Seoul

We made it to Seoul! Feels like I am back on the sightseeing grind after getting used to doing nothing in Bali. I missed the first day and a half thanks to my flight issues, so mum had a couple days to solo it. By the time I'd turned up she'd made friends with a bartender, eaten a load of tasty snacks, and worked out her way around the neighbourhood, legendary.

Korea started a little slower for me because I got my sinuses fucked UP from some stupid combo of aircon and sea water and aeroplanes. I was walking around feeling like a dramatic little mole, the joy of seeing and hearing and tasting was stolen from me. Made it out the other side in the end.

Mooching era

Seoul has reaaally chill energy, it's so airy and open, all the roads are super wide, and the buildings don't feel too high - it feels like a city with a lot of sky. My nervous system is very at peace, there's none of the loud noises or traffic smell or bright lights you get in other places. The time of year has been literally ideal for a mooch too - like 24 and sunny every day so we've been living the dream.

Some highlights:

1. Dongmyo flea market
   • This was a street market where people are selling everything you can imagine, all laid out on the floor on sheets. Wild stacks of books falling everywhere, guitars, tarot readings, fishing equipment - they got you.
   • My favourite part was all T-shirts in cool vintage spots being the lowest tier of charity shop item in the UK. I think because of the language barrier, they ship all the weird single use charity tees out there - it was like racks on racks of "2024 Minneapolis walk for cervical cancer", "I'm a mental health volunteer", "Accountants against brain injuries". So good.
2. The biggest habadashery in asia
   • There is no way to accurately describe the insane scale of this place, it was nothing I have ever experienced. 5 floors, 4 buildings, just filled back to back to back with sewing shit. You know that combo of lights and scale and intensity that makes you forget who you are and that you've ever seen the sun or breathed the fresh air.
   • We walked in circles for a while until we could no longer distinguish one fabric swatch from the next. Left empty handed aside from some new chalk.

3. Seongsu
   • The trip so far has been kinda light on shopping, but the combo of Seongsu and being with someone else that likes to look at stuff really pulled through. Seoul is literally the dream for a little nosey about. More wide streets, airy, many very cool people just slowly wandering about.
4. The underground river
   • So right where we're staying is the dreamiest river through the city that we meandered along many times. It was once pushed under the city but it's now converted to this gorg walkway that's way lower than the road and buildings, where everyone is sitting with a beer on the steps after work. Many middle aged dudes in suits roll their trousers up and swing their feet about in the water, respect. I think London has some underground rivers still and I'm gonna start the campaign to get one of these situations going.

5. The LG Twins
   • We spent our final night at the baseball watching one of Seoul's team - the Twins play the Busan Giants. Baseball is SO FUN here - everyone is so into it - gender and age balance is mad diverse. Everyone in Seoul seems to get off work in the mood for a good time, grab their tinnies of Cass and some snacks and head in. There's cheerleading teams for both sides that are elevated in the middle of the stadium, and each team has about 10 different songs that all the fans know the words to. We drank Cass (local beer) from 1L cups and just absorbed the vibes. The Busan Giants won, but maybe we were the true winners for the fun we had along the way.
   • The merch also slapped so I had to cop some.

## What we ate The theme of Korean food so far has been DIY. So many places involve cooking yourself which is funny when you don't know what you're supposed to do. We've got by on nice strangers pitying us and guessing. Some of our faves:

1. Makgeolli
   • I love makgeolli so I was very excited to sample the good stuff in Korea. It's a drink made from fermented rice, a little sake-ish, a little sweeter, a little fizzy - and about 4%. We headed to a spot where they brew their own, and I was so into the Korean melon number. Melon is truly my favourite flavour in the world. Also tried a blood orange situation and a bamboo one which were fun.

2. Hotteok

   • This is like a cross between a pancake a donut and a good time. It's this little round fried pastry, filled with cinnamon and sugar - it smells genuinely incredible. Shoutout to Flo from Leicester who we linked up with out here for introducing us.

3. Banchan

   • This isn't a specific food or vibe, but just a shoutout to all the banchan we been eating. Every meal you order comes with 3 little plates of tasty pickly spicy sides for free. Kimchi, spring onions, raw marinated squid, bean sprouts, etc. What an incredible concept they're really cooking with that.

