South Korea Archives - Wandering North

Asia Mongolia-Kuwait-Bahrain trip 2025 South Korea

Hello Kitty to the Rescue: A Layover in Seoul

I don’t know why, but in the last few years my travel planning has become a little bit more chaotic. I used to book my trips many months in advance, and I would spend time refining the itineraries and learning phrases in the local language and getting organized. But more recently I find myself booking the trips with just a few weeks’ notice. I still make a good itinerary, but it all feels a little rushed. I don’t think I can conceive months in advance of actually being able to take time off work, but then something happens and I just need a holiday and then I book it without much planning. This was one of those trips.

I had decided that I needed to go somewhere, and I decided to go to Mongolia. But I didn’t just want to go to Mongolia, I wanted to try to visit a couple of other countries. And that’s what I tried to do on this trip. I decided to go to Mongolia and Kuwait and Bahrain. I’m aware that Mongolia is nowhere near Kuwait and Bahrain, but it made for an interesting itinerary. And it started with an overnight layover in Seoul South Korea.

This was my third or fourth time visiting Seoul, although each of those visits has been on some sort of long layover. I’ve never actually taken a trip just to see South Korea. I probably should, but this would be another layover visit.

I don’t love Seoul. I know that Seoul is very popular but, overall, I am not enamoured with it. It does make for a good layover though. I appreciate its excellent public transportation and its affordable accommodations, and that there’s lots going on day and night to fill your time. As much as I don’t love it, I was happy to be back for my layover this time.

*Arex: the fast train into the city. Of course it has a cute mascot.*

I arrived at 4:00 PM and I would have to leave again at 9:00 in the morning, so I just had an evening. I booked myself into the Hostel Drip & Drop, which is conveniently located in Myeongdong and right by the Euljiro 1(il)-ga metro station. I took the AREX Express train (which is only slightly faster than the other train) into the city with my backpack and walked to the hostel and dropped it off.

Before I say anything else, I have to say how impressed I was with this hostel. I have fantasies of designing the perfect hostel because there are so many of them that just have design flaws, like having no lighting options between pitch black and blinding white or showers in shared bathrooms with no place to take off your clothes or hang them up outside of the soaking wet shower. This hostel was close to perfect.

It had an immaculate sleeping quarter. I opted for the girls’ dorm and it was one of those ones where every bed is a pod with a proper curtain, a shelf, lighting, and a comfy mattress inside. For the first time ever, I had a little bunk with a window in it. This hostel also had an adjoining room where there were lockers to put your backpack and your shoes, so you would take off your shoes and get your pyjamas, or do whatever you needed to do, and then you could either go into the room with the beds or into the shared bathroom. What this meant was there was no possibility of anybody in the sleeping room rummaging around in their bags, or getting dressed, or crinkling plastic bags because all of that happened in another room. I’m sorry if you’re not here to hear about effective hostile design, but I was very excited by this. And it was $56 Canadian per night. Not exactly dirt cheap, but pretty close.

I don’t know why it’s called Drip & Drop except that it has something to do with coffee and they do provide you with a coffee pour-over situation and they had a pour-over station in the common area. I mean, that’s pretty great. The downsides were no kitchen, and the common area was very sterile and didn’t really invite one to hang around, but that’s OK; I wasn’t there for long. I would 1000% stay there again.

Once I was finished admiring my hostel, I set out into the city. I decided to wander along the Cheonggyecheon, which is sort of a man-made urban river that runs through the city lined with pedestrian and bike friendly spaces with benches and sculptures. It’s a really wonderful use of public space and provides some serenity into what a busy city is otherwise.

I meandered around taking exploring the streets. There appeared to be some sort of festival happening geared towards children and there were a lot of inflatable things and children’s activities. I have no idea what was going on but it did make for some fun photos. It was blisteringly hot in Seoul, so, to cool off, I lingered by the fans set up outside next to some inflatable children’s water park set up for the event, until I realized that a single adult lingering near strange children is creepy.

