Last week, Emily and I traveled to Seoul on a short three-day trip — the first time visiting for both of us. TL;DR: we had a really fun trip and would happily go back.
Alongside Japanese and Italian food, Korean food has become one of our favorites. We were thrilled to try all the classics in Seoul (fried chicken, gimbap, tteokbokki, and much more!) and even added a few new dishes to the home cooking list (hotteok was dangerously addictive).
One theme that keeps coming up when I visit cities across Asia is how much they feel like the future: urban density, vertical skyscrapers, and built with new infrastructure / transit that many Western cities lack.
I have so much I could write on this trip, but would rather focus on the many photos I took. So, I’ve woven the highlights into the photo captions. That said, if you’d like to hear more, feel free to reach out — I’m always happy to chat.
Day 1: City lights and night markets
The Chyeonggyecheon is a walkable ~7 mile stream that is located directly in the heart of the city. As we walked, we didn’t even notice the hyper urban city just a few meters above and were able to just take in the calm nature.
I’ve been to night markets throughout Asia and this ranks highly up there. I really liked the variety of food options and all the stalls ask for their trash back, so the streets were quite clean despite how busy they were. It is also central to a lot of other places to explore. We could bounce in and out of sights to see on the fringes of the market while grabbing snacks in-between.
Nighttime view of many people enjoying a night along the Cheongyecheon stream. We passed one area with 15-20 couples and saw many runners on night runs.
Day 2: Historical Seoul
Entrance is free to the Gyongbukgung palace if you are wearing a rented Honbok, which many visitors do. An amazing way for the city to incentivize spending at local businesses while also creating a more historic feel as you walk the grounds.
I never found out the reason or significance for the inflatable pot, but outside the National Museum of Korea is a beautiful pond with great reflections.
I think if I could only eat one food forever it may be Korean fried chicken. Casual eateries like this pop up all over and friends gather for beers, makgeolli, and all sorts of fried, cheesy, spicy, carb-y, and/or foods.
Day 3: Museums & Hikes
A traditional calligrapher’s desk in the National Museum of Korea.
Bolts of cloth as a large market for textiles. The variety of colors, textures, and materials was astonishing.
View of the setting sun from the restored, historic Inwangsan fortress wall.
We found cats at the top of a mountain! They were quite used to people and posed frequently when I brought out my camera.
View of Seoul at night with the lit up Inwangsan fortress wall viewable in the bottom right.
