- The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture, Euny Hong (2014)
- Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner (2021)
- Korea’s Place in the Sun, Bruce Cumings (1997)
Was it strange that nearly everyone we spoke with said “Two weeks in Seoul? You’re not going anywhere else?” (This was repeated to us often, by taxi drivers there, friends, etc.) Apparently people don’t go to Seoul for two weeks. Frankly, I had pushed for a month there, but was talked down to two weeks. Spoiler: They were right. Ten days or so was probably enough, and I’ll detail out why below. Scroll to the bottom for the TLDR verdict...
Anyway, we land at Gimpo Airport—we were flying in from Songshan in Taipei—and the first thing we notice is that our Google Maps is awry. We can’t call an Uber, we can’t figure out the distance to our Airbnb, nothing! We assumed the issue was our internet connection, but alas, nobody had told us that Korea doesn’t use Google Maps.
Not one person told us this out of all the people we’d talked to about Korea. The only rationale for this was that either all our friends hate us, or this is a thing everyone already knows about Korea: Google Maps doesn’t work here! The reason: Due to some tech restrictions around data storage, foreign companies can’t have their map apps work there. So, before you go to Korea, download Naver Maps, and maybe Kakao Maps too. (Thank you to our only friend: Hanbyul!)
Note: This was my second time in Korea, but last time I was just here for a brief rainy weekend and our expat friends took us around everywhere. I didn’t even have to look at a map or find a subway as we had cars and drivers and hosts for everything. Thus, I was treating this as my first real trip to Korea.
Where Did We Stay
We stayed at an Airbnb in Yongsan, right above Nogsapyeong Station, which was about a fifteen minute walk to Itaewon. It turned out to be a delightful location, overlooking Yongsan Park, within walking distance of many things, and easy access to a few subway stations.
The cost of the Airbnb was very reasonable, cheap even, at $1300 for two weeks, and it was enormous! Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an upstairs, a rooftop, and a very large living room and dining room. We were actually stunned at how large the space was and it really helped make the trip feel more at home.
Later we would find out that the nearby pedestrian bridge was famous because of the show Itaewon Class, but for most of the trip we were mystified why so many people were taking photos there, as well as having a small film crew there one afternoon.
Getting Around
We took the subway most of the time, and you have to get a subway card and then charge it as you go. This was slightly confusing at first but if you look for the information desk at the station they can explain it. Basically, buy a T-money card at any convenience store first and then charge it up at the kiosks.
My partner did most of the subway navigating and she was not thrilled by how the labeling system worked for the trains. She said they mostly displayed the end station or stations way further down the track, which made it difficult to assess which train to take quickly. Despite that, the subway is pretty easy and some of the stations were so beautiful. Also, at first we thought the subway was not that crowded but then our friend told us it was because we were on the brown line, which was not very busy.
Note: There is a “jayang” station there, numbered 728. We just passed by but I was very excited to see this!
We also took some Ubers, which were not as pricey as Tokyo, but not nearly as cheap as Taiwan either. Maybe $8-10 to get halfway across the city, from Itaewon to Hongdae. A must use after a full day of walking around.
While there were public bikes, we didn’t actually try them, even if it looked somewhat plentiful. Many of the places we were at didn’t seem that bike friendly and upon evaluation, it would have been hard to bike around due to the busy streets or the busy sidewalks. The riversides looked great though!
What Did We Eat
Before the trip, I would have said that I could eat a lot of Korean food. I love so much delicious Korean food and there was, obviously, plenty of it. However, let me speak here on gochujang and how much of it one can take before your innards need a break. Let’s just say that by mid trip, I was not excited to be ingesting any red-colored food anymore because I needed to be near toilets for a day or two. Very near a toilet. (Also, do Korean public restrooms not have bidets? Or was that just what we experienced?)
So, we were mostly on a one on, one off Korean food day routine. Also we didn’t have any Korean BBQ, only had chimaek once, and were constantly on the lookout for soupy soups, vegetables, and buckwheat noodles. Most of the food we did have in Korea was delicious, even if we didn’t have that much of it and were constantly looking for other cuisines. For example, we saw a Saravanaa Bhavan in Itaewon about five days in and were both were very excited for it. I also consumed quite a few hamburgers and we even tried some tacos—don’t recommend—while there.
One thing that was interesting was the high number of Turkish and halal foods in Itaewon, which led me to look up why there were so many in that area. The history is interesting and while we didn’t ever actually have any Turkish food there, it was very available.