I wanted to visit a cigar lounge before it got too late (and I needed an escape from the weather) and so I went to the Resolver Cigar Lounge. It was walking distance from my hostel in a commercial building. The lounge was a little bit difficult to find and I nearly gave up and left but finally I found it and it was worth the effort as it was a beautiful lounge. Dimly lit with comfortable leather chairs, excellent cigar accessories, and a sophisticated atmosphere. I visited the humidor and picked out a Plasencia Alma Fuerte – a cigar made at the Plasencia factory I had previously visited in Nicaragua. They had a decent selection of Cubans and some non-Cubans but the prices were very high, and this was the cigar that I decided best fit my budget and palate. The only downside of the lounge, if there was one, was that it was very quiet. There were a couple of other groups of men smoking cigars, but it didn’t have a very social atmosphere. I’ve noticed this a lot with cigar lounges in East Asia which is that people don’t really seem that inclined to talk to each other. Everyone seems to kind of keep to themselves.

By the time I left the lounge it was dark, but that did nothing to reduce the heat and humidity. Sweating profusely, I walked back to the area near my hostel to visit the Myeongdong Night Market. I was delighted to have a night market to go to. At first, it was terrific to walk around the area with the market. The neon signs were twinkling, throngs of people were out gawking at the stalls and eating things on sticks and there was food and merchandise for sale throughout the streets. It was a fun atmosphere. Except now not only was it hot, but it was hot and I was walking past stalls frying up food and producing clouds of hot greasy air.

I quickly became very uncomfortable. I also desperately wanted to eat something but, as is always the problem with night markets in Asia in my experience, it’s very difficult to find anything vegetarian; plus, I had forgotten to get cash from the ATM. After a while I just needed some air conditioning and relief from the weather and that’s when I saw it, like a beacon calling to me. My savior. Hello Kitty.

I love Hello Kitty and I’ve been wanting to go to a themed cafe forever. And there it was: a two-story Hello Kitty café, open late and artificially ice cold. While I was thankful for the air conditioning, I will say that the interior of the Hello Kitty cafe was so brightly lit that I felt like I was in some sort of alien spacecraft, but I was happy for it. I bought two food items that I’ve never had before and will certainly never have again which was a dragon fruit iced tea and a mango cake that was shaped like an actual mango inside a hard shell. It was delicious; or maybe I was just hot and famished. I sat by the window by myself, my eyes ringed in smudgy black eyeliner; I was looking goth-adjacent smelling of cigar smoke and thoroughly enjoying my Hello Kitty meal.

After that, I took one last spin around the market and then went back to my hostel for a shower and asleep. In a few short hours I would be up again and heading back to the airport to fly to my next destination: Ulaanbaatar.

*Temple at sunrise. Headed back to the airport*

Asia South East Asia 2013 South Korea Thailand

Temple of Dawn & Cold in Seoul

We did so much in our first full day in Bangkok that we were a bit burnt out on the third and final day. We had already done so much exploring and seen so much, but we had saved a couple of things for the final day: we began by walking down to one of the many piers along the river and caught a boat across to the Wang Kang pier where a market was bustling. It was a fun one to explore, as it was a bit different (a bit more clothing and odds and ends and a bit less pig entrails). We did that until we grew weary and then caught a couple more boats south down the river. Each crossing of the river by boat is brief and cheap (3 Baht) and quite pleasant.

We arrived at our final destination: Wat Arun, which means ‘Temple of Dawn’. It is one of the oldest Wats in Bangkok and is very interesting as it is decorated with perfect symmetry of design largely out of broken pottery. It also has steep stairs that one can climb about half way up the outside. It isn’t too far, but the stairs were quite steep and seemed like a bad idea, given my sprained ankle from my fall at Angkor Wat. It was a beautiful structure though.

After that the afternoon sun was merciless and we hailed a tuk tuk back to the area around our hotel before killing a few hours languishing on restaurant patios, enjoying cold and fruity drinks, snacks and cigars, just killing time until it was time to go to the airport.

When we left (narrowly missing the lantern festival) the moon rose large and full over the city.