4. BBQ

   • I think BBQ will become a theme of the trip, but this was a cute spot in the middle of this twisty turny hanok village by our place. It's a literal labyrinth of tiny roads, cute traditional buildings with roofs hanging over you. All the BBQ spots are on these cute metal tables on top of what feels like an upturned barrel, and they're packed out late at night with people chatting and drinking beer and soju combos - makes you want to sit and absorb it.
   • The meal consists of snacking on banchan whilst you grill various cuts of meat - short rib, pork belly, pork neck and then wrap them up in lettuce and dip them in your sauce combos. I love how every meal we have in Korea seems to come with scissors to chop stuff up, and a bib to keep your clothes clean.
   • Apparently the good Korean BBQ spots do either pork or beef and we ordered both together so we're simply gonna have to go twice more to do it right.

5. DIY Chicken soup journey

   • Another theme in our "eat at any spot that is super busy with Korean people". We stumbled across this at lunch, and ended up on a true flavour quest that took us the next 2 hours. As soon as you enter a giant metal pot is placed on the table with a roughly chopped entire chicken and water, spring onions and ginseng. We had to rely on the pity of the ladies next to us who found it very funny, but guided us through many steps and courses all from the same pot.
   • First is a DIY dipping sauce that you mix with soy, garlic, gochujang, vinegar and chives.
   • Next, tteokbokki - chewy Korean rice cakes. They chuck these in and you grab them out as soon as they float to the top and dip them in your sauce.
   • Alongside this, you stir a load of kimchi into the broth and let it cook down
   • Then once the potatoes are soft, it means the chicken is ready, so you fish those out, and try and fail to elegantly eat chicken from the bone with chopsticks.
   • Meanwhile, the broth has reduced wayyyyy down from super clear to this thick bright yellow colour. You throw in noodles and eat them as your final course. The broth tastes insanely good at this point, so juicy and chickeny. Feels like it has made me healthy for the next 3 months.

6. Baked goods
   • They are so GOOD here. We've had a black sesame bun, cappuccino bread, but our favourite is salt bread. It's like if a croissant and a freshly baked loaf of buttery bread had a beautiful beautiful baby. Extra points because the places that cook them seem to make their staff wear handmaids tale bonnets and I love that.

Things I've enjoyed noticing

Finishing with some fun things I have found joy in observing here.

1. Chopsticks on hard mode
   • On our first day I told mum I might get some Korean chopsticks to take home, because they're kinda swag. They're metal, flat, and super skinny - chic. I'd got pretty used to the chopstick life over the last month but omg I legit can't stop dropping stuff. I don't know what it is but they've really thrown me. Fishing tteokbokki out of our chicken soup a real low point for me. On the plus side they're really good for slicing pancakes.
2. Lessons in tube etiquette
   • One thing that has been mega wild to me is the unspoken rules of the tube. There's an honestly wild ratio of priority seats, and each are specifically designated for certain people (old/disabled, pregnant, etc). What's wild is that no one sits in these. There's no pregnant women to be seen, 4 empty seats, and everyone is standing to avoid them. It feels so un-London as a vibe, like it's so interesting to me that people don't just stand up when someone needs one. Apparently if you sit down it plays a sound and tells you you gotta be pregnant.
   • Also shoutout to the tube car with designated weak aircon, they really cater to everyone here I guess.
3. Eternal youth
   • This is definitely something you hear about outside of Korea but experiencing it has been funny. Asked the lady in the pharmacy for Vicks to sort my mad sinuses and she tried 4x to sell me salmon sperm cream for my eyes because it would make me more beautiful and young. Would not take no for an answer.
   • There is also a wild lack of people with grey hair, and when you start looking for it you realise how mad it is that literally eeeeeveryone dyes their hair. Like even all of the Korean uncs have little white roots poking out - it's so interesting.

In a bit

That is it for Seoul for now. It's been a very relaxed place to absorb. Next is Sokcho, a seaside town right next to the Seoraksan national park. Shoutout to wild luxury buses here that I'm writing this on - the leg room is bigger than my entire leg straightened, and the seats are like the fancy ones at the fancy cinema.