A Week in Seoul

 My overnight flight from Haneda landed at Incheon Airport just before 5am. It didn't take too long to clear immigration and customs despite some fairly convoluted travel from the airplane to the terminal.

Once landside my first job was to get some Korean Won and buy a travel card. The ATMs that dispensed cash from international cards didn't seem to be working, so I just converted Japanese Yen cash that I had with me. The exchange rate in Korea seemed to be better than what they'd offered at the airport in Japan.

Travel card and a snack purchased, I took the subway into the city. Alternatively, you can take an express train, or a bus, both of which are 3-4 times more expensive than the subway. I had time, it was still very early after all.

I changed subway lines to arrive at the nearest station to my hostel. Although I couldn't check in until the afternoon, they were happy for me to leave my bag there, and to help myself to their daily free breakfast. That was nice of them!!

Visa documents in hand I headed off to the nearby Japanese Embassy. I'd chosen my accommodation mostly based on its proximity to the embassy, but it was also reasonably cheap, and came with breakfast! 

The first thing I noticed was that Seoul was considerably colder than Tokyo. I'd failed to notice that Korea was actually a bit further north on the map, and therefore considerably lower temperatures could be expected. I'd brought along my beanie, warm gloves and thick puffer jacket, but not any thermals for my legs, something I would need to remedy.

I arrived at the Japanese Embassy to be told that I couldn't apply for a visa in person because I wasn't a Korean resident. They helpfully gave me a list of visa agents that I could use. This list was, unfortunately, in Korean language, which has hieroglyphic characters, though I've heard is fairly basic and easy to learn. On the list, the agents that could speak English were underlined so between Google Translate, Google Maps and some help from the lady at the desk I found the address of a nearby visa agent and headed there.

30 minutes later I was dropping my passport and application papers at the visa agent, who would take it to the embassy the next day and email me when the visa was ready. It takes 5 business days in Perth, but these guys weren't able to give me any idea how long it would take here. They didn't seem to think it would take too long though....

That little chore taken care of, it was time to be a tourist. I wandered east towards the city walls, stopping in at a small burger restaurant for lunch, before finding myself at one of the eastern gates. The old city of Seoul was originally surrounded by a stone wall, with a number of fortified gateways. Most of these were destroyed by various foreign invaders, most notably the Japanese, but with Korea's increased prosperity since the 1980's there has been a revival in restoring much of Seoul's historic monuments, including a number of large palaces and shrines.

I wandered up to Naksan Hill, following the path along the city wall. In the distance you could see these massive skyscraper apartment blocks, reflecting just how huge the population is in Seoul.

From Naksan I wandered down through Iowa Mural Village, which had a few murals painted on the side of buildings, and quite a few coffee shops as well. I then wandered back to check in officially at the hostel, where I managed to have the entire women's dormitory to myself for the night. Since I'd just come off a red-eye, an uninterrupted sleep was appreciated.

The next day I headed off to check out one of the Royal Palaces. It was actually 2 palaces side by side, Changdeokgung Palace and Changgyeonggung Palace. Again, these are restored palaces, and often rebuilt from scratch after being fully destroyed in the past. 

It's possible to gain free entry to the palaces if you dress up in traditional Korean clothing, known as Hanbok. It's a quaint idea that makes for great photographs, but the cheaper option is just to buy a booklet with entry to all the historic monuments and save on hiring the fancy dress. Especially if you want to visit the palaces over multiple days...

The palaces really are grand and well worth visiting. There's a conservatory full of exotic plants and also a secret garden, but entry to that was closed after a big snow storm a week prior had caused lots of damage. It's hard to believe that it snowed so much a week ago, as there's absolutely no trace of it to be seen anywhere.

aside from a little ice on the pond....

Palaced out for the day I took the subway to Namdaeumun Market, a traditional market selling pretty well everything. I found a stall selling underwear and bought myself some thermal long johns, hoping that the universal size would actually fit me. There are a lot of large people in Korea so I hoped the leggings would accommodate me.

Next it was street food time. I found a place with a huge queue selling steamed dumplings, so I dutifully stood in line until it was my turn. Food in Korea is much cheaper than in Japan, and very delicious! The dumplings weren't quite enough, so I wandered around a bit more before purchasing a mungbean fritter, called bindaetteok, to fill me up.

Day 3 saw me wandering north to visit the Bukchon Hanok Village. This is a neighbourhood where the traditional houses have not been bulldozed to make way for high density housing and have subsequently become a tourist attraction in their own right. Not always to the liking of the people who still live there...

