Our most recent travel adventure took us to South Korea in September 7-16, 2013. To be honest, it was a pretty last minute decision to go to South Korea. We knew that someday we wanted to go there, but weren’t planning on it being so soon. However, Alex’s company was short-staffed and he couldn’t get more than 9 days off at once, so we needed to pick somewhere we would could see a lot in a short period of time and was an interesting destination. Plus, Alex had several hotel points/vouchers he needed to use so we needed to go to a country that had a good selection of these hotels. Plus, with me being 25 weeks pregnant it needed to be somewhere that wouldn’t have any food/health issues. So with a combination of these factors, we ended up deciding on South Korea!
South Korea was very interesting, but very similar to a lot of other Asian countries we had been to. I would say the best analysis would be that it was a mix between China and Japan. It was very modern and technology savvy – for instance you could use your phone to pay for a movie ticket – but it still had street vendors. Overall, it was very westernized (no staring at foreigners here!), but you could blatantly see their loyalty to their national products. LG & Samsung were the only phones that we saw (I think I only saw 1 iPhone the whole time we were there) and Hyundai and Kia were the most popular vehicles.
Our journey through South Korea started off on Jeju Island, also known as the “Korean Hawaii”, then to Busan, followed by Gyeong-ju (a historical town) and then to Seoul.
Here are the highlights from each of these destinations:
Jeju Island
Our time in Jeju was mostly focused on the outdoors. We hiked up to the top of the volcanic island – Seongsan Ilchulbong, swam at the hotel pool, checked out some of the waterfalls and rented bicycles to ride along the coastline. As Jeju is a main tourist destination, there are many ‘hokey’ tourist destinations, especially museums. At the resort area where our hotel was at (and at other places around the island), there seemed to be every type of museum possible. Some examples were the Teddy Bear Museum, the Sex Museum, and the one we went to – the Chocolate Museum. To be honest, the ‘museum’ was basically a collection of different chocolate items made over the years with a souvenir shop of chocolates from around the world you could buy; there wasn’t any history or other information provided with the displays. (Honestly, at the Chocolate Museum I was hoping for lots of samples, but there was only 2 really small ones.)
Our favorite part of Jeju Island was Seongsan Ilchulbong and bike riding along the coastline.
Busan
With the hotel vouchers that Alex had earned earlier in the year, we ritzed it up and stayed at the Park Hyatt in Busan. To be completely honest, I felt a little out of my element with how fancy and prestigious they treat you, but I have to say it was an amazing hotel. Because Alex had a Diamond membership, we got free breakfast the two mornings that we were there and it basically consisted of everything imaginable for food, as well as servers who unfolded your napkin for you and took away any silverware that you weren’t using – plus my tea was never empty. One of my favorite parts about our stay there was the view from our room! We had a wonderful view of the Gwangan Bridge that was like something off of a postcard. Plus every night they would come in and do a turn-down service.
Although it was tempting to just bask in the elegance in the hotel, we did make it out to explore Busan. One of our favorite parts of Busan was the Jagalchi Fish Market. There was about every type of fish or sea creature you could think of! Like a typical Asian market there were tons of small vendors that were selling a variety of fish. We even witnessed a small octopus trying to escape from the kiddie pool that he was being kept in. We also visited Shinsegae Department Store, the largest Department Store in Korea. Other than a huge food court and tons of stores, they also had an ice skating rink and mini amusement park on a couple of their floors. We also explored and ate dinner in the Gukje Market – a main area with all kinds of restaurants and food vendors, as well as bars. One day we also headed out to the edge of the city and visited Beomeosa Temple, a Buddhist temple at the edge of the mountain.
Gyeong-ju
Gyeong-ju is the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla, so there are a lot of historical sites there. We checked out the Anagpi Pond, which was a large pond surrounded by different temples and trees for the Silla royalty. You can go either during the daytime or at night, we went at night and it was really beautiful! They used various lights to light up the structures and it reflected so wonderfully on the pond.
We also checked out the large grass covered tombs that make Gyeong-ju famous. At Tumuli Park, what look like random hills within the flat land are actually tombs for the various royalty of the Silla dynasty. They would bury these people and their possessions in these large tombs and then build a hill on top of them.
We also went to Bulguksa Temple, which is a temple on Mt. Tohamsan. Getting to this temple required taking a bus to the top, as it was a winding and steep climb, but being at the top in this serene place was pretty amazing.
Seoul
We took the high-speed train (KTX) from Gyeong-ju to Seoul, which got us there within a couple of hours. The trains resemble the Shinkansen trains and can travel at maximum speeds of 305 km per hour or 190 mph. The train trip was one of the major highlights for Alex.
