Traveling to South Korea was never anything that I'd had in mind, neither was South Korea a country that I felt particularly interested in visiting. The reason to why I ended up here was a coincidence, but now I'm genuinely happy that I’ve been getting the chance to experience this very special country.
Last summer the time had come for me and my partner to leave Thailand after 2 years of living there. But just traveling back to Europe by airplane felt a bit too boring. After living and working in Bangkok for many years without having much vacation to travel, I was now craving adventure and excitement again. Therefore we ended up traveling home by train instead - we crossed half of the earth and 7 time zones to get back to Europe through Siberia. From Bangkok we found very cheap flights to Vladivostok through South Korea, which is why we decided to stop by there and take the chance to explore this country.
Our trip didn't start great. During the night flight from Bangkok to Seoul, I was not feeling great. We'd had a last party with colleagues and friends in Bangkok before heading to the airport, and I was pretty drunk. Half way through the flight I urgently needed to throw up, and while Sam struggled to open one of the puke-paper bags you get in the pocket in front of you, I couldn't hold it any longer and threw up all over the aisle. Needless to say that we were pretty tired and destroyed once we arrived in Seoul... (who else doesn't get these useless paper puke-bags you get in flights?)
My first impression of Seoul was the atmosphere and the vibe; it was nothing like anything else I'd experienced before. It was a bit like Bangkok but more organized, modern and wealthy. The city was a mix of huge skyscrapers, small green parks, cozy old streets and colorful stone houses.
After checking into our hotel (our room was more like a tiny wardrobe than a room - but cheap), we walked around the city the whole day (with regular coffee breaks to keep going). I quickly realized that this is the country for meat lovers, and started preparing myself to leave my vegetarian diet behind for a while. The next morning I desperately wanted "real" breakfast and not a soup with meat, which was the regular thing you could find for breakfast. We ended up having the worst cheese bagels I ever had in a cafe. Lesson learnt: don't try to eat western food when you're in South Korea. Just adapt.
The next day we went out to a suburb to explore an old abandoned amusement park. It turned out not to be very abandoned, and we had to pay an entrance of 10,000 won (around 8€) to be able to enter. It was cool to see anyways, and since it was rainy we were the only ones there at the time so it still felt a bit scary to walk around all the abandoned roller-coasters and carousels. We traveled South Korea during low season (European summer) which meant a lot of rain, hot weather but low prices and easy to get a hotel room.
In the evening we went to the "hipster" area of Seoul to have dinner. After seeing the meat markets earlier during the day and how they handled the meat, I really didn't feel like eating any meat for dinner. Nevertheless, that's what we ended up having. Finding something vegetarian seemed to be impossible. At a bar we met two Cambodian men who invited us to drink soju (the traditional Korean strong liqure that everyone drinks). Local Koreans drink soju like it would be water, but for me just one bottle of soju was enough to get me drunk for the rest of the evening. Tipsy we went home to our hotel to wake up early the next day and continue our trip to Sokcho in the East of South Korea.
After two days in Seoul we continued to a small beach town on the East coast of South Korea called Sokcho. We took a bus there that was surprisingly modern and luxury - the seats were like armchairs and the AC was making the ride very pleasant (despite my mild hangover from a bit too much soju the night before).
When we arrived in Sokcho we were greeted by a thick humid heat and a persistent smell of raw fish. Soon we realized that this smell was coming from the nearby fishing market. Sokcho is an important fishing town by the East coast and the fishing industry is big there. Due to the heat and my “mild” hangover that had developed into a worse hangover we took a taxi to our hostel. There we were greeted by the hostel manager Yoo, who was nice and a bit socially awkward at the same time. The hostel itself was nice with a personal vibe. Yoo gave us some recommendations of what to see in Sokcho and after some hours of resting we went out for our first sightseeing. Visiting the local fish market was an interesting experience, but made my hangover even worse due to the extreme smell (imagine old rotten meat mixed with a smell of fish in a 30 degrees heat). Again, this made me realize how we in the western countries are completely disconnected (and protected) from what we actually eat and how meat and fish end up on our plates.
I loved the vibe in Sokcho, it was relaxed, laidback and calm - and also nothing like anything I’d experienced before. We found a small lake where we watched the sunset, and walked down to the sea afterwards. I took an evening swim in the warm water and we drank soju (of course) on the beach. The spontaneous evenings always turn out the best! When we finally went to bed, my hangover was cured - with more soju!
