Three Weeks in South Korea: Seoul and Jeju

I was expecting hectic; yet discovered friendly, clean and welcoming.

Going there wasn't my idea; it was a suggestion from a good friend who was planning a holiday there. It turned out that June was perfect timing for the weather. While planning, the map of Seoul was full of placenames I couldn't pronounce. Once there, little by little I got more familiar with pronunciation and even could recognise most of the Hangul characters by the end of the trip.

Highlights

• Back to Asia! I felt the urge to go around and try out everything, a bit like the first time I visited Tokyo

• In particular I got excited about the variety of tasty cheap food: most restaurants offer mains+sides for less than EUR8.

• Coffee shops are everywhere in Seoul. You can litterally find one every 20 meters. And some of them come with 4 storey and a rooftop terrace.

• Surprisingly, the language is approachable and much easier than it seems at first sight.

• Foreign tourists are relatively rare, even around famous attractions.

• Cronuts, crowaffles and eggroissants

Pangolin Flu restrictions

(as of date of departure, last week of May 2022)

It was not too bad, you had to:

• fill out a K-ETA to get pre-approval

• upload health documents in advance to get a Q-code (this was actually checked by airport staff after landing)

• get a pre-departure PCR test

The post-arrival PCR test at Incheon Airport was recommended but not actually enforced.

In the country, indoors mask were enforced. Outdoors mask were not mandatory any more but people still wore it because... nevermind.

Food!

Just look at this.

Hot stone bibimbap in Seoul

Tea house in Insadong

Dumplings of Myeongdong Kyoja

Dakgalbi near Nami Island

Pork BBQ in Myeongdong

Black pig soup in Jeju Island

Bibimbap in Seogwipo, Jeju

Chicken dish in Seogwipo, Jeju

Tendon Tempura Hamada, Seoul

I know: this site is turning into a foodie travel blog. It must be the andropause or something.

Resources

Mindsets: I skimmed through this book while traveling: it was written by a British journalist more than 10 years ago (before Gangnam Style) and covers history, food, local culture, mindsets, religion, dating, corporate world.

Alphabet: it pays to keep an eye on tables of Hangul alphabet while walking around Seoul. You can make sense of the signs relatively rapidely (because it is more straightforward than Japanese and Chinese).

Reading signs: KoreanClass101 has a good series of free videos to pick-up writing and pronunciation. This series of videos by Korean Full Course is helpful too, very logical and straightforward.

Counting money: Korean Ryan.