Also, interestingly, much of what we know of Korean food from the States seems to also translate to what we saw in Korea. Granted, much of my knowledge of Korean food is limited, and we didn’t go to any other cities outside Seoul, but unlike Japan or Taiwan, it was rare for us to see something that was entirely foreign to us. Take that for what you will.
- Hongdae Joseon Dynasty / Joseon Sidae 조선시대: New food item: we had yukhoe here, which is like a huge portion of beef tartare. It was delicious and went so well with our chosen soup. Also, the homemade strawberry makgeolli was great. Located downstairs in dining room that is decorated Joseon-style, it was a memorable and fun meal.
- Kyochon Pilbang: A fried chicken speakeasy might seem gimmicky—you paint/glaze the sauce over your chicken—but the food is good and the experience fun. Recommend!
The one huge memory I had of my short trip to Seoul before was a shopping spree in the middle of the night. I always told everyone about this time I went shopping at 12AM until 3AM in these giant shopping malls. As it turned out, after some searching, the area is called Dongdaemun Shopping Complex, home to many many huge shopping malls, many of them open late, and all of them packed full of clothes. You can find entire floors dedicated to clothes, jewelry, electronics, accessories, toys, etc. It’s a wholesale area as well, and reminded me of night markets in Taiwan, albeit vertical.
We headed to Migliore—the place of my fond memories—and breezed through it floor by floor. To give you a sense of how much stuff is in these malls, one place separated out women’s wear out by white, gray, black clothes on the third, fourth, and fifth floors. Since we were buying pretty light on this trip, I don’t think we actually bought anything at Dongdaemun, but if you’re looking for some shopping—mainly cheap clothes and jewelry—this is the spot.
There was a ton of shopping in Korea, as I’m sure you all know. High end, low end, whatever you want. As many of the clothes I’ve worn over the past few years have been from Korea, I assumed I would find gems there. As it turned out, I wasn’t really in the clothes buying mood but we sure looked at a lot of stuff! You can Google where to find the areas of stuff you like.
One thing we saw a lot of that I had never seen before were entire stores dedicated to iron on patches. You buy a piece of cloth, select patches, and then DIY design everything. There were so many of these stores and so many cute patches that we bought a few just for keepsakes. I wonder if this is an incoming fad or something just incredibly popular in Korea.
When walking around, you’ll invariably run into these Acorn Caricature places in all the popular shopping areas. We did it twice and let’s just say the results were not quite as cute as we wanted. The first one was so disappointing that we were actually scarred. Do I really look like a sixty-year old white man?! Still, it was quick and fun to do, as was any of the many photo booth shops.
Also in regards to fashion we observed: a lot of the young women we saw were dressed grandma core up top and short and trendy on their bottom half. This was a common style. In related news, we got my mom two very Korean fashionable tops.
Where was the K-pop?
While there wasn’t a lack of K-pop related stores, there was definitely not as much as I was expecting. K-Mecca Myeongdong was pretty large, and we found a few very interesting stores tucked away here and there, but it wasn’t EVERYWHERE. Finding New Jeans was pretty difficult actually, and mostly I saw them on advertisements for OLENS contacts.
On the topic of K-pop stuff, it definitely was not everywhere as expected. My conversational comparison was that if someone from abroad came to the US thinking everyone was into Taylor Swift, they would be sorely disappointed. That’s how I felt about K-pop stuff, and specifically New Jeans or groups I recognized. There was plenty of K-pop in the stores but finding specific merch stores, dancers, etc. was not as prevalent as I would’ve imagined.
As for random Random Play Dance events, we had to hunt them down. The only one we attended was thrown by Seoul Spring Festa and while it was pretty good, we didn’t see people dancing in the streets or anything. In short, I expected like the Disneyland of K-pop in Seoul and it was not to be. I did go look at 1MILLION dance studio in Seongdong, but it was closed. Not that I could have taken a class there, but I was ready to just sit outside and watch dancers go in and out.
Any Night Life?
When you’re all tuckered out from a full day of wandering, going out to party at night might be hard to do. In my past trips, much of my city time was built around night time activities but due to both slightly chilly weather and also such a comfy apartment, we only ventured out a few times. Mostly I was looking for K-pop clubs and parties, but these were also hard to come by.
