Seoul, South Korea

Flight 11 of 17

Thursday, April 12 – Friday, April 13

We arrived in Seoul around noon, and we were excited to see Lauren (Kristen’s high school friend) waiting for us in the arrivals area. Lauren works in South Korea, and she planned a one-night whirlwind tour of Seoul. (We were only in Seoul for a one-day layover.)

We took a train into the city, and we checked into our hotel. Unfortunately, our requested room was not available. Very fortunately though, a four bedroom suite was available and we got upgraded! Lauren took us to a great area with boutiques and shops, and we sat down in a café to catch up and enjoy Chai tea.

Lauren & Kristen's South Korean Reunion

Next Stop: Seoul Food & Drink Tour. Lauren booked an awesome tour, in which our tour guide took ten tourists on a walking tour to four different restaurants in Seoul. We tried different cuisines, learned Korean drinking games, and visited restaurants we would never have ventured into without the help (and often reassurance!) of our guide, Dan.

We began by walking down narrow alleys, which gave way to large open areas lined with restaurants and shops. We first visited a Korean-style BBQ, where we cooked meat over an open fire and tried various dipping sauces and flavors of kimchee. We were also introduced to Soju, a Korean liquor, as part of a “Korean Car Bomb” drink.

Ryan BBQing (Korean-style) for the tour group

The second stop was an indoor restaurant, where we tried braised chicken and potatoes. We learned a few other drinking games, as well as some Korean customs. For instance, it’s bad luck to pour your own alcohol, and you should look away from the eldest person at the table while drinking. When being served a drink, you should place one hand beneath the other, as a sign of respect. (This grew from traditional Korean clothing, which often had long sleeves and required holding them back while drinking.)

We may be smiling on the outside, but on the inside, our mouths are on fire! 

The next stop was one of our favorites. We stood outside a street vendor, while the two workers (who chanted and sang) took a block of solid honey, and after going through a variety of tools, pressing, flour, and kneading, it emerged as tiny strings wrapped into a bite size morsel. (We bought a box to take home, but finished it the next day!)

Delicious Korean honey candy

Kristen's mouth stuck shut from delicious honey candy

Our third restaurant was probably the most remote and unexpected. We walked through a back alley, and beneath a baseball diamond was a restaurant (with very short ceilings). Here we were welcomed by bowls of cloudy rice beer (very good & highly carbonated) and a whole fried fish. (Kristen passed on the fish.) 

  

Ryan and Lauren enjoying their fish and rice beer

Our fourth and final restaurant was inside a Korean night market. The area had dozens of shops and venues serving up some foods that were difficult to describe. We passed on the raw ground meat and the cow stomach, liver, and lungs. We pressed on, and entered a restaurant that served Korean pancakes (very tasty!). We chatted with some fellow tourists from Hawaii and enjoyed another beer.

Korean night market;  Raw Beef - it's what's for dinner

Our tour ended, and we returned to our four-bedroom abode. We finished some laundry (so glad we finally had a washer & dryer!) and went to bed. We woke at 5am, took a taxi to the airport, and waited in the Asiana lounge for our flight. On TV was live coverage of the (failed) North Korean missile launch. We watched as the news came in, realizing that we weren’t that far away from the action! Fortunately, the launch failed and we safely made our way (with Lauren) to Japan.