After a 5 hour flight we arrived in Seoul, having had no sleep and realizing that it is winter here and the temperature was about 2 degrees celcius. We were still dressed for the tropical weather of Bangkok. I hadn’t really factored this into my plans. We had a 12 hour layover in Seoul and when i have done this previously, it had been summer and perfect for walking. I had foolishly planned a wonderful walking route around Seoul to occupy us during our layover, but we arrived not only finding it wintery but windy. Canadian though we may be, we are just not that hearty.

We gave it a go though, taking the train to Seoul station and walking to Namdaemun market, where we had some breakfast bibimbap and tried to warm ourselves by browsing through the market shops, but we had to admit defeat. It was just freezing. We headed back to the airport, stopping ay Seoul station for coffee and looking around in a supermarket and various shops selling cute and confusing items.

No photos from Seoul this time. We were too icy and tired to even think of it.

Fortunately the airport in Seoul is extraordinary and we have had no trouble keeping ourselves entertained and catching up on much needed rest. We will be boarding our flight to Vancouver presently. The trip has been a great one. I hate to return home, but we are both badly in need of clean clothes and baths, so home it is.

Thanks for following.

Asia South Korea Uzbekistan

Tashkent to Seoul

One final note about Uzbekistan: If you are leaving the country by plane (as I was) and you have some s’om left over (as I did) and you plan to spent it at the airport on snacks and souvenirs (ditto), don’t do it. Take the last of your s’om and spend it or give it away before going inside the airport, because once you’re in there, they won’t take it nor will they exchange it. It’s Euros only at the Tashkent airport. Now what am i going to do with the 24,000 s’om burning a hole in my pocket?

I arrived in Seoul at about 7am on Saturday and took the Arex train to Seoul Station. (A word of advice, if you are doing this, take the commuter train, not the high-speed train. The high-speed train is about 4x the price and is only 7 minute faster than the commuter train.)

Once downtown, i was hit with the brutal humidity of Seoul. It was not nearly at hot as Uzbekistan, but was so humid that it felt a million times worse. I had rivers of sweat running down my face into my eyes and into my kimchi. Hideous.

Anyway, i visited the grand Gyeonbokgung Palace – an enormous complex of pagoda-roofed buildings separated by a network of courtyards and with a large, lily pad covered pool. It was originally built in the 14thC, but has been destroyed many times over the centuries, so it has been entirely restored. With the misty mountains in the background, it was all quire serene and lovely. There were masses of tourists there, but the place was large enough that I could look around without feeling overwhelmed by people. As I haven’t been to far east Asia, it was quite unlike anything I have seen before and i really enjoyed myself.

After that, i went to the very touristy Insadong neighborhood. I had walked through there on my previous visit to Seoul, but as it had been so early, everything had been closed. This time, however, it was teeming with people. It is lined with lovely tea shops and souvenir stores and curious restaurants. I finally found a restaurant that had a vegetarian bibimbap on the menu, so i ate that, which was very good (especially after 2 weeks of Uzbek vegetarian cuisine).

I then walked many blocks, stopping to sample food from street vendors or poke around in shops, before returning to the Namdaemun Market, where i spent an hour or two walking and browsing and making a few purchases.

Back to the airport 2 hours before my flight home. It was a delightful day. It is amazing how much looking around one can cram into a 12 hours layover.

I am home now and am resting and trying to get over the illness that has been recurring since Samarkand.

Thank you for keeping up with my Uzbek adventure.

Dale R. North

Asia South Korea

Sunday in Seoul

Hello! I have made it as far as South Korea. I left on Friday and flew to Los Angeles, where i had a tedious 3 hour layover (how can such an important city have such a crummy airport?). I then flew about 12 and a half hours to Seoul. It was a delightful flight, I barely slept, but it flew by. Arrived in Seoul at about 4:40 am.

I caught the first train into the city. It took just under an hour and takes one right from the airport to downtown Seoul. For some reason my transit card wouldn’t open up the turnstile gates at the other end, so I couldn’t get out. Some man suggested through the universal magic of charades that I jump the turnstile, which I did. I figure, if a local says I should do it, it must be ok, right? That is the first turnstile I ever jumped.