To complete our high-end stays in Korea, we stayed at the Park Hyatt Seoul (located within the Gang nam district….so we were ‘Gang nam style’ while we were in S. Korea J). We didn’t get breakfast here, but they still provided the turndown service and other amenities. However, because we were so ‘posh’ they wouldn’t allow us to exert ourselves too much. On the final day when we had to get to the bus terminal to take us to the airport, they provided us a vehicle to take us there, which was actually only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. However, the bus terminal was really efficient for flights. We checked in for our flight, checked our bas and went through immigration so when we got to the airport, it was only about 5-10 minutes to get through security.
In Seoul, we visited both the Namdaemun Market and the Itaewon Market (known for higher end knock-offs and sports related items like hockey jerseys). At the Namdaemun Market we had our first Korean barbeque of the trip from one of the hundreds of street vendors and we enjoyed it while sitting on the plastic kiddie chairs. :-) Both of these markets are popular for selling knock-off merchandise; however, we actually ended up not buying hardly anything at all! A rarity for us! We also took the cable car to the top of Namsan Peak, a small mountain in the city and then hiked back to the bottom. For the cultural component we visited the Korean Folk Village where we saw demonstrations of sword fighting, dancing and music. There were also a variety of traditional Korean houses that were on display that you could see what these houses looked like during their distinct eras.
After a busy day of walking, we ended up at Cheonggyecheon, a park that they developed right in the heart of the city. The park is actually a level below the street and has a small stream with greenery running through it. We stopped to soak our feet in the water, and it was very peaceful considering that there were two major roads above.
Here are a few other things we found interesting….
Preference for Warmth
….or so it seemed. It seemed to us that Koreans liked the temperature warmer inside; either that, or they were trying to conserve energy. In Busan, it was 28+ C but with really high humidity (probably around 80-90%) but there seemed to be no airflow in the subway stations or in the trains until after 9:30 a.m. Another example, was that when we were on Jeju Island, we took the local bus and all the windows were sealed with no A/C until around 8:30-9 a.m.
Love for Coffee
There were almost as many (or more!) coffee shops in South Korea as in North America! Not only is Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts there, but they have several local Korean chains as well. As you were walking down the street, you’d see many Koreans with their iced beverages or coffees with them. They also use these coffee shops as social places. Instead of Dunkin Donuts being a place where you just stop and run, in Korea, the stores are made to be more of an experience with comfy tables and chairs.
Food
Most of the time when we travel, the food is one of the highlights of the trip. However, to be honest, in Korea we struggled to find food that we liked. We actually had more Western food on this trip than many other trips. At first, I thought maybe being pregnant caused me to have an aversion to Korean food, but Alex didn’t like it either, and he typically likes most ethnic food. One of the main reasons that I didn’t like it was because most things had a pickled taste to them, and I’m not a huge fan of pickled things in the first place.
At each meal they would provide you with several small dishes, which almost always included kimchi and some other pickled side items. A lot of the food also used a red sauce (I wasn’t a fan of this sauce). Another side would be a bowl of broth. Many of their food offerings would either be noodle-based or soup-based, but it didn’t seem like there were many vegetables in any of these dishes. I guess they expected you to eat the pickled side items. (I had read that part of the reason they did have so many pickled items, is that it was a way to preserve vegetables and other fresh foods during the winter as well as they didn’t have a huge selection of these.) Also, in dishes that did contain meat, there was very little meat in it. Plus, we found that meat dishes weren’t that common to begin with, and with our budget, they weren’t very affordable when we did find something.
Enjoying the Korean specialty of Bibimap
Before we went to Korea, I thought there was going to be a lot of ‘Korean barbeque’. However, the only place where it seemed the most popular was in Seoul. As barbeque is expensive in a restaurant, we ate the meat sticks from a street vendor where it was 2000 Won (almost $2) for one stick. We ordered some chicken and then later realized they had given us some chicken hearts for a few of the sticks. Luckily, I had grown up eating chicken hearts on our farm, so I was used to it.
The spread of meat in Namdaemun Market
Whenever we travel, we like to do the McDonalds comparison – to check out prices and food offerings. However, there wasn’t too much unique about the South Korean McDonalds – they had pretty much the same food offerings as North America and prices were similar. However, we did notice that at places where soft drinks were served that they automatically served us Pepsi – there didn’t seem to be any other choices like Sprite, etc.
Mother Friendly
Maybe it was because I was pregnant, but I really noticed the amenities that were offered to South Korean mothers. Everywhere you went in Korea there were nursing rooms for new moms – like the airport, subway station – and there were even some public restrooms that had stalls with small toilets and sinks for children. They were actually really cute!