Many of the clubs were EDM, basic pop, or hip hop focused, and I had zero interest in any of those. I’d read that Hongdae and Gangnam were the party areas—Itaewon too, but I’ve also heard it was terrible and any walk through at night confirmed that—but sometimes the clubs rejected people for looks, age, dress, foreigner status, etc. I had been telling everyone that I was looking for some rejection and we did find it, at the least expected moment too. Our first night out in Hongdae was easy and uneventful—love the club promoters who wear bright traffic vests—so I was recklessly confident we’d be fine going forward.
Instead, the next night when there was a K-pop club on deck, we walked to the door and got a real hard no after the doorman looked my passport. I pretended for two seconds I knew Korean. I tried for two seconds to say that I knew someone inside. All to no avail. “Sorry, there is an age limit to go inside. It is born after 1995…” So yeah, total rejection and our best story of the trip.
After that, we didn’t bother going out anymore, altho we did take a peek at Cakeshop near our apartment, which supposedly has interesting music and events. Also, due to the aforementioned chilly and cozy, we didn’t go to any bars or do any of that, despite some good recommends from friends. So yeah, no night life in Seoul, which was perfectly fine!
Museums
The National Museum of Korea is a beautiful space, and main building is wildly impressive for its vast scale. The tiny so called ten story pagoda inside was not as advertised but whatever. The whole space was very cool and I can’t even recall anything in particular that stayed with me, but a nice afternoon visit.
The War Memorial of Korea was an unexpected hit. Starting with its collection of planes, tanks, and other large machines, the entire thing was way more interesting than I ever thought a war museum could be. From the simultaneous timeline display inside, to going through the history of Korea’s many wars, the whole museum was a real hit! Also, the scaled down turtle ship inside was a wonder—thank you Age of Empires II—and I was in awe of actually seeing one.
Leeum Museum of Art was kind of small and not that thrilling. Very nice collection of ceramics and porcelain though, and I liked how they were displayed. Definitely skippable unless you’re directly in the area.
Misc Recommends
• Honey Butter Seasoned Almonds: We saw these HBAF almond snacks everywhere. First as cute almond characters, and then in increasingly large stores until we stumbled upon their flagship, which was like a warehouse full of boxes and statues of the characters. After that, we tried many of the flavors and they were nearly all pretty good, or at least interesting!
• Cafe Areas: Ikseon-dong Hanok Street, Yeonnam-dong, etc. There were a few of these areas, which were invariably crowded and narrow but packed with (very) cute cafes and restaurants. There are so many cute cafes everywhere in Seoul that hunting down specific ones is mostly a wash, unless you just really want that one photo or that one special taste.
• Han River walk: As advertised, it’s great! You’ll recognize it if you love The Host. All the river and parks in Seoul were quite lovely, which is not something I’m usually prone to say about rivers and parks.
• Seoul Outdoor Library: A nice stroll along the Cheonggyecheon stream, where everyone is sitting nicely and many are reading!
And two dis-recommends...
• CU Ramyun Library: I was so excited to go here but it was really just a CU with a large ramyun wall. Neat to stop by but not worth the effort. One thing I learned on this trip was to not be fooled by Instagram photos of just one angle.
• Starfield Library, COEX Mall: See above. This was hardly a library and all the cool Insta photos are just that, a cool photo from a good angle.
TLDR Verdict
Seoul was not quite as expected. I think I could have stayed there longer, but with a different pacing and it would have to be for a much more extended amount of time. Long enough to make friends, find some regular activities and communities, and things to do that didn’t involve just going out to see new areas and things. The food is good, transportation is easy, there are plenty of areas to poke around in, and I’m sure there are many many scenes I would be interested in. However, for a short in and out trip, ten days felt plenty long.
Was I disappointed that there wasn’t enough readily available K-pop (never mind LOL stuff)? Yes, a bit. But I’m sure with enough time there, we could’ve found those people. I’ve had friends who have stayed in Korea much longer, but all of them have so far, upon cursory poll, been Korean. So for a non-Korean who is just visiting, I think the itinerary would have to be different, or a full on commitment to living there.
One thing that we were told is that Hallyu really is an export. The Korean Wave was sent out and while those things do all exist in large quantities in Korea, going there and expecting only that is narrow minded. And so, I have to adjust my thinking about it. Having said this, I want to continue learning and ingesting Korea in all its formats, and next time we go back, I’d want to do it for longer!
Here’s a few things about Korea that I found upon my research:
- To the Kitchen Staff at 초밥 사랑 (Chobap Sarang) 2024
- Interview with Travel Writer: Kat Lewis | Substack
- Walking the World: The unbearable lightness of Korean cute | I could live in Seoul
