially designed grill with the pork on the outside surrounding the baby octopus in the middle. We then took what looked like (but tasted quite different from) lettuce and wrapped it around a piece of this octopork combination. I think we added some of this mac salad looking stuff and it tasted like nothing I've ever eaten before. The lettuce-like thing had a very strong taste, but I think it was quite delicious overall. Once most of the octopork was gone, our server (who was a nice lady who I think owned the restaurant) then put some rice and seaweed in the juices and remains and mixed them all together to create a godly fried/grilled rice. This was probably the tastiest fried rice I've ever had in my life.
Octopork Fried Rice
After this very satisfying and reasonably priced meal (It was only ~$10 each), we decided to further explore the area around our hostel and soon discovered that it was famous for the various and numerous cafes and small street food/shops.
Three coffee shops in a row (including The Coffee Bean)
Homies cooking Korean style egg bread or Gaeran Bbang. It was DELICIOUS
Waffle stuff covered in chocolate/vanilla/strawberry/macha, or Schneepang. It was alright.
Tteokbokki, onion soup, and rice inside intestines? Tteokbokki has like a mochi texture, but the sauce it came in was sweet and spicy (and delicious). The intestine stuff reminded me of sausage which is what led us to believe that it was intestines haha
After exploring the area for a bit and trying the various street foods, we decided to watch Nanta, which was like a cooking musical entertainment extravaganza. It consisted of a cast of mainly 4 people (but a 5th dude would join in from time to time) making music by using kitchen utensils (e.g. frying pan, spatula, knives, spoons, forks, brooms etc.). That sentence does not give it enough justice however. It was hilarious, extremely entertaining, and even involved some audience participation. It wasn't just people making music, there was a plot (a kitchen specialist noob had to lead a group of chefs to prepare the dishes for a wedding and they were tight on time), and their antics in-between musical acts were brilliant (e.g. they turned on this eternal flame using a hadouken-like move, they threw plates at each other simultaneously and with increasing speed while walking in a circle, they had choreographed fights with brooms and mops). The audience participation involved bringing two people on stage and having them eat food while the cast tried to make them laugh and spit it out. Another facet of audience participation involved bringing 8 people on stage and having them compete against each other in a 4v4 cook-off. The cast members eventually left the stage and the 8 people were left staring at each other not knowing what to do. The whole thing lasted 2 hours and cost about $40, but it was worth every penny. I definitely recommend taking in a Nanta show if you ever get the chance.
They didn't allow picture-taking during the show so this was all I could muster
And Stephanie took this picture of the rest of us posing with this huge poster next to the auditorium
Day 2
The hostel offered complimentary breakfast but you had to cook it yourself. It was just toast and eggs +coffee, but it was delicious nonetheless. After breakfast we chilled at a fancy cafe for a bit, and then took a tour bus that included some random sightseeing. The bus took us to a studio where we had our pictures taken in traditional Korean garb. It was an interesting experience and something I recommend doing only if you are traveling in a pair or in a group:
April getting her make up did
We fly
While the pictures were being developed, we ate at an all-you-can eat Korean BBQ place with all different kinds of meat.
Meat (+April and me)
After the pictures, it was just more exploring, shopping, and admiring Korea's wide streets and colorful buildings. Once the freezing cold of night arrived, we went back to the hostel expecting to go out again to drink... Only to find Mr. Lee handing us a 12 pack of beer. So we chilled and talked with a couple of Japanese tourists who happened to be staying in the same hostel while we drank of dat dere Korean beer.
Mr. Lee and Stephanie
Gom Bae!
Day 3
We started the day with some average waffles from an average coffee shop because the Homestead Coffee site we visited wasn't offering their famous waffles just yet. But after that, we were able to visit a Korean palace with some cool street food vendor right next door. We originally thought that we might visit 2 or 3, but this palace was so big we ended up only being to do just the one, but I'd say it was worth the ~$3 admission fee.
Changdeokgung Palace
Cool vendor lady gave us 2 extra bread cake things
After the palacing, we ate some really good bibimbap and then hit up Lotte world.