Cost Comparison
Our basic consensus was that the cost of items in South Korea were very similar to the costs of items in Canada. At the time we were there the exchange rate was 1050 Won to $1 US/Canadian. A meal at a basic establishment would be about 6500-8000 Won (or $6.50-$8 CAD) and a value meal at McDonalds would be equivalent to $7-8 CAD. Groceries and clothing items were similar to what it would cost in Canada as well.
However, we did find that taxi fares were a little more reasonable in S. Korea. The fare was 2500 Won/$2.50 for the base rate and then 100 Won/$1 on the meter. Our longest taxi ride, which was 45 minutes, actually only cost us 18,000 Won/$18 CAD.
Here are a couple of other price comparisons:
South Korea was very interesting, but very similar to a lot of other Asian countries we had been to. I would say the best analysis would be that it was a mix between China and Japan. It was very modern and technology savvy – for instance you could use your phone to pay for a movie ticket – but it still had street vendors. Overall, it was very westernized (no staring at foreigners here!), but you could blatantly see their loyalty to their national products. LG & Samsung were the only phones that we saw (I think I only saw 1 iPhone the whole time we were there) and Hyundai and Kia were the most popular vehicles.
Our journey through South Korea started off on Jeju Island, also known as the “Korean Hawaii”, then to Busan, followed by Gyeong-ju (a historical town) and then to Seoul.
Here are the highlights from each of these destinations:
Jeju Island
Our time in Jeju was mostly focused on the outdoors. We hiked up to the top of the volcanic island – Seongsan Ilchulbong, swam at the hotel pool, checked out some of the waterfalls and rented bicycles to ride along the coastline. As Jeju is a main tourist destination, there are many ‘hokey’ tourist destinations, especially museums. At the resort area where our hotel was at (and at other places around the island), there seemed to be every type of museum possible. Some examples were the Teddy Bear Museum, the Sex Museum, and the one we went to – the Chocolate Museum. To be honest, the ‘museum’ was basically a collection of different chocolate items made over the years with a souvenir shop of chocolates from around the world you could buy; there wasn’t any history or other information provided with the displays. (Honestly, at the Chocolate Museum I was hoping for lots of samples, but there was only 2 really small ones.)
Busan
With the hotel vouchers that Alex had earned earlier in the year, we ritzed it up and stayed at the Park Hyatt in Busan. To be completely honest, I felt a little out of my element with how fancy and prestigious they treat you, but I have to say it was an amazing hotel. Because Alex had a Diamond membership, we got free breakfast the two mornings that we were there and it basically consisted of everything imaginable for food, as well as servers who unfolded your napkin for you and took away any silverware that you weren’t using – plus my tea was never empty. One of my favorite parts about our stay there was the view from our room! We had a wonderful view of the Gwangan Bridge that was like something off of a postcard. Plus every night they would come in and do a turn-down service.
Gyeong-ju
Gyeong-ju is the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla, so there are a lot of historical sites there. We checked out the Anagpi Pond, which was a large pond surrounded by different temples and trees for the Silla royalty. You can go either during the daytime or at night, we went at night and it was really beautiful! They used various lights to light up the structures and it reflected so wonderfully on the pond.
We also checked out the large grass covered tombs that make Gyeong-ju famous. At Tumuli Park, what look like random hills within the flat land are actually tombs for the various royalty of the Silla dynasty. They would bury these people and their possessions in these large tombs and then build a hill on top of them.
We also went to Bulguksa Temple, which is a temple on Mt. Tohamsan. Getting to this temple required taking a bus to the top, as it was a winding and steep climb, but being at the top in this serene place was pretty amazing.
Seoul
We took the high-speed train (KTX) from Gyeong-ju to Seoul, which got us there within a couple of hours. The trains resemble the Shinkansen trains and can travel at maximum speeds of 305 km per hour or 190 mph. The train trip was one of the major highlights for Alex.
To complete our high-end stays in Korea, we stayed at the Park Hyatt Seoul (located within the Gang nam district….so we were ‘Gang nam style’ while we were in S. Korea J). We didn’t get breakfast here, but they still provided the turndown service and other amenities. However, because we were so ‘posh’ they wouldn’t allow us to exert ourselves too much. On the final day when we had to get to the bus terminal to take us to the airport, they provided us a vehicle to take us there, which was actually only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. However, the bus terminal was really efficient for flights. We checked in for our flight, checked our bas and went through immigration so when we got to the airport, it was only about 5-10 minutes to get through security.