After my act of delinquency, I then went to Namdaemun Market. I figured if I only had a few hours, that would be a god place to start. It is, except that at 7am on sunday morning, there isn’t a lot going on. Most of the stalls were closed and some were just setting up, hauling in carts of meat and produce, knock off handbags, and K-Pop souveniers. I did manage to find a charmingly decrepit restaurant and managed to say in Korean that I did not eat meat. They brought me kimchee and a steaming bowl of rice and odd spicy vegetables. I think it was a bibimbap, but I can’t be sure. It was really good.

After that I decided to walk to the Insadong neighborhood. It was a pleasant walk, but the city was pretty quiet. When I reached Insadong, everything was still closed. I am glad I will be back here in 2 weeks so I can actually visit some of these places when they are open.

On my initial glances, Seoul is not very attractive, but it is interesting. On the face of it, everything seems painfully western; I couldn’t turn a corner without seeing a collection of Burger King, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, TGI Fridays, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme… you get the idea. But from what I could tell, there are a lot of cool looking dirty alleys with interesting eateries and shops that are decidedly not American. I guess it would take more then 6 hours to figure it all out. I kept walking around in disbelief, thinking, “I can’t believe I’m in Seoul.” It just isn’t a place I ever thought I’d be.

Anyway, I enjoyed my walk; it took me back to the market, at which point it was much livelier. I wandered around taking pictures of large pig heads, sitting out in front of eateries. I imagined they were all Lord of the Flies theme restaurants.

I really wish I had bothered to learn a few phrases in Korean. Almost no one speaks English, and I feel like a jackass opening a conversation in English. I just figured that for the limited time I’d be here, it wouldn’t be worth it. But tonight I’ll be in Uzbekistan, and my Russian is passable (for a North American).

It is fairly warm, but really humid here. I am only 2 days into my trip and I already look like a dirty bohemian. Soon I will smell like one too.

One other random note: I stupidly checked my cigars, so while I was wandering around today I didn’t have any and couldn’t find a cigar store. I did however find cigarettes that are supposedly made with cigar tobacco. For a cigarette they aren’t bad, but they’re a poor replacement for a cigar. I had to have a smoke though (all the other kids were doing it) and now that I am at the airport I can take advantage of their plentiful and civilized smoking lounges.

I am back at the airport now, readying myself for the third and final leg of my journey: Seoul to Tashkent. (How cool does that sound?)

Asia South Korea Uzbekistan

Where Next?

It has been over a year since my last travel adventure, which was a trip to Ecuador in the spring of last year. I’ve been to Seattle and Colorado since then, but nowhere exciting. Then it happened, suddenly: that coming together of time and money that makes planning an exotic trip irresistible.

Initially, there was no question, i was going to Mali. It has been #1 on my travel list for a while. Unfortunately, the time i have at my disposal is in July and if there is one month not to visit Mali, it is July, when tropical-scale rains fall nonstop and turn the usually sandy landscape into a mud pit, which made my plans for camping in the desert an impossibility.

Next on the list: Syria. The thing is, things are a little too interesting in Syria right now.
India: Monsoon season.
Europe: I feel like going somewhere more exotic and less expensive.
South America: I can’t do two South America trips back to back, plus it’s winter in many parts of the continent.

Then it came to me: that mysterious part of the globe locked between the Middle East and Asia. The land of ‘stans – Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, etc. But what specifically caught my attention was Uzbekistan. Samarkand and Bukhara, jewels of the silk road, dating back to nearly 1000 years BCE, land of history, camels, and blue-tiled mosques.

The trip planning has begun and if all goes according to my brilliantly devised schedule, I will be leaving on 15 July. The only possible roadblock is my visa. Canadians need a visa to visit Uzbekistan. In order to apply for a visa we need a letter of invitation from a person or agency in Uzbekistan. Before we can get that letter our information, itinerary, etc must be approved by some government agency in Uzbekistan. Once getting the letter one can apply for the visa at nearest Uzbekistan embassy…which is in New York. So it’s an involved process. I think I have enough time to get my visa, but there is a chance that it will all fall apart at the last minute.

I have no plan B, so my next post will either be a bon voyage as I board a plane for Tashkent, or it will be a heartbreaking account of visa denial and crushed travel dreams.

Fingers crossed,
d

Category: South Korea