South Korea!
Yup, we have changed directions entirely and it was a really good decision. South Korea was not on our radar to begin with but throughout our travels we have heard consistently good things about the country so we thought- why not? Not only is there reliable transportation, there are subways! We can’t speak a word of Korean but people are helpful! And friendly! We are in a city that looks and feels like a city (ok ok like NYC but still). I think we missed home.
Our first two nights in Seoul we splurged a little for a private room in a hostel and it was so sweet. We both felt like we could have lived in it were we still in college. It had a little fridge, microwave, stove top aaaaand…washing machine. LOVE. The second night the hostel hosted a party and we not only ate an absurd amount, we learned a lot about Korean drinking culture. We did have to move to a new hostel the next day because the one we were in was too expensive to stay longer, but it was worth staying up late.
Our next hostel was in Queens. Not really but we climbed out of the subway and probably the first thought in our minds was- are we in Jackson Heights?!
But who really wants to hear about our hostels? I’m getting to the good stuff, don’t worry. Seoul is a lovely place- parks and old palaces/temples mixed right in with the skyscrapers. We took in many of the older sites, but wandered through beautiful parks and caught a weekend antique market as well. The food is very different from what we’ve been getting the past 2 months, spicier and new. What is really fun about food here is everything comes with sides. You don’t get to choose the sides, they vary by restaurant but usually one of them is kimchi and they are unlimited. Yay! We can actually eat fairly cheaply here as we share a dish (which are pretty big themselves) and eat all the sides we want. Oh, and rice is usually unlimited too. Goodheart is in heaven.
We took a day trip out of Seoul to Suwon- a city with a fortress in the center. We took a little trolley around the outside of the fortress wall and wandered around the “castle” in the center.
South Korea’s second largest city is Busan, located on the southeast side of the country. Busan is very spread out as it clings to the sides of mountains that boarder the ocean. It is actually quite pretty and we did quite a bit of hiking without leaving the city limits. There were some wonderful trails that provided great views and plenty of cherry blossoms. We did try to do more “city” activities like go to the art museum and China Town (which seemed more Russian than Chinese), but we definitely preferred the trails.
We did travel out of Busan for a couple days to the wonderful town of Gyeong-ju. This is an older town filled with traditional houses, cherry blossoms, and an incredible feeling of peace. We took in a couple temples and sites, but once again preferred to hike around the area as it was so beautiful and calm. Gyeong-ju is also famous for something called barley bread. We found two different kinds- one that looked like pancakes and one that looked like a bun. They both had red bean paste in the center. We definitely liked the ones that looked like buns more but both were unique and tasty.
Now we are on the island of Jeju. We have decided to participate in WWOOFing twice in Korea and this is our first stop. WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Essentially we work on farms in return for a room and food. Jeju island is the home of our first WWOOFing experience. I will write more about it in the next blog post.
In the meantime, we miss you all very very much.
W&G
