With Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day, where the Chinese sweep and clean the graves of their deceased family members) occurring the first week of April, I had an extra day off and decided to make a jaunt back to Seoul. If you remember, dear reader, when I was last there in November, I fell in love with the city despite battling a bad cold the entire time. This time I wanted to see it in warmer weather and healthier spirits. Needless to say, the second time around brought even more joy to my soul. (Prepare for more Seoul-crushing puns.)
Monday
After a great stay the first time at Hao Guest House, I decided to book a room there again. Martin, the proprietor, even gave me a 10% discount for returning. The South Korean tourism business has been hurting since the Chinese government announced a boycott in early March due to South Korea installing the US-made THAAD missile system, and as a result many hotels and guest houses have been sitting close to empty since.
I dropped my bags off and set out to find a late lunch. I enjoyed several meals that Korea is famous for the last time I was in town, but one I missed, and have been lusting for ever since, was their fried chicken and beer, or chimaek. Koreans call it the perfect combination of taste: spicy fried chicken with an ice cold beer. A quick Google search told me that the highest rated chicken and beer place was only a five minute walk from where I was staying: game on!
The fried chicken at Chicken in the Kitchen was hands down the best I’ve ever had. I ordered the half’n’half which was a half-chicken fried extra crispy, and another half-chicken doused in their tangy hot sauce. The chicken was topped with French Fries and fried rice cakes and was clearly meant as a meal for two. Not to be intimidated, though, I scarfed down most of the chicken and took home a little doggie bag for tomorrow’s breakfast – yes, the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast, indeed!
Fried chicken and beer!
After my late lunch, I decided to walk around the familiar surroundings of Hongdae. Hongdae is a hot spot on the renowned K-Pop scene and teenage singers and dancers flock here at night to busk in front of large crowds. I was able to catch a boy band hip hop group, a young guitar virtuoso, and an older woman belting out Korean ballads before making my way to my favorite Seoul brewery, Magpie Brewing, for a couple of their Gose style beers to cap off the night.
Tuesday
Seoul is famous for its five grand palaces. Last time, I visited the second largest, Changdeokgung. This time, I made my way to the smallest of the five, Deoksugung. Located in the middle of a business district next to City Hall, Deoksugung was built in the 1500’s and features a modern and western-style garden and fountain. I was lucky enough to catch the changing of the guard while I was there, too.
deoksugung
Throne room and ceiling of Deoksugung
After visiting the palace, I made the 20 minute walk to Bukchon Hanok Village, a small village that has been preserved to show a 600 year old neighborhood and is made up of long, winding alleys and hanoks – small, traditional Korean houses – stacked close to each other.
Another staple of Korean cuisine is Ginseng Chicken Soup and, as luck would have it, the top-rated place in town, Korea Samgye-tang, sits right on the edge of the village. Korea Samgye-tang is Michelin approved and often gets long lines for lunch, however I was lucky enough to quickly get a seat. I ordered the traditional soup with added black garlic. The soup itself is minimal: a whole young chicken stuffed with glutinous rice cooked in a broth with ginseng root and topped with onions and shallots. It was served with the traditional Kimchi, and can only be described as chicken soup for the Seoul. And for those keeping score at home, yes, that is two whole chickens in two days.
Ginseng chicken soup with black garlic
Wednesday
After two days of beautiful weather, I wasn’t as lucky Wednesday as rain and wind was in the forecast all day long. Not to be deterred, though, I made my way to Gangnam, yes that Gangnam, mainly to visit the largest Samsung store in the world. Gangnam is often referred to as the Beverly Hills of Korea and the business district is lined with high-end retailers along their wide boulevards.
Outside the Samsung store, protestors camped out in tents protesting the unsafe working conditions for Samsung factory workers and manufacturers. I kept my beloved Galaxy S7 hidden from sight as I climbed the steps to the store.
Samsung protests
Upon walking in, the Samsung store looks almost identical to any Apple store: products laid out for testing, their own version of “geniuses”, and walls stacked floor to ceiling with accessories for phones, tablets, or any other type of tech. It’s the second and third floors, however, that separate the Samsung store from Apple and make it a destination, as both floors give the customer an interactive walk-through of Samsung’s technology either in development or recently made available.
On the second floor, I was able to test drive the Samsung Gear VR 4D. Not only are you wearing a virtual reality headset, but you are strapped into a chair that can jolt you in just about any direction. The headset can also release odors or a blast of air to the face. The idea is that this will soon be used for a next-level cinema or gaming experience. The demo that I tested was for a roller coaster ride. While it was an exciting two minute trip, I have the previous version of the Gear VR and the experience felt very much the same.
The third floor, however, was where I really hit the jackpot. Samsung had laid out the entire floor as an interactive walk-through of what our houses of the future will be like. Smart mirrors in our bathrooms that can evaluate our skin condition and recommend what products to use that day, a 3D hologram display on our kitchen counter that walks you through each step of a recipe, and a feature that lets you watch TV anywhere, as a screen populates in any room you may walk into: no more pausing your DVR when you have to go to the bathroom!
I spent most of the early afternoon hours walking around Gangnam in the rain. One of my favorite things about Seoul is the mix of cultures and history. Six hundred year old palaces and villages sit next to opulent city halls and skyscrapers. So, it was no surprise that on a long avenue lined with financial institutions and department stores, there were batting cages set up along the sidewalk.
Unfortunately, the cages were rigged to only allow for right-handed hitters, but I switched around and took a few righty cuts for the first time in at least a decade. After a rough start, I was able to get a few good rips on the ball – I guess you could call me the Seoul-tan of Swat. The speeds ranged from 55mph up to 85mph and I was able to get in 32 swings for about $1.50. Not a bad diversion on a rainy day.
Batting cages in Gangnam
Following the batting cages, I made my way to the Noryangjin Fish Market, one of the largest wholesale and retail fish markets in the world. It has been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and Layover and has an extensive layout of freshly caught fish and seafood. On the second floor are a dozen or so restaurants that will gladly cook up any fish that is purchased on the floor below. One of the highlights are the small octopi that you can buy an eat whole…while still alive. Unfortunately, at this point I was water logged and still full from lunch, so I just took in the incredible display of fish before heading back to Hao’s to dry off.
Noryangjin Fish Market
I finished off my stay in Seoul with a pizza and two more Gose beers from Magpie before heading to the airport to get back to China. With five days of exploring Seoul under my belt, it’s safe to say I’ve fallen in love with the city. Could it be my Seoulmate?