Our experience was made much easier by my good buddy Jordan. We went up there to visit him (he teaches at an English school). He has picked up a good amount of the language and was able to get us through some conversations with cabbies, restaurants, etc. This is partly the reason the trip was so different.
We normally go on trips geared for a tourist, staying in the main site seeing areas, restaurants with English menus and the like. This experience had us staying with a friend in a suburb of Seoul, eating at neighborhood restaurants and seeing what living there was like.Palaces
Easily the coolest tourist thing we saw was Gyeongbokgung Palace. I wont pretend that I looked into the Joseon dynasty before coming here, but man are the palaces beautiful. We noticed right away how calm it was for a tourist spot.
In our previous travels, the main tourist sites were very cramped, not that easy to get around and not nearly as peaceful. Another plus was the beautiful weather, somewhere about 55 degrees with the sun shining.The immensity of this palace is all around. There are buildings for this and that, and lodging quarters, and on and on. All of them have a very similar style. As I joked, the designer was trying to keep a theme throughout ;)
When Amanda left, I visited the Changdeokgung or East Palace. It had many similar features, but didn't have the same beauty with the water and bridges. Still, let's not be picky here, the architecture is simply gorgeous, as is the attention to detail.
We visited my kind of palace on Sunday afternoon when we went to the Seoul Olympics park and saw all the stadiums used for the 1988 Olympiad. Many of the main venues are in the same area.
Outside the track stadium, there's a little rink set up, where Jordan plays hockey. Walking up to the stadium really gave me chills (or maybe it was the 40 degree weather with sun setting). While waiting for Jordan's game, we went inside the basketball arena. I was pretty impressed, and it was cool that a local team was having a fan appreciation day.Blend of Modern and New
One of my favorite parts of the city was how the traditional architecture is mixed in with the modern structures.
One of the temples we went to was literally across the street from the large convention center and many a skyscraper. It shows the value in holding onto these heritage sites.Baseball
The love of baseball in South Korea appears to be immense. Everywhere you go, people are wearing MLB hats (and nice ones too, all fitted New Eras) and clothes. To go even deeper, I went to a spring training game for the SK Wyverns, the defending Korea league champions.
Let me just say, an MLB team would be decently happy with about 500 people showing up for a spring training game in 42 degree weather at 1PM on a Monday! The stadium in Incheon is really modern and nice, with little restaurants inside, and also local stalls.
I loved that people were eating ramen noodles at the game. Who needs peanuts and cracker jacks? Haha, there were snacks like that as well. The game itself was very entertaining, with a 9-8 final scoreline. The baseball level is similar to minor league quality.Food
The food there is very good, especially the barbeque. Jordan took us to his favorite place in his neighborhood and the beef was excellent. Let's be straight here: meat, fire, awesome sauce equals a winning combination. Plus, surrounding the fire where the meat is cooking, there's also a "scrambled egg" mixed with kimchi type dish forming. That was easily my second favorite part.
We went to many of his favorite places. The best burger place, the best chicken galbi place (very spicy chicken mixed in this cool fry pan), a great snack food restaurant, a "bomb" fried chicken place...definitely not hungry for most of the trip. On the cheeky home front, I stopped in a Sbarro and a Krispy Kreme because we don't have such fine institutions in Singapore. I enjoyed both and am not at all embarrassed to say I ate there in Korea.
Of course, all these are good, but nothing compared to the genius of col-pops.
This is one of the smartest fast food innovations I've ever seen, and I'm shocked a US chain hasn't picked it up. In the same cup, this restaurant puts cola at the bottom of the cup, then puts a lid on it, then puts a pile of chicken poppers on top. It's seriously very smart. You have one hand to hold your food and drink, the other to eat it. Why hasn't KFC in the US done this? I could see the mass marketing now. All in all, I got exactly what I wanted from the trip. We were able to see many sites and get a good feel for the way people live, plus I got to hang out with one of my best friends.
Anyang-bye bye,
Michael
