South Korea 🇰🇷
My first stop was in Seoul, South Korea. I'm not kidding when I say I couldn't have picked a more perfect first country to visit for my first time in Asia. Seoul was an extremely clean city that has all the same conveniences big cities in the US have and more. Their public transportation system allows you to easily travel between the city and is clean, well organized, and easy to understand (even when you don't know Korean!).
I don't necessarily "blend in" easily in Asia, so people knew I was a foreigner. Even so, I never felt unsafe in Korea, even initially arriving after it was dark and taking the metro alone.
During my time there, it definitely helped to travel with my friends Pauline & Jon who have been living in Korea for about two years now and speak the language. They were amazing hosts and I'm so happy I was able to spend time with them in their new city after not seeing them for a few years.
I took the metro from the airport (seamlessly thanks to Pauline's wonderful directions) and met them at Bulgwang, the stop closest to their aparment. We ate a late dinner at a nearby Korean BBQ place with AMAZING food before heading to their place.
July 15th, 2017
I woke up super early the next morning because of the time change and was eager to see the city in the daylight! Pauline and I spent my first full day there together! We ate brunch at a cute local restaurant called S'more. It had a great view of the city, good food, and great coffee–what more could you ask for?
Our next stop was the Gyeongbukgung Palace. A beautiful palace from the Joseon Dynasty. Pauline showed me where to rent a hanbok, the tradiational Korean attire. Because I wore this to the palace, I didn't have to pay the entrance fee! We explored the palace area for a while, but unfortunately it started raining and most of it is outside. The rain cooled things off for a bit and we were able to return my hanbok undamaged before heading to our next spot.
We headed to Insadong from the Gyeongbukgung Palace. It's a great shopping area with a mix of stores ranging from traditional Korean items to souvineers and other fun items. I bought a handmade bow headband, a purse, and some fun bookmarks!
That night, we had dinner with Pauline and Jon's friends from college who are also living in Korea. After dinner we found a cafe for coffee and dessert where I had a sweet potato latte! We stumbled upon a live jazz bar with amazing live music on our way home before calling it a night.
July 16th, 2017
On Sunday, we had exactly what I requested: a Korean breakfast. We went to a spot near their apartment where the locals. go for. An authentic meal. I enjoyed it more than I expected to honestly!
After breakfast, we made our way to Bukchon Hanok Village. The area was stunning! People still live there today, so you need to be quiet when walking around the streets, but the buildings are beautiful. We found an authentic little cafe, Cafe Yeon, in the area where we stopped for tea after doing a bit more shopping–I bought some skincare products from Innisfree. 🙂
Pauline and Jon left to go meet up with some friends who were having an event at church, so I decided to check out the Korean War Memorial museum. My mom suggested that I go there since my grandfather was in the Air Force for the war. It definitely didn't disappoint–I was extremely impressed with the museum! I'm honestly not the biggest fan of museums but I really enjoyed this one. Everything was very well organized and easy to follow. There's so much history to learn there!
After the museum I met up with my friend Amy! In high school, my friend Sara and I went to "nerd camp" – Michigan Math and Science Scholars at U of M. There was a large group from Korea there and I became friends with Amy. I messaged her when I knew I'd be visiting Korea and even though she's not living in Seoul, she made the trip up to the city to meet me for dinner on my last night! It was amazing to see her after 7 years and I'm so glad we were able to spend some time together again.
Even though it was a shorter trip than I realized (thanks to losing a day with the time diffference), I felt like I was able to see and do a lot. I had such a surreal time in Seoul that I honestly didn't want to leave the city or Jon and Pauline, but I was excited to visit Taiwan, my second stop in Asia!