On my trip to South Korea

The popular opening question for me lately had been "How was your trip to Korea?". Questions about holidays are always good conversation openers. But if you're not careful you will never get the storyteller to stop!

So what do I think of Korea? ... I loved it!

While in South Korea we spent most of our time in the vibrant capital of Seoul and then a few days travelling out to other areas like Jeju Island and Suwon. Mountains, clear streams, yellowing autumn leaves, numerous restored ancient palaces, lots of pickled vegetables and barbeque meat, fresh and raw seafood, rice wine served from small pots, endless selection of shopping delights ranging from the very modest to the very extravagant (food, fashion, art, souvenirs and many many other types of stores) - there are so many aspects to love.

Seoul

The word that sums up my perception of Seoul is "abundance". With a city population that comprises half of the population of Australia (more than the the population of Australia if we take into account the metropolitan areas) it is no wonder that everything we came across in Seoul were in abundance. Shopping centres, restaurants, bars and clubs, cars, buses, subways, national parks - they are all built to accommodate a city that is known as one of the largest cities in the world.

However the notion does not stop at man-made facilities, Seoul also carries a landscape that is dotted with hills and mountains. With the Han River running through the middle of the city(separating the administrative district of the city from the financial district (Yeouido) and the rich-man district (Gangnam)), the mountaineous landscape serves a beautiful serene backdrop which balances out the congested number of buildings and high-rises. We were lucky enough to stay in an apartment in Yeouido that is a short walking distance from the Han River and the popular Hangang Park from where we can enjoy this luxurious view.

View from the Hangang Park

View from the tower of Namsan, the highest point in Seoul

The other treat which Seoul provides in numbers to tourists are its ancient palaces. As Seoul used to house the old Joseon Dynasty the city has its fair share of palaces - this includes the "Five Grand Palaces" which are comprised of Changdeokgung, Changyeounggung, Deoksugung, Gyeongbokgung and Gyeonghuigung . Despite the aggressive modernisation that has been happening to South Korea for the last few decades, the restoration and preservation of these palaces are outstanding. We visited 2 out of 5 palaces (one of which was Changdeokgung, a UNESCO World Heritage site) and were shown past residences of kings and queens, a beautiful ancient secret garden hidden behind the trees, sites which were burnt down by Japanese during the invasion, and sites which were used to film the popular Korean drama Dae Jang Geum.

Hordes of visitors rushing to witness the "Secret Garden"

A display of a King's parade at Gyeongbokgung

Food and shopping

And how can a blog on a travel destination be completed without mention of food and shopping? To me the main highlight and epitome of Korean food is the banchan (the side dishes). Koreans usually serve anywhere from 2-12 side dishes with each meal and this applied to most of the food places we went to including Chinese or Japanese restaurants. The banchan can be comprised of a few types of dishes ranging from various types of kimchee (preserved vegetables), tofu, pickled squids, salads and other greens and they usually filled me up halfway even before I started on a main meal!

Korean meals are generally healthy and popular dishes include various types of soups (daengjang chigae, kimchee chigae, altang, myeungtang), rice mixed up vegetables (bibimbap), raw fishes and meat cooked on hotstone. Another popular dish with the Koreans, albeit less healthy and is considered more as a variation of Chinese food, is the jjajangmyun, which is noodles mixed wholly in rich black bean paste sauce and usually eaten at the same time with tangsuyuk (pork mixed with sweet and sour sauce). All these dishes present their own appeal to me, but my favourite would have to be the samgyetang (whole spring chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng and dates and cooked in soup) which to me is not only extremely delightful in taste but also presents health benefits.

I'll let the pictures tell the story (from top to bottom): Samgyalpsal - thick layers of pork cooked on hotstone and eaten together with lettuce, kimchee and rice; the many varieties of seafood at the fish market where we can select fishes for immediate raw consumption; banchan; samgyetang.

And finally, without any pictures for illustration (because there is always something else apart from picture-snapping that I would rather be doing), is the shopping. To me there are mainly 3 types of shopping - the cheap-end market shopping (which is good for things that does not require durability e.g. souvenirs, accessories, fashion clothes that change like the seasons); mid-end shopping (which is good for the young working class of people and generally includes imported international brands like Zara) and high-end shopping (which is good for anyone with a lot of moo-lah to spend).
And Seoul provides a haven for all 3 types of shoppers.

I find myself spending a lot of time and revisiting the low-end and mid-end shopping areas. One of the reasons is that (again), the abundance of choices. In Dongdaemun alone you can find at least 5 buildings, all next to each other, each with 4-6 levels, stocked with clothings and fashion accessories. The other reason is that I find that at a marginally more expensive price (as opposed to like say, China or KL), the quality of the products tend to be better. And with South Korea being one of the leaders for the fashion scene in Asia, I found that I was thrown with an abundance of choices for good quality, well-designed clothings!

There was not a moment of boredom over the 2 weeks when we were visiting Seoul. Being a small city girl I cannot imagine living permanently in a place like Seoul which appears to present non-ending excitement but equally, I imagine, the potential to create a huge sense of loneliness to a foreigner - but for a short-term visit, I think Seoul has all the ingredients that will make a holiday memorable.