In Seoul, we visited both the Namdaemun Market and the Itaewon Market (known for higher end knock-offs and sports related items like hockey jerseys). At the Namdaemun Market we had our first Korean barbeque of the trip from one of the hundreds of street vendors and we enjoyed it while sitting on the plastic kiddie chairs. :-) Both of these markets are popular for selling knock-off merchandise; however, we actually ended up not buying hardly anything at all! A rarity for us! We also took the cable car to the top of Namsan Peak, a small mountain in the city and then hiked back to the bottom. For the cultural component we visited the Korean Folk Village where we saw demonstrations of sword fighting, dancing and music. There were also a variety of traditional Korean houses that were on display that you could see what these houses looked like during their distinct eras.
After a busy day of walking, we ended up at Cheonggyecheon, a park that they developed right in the heart of the city. The park is actually a level below the street and has a small stream with greenery running through it. We stopped to soak our feet in the water, and it was very peaceful considering that there were two major roads above.
Here are a few other things we found interesting….
Preference for Warmth
….or so it seemed. It seemed to us that Koreans liked the temperature warmer inside; either that, or they were trying to conserve energy. In Busan, it was 28+ C but with really high humidity (probably around 80-90%) but there seemed to be no airflow in the subway stations or in the trains until after 9:30 a.m. Another example, was that when we were on Jeju Island, we took the local bus and all the windows were sealed with no A/C until around 8:30-9 a.m.
Love for Coffee
There were almost as many (or more!) coffee shops in South Korea as in North America! Not only is Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts there, but they have several local Korean chains as well. As you were walking down the street, you’d see many Koreans with their iced beverages or coffees with them. They also use these coffee shops as social places. Instead of Dunkin Donuts being a place where you just stop and run, in Korea, the stores are made to be more of an experience with comfy tables and chairs.
Food
Most of the time when we travel, the food is one of the highlights of the trip. However, to be honest, in Korea we struggled to find food that we liked. We actually had more Western food on this trip than many other trips. At first, I thought maybe being pregnant caused me to have an aversion to Korean food, but Alex didn’t like it either, and he typically likes most ethnic food. One of the main reasons that I didn’t like it was because most things had a pickled taste to them, and I’m not a huge fan of pickled things in the first place.
At each meal they would provide you with several small dishes, which almost always included kimchi and some other pickled side items. A lot of the food also used a red sauce (I wasn’t a fan of this sauce). Another side would be a bowl of broth. Many of their food offerings would either be noodle-based or soup-based, but it didn’t seem like there were many vegetables in any of these dishes. I guess they expected you to eat the pickled side items. (I had read that part of the reason they did have so many pickled items, is that it was a way to preserve vegetables and other fresh foods during the winter as well as they didn’t have a huge selection of these.) Also, in dishes that did contain meat, there was very little meat in it. Plus, we found that meat dishes weren’t that common to begin with, and with our budget, they weren’t very affordable when we did find something.
Enjoying the Korean specialty of Bibimap
Before we went to Korea, I thought there was going to be a lot of ‘Korean barbeque’. However, the only place where it seemed the most popular was in Seoul. As barbeque is expensive in a restaurant, we ate the meat sticks from a street vendor where it was 2000 Won (almost $2) for one stick. We ordered some chicken and then later realized they had given us some chicken hearts for a few of the sticks. Luckily, I had grown up eating chicken hearts on our farm, so I was used to it.
The spread of meat in Namdaemun Market
Whenever we travel, we like to do the McDonalds comparison – to check out prices and food offerings. However, there wasn’t too much unique about the South Korean McDonalds – they had pretty much the same food offerings as North America and prices were similar. However, we did notice that at places where soft drinks were served that they automatically served us Pepsi – there didn’t seem to be any other choices like Sprite, etc.
Mother Friendly
Maybe it was because I was pregnant, but I really noticed the amenities that were offered to South Korean mothers. Everywhere you went in Korea there were nursing rooms for new moms – like the airport, subway station – and there were even some public restrooms that had stalls with small toilets and sinks for children. They were actually really cute!
Cost Comparison
Our basic consensus was that the cost of items in South Korea were very similar to the costs of items in Canada. At the time we were there the exchange rate was 1050 Won to $1 US/Canadian. A meal at a basic establishment would be about 6500-8000 Won (or $6.50-$8 CAD) and a value meal at McDonalds would be equivalent to $7-8 CAD. Groceries and clothing items were similar to what it would cost in Canada as well.
However, we did find that taxi fares were a little more reasonable in S. Korea. The fare was 2500 Won/$2.50 for the base rate and then 100 Won/$1 on the meter. Our longest taxi ride, which was 45 minutes, actually only cost us 18,000 Won/$18 CAD.
Here are a couple of other price comparisons:
- Most Bus Rides were 1000-1500 Won per person
- High Speed Train Ticket to Seoul was 22,000 Won per person
- All-Day Subway Pass in Busan was 4,000 Won per person
- Most Subway Rides in Seoul were 2500 Won per person
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