South Korea was not even in my top priority of countries to visit but because of an Air Asia sale, we considered going and then ended up booking a return flight for AUD$700. I am glad Air Asia had a sale and I'm even gladder that we booked that flight because South Korea would probably be one of the best Asian countries I have ever visited.
And so here I am writing about my trip and some of the amazing things you can do/visit while in Seoul.
1.) THE WAR MEMORIAL OF KOREA
There's a reason why this attraction is ranked 1 on Trip Advisor and I must say it's a very good one. One of the many reasons someone travels to another country is to experience its culture and know more about its history. Visiting the War Memorial is a perfect way to learn more about South Korea's history and to pay respect to the soldiers/people who fought hard to have what the country has right now.
 |
| Front view of the War Memorial Building | Flags of the countries who supported South Korea during the Korean War |
 |
| In this hallway you'd see the list of names of all the soldiers who lost their lives fighting against the North, more than 80% was from US. |
 |
| Names of Filipino Soldiers in the Korean War |
 |
| Australia and Philippines were among the 21 UN countries who defended South Korea |
The main building (first picture above) has statuettes of all the personalities in the army that played a big role during the war and in some corridors you'd see snippets of the actual news video in the 1950s and they were all very moving! There's a gallery that shows replica and details of other wars from way way back like the one during Joseon Dynasty - they're all very informative but of course the highlight was the Korean War. As you go outside there's a massive park where you'll find rows of aircraft, tanks and vessels
And as you walk further, there are statues around and they all symbolize the Korean War.
 |
| THE TWO BROTHERS STATUE (first statue you will see if you're coming from the train station gate) Statue is 18m high and 11m wide -the older brother in the statue was a South Korean officer while the younger brother was a North Korean soldier |
 | ||||
| A Korean War Statue just outside the main building |
Address: 29 Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Operating Hours: 0900-1800 except Mondays and Public Holidays
How to Get There: Take the Seoul Metro Subway (make sure you purchase a T-CARD at any GS25, 711 or other convenience store) and get off at Samkagji Station, take exit 12 (you'll see signs that will direct you to it), walk straight and turn left when you see the sign for the War Memorial (about 300m away from the station, one way fare is approximately 1050 WON-local currency)
Other details: There is no entrance fee, it will take 2-3 hours to go around the whole area (or can be up to 5 hours if you're going to have a close look on all the war memorabilia)
2.) DMZ and JSA TOUR
If you're doing the War Memorial of Korea visit (which I'm sure you will, it's non negotiable teehee!), you have to do these tours (well you don't have to do both, I'll explain the difference later on so keep reading!). DMZ stands for Demilitarized Zone and the Korea DMZ serves as a border that separates North and South Korea. It is basically a strip of land across the Korean Peninsula and it's a heavily militarized border (soldiers from both countries manning the border at all times). The DMZ tour lets us, tourists, visit the border and learn more about the history of Korea and why there is such thing as DMZ.
 | |
| image from Wikipedia | Orange line indicates the 4km buffer zone between North and South Korea |
The hotel we were staying had a set of brochures of all the Seoul tours/packages available at the reception area. We picked one and asked the receptionist to book the tour for us. We chose the morning tour so we can still do some other things in the arvo after the tour. It was a Sunday when we booked and our tour was scheduled the following Tuesday as it requires at least 24 hours to book it.
We were picked up at exactly 8am on Tuesday by the driver of Seoul City Tour and left Seoul at half past 8 because we had to wait for all the other tourists to be picked up. Sunny is the name of our tour guide and she spoke pretty good English. It took us an hour and a half to get to the DMZ site but it wasn't boring at all because Sunny did a lot of explaining - she explained the history of Korean War and I was really amazed as I did not know much of these prior to this tour. Even after the ceasefire agreement between the two Korea (as initiated by UN), North Korea still did not stop as the South later on discovered tunnels dug by the North as an attempt to invade them. Rules and regulation (no cameras in highly secured area, no military outfit, etc.) were also explained as the vicinity is heavily militarized. In this part I also found out the difference between the DMZ and JSA Tour and I felt a bit of regret that I didn't research enough to know that as I would have really wanted to do the JSA Tour.