So Lotte World is apparently the largest indoor amusement park in the world. Considering this, I wasn't expecting too much since I believed you could only fit so much inside one building, but I was pretty taken aback when we first stepped foot inside this magical place. Oh, I should also mention we were able to get in cheaper because we came in after 4 pm and they also happened to be running a special discount for couples. We were able to convince them to give the same discount for our friends even though they weren't "together."
But as cool as Lotte World was, it was pretty much a rip off of Disneyland haha.
An Indiana Jones-esque ride
View from the hot air balloon ride
This roller coaster was actually pretty amazing
They have shows on a stage at various times throughout the day
And if you ever get bored of the rides, there's a giant ice skating rink in the middle of the theme park. By the way, you have to purchase a special pass in order to be able to ride the rides for free but I think it's worth it if you ride all the big/good ones (there are 5 or 6 good rides including the roller coaster, the Indy ride, the hot air balloons, the log ride, and the pirate ship). Plus you also have access to their museum, which we did not have time to visit unfortunately. With our discounts, the cost of our ticket was ~$20.
Day 4
I think this day proved to be the most interesting part of our Korea trip for me. Mr. Lee helped us book a trip to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). for about $40 each. This included transportation to and from the DMZ, a bus tour around the DMZ, and a tour guide. The tour guide actually picked us up from our hostel and drove us there himself.
I know you can't tell, but that's North Korea on the right (mountainous area)
For whatever reason, there was an empty amusement park in the DMZ.
On the way to the DMZ, our tour guide pointed out that we could actually see North Korea from the freeway we were driving on. He said it was the only park of South Korea that wasn't actually in the DMZ where you could see North Korean buildings. Though he said that the buildings might actually be fake, or be part of a propaganda village. That amusement park was pretty eerie, though it was actually functioning when we saw it later filled with people.
Yes, you are reading that right: Inter-Korean Transit Office. One of the stops on the tour was a particular train station that was built with the hope for reunification in mind. It was built with American aid and it happened while W was our president. The station is actually currently functioning as it sends 2 trains/day past the border to a factory where North Koreans and South Koreans work together in a continued effort to push for reunification (though I hear that since they are now in a state of war, these trains may have stopped for the time being).
Our tour guide talking about the only train line that goes to NK from SK
That yellow line you see in that picture denotes the farthest you can go to take a picture of the other side. They had these binocular viewers that you would pay to use to get a closer glimpse of North Korea. At this location, it looked like various family members were also on the tour with us and they were reunited with their children who were doing their obligatory military service. It was touching and interesting at the same time.
Chocolate made only in the DMZ with soy beans from farms within the DMZ.
There was a stop on the tour that involved going down a really long tunnel that North Korea apparently dug in preparation for invading South Korea. No pictures were allowed inside, so I don't have any =/
It was pretty amazing though. South Korea has discovered 4 tunnels and believes there are more. These 4 tunnels were discovered over the course of 30 years.
All-in-all, the DMZ was an amazing experience and something I definitely recommend doing if you ever get that chance given the current state of affairs.
Saturday night = drinks and kareoke right? Our group members contacted all the people they knew in South Korea and by some miracle we were all able to meet up for grilled Korean BBQ, soju bombs, and kareoke. It was a great way to end the trip.
Mmmmmmmmmm
On the way to kareoke
Day 5
We didn't really do anything special on this day since we had to leave for our lunch time flight back to Tokyo, but I just wanted to mention that there was a small orchestra playing inside the airport after security and immigration, haha.
Cool piano bro
For anyone even remotely interested in South Korea, I most definitely recommend visiting and trying all the things we tried. Despite everything we did, I still want to go back and go to museums we missed, palaces we were unable to explore, and visit other parts of Korea that I hear are also very nice to see. And if you live in Japan, the tickets can get as cheap as ~$200 RT. Our hostel only cost us ~$16 or 1500 yen per night and it was a really cozy place. In any case, here's my summary of recommendations for Seoul:
- See a Nanta Show
- Visit at least 1 palace
- Visit the DMZ
- Ride public transportation (metro)
- Visit Lotte World
- Stay at the Bird's Nest Hostel
- Eat lots and lots of Korean food (including STREET FOOD)
- Visit many cafes (obvious for coffee lovers)
Happy traveling!
