In Spring of 2019 we traveled through Asia for three months and decided to spend two weeks in South Korea. Below are some impressions from our travels.
We started in Seoul where we spent 5 days. We met up with my best friend who incidentally was there for an exchange-semester, visited the Imperial Palace Gyeongbokgung (the first few images are from there, as is the header photo), the surprisingly amazing Lotte Tower and sang our hearts out in the Noraebang-Karaoke-Cabins which I would love to have at home, to be honest.
Initially, we had planned to visit the Dimilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the border to North Korea but after the excursion being postponed two times we decided to instead see more of the country. Seoul is an amazing city and has more to offer for a longer stay, but it was our goal to also experience some different things. Also, it was absolutely freezing while we were there and although we scaled Namsan-mountain, ate lots of spicy foods and drank lots of Soju it was tough to keep warm. So we headed south by train and stopped in Andong where we spent the night in a traditional Korean house called “Hanok” (similar to the more well-known Ryokan in Japan). The owner cooked the famous Ginseng soup and even prepared the traditional mud-sauna for us which was a true joy after those cold days.
After just one night in Andong we continued on to one of my favorite stops, Gyeongju. Gyeongju is the former capital during Silla-dynasty and we spent our days there walkingalong the ancient grave-hills, hanging out in the cutest cafes and spotting even more - mostly young - people strolling around and staging themselves in the traditional cloting (Hanbok) for social media. That is such a stark contrast often found in Korea: The tradtional buildings and cloting meeting modern times and it makes for some fascinating pictures.
From Gyeongju, we took the train to our last stop, Busan. Busan is a port-city in the South of Korea and despite being larger than Seoul in area, it has fewer inhabitants and hence feels more quiet than Seoul with its towering skyscrapers. There’s so many markets and since Busan is located at the sea, you’ll obviously find fish and seafood prepared in all kinds of possible (and seemingly impossible) ways around every corner. We strolled through Busan, took the cable car over a bay like true tourists do and also visited the very insta-worthy Gamcheon Culture Village, something you shouldn’t miss when in Busan.
I turned 30 while in Busan and gifted myself a cooking course with JunoTrip. Our local guide Junho met us at a Subway-station and took us to a famous fish- and another market where we bought all the ingredients for the dishes we were about to prepare. Cooking our own Bulgogi and Tteokbokki (I LOVE IT) in Busan will definitely be something I’ll remember for a long time!
