Sweating It Out In Seoul

Tuesday, July 30, 2019


When I made our itinerary for Japan, I had a few days left before the end of the week.  We could go back home and end our vacation sooner.  Or we could go somewhere else!  With the recent popularity of k-beauty, k-drama, and k-pop, we decided to take a quick detour to Seoul, South Korea.

We woke before dawn to catch the airport bus to Kansai airport.  The airport bus stop is about two blocks away from our hotel.  I had walked it the day before so I could figure out the easiest way to get there.  This involved walking through Osaka station.  But the station wasn't open yet at that hour.  All that walking and sweating wasted.  Since there was a lot of construction going on in the area, a hotel staff was kind enough to walk us past the construction so we didn't get lost.  We were taking Peach Airlines, a low cost Japanese airline.  It only has online or kiosk check in and the process was quick and efficient.  We emptied our Pasmo cards and spent the last of our Yen in the duty free gift shops before hopping on the quick 1.5 hour flight to Seoul.

The immigration process was quick and painless.  We purchased two T-money cards (Korean version of the Pasmo card), exchanged some money (I didn't find an ATM machine until after I'd changed the money), and got on the appropriate bus to our destination.  These airport buses are very punctual.  As we were walking up to our bus, the time had come for it to depart.  Even though there were several people still waiting to board, the attendant blocked off the waiting passengers and the bus departed.

After we got off at the appropriate bus stop, we hailed a taxi to take us and our luggage the rest of the way to our accommodations.  The taxi driver did not help with our luggage and I struggled to place them in the trunk.  Maybe he couldn't get out of the car since we were on the side of a busy road.  He drove about 10 minutes to the front of our lodging on a quiet residential road.  Again he did not get out to help with our luggage and I was left to struggle alone.  Is this the custom in Korea?!

We were going to spend two nights in a hanok, a traditional Korean house built in the Joseon dynasty.  The one we're staying in is called Sky Guesthouse.  It consists of three guest rooms with individual bathrooms and a shared kitchen.  It is located in Bukchon Hanok Village which is a traditional village located between Gyeongbok Palