Alright folks, it’s about almost time to wrap up the Seoul portion of my South Korean travels. Can you believe it’s been a month already?

While I certainly feel like I have packed in a lot for my time here, at the same time I have only just scratched the surface of what there is to see and experience in this city. You could certainly spend years here and still discover new things every day. And it’s worth remembering that the things I have chosen to see and do are obviously based on my likes and interests, meaning there is a whole other vibrant side to this city that I have completely ignored given that I am a slightly older, boring, British person.

With that in mind, let us see where the last few days take me, eh?

Insadong is an area not too far from where I am staying that I have somehow managed to completely bypass so far. It is an area with a long traceable history back to the Joseon era, apparently making its beginnings as a residential area for government officials and was actually two towns who’s names ended in ‘In’ and ‘Sa’. Now the area is best known as being a hub for traditional and cultural arts and crafts. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you are still struggling for souvenirs to take home, both cheap and incredibly expensive (handmade), this is where you come.

There really is only one main street through Insadong and that itself has smaller offshoots, all of which are worth looking down as you never know what you may find. I personally spent a good couple of hours wandering very slowly and checking out many windows on this street. The main items on offer here are: stationary/calligraphy supplies (proper looking professional stuff that you really need to know what you are seeking or asking for), silk crafts (pillows, bags, pillow cases, norigae – these are the traditional adornments you see on hanbok), dojang makers (these are the traditional name stamps used for documents), tal/hahoe masks (traditional wooden face masks used in rituals/plays/festivals) and art galleries (both traditional and modern-style art).

Apologies now that I didn’t take many photos in this area, but there are lots of signs asking you not to take pictures of things on display, which is fair enough, so you’ll just have to google some of the names things above if you are curious as to what they look like.

I did however take a photo of this…

I finally got a little braver and went into a café to order a traditional type of tea – Jujube tea – and some grilled tteokbokki, the first time I’ve had it cooked this way and serves sweet with honey poured over the top! The ttokbokki of course gets full marks because I know I already like it, the tea however was a new experience and one I wouldn’t repeat, but glad I tried.

I really am a total Neanderthal when it comes to tea, I drink 100% Builder’s Tea (that’s normal black tea with milk and two sugars for those of you who aren’t British). I don’t really have a palette for green teas, fruit teas, spiced teas, or whatever else might fall into this category. I will drink matcha green tea, but only when it’s in a latte form and thereby usually milky and sugary. I’m a tea heathen. That’s not to say I don’t want to like other teas, I do, I would love to find something to swap out my normal tea for, but have yet to find anything to fill the space. And I can attest that Jujube tea joins the ‘no thanks’ list. I would describe the tea as having a thicker consistency than I was expecting, which isn’t a problem at all, and a fairly strong spiced flavour, which is an issue for me. But here’s the odd thing, the moment that I tasted it, I instantly knew I recognised the flavour of something in it, it was very familiar. It took me a good few sips (I really did try, I persevered for half the cup (though it was really a bowl!)) and suddenly nailed it – Indian rice. Now hear me out. When I get pilau rice with my korma curry at home, there is sometimes a hint of flavour within it that’s quite strong and I have no idea what it is. Whatever it is, it is also in the Jujube tea I drank. Not knowing the ingredients of either item, I can’t tell you what it could be, but I swear they have a similar taste running through them.

Veering away the tourist thing, I felt the need to stretch my legs away from people and so headed to go climb a little hill, as I do. This hill was pint-size, 95m actually, so I am not sure why it’s called Eungbongsan Mountain, but maybe it just makes people feel good about getting to the top. There’s a pretty, traditional eight-sided pagoda at the top, which I totally forgot to take a photo of, and that’s about it really. You get a pretty decent view of the Han River and a fair bit of Seoul. I believe its claim to fame is that Joseon kings reportedly came to this mountain to hunt, which does make me wonder what this area must have looked like in those times for there to be any type of game to hunt.

Of course, I had other motivations for coming here, kdrama related ones. I knew you guessed that already. For those of you who have watched ‘That’s Okay, It’s Love’ (and I know you don’t even need to be told it has Doh Kyungsoo in it), this was where they filmed some of the evening scenes. And it is easily recognisable, I crested the hill and immediately twigged the stairs and bench the filmed in front of. And that made me happy. As it does.

So climbing a hill wasn’t enough in this heat for me (yes, still hot here), I decided to walk down through Seoul Forest (second time), had dumpling soup dinner at a Korean restaurant (I got brave cause it was practically empty and reckoned they wouldn’t turn me away) and catch the subway (love the subway so much) and go over to Jamsil Stadium. Well, just because I wanted to look at it. So I did. Turns out they were having a baseball game there this evening.

And if I had 3 hours to spare, I might have actually just walked up and bought a ticket, but as I’ve found previously with baseball, you have to REALLY want it in order to sit through a whole game, and my fondness for it is a little borderline (had it been ice hockey, I wouldn’t have hesitated). So instead I went and looked at this….just cause it was there.

Then I headed to Banpo Bridge for the evening. Why? Because of music and lights of course.

If you aren’t aware, in the evenings at Banpo Bridge starting at 7.30pm, and roughly every half hour, there is a display of water cannons coloured with lights shot from the side of the bridge with a musical accompaniment. If you have an hour to spare in the evening, I recommend it as something different and relaxing to do. I also advise bringing some food and drink. Which I didn’t, because I plan poorly like that. But I still enjoyed it. As a further bit of advice, I then recommend walking across the bridge to go to the subway station on the other side of the river, because you then get to see the fountains from the next show from underneath, which is also a bit of fun, as well as checking out the boats on the river.    

I suppose I should also just add a note here about wandering around at night in Seoul. I know this is one of the things I think people worry about, especially when you are a female solo traveller like me. I would like to say that I have found Seoul to be an especially safe city to explore, even at night. That doesn’t mean blithely wandering about with no regard to common sense and safety, but just that I also haven’t wandered about terrified about being mugged or attacked or anything of that sort at all. Seoul is full of people, FULL of people, day and night. Everywhere I have been there has always been at least a handful of people around me (although I have had many comments that my photos contain no people!) and in some cases hordes of them. There are also CCTV cameras almost everywhere you go, and I have yet to find somewhere in Seoul (except the financial district right in the heart of town) where my Wi-Fi/phone connection doesn’t work (even in the mountains I had Wi-Fi). I would not hesitate to recommend anyone to come to this city and feel confident to explore at any time of day or night whether solo or with others.

Right, one last thing and then the next post will be my last from here…

Yes. I did it. I went and tried on hanbok.

Despite feeling a bit nervous to do so (for me, doing everything on your own in a foreign country requires a bit of extra oomf and confidence to get it done), I walked into a store I found recommended online (That Day Hanbok in Bucheon) specifically because I knew I didn’t want to actually wear the clothing for several hours (usually they rent for between 2-6 hours) but just wanted to try it on and take a few photos, and this shop had a couple scenic backdrops on the property.

When I arrived, the place was overflowing with kids. I should say teenagers, sorry. One of which was a very sweet Chinese lad (I know this as I heard him conversing fluently in Chinese, but then also ever so slightly stilted Korean and English too), who turned to me and apologised for the size of the group and taking so long.

You know what, after a full month in Seoul, this young lad was probably the first to actually engage me in conversation. I was so ridiculously happy that he talked to me, I decided to give my Korean a go and asked him why he wasn’t putting on hanbok. He was surprised I spoke to him in Korean, but he replied back to tell me that because it was so hot it was uncomfortable to wear. Well, now I was over the moon because I actually understood what he said (it doesn’t usually happen that way, I say something, get a ream of Korean in return, and then have to apologise at how stupid I am not to understand a word). OK, I went for one more go and asked him if they were going to the palace (which is basically across the road) of which I got a yes, but then got the inevitable follow-up, where I had to apologise that that was the end of my Korean. He was very sweet and told me in English they were there for a cultural experience.

Anyway, feeling a bit happier and buoyed by the exchange, I went and asked to try on hanbok.

My takeaway from the experience was this – ALL hanbok are beautiful, hanbok can make anyone look at least halfway decent, hanbok totally brings out the desire to swish and swirl not matter how unlike you that may be.

In case you are interested, this was my experience…

I have a feeling that ‘proper’ traditional hanbok possibly has more parts to it or is constructed a little differently, because obviously the ones being used for rental have to be put on and taken off quickly and easily. Hanbok (at least the ladies one, not sure about the gents) are two piece. You wear normal clothing underneath with hanbok over the top. There is a hoop underskirt you step into that gives shape, with the rest of the clothing going over top. The main part of the hanbok is constructed almost like an apron you put your arms into and it wraps around and secured in the back with Velcro. Then you have a jacket-type top which is simply fastened with a bow-like tie at the front. It’s that simple, but looks amazing. You do get to choose the colour and style of the hanbok you like, but if you are a little clueless (like me) they will suggest ideas which suit you best. The cost for this (I paid for a 2 hour rental though only used it about 20 minutes or so) was ₩ 15,000 (about $10 or so) and in my opinion was a bargain.

There you have it. A few more adventures. One more post left in Seoul.

And didn’t I just cheer up your day with a photo of Hiker Button in hanbok. You’re welcome.