Part 2: Getting Involved
As Golden Week started, I found my way to Korea with Aidan, my colleague. We did our due diligence planning, even though all of it was on the way to the airport.
North Korea
We booked a tour to the Demilitarised Military Zone (DMZ) which was pretty good. It was nothing that would WOW you, but the history was interesting and we met a few faces who popped up again later on in the week! At one point, we were 150m from the NK border, underground, in a tunnel made by the North Koreans to facilitate an invasion on South Korea in the 1970s. Although we weren’t allowed to take any pictures at the border, the tour guide made up for it by being entertaining. He had diarrhoea, and made sure everyone knew about it. I left him a nice review on Viator so everyone online could know as well! The DMZ tour was cool.
On the same day we went out pretty hard in the evening. We met up with a guy called Dakota from the tour and some of his friends. We had dinner and went off into Hongdae, the backpackers area. We found some decent bars, one of which had no name, just a swastika. We ended up getting back around 4am, which would be fine, apart from the cooking class we booked for 10:30am.
Cooking Class
After a quick and abrupt sleep, Aidan and I arrived fashionably late to the venue where we were greeted by the host, who may well be the most positive and kind lady I have ever met for 3 hours. I could not help but smile, it was a super class which very quickly remedied my hangover. We made six dishes: Bibimbap, Japchae, Bulgogi, Kimchi pancake, Osaek Kkochi Jeon and Doenjang Jjigae. Bulgogi was a favourite of mine; I love beef and this was just what the doctor ordered.
Soju Tasting
We filled the rest of the day with local food, some traditional townhouses, and rooftop bars. I wanted to see some kind of Soju factory since we were in Korea! I found a Soju tasting place which I was very keen for. It turns out real Soju isn’t flavoured so I had to swallow my pride a bit, along with a lot of Soju. Luckily, they also served Makgeolli — basically an alcoholic smoothie that can be carbonated or flat.
To see the holiday off, we saw the famous Starfield Library with a nice lady from the DMZ tour. In the evening, we embarked on a mini hike to the top of Namsan Tower rather than take the cable car. It was good fun, and the view was great but it got old quickly, so we left to get ready to go home.
Five days was great for our schedule but if I go back, I could find more things to do with ease. The mix of western style food, especially the options compared to China, and the Asian everything else, for me, was great. I’m now used to using Alipay and WeChat to pay for everything so using ApplePay again felt strange. Overall, Korea (Seoul) gets a solid 8.5/10.
Up Next!
Part 3: Birthday Away
It's my birthday next month, so I am heading to Japan for a weekend away; Conflicts are rising between China and Japan, so my flights have been cancelled. I'm not sure whether we can re-book or be forced to choose another destination...
