Seoul is probably one of the least explored city by me as I stayed there only for 3 days most of the time was spend at work. Thought of penning this review based on what ever experience I had out there. With the world cup and all, I thought it would be bit helpful for the guys and gals planning to see their favorite stars in action.
How to get there
I went to Seoul thru Singapore. I had to visit Singapore and Korea thing came suddenly and took a SQ flight from Sing, which took around 5 hours I guess. So from India (Chennai) it would take around 8-9 hours if there is a direct flight. I think that Korean Air has flights to all major cities in the world, you can try that as well.
Seoul’s international airport is very far from the city, around 50 to 60 km from the main city. Cabs are expensive and hence I would recommend the KAL(Korean Air) luxury coaches or buses which depart from specific points from the airport. Just tell the name of the hotel or place where you are planning to stay and the airport personnel would direct you to appropriate place.
The airport is extremely clean and well organized. What hit me from the moment I dis-embarked from the plane was the technology used everywhere. Even in the loo’s. You know, toilet looks like a spaceship, with lots of levers and buttons, and it does lots of functions like sterilizing the toilet seat and all which I didn’t try out.
The city and the sounds and sights
I found the city massive. Big roads and bigger bridges. No wonder, Koreans are one of the best in the world when it comes to construction. I went during the Visit Seoul year and they have the flagship buses departing every 10 minutes from all popular hotels and important bus stops. The ticket can be procured on the bus itself. You can get down anywhere you want, see the sights and hop on to another. I used it on one occasion and it was good. They have pretty decent bus and sub-way system as well.
The people are extremely warm-hearted and friendly, marred only by the limited knowledge of English. The hotel provides you with a small card in which its written in Korean ’’Take me to ABC hotel’’ which I found extremely amusing and realized later that it was extremely useful when I used that to get back to my hotel once, when I got lost. There are plenty of massive hotels to choose from since I was on business I stayed in a relatively ’expensive’ one, you get Renaissance to Westin to Intercontinental. The tarrif ranges from 100 to 200 USD which is bit expensive which I can stay in a great Thai hotel for 40 USD.
It was raining most of the time I was free and bright and sunny when I was working. Most of the time I was going around Old city, where most of the places to see are located. First I went to the Gyeongbokgung which is very peaceful place and a palace I guess and which has the National Folk Museum. In this area you can see the old buildings and all which are quite nice, with their wooden doors and tiled roofs which reminded in some ways about my Malluland. You can pick up couple of small souvenirs from the shop outside the museum. If there were a facility of putting the pics that I took I would have put in some of the beautiful old buildings I saw.
I next went to the palace where the royals stayed, they are from the Yi Dynasty, I don’t know much about them. There are guided tours and can enter the place only as part of a tour group. They have tours in English and Korean, when I went the English tour had just finished and a Korean was about to start, joined the tour cos I didn’t want to wait for 3 hours and the tour guide was a extremely pretty Korean babe. Hey, Korean girls are really good looking, they are not at all short as in common belief, the change in their lifestyle and diet has really changed their physical structure, and most of them are tall, independent and working:-). There was a fashion show and I happened to peep into some of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen!!! They are so very calm and poise and humble. I love humble girls.
Back to the review, the place is called Changdeokgung, and its really huge. You can see the buildings and quarters where the kings used to stay and it reminded me again of the Kottarams in Kerala. During the tour, the most important section was the Secret Garden which was much appreciated by the Koreans in the group. You can walk over very old bridges and can see centuries old trees. I enjoyed the ‘walk’ that lasted for around 45 minutes. Yeah, if you can’t walk fast, better to skip this one.
All the members in the tour group were Koreans and I was the only foreigner, and they didn’t even give me a second look. I mentioned this to stress a very important point about Koreans - They don’t differentiate. At some places, foreigners are given respect and undue importance and at some places they are shunned, only in Korea I could find a perfect balance.
Shopping is another thing that you can do, Seoul is popular for its leather goods, and they are comparatively cheap. I didn’t get much chance to do the same but did some window shopping once. All kinds of food are available but generally the place is generally bit on the expensive side, I had to shell out 9 USD for just one Cafe Americano at the hotel where I stayed. Small joints are in plenty, just like out normal restaurants and eat some of the local cuisine (I didn’t get a change to taste dog meat though). I loved the Kimchi which was available here in some of the restaurants where I went. Hey one more thing, there is a Hard Rock Cafe in Seoul and if you are HRD T-Shirts collector or a HRD fan the place is worth a visit, it was one of the best HRD I ever visited and the waiters and waitresses could understand English.
What I feel
Even though, I spent only 3 days at Seoul, I liked the city and the people very much, so much that I want to go back and see and experience everything that’s possible. The only piece of advice is don’t get lost, always carry the address of the place where you are staying, and that too written in Korean cos most of the cab drivers don’t talk or understand English. But overall, its a extremely pleasant and place which will stay in your mind for a long time which I feel is because of the presence of one of the most friendly people I have ever met during my travels. Am sorry that I couldn’t spend more time out there because of which I couldn’t write more for you guys.
Live Long & Prosper
Ranjith