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I was just mentioning in the Japan thread that it's been a very long time since I've been to Asia and I've been aching to go back. A very nice SkyMiles deal opened up a few months ago and I nabbed it - direct round-trip ATL to ICN in Delta One Suites. After air travel is all said and done I will have 5 days in Seoul with one day in Japan. I've been reading up a lot on Korea and I've amassed a pretty large list of things to see and do. The majority are things in and around Seoul, but there are some which, because of time/transportation constraints, aren't likely because of their distance from where I will be - such as Beopjusa Temple. I'm not renting a car or anything like that but I do plan to use Uber's partner thing to get around so I'm not going to be strictly on foot. I'll be staying right near the Seoul Museum of Art so my home base will be pretty centrally located and there seem to be a good amount of sights on my list that are in walking distance from there. I am no stranger to travel (23 countries under my belt so far), but I'm definitely a newbie when it comes to Korea. I've read through the great resources in this thread and much of it has been helpful. I guess what I'm looking for is some additional ideas for the non-touristy things to see, since that's typically where I focus my energies on trips. Other tips would be helpful as well, even though I know that's super vague. I'm already set with a cellular plan with AT&T's international day pass, which is what I always use on trips. And first thing I plan to do is hit an ATM to get some walking around money. I plan to use credit cards as much as possible though from what I've seen you're going to have luck with only the larger establishments accepting AmEx. And since I plan to hit plenty of food stalls, cash will be king there. The main thing I'm worried about is adjusting to the time difference. There were some posts here on dealing with jet lag, but honestly I ain't as young as I used to be and it's been over a decade since I've gone anywhere with this significant a time shift. From what I've seen in the various posts, the secret is being up and out and about because you're going to conk out if you're just sitting in your hotel. This is my list: - Gwangjang Market (I ALWAYS hit the local market when I go somewhere new) - Beopjusa Temple (again, not likely due to distance) - Bukchon Hanok Village - Cafe Onion Anguk - Changdeokgung Palace - Gyeonghuigung Palace - Gyeongbokgung Palace - Deoksugung - N Seoul Tower - National Museum of Korea - Starfield Library - Sungnyemun - Dora Observatory/DMZ (Unless someone can offer a super compelling reason to do this despite the JSA tours being suspended, I might skip the DMZ on this trip) - Imjingak Pyeonghoa-Nuri Park (See previous note) - Hongdae Donburi (I mean, yeah it's Japanese food but there's supposed to be good ramen here) - Meerkat Friends (because I want to have coffee with meerkats) - Namiseom Island (questionable due to time/distance) One thing I'm in search of is a good brewery/brewpub. But I'd love any recommendations of things to add OR remove from this list.
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Jan 9, 2024 13:29
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 04:37 |
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vanity slug posted:Seoul Gypsy has a nice selection of beers. Magpie is a classic as well. I saw Magpie a few times in my searches so I went ahead and added that to my list. Seoul Gypsy isn't on Apple Maps (LOL APPLE MAPS SUX) but I found the location in Google Maps and threw a pin on that in Apple Maps as well. I know about the whole map restriction thing as well and I've already downloaded Kakao Maps in case of anything, but I'm hoping I can get by with Apple and Google for the most part, even if it's just street navigation. I won't know what the limitations look like until I'm on the ground in Seoul but I'm definitely curious - and prepared. astr0man posted:The starfield library is just a library that happens to be inside a shopping mall. If you're planning on doing shopping in the mall or have other stuff to see in/around COEX then you might as well walk through it but I wouldn't consider it a must-see thing in Seoul. Yeah I discovered that not long after I found out about the library in the first place. I figure I might need to grab some things at the mall at some point anyway, so I'd stop and check out the library while there. Like you mentioned.  Thank you both for the notes.
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Jan 9, 2024 15:33
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vanity slug posted:There's also a good place in there for fresh Dutch stroopwafels, called De Koning (The King). If you haven't had them fresh before, it's worth a visit: https://place.map.kakao.com/818469839 Nice. Thanks for the tips.
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Jan 10, 2024 19:19
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So I finally got to use a Korean word that I've known for a very long time, and it was the first thing I said to a Korean person in Korea.  
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Jan 18, 2024 07:07
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vanity slug posted:개새끼? I've not had cause to use that. No, my word is 안녕. Right now I'm still in the process of wrestling with the time change. It's a little after 2am and I slept for a lot of the day yesterday.
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Jan 18, 2024 18:18
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 04:37 |
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Ojjeorago posted:Don't 안녕 strangers, you're being rude. 안녕하세요 It was in response to them saying 안녕 to me. I knew the word so I said it back. 🤷🏻♂️ I've also picked up 감사합니다. Accipiter fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Jan 18, 2024 |
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Jan 18, 2024 18:28
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