DMZ is the entire border area, it's said to be 250km long and 4km wide so the DMZ tour can be anywhere within the DMZ area and not necessarily on the actual borderline. Panmunjeom/JSA (Joint Security Area) is inside the DMZ and is the most forward location in the area that can be visited by civilians. It used to be the only connection between North and South and from there you can see the actual border, which is said to be the most secured area in the DMZ. I really enjoyed the DMZ tour but doing the JSA would have been so much better! The DMZ tour consists of the following:
Pick up from the Hotel - Imjingak Park (50km NW of Seoul and was built for about 5million people who lost their home during the war, North Korea can be viewed from here) - Freedom Bridge (the only path that connects North and South Korea around Imjin river) - DMZ Theater/Exhibition Hall (a short presentation of the history of Korean War and the 3rd infiltration Tunnel) - The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel ( the third tunnel that was discovered by the South in 1978. It's 1.95m high, 2.1m wide & 1635 m long. It's such a riveting experience to walk through this tunnel! The best part is I didn't have to bend down to get inside, I fit perfectly inside the tunnel!!) - Dora Observatory (it's in a higher area of DMZ and tourists can have a glimpse of North Korea through the binoculars for KRW 500/2minutes, although North Korea can be seen fine if you have 20/20 vision) - Dorasan Station (the northern most station built in the hopes that if and when the two countries will be united again, there would be a chance to get to Europe from South Korea through North via the Siberian Railway) - Unification Village Pass By (Sunny explained that this is the closest civilian village to DMZ, after the war no one wanted to relocate to this area but they had to make use of the land because it's perfect for agriculture. Eventually they were able to convince families to settle by giving them extra benefits; families of soldiers also live here so they can be close to their loved ones) - Ginseng Center (not at all related to DMZ but nevertheless part of the tour to introduce to tourists the benefits of drinking/taking Ginseng. Ginseng is apparently one of Korean's local perennial plants and is contributing to the country's economic success - Drop off at Itaewon or City Hall (main subway stations in Seoul, just few minutes away from your hotel if you're staying close to the main area of Seoul)
The JSA Tour includes all of the stops at DMZ Tour plus the Camp Bonifas (base camp for the United Nations) and the actual JSA tour (visible borderline that separates the two countries, each side owns six guard posts and more than 35 armed guards can be present on each side)
 |
| The lone DMZ photo I have - I was so engrossed, didn't have the chance to take photos on non restricted areas |
DMZ Tour Cost: KRW46,000 per person/morning tour (Seoul City Tour has a special promo for 40,000 if reserved online), KRW55,000 per person if with Traditional Korean Lunch (50,000 if online), KRW48,000 afternoon tour (no promo indicated online)
Time of Tours: Morning is 0800-1430, Morning with Lunch is 0800-1500, Afternoon is 1200-1800. Tours not available during Mondays and National Holidays
DMZ + JSA Tour Cost and Time: KRW 135,000 with lunch, 0800-1730
JSA Tour Cost and Time: KRW 87,000 with lunch, 0900-1730, JSA Tour not available on Sundays, Mondays and National Holidays
Reminder: All tourists need to bring their passport during the tour day as military will need them at check point.
3.)SEOUL SPORTS AND SPORTING VENUES
As tourists we all want to do something accustomed to locals, be it experiencing a night at a Hanok (a traditional Korean house) or eating pork intestines and fish cakes in skewers (street food) at a stall in Namdaemun Market. Our version of "doing something locals do" for this trip is watch a local baseball game (Did you know Koreans go gaga over baseball?)
Since the baseball games are either late afternoon or early evening, we decided to start the day by doing something related to sports and that is visiting the World Cup Stadium.Korea and Japan hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup and after its successful completion, the stadium continued to be a venue for soccer matches and other big sporting and cultural events. There is a stadium tour for KRW 1,000 but there is no tour guide; the tourists would just follow the signs/arrows to take them to each gallery.
