Travel to South Korea

South Korea

I visited South Korea in March.  I landed at Seoul’s Inchon Airport. My Korean pronunciation is not good, so please understand that as I describe my trip.

I was excited to see the city through the eyes of my friend Chris. We were whisked away to a hotpot dinner, then taken to the French neighborhood in Seoul, where we rested for the night.

The next morning, we drove south to visit a town about 2 hours away and stayed in Wolbong-ro (Road), in Seobuk-gu, near SeongJeong.

South Korea is about the same size as the US state of Virginia in size or compared to the size of the country of Hungary. If you look at the size of the entire peninsula, you would say it’s the same size as Minnesota or the country of Great Britain.

I was only there for four days, but during this time, I was able to see a lot of Seoul and explore some places to share with you.

For example, the Seoul Noryyanglin Fisheries Wholesale Market is five stories tall and open to the public. It’s worth seeing if you like seafood, and you can roam the aisles looking for your favorite fish delicacies.

This was a hotpot dinner in Seoul, South Korea my first night in the city.

I visited the Vovo Bidet company, and met with the director and some of his team. Have you seen the #1 Bidet firm in Korea? They have retail and wholesale offices in the Los Angeles area, too. I liked the tour of the offices here in Seoul. They even have a Bidet to go. Think about that for a minute. That was in Daebang-dong or Seocho4-dong.

I visited retail stores such as Zara, one of my favorites for fashion.

I had Chinese, Japanese, and Fusion foods.

I took subways, busses, taxis, and Ubers plus trains.

I went to Gwannghumun Square, the purple Station #9.

I went to the shopping mall called The Hyundai.and found stores like Zanmang Loopy, the Hyundai Present, and a great coffee and tea shop.

I learned about Hanguel, the Korean alphabet, and saw the statue of Sejong the Great. There was also another statue of Admiral YiSun Sin.

The Bukchon Honok Village is a quiet residential area.

Jogyasa Temple is where you will see Buddism.

Hongdae is the neighborhood for independent artists.

Yonsei University was a place I wanted to visit next time, as I was in the neighborhood and liked it a lot.

Gangnam style, well, maybe next time.

I tried new foods, such as mung bean pancakes,and hotleok dessert.

We had a wonderful dinner at Sushi-ya Shabu-ya, about an hour from Seoul, near Korea Nazarene University in Cheonan-si-Buldang1-dong.

Recommended: Relax in a tea house.

In Korea, we were departing from the airport without enough money on our transit cards, so we could not enter the building. Instead, we had to see the office at the kiosk and pay for the train. It was not much, but it did take a few minutes. We arrived well ahead of the recommended 3 hours, so that was not an issue for us.

Do you or don’t you tip? Not in South Korea. But it’s always smart to ask. Be confident when you know what the expectations are.