The next day we woke up early to visit the Seoraksan National Park. Before we realized the rain was pouring down. Slightly disappointed we had to postpone our visit to the National Park until the afternoon, and instead chill indoors in the hostel until then. When the rain stopped we took a public transport bus to Seoraksan, excited to finally go hiking. As soon as we arrived, we were met by a huge sign saying that every hiking trail was closed due to the rain. Talking about disappointment. We ended up taking the cable car up to the top of the mountain instead, which wasn't as exciting as hiking but totally worth it anyways - the view from the top was really beautiful!
In the evening we had dinner in a very traditional restaurant. We tried many types of kimchi, Korean dumplings and sushi. It was interesting, but I'm still not sure what was meat and what was veggies, I guess it's sometimes better not to know... We watched the sunset from the top of a small hill and I still think it was something very special about Sokcho. The small fishing town had a special vibe, something very different from anything I'd felt before. And the surrounding nature was stunning, sadly we didn't have more time to explore the national parks and mountains in the north.
The same evening we took a night bus down south to Busan. With only two days left before flying to Russia from Muan in the South, we couldn't afford to spend more time in Sokcho even if we loved it there: there was simply too much else to see in South Korea.
The night bus to Busan was sadly not as comfy and luxury as the one we'd taken to Sokcho. These seats where far from the soft large armchairs in the previous bus... We arrived in Busan two hours early at 4 am, tired and cold, just to realize that there was no public transport going before 5.30 am. We sat on a hard bench counting the minutes until we would finally get to check into our hotel. When that time had finally come, we realised our hotel was a motel in a backstreet in China Town. Actually it was more of a small apartment than a motel. We paid a bit extra and got to check in earlier, which was well needed. Our room was a complete shit hole (which I guess you can expect when you choose the cheapest motel in China Town haha), but we were simply too tired to care. Instead we went to sleep in the bed with dirty bed sheets with stains, smelling like a mix of old sweat and farts. Lesson learnt. (The motel was called Busan Inn, would NOT recommend).
Later in the day I had been organizing a meet up with a local guy through Couchsurfing who was going to show us around Busan. We drove around in his car and he gave us a very throughout sightseeing tour through the whole city. To Sam's excitement he also took us to a local Korean BBQ restaurant where we barbecued insane amounts of meat. After the meal we had traditional Korean ice cream that was interesting but not my favorite - it felt more like eating a bowl of icy snow, but the sauces and toppings were delicious! Afterwards the sightseeing continued...and continued. Eventually it was almost midnight and our Couchsurfing tour guide wanted to shoot firework at the beach with us. We kindly refused (it was not legal, which did not seem to bother him, not even when the police came and told him off), and return to our dirty motel room.
The second day in Busan we explored on our own and visited the famous Gamcheon Culture village on the top of a hill. This former slum area turned into a cozy colourful village that are visited by many tourists every year. The area was really a mix of chaos, beauty and colors and had a quite special vibe (like many places in South Korea had), and I enjoyed walking up and down the small steep roads. Back down in the city we went to Dadaepo Beach to watch the sunset. We bought some snacks and of course some bottles of soju and had a magical sunset.
Our last night in Busan we had changed motels and slept in another Busan Inn (yeah, it had the same name, should have been a warning itself). This motel was as dirty and smelly and a hairball from under the bed got stuck in my pyjamas. Lesson learnt again: have a budget to pay a bit more for the accommodation if you go to South Korea.
Our last day in South Korea we had to take a bus from Busan to Muan Airport in the South East to catch our flight to Vladivostok. We had a last great brunch in Busan before leaving (released to finally leave the two dirty Busan Inns for good), in a small cafe called Paris Baguette (recommend!). The pastries and coffee there was great!
The same evening we were flying to Vladivostok, Russia. We were truly excited to start our adventure in the far East of Siberia and take the train all the way to Moscow and Europe, many thousand kilometers through wilderness and small towns. Read more about our trip in Siberia and how it ended up in my next post.
To summarize my time in South Korea; it was a mix of everything, slightly overwhelming and very intense. There were so many impressions all the time, so much new to see and the culture was interesting. So was the cuisine, although I have to say it wasn't my favorite (beware vegans if you are planning a trip to Korea). South Korea was simply not like anything I'd ever experienced before, it was so different. And that's why I'm very grateful that I got the chance to visit.