As I was with a football fanatic, we spent a longer time than all the other tourists in our group (which was fine, staff didn't tell us to leave after everyone has left). As we entered the tour hallway, we saw a collection of facts and drawings about the history of the World football (on the right wall) and Korean football (on the left wall). And as we moved on to the next hallway, it presented the World Cup details of the years South Korea qualified in.
 |
| Took a selfie outside the stadium with our monopod/selfie stick/selfie pole |
.JPG) |
| Years in which South Korea qualified in World Cup | 2014 not yet included in the gallery |
 |
| ME with the South Korea National Team =) |
 |
| ...and HIM taking my spot in the National Team! |
 |
| Seoul World Cup Stadium Field |
This is a real treat for football supporters and a good experience for people like me who are just starting to learn about the sport (because they have partners who watch and talk about them everyday). World Cup is such a big deal in the sporting space and to have been to one of the stadiums where it was previously held is so enthralling - it gave me that immersed feeling that I was part of this football history (weird, hey?)
Watching Baseball the Korean Way
After spending a good 2-3 hours at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Mapo-gu, which is west of Seoul/northwest of the Han River, our next stop was the Jamsil area where the baseball game will have been held (southeast of Han River). As you can see from the map below, Jamsil is so close to the famous Gangnam area and so we decided to check out what this Gangnam style is about since we still had some hours to kill before the game. Gangnam is an affluent suburb and Koreans living in this district are all considered wealthy. Aside from doing a Gangnam Style dance pose (but I won't be posting pictures here as it might start a fight, wink!), all we did in this area is had lunch. We found a very nice and small rice burger place (not so posh but who cares it was yummy!) and I'll talk more about it in my future posts.
 |
| NC Dinos' Pitcher |
 |
| In every game, there's always an injury - LG batter ran to the second base after hitting the ball, attempted to run to the next base but ran back after he saw the ball was being thrown to the middle infielder and the two bumped against each other |
Details:
How to get to World Cup Stadium: World Cup Stadium Station is on Line 6 so if you're not on the same line or if you're at Seoul Station, you have to change at Digital Media City (Geoman bound) to get to WCS Station (19mins if coming from Seoul, 2 mins if from Digital Media City) and costs KRW1050 from Seoul Station. Exit on Gate 1 or 2 from World Cup Stadium Station
Operating Hours: 0900-1800
Stadium Tour entrance fee: KRW 1,000
How to get to Jamsil Stadium: Take Line 2 to Sports Complex Station then take exit 5. Stadium is right in front of the exit.
Tickets: As we only wanted to experience the game, we chose the cheapest ticket for KRW 7,000. The expensive tickets (closer to the field) range between 17000-20000
4.) NANTA
I'll start by saying no matter how tight your itinerary will be in Seoul, you just cannot miss this show. Nanta is a 100 minute non verbal comedy show that makes use of Samul Nori (four object percussion rhythm). The story is simple - it's about 3 chefs in the kitchen organizing their stuff when their manager arrives and orders them to prepare a banquet for a wedding at 6PM on the same day.They only have less than 2 hours to prepare and to make things worse, the manager brings in his nephew -who is so uncoordinated and has zero kitchen experience - to "help". What happens in the next 100 minutes is brilliant and hilarious! There are no dialogues albeit there are a couple of mumbles. These together with their facial expressions, well coordinated movements and the amazing sounds they make from all the objects around them (Samul Nori, Samul means four objects, Nori means play) makes this show a really popular entertainment not just for the tourists but even the locals. There is also an audience participation so you'd surely enjoy every minute of it!
 |
| NANTA Show started in 1997 and these are the actors who played the role of the chefs/nephew/manager |
 |
| The actors at Myeongdong Theather |
 |
| ME at the NANTA Kitchen! |
How to get there: There are several NANTA Theatres around Seoul; we went to the one at Myeong Dong. For other locations, check the NANTA website
Ticket: The ticket prices are also on the website but our ticket was the cheapest one; it's called "A" (for admission, I think), we paid KRW50,000 but if you book it online it's only KRW 40,000
No comments:
Post a Comment