At the top of a small hill was a museum, with some great views, and with a cup of herbal tea included in the entry fee. Worth the small fee for the opportunity to look down at the houses from above and enjoy sitting down over a warm beverage.

From there I headed across to another palace, this one called Gyeongbokgung, which has a "changing of the guard" re-enactment a couple of times a day. Another massive complex, also mostly resurrected from being destroyed by the Japanese.

Enough history for one day, and another market to visit. Tonkin Market is much smaller, and a little out of the way. It hosts a number of street stalls and the opportunity to purchase small tasters from numerous stalls through buying old coins as tokens and then filling up your tray with different foods. I didn't bother, instead buying a couple of different items and heading back to my hostel to eat them there.

Day 4, and a must do on anyone's itinerary if visiting Seoul: a visit to the Demilitarised Zone. You need to go on an organised tour to visit the DMZ, so I chose a small operator, who picked us up very early, in order to get on one of the earlier buses to visit the sites. There were only about 6 of us on our tour, and our guide Vincent was incredibly knowledgable and really went the extra mile. For instance, recently North Korea has gotten angry at tourists posting negative comments about it on social media and has threatened to shoot people if seen using the binoculars on the rooftop gallery. In fact we were told we couldn't take any photos of North Korea, even from inside the building, because of the risk of people posting on social media and further angering Pyeongyang. But Vincent did supply us with the use of some binoculars, so we could at least get a gander at the propoganda villages built to convince us of North Korea's prosperity.

Memorial to the "comfort women" abused by the Japanese. Note the scarves and slippers..

In truth, South Korea is also in the propaganda game, broadcasting western news and music over loudspeakers into North Korean territory. There are two villages in the DMZ, one in North Korea, the other in South Korea. The North Korean village is largely unpopulated, but the South Korean village is indeed a real village, mostly made up of farmers who are given land to farm in the DMZ for free. They have restrictions of movement, and curfews, so it isn't for everyone, and they need to drive in and out of the checkpoints each time they leave the area for whatever reason.

The DMZ was created after the Korean War armistice, because the war hasn't officially ended. Both sides hope for reunification, but of course under vastly different political ideologies! North Korea has staged a number of attacks on the South over the years, and has dug a number of tunnels. It's estimated that there are at least 12 tunnels, but only 4 have been discovered by South Korea. One of them is open for tourism.

After visiting the tunnel and the viewpoint we headed back to Seoul, stopping along the way to visit a long suspension bridge over a gorge which is part of an extensive trekking route. There's lots of excellent options for hiking in Korea, something I may consider doing in the future.

We were dropped off back in Seoul at our choice of a number of locations. A few of us got dropped off at Gwangjang Market, which is known for its street food. One of the others from the tour joined me to try out some of the food and partake of some Soju. It's definitely more fun eating with others.

Many different varieties of Kimchi, all delicious!

Toasting a giant marshmallow

I'd received an email that my visa was ready, so after breakfast I walked around to the visa agent to pick up my passport. The cost was 50,000 Won, approximately $54AUD, and they would only take cash. That meant finding a bank to exchange some more Japanese Yen, because I still couldn't get an ATM to accept my international debit card. I made sure to get a receipt though, as I'm going to try and claim my trip to Korea as a legitimate work expense.

I have to say, the process of getting a work visa for Japan in Seoul has been relatively painless, and much quicker than it would take back in Perth. Visiting South Korea has been completely delightful, with easy to navigate public transport, great food, cheap prices and lots to do. I'd definitely consider doing a visa run to Korea again.

I still had a few days left, as my flight back to Tokyo wasn't until Monday morning. I'd given myself a full 7 days in the country, as I had no idea how long the visa process would take. Not long it turned out!!!

On the way back from picking up my visa I noticed what appeared to be a museum in the basement of a large modern skyscraper. It turned out to be an archeological exhibition of what had been in that part of the city prior to the building of the current structure. Apparently all modern buildings in the central area of Seoul must have an archeologic survey prior to construction, so that the history and any artefacts can be saved, but not every building has a museum in the basement!!!

Passport back at the hostel I headed to Jongmyo, to join the 12pm guided tour in English. This temple, also in my booklet of historic monuments, is a temple for the ancestors of all the royal families over the centuries. It is a Confucian Temple, meaning it is not a temple for the living, but for the dead. Once a year there is a big gathering of all the royal families' offspring, and a sumptuous banquet is prepared and music and dance performed for the ancestors. The rest of the year, it's just for the ghosts...

