In early December, Steve and I went to Korea! Despite our Korean students, Korean cafeteria food, Korean internet speed, and Korean driving experiences, it doesn’t often feel like we are actually living in Korea. So we decided to fly up there on a Friday night and check it out for the weekend :)
Our weekend consisted of Taco Bell, Gyeongbok Palace (complete with a changing of the guard ceremony), Gangnam Style, Uniqlo, Italian food, seeing a 20th Century Fox movie in a 20th Century Fox Theater (though the film is not quite worth mentioning…), the N Seoul Tower, Brunchy/Pie Wonderfulness, The National Museum of Korea, and lots of time spent on the subway.
It was really interesting to see the similarities and differences between Seoul and Jeju, and between Seoul and Shanghai. At various points of the weekend we actually felt like we were in Shanghai. The city layout felt the same (except for the hills in the background!), the temples were very similar (except for the hills in the background!), there were lots of people, and we even stopped into a Paris Baguette to ask for directions (we got lost and went 45 minutes in the wrong way on the subway to exit at Sincheon when we were supposed to go to Sinchon…pshhhh, details…). The Shanghai facade would diminish though as soon as we were back on the subway again…there was no pushing!
We also realized that Jeju actually is Korea! It just so happens that Korea feels more like the states than China does…mostly because we aren’t living in a humongous city anymore. So nice :)
My two favorite parts to the weekend were the Seoul Tower and the brunch discovery! The Tower was incredible! It was on a hill with a 360 degree view of the city below. I love that Seoul is surrounded by hills! Not quite San Francisco, but still quite refreshing compared to our experience in the flat marshlands of Shanghai in the last three years. Steve was also quite excited Arizona Raspberry Ice Tea at the top!
My two favorite parts to the weekend were the Seoul Tower and the brunch discovery! The Tower was incredible! It was on a hill with a 360 degree view of the city below. I love that Seoul is surrounded by hills! Not quite San Francisco, but still quite refreshing compared to our experience in the flat marshlands of Shanghai in the last three years. Steve was also quite excited Arizona Raspberry Ice Tea at the top!
The brunch find was a fantastic surprise! It began when Steve and I imagined up the impossibly perfect idea of walking out of our hotel and finding a satisfyingly delicious place for breakfast. That may not sound impossible, but Western breakfast restaurants are very few and far between in Asia. We’re dreamers though, so we set off on a breakfast expedition. Fifteen minutes later, after winding ourselves through a random Hong Kong-esque alleyway, we were sitting in a cute little brunch place that also specialized in miniature pies! It was a Seoul miracle! A very delicious one, that will probably reoccur on future trips to Seoul :)
Besides the tower and brunch, Steve's favorite part was his new history book- 5 Thousand Years of Korea. We purchased it at the Palace, and every subway ride afterward Steve was whipping it out to peruse. The best part about the book was that we actually got to see many of the items and history pieces pictured inside when we went to the museum the next day! It was pretty fun to read about the significance of an artifact in a book and then see it in person right away! Yup, we're nerds :)
We loved our little Seoul get-away :) But we love our island even more!