Seoul is one of the coolest cities i've been to so far. It's also the first Asian city i've ever been to where i've thought "I could live here...". We left Sydney for Seoul at 7am and arrived in Seoul around 6pm. If you're thinking of travelling to Seoul then I've got a few tips- even though we were only there as a stopover (which we extended to 3 days) we made the most of it and really got to experience the city.
Use the subway! The subway is the easiest and most efficient way to get around Seoul. Even though we barely spoke a word of Korean we still found it easier to navigate than Sydney's public transport system. Grab a subway map from the airport on your way out and pick up a T-Money card. Its a reloadable card that lets you travel on all public transport (you can even use it on cabs, although we only took one cab the whole trip). Not only is it reloadable, its also unloadable! (is that a word? eh.) So if you've reached the end of your trip and accidentally loaded more money than you thought you needed then you can pop your card into one of the machines and it'll give you back your money. Genius!
Download this app... James was trying to find an offline map for Seoul in the app store since google maps requires internet and the streets of Seoul are extremely confusing! He stumbled across this app called Triposo which is basically a city guide (they have an app for every city) complete with offline maps of the city, sights to see and the station you need to get off at to get there (sooo helpful), options for food places, and a subway map! We actually used the New York version of the app in NYC as well and will probably use the app again for every city we travel to.
Go to Gangnam..."Oppa Gangnam Style!" Yes Gangnam is actually a place in South Korea and a very cool place at that. Gangnam is sort of the "cool" area of South Korea- where all the young hip people go, and also where all the shops are! The main street is lined with high rise buildings and a Starbucks on every corner (actually...there's a Starbucks on every corner in Seoul period.) But the real magic happens when you step off the main street and walk down a side street. This is where you'll find the tiny streets with hundreds of flashing colourful signs.
Korean BBQ... Korean BBQ is the best! And it's the best in Korea. We went to a place in the district of Mapo Gung. The menu was completely in Korean and none of the waiters there spoke a word of English yet somehow we managed to order some delicious food and drinks (The universal choice of drink: Coca-Cola).
Visit the Palaces...We visited two palaces whilst in Seoul. Gyebokeung palace and Deoksugung palace. Luck was on our side as we decided to go on a Wednesday and it turns out that all palaces have free entry for 'cultural day' on the last Wednesday of every month as well as traditional performances. Gyebokeung palace was massive and full of tourists but nonetheless incredible. You can see the famous Bhukansan mountain behind it (which we tried to climb....we soon learned we're not really outdoorsy people). Deoksugung was closer to where we were staying and was relatively smaller and quieter. There we watched a traditional performance with swords, dancers and music.
Overall, despite being a short trip we loved Seoul and would highly recommend it! I also filmed parts of this trip so stay tuned for a vlog-style video coming soon :)
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