After lunch I took the subway to visit the Korean War Memorial. It's an emotionally moving experience to see all the suffering imposed on these poor innocent people, after their country was divided up by foreign superpowers after Japan ceded defeat in 1945.

It was the first night of the lantern festival, which is usually held in November, but this year in December. There is a reclaimed stream that runs through the middle of the city, and the lanterns are in the stream, as well as a wonderful lightshow. There's another venue up at one of the old gates, but I didn't manage to get there.

It was mindnumbingly cold the next morning as I headed off to visit Olympic Park on the other side of the river. The subway system is extensive, and crazily cheap, especially if using a travel card. The park had some really cool sculptures, as well as extensive sporting fields, and wasn't far from another Seoul icon, Lotte Tower. 

I just wandered around a lake and took photos, as I didn't really want to revisit the crowded experience of a city view from the top of a tall building AKA Tokyo Skytree! Instead I found Bongeunsa Temple, and wandered around its serene grounds for a while. It's possible to arrange temple stays at many of Korea's Buddhist temples, something I might just do on a future trip.

Across the road (though bizarrely it took me a while to find it due to some erroneous routing by Google Maps) is Starfield Library. It is an actual library, but it's even more a tourist attraction. It's certainly pretty cool!

My final stop for the day was the final historic palace in my booklet of entrance tickets: Deoksugung Palace. It was nearby City Hall, and the least impressive of all the palaces I'd visited. It also houses an Art Gallery, but I didn't visit that.

What I've failed to mention until now, is that my visit to South Korea coincided with a constitutional crisis in domestic politics. There were even travel alerts from the Australian Government warning against visiting. In truth there had been no time when I had felt that there were any issues for me as a tourist. When I visited the Japanese Embassy there had been barricades and a police presence, and on our way back through Seoul from our DMZ tour we had been delayed 10 minutes or so whilst a large demonstration passed by. But there was no violence and the police seemed pretty chill about the whole thing.

Coming out of the subway at City Hall to visit the palace I walked smack bang into the middle of another large demonstration. Again, despite a large police presence, there was no tension, and definitely no riot gear.

Inside the palace I could hear the passionate calls of numerous speakers over their megaphones, which made my visit to the historic palace somewhat different to the other places. I was also receiving public security alert SMSs on my phone every 10 minutes or so. But I never felt threatened.

The demonstration was because the parliament were planning a second impeachment vote that evening against the Prime Minister. A few days before I arrived in Korea the Prime Minister had unilaterally called a state of martial law. It appears to have been motivated by the fact that he and a number of his ministers were being investigated for corruption, and in a Trump like move he planned essentially a coup! Unfortunately for him, not only did the army not immediately come to his defence, but the other parliamentarians rushed into Parliament and convened an emergency session and voted down the imposition of martial law. So it lasted all of 3 hours.

The Korean people seem to be very attached to the notion of democracy, perhaps because of their neighbours to the north, so this spiked the huge demonstrations that ensued over the coming weeks. The first impeachment vote was unsuccessful, but this second vote, a week later, turned out to be successful, and then the process needs to go through the legal system, taking up to 6 weeks, before the Prime Minister is legally removed from office. It's incredibly refreshing to see a country of people who think Trump like politics has no place in a healthy democracy. 

My final day in Seoul I went to visit N Seoul Tower, perched on top of another hill, and also on the Old City Wall boundary. It's got lovely gardens and forests on the hillsides, at least one temple, and another opportunity to get some city views. Again I didn't bother going up the tower itself. 

N Seoul Tower is also renowned for lovers locks, and there are thousands of them. There's also lots of influencers, wandering around talking to their Tik Tok followers on their mini video cameras on tripods. What has the world come to??

Being my final day I wanted to try a couple of Korean classics. One was Ginseng Chicken Soup. It was quite a large meal, though the bird itself was relatively small by western standards.

In the evening one of my dorm mates joined me for Korean BBQ. You can't really do Korean BBQ for one, as there's a minimum order of two plates of meat. I think we ordered three in the end, and it certainly was delicious!

My time was up in Seoul. Monday morning I took the subway out to Gimpo Airport for my flight back to Tokyo. There I headed to my hotel to check in, before heading out again to visit a few other attractions I'd booked ahead of time, before I knew I'd be going to Seoul for a week. I'd been incredibly fortunate that I'd been able to cancel all of my accommodation within Japan for that week for free, but my bookings on Monday and Tuesday were not able to be changed or refunded if cancelled. And I was back in time to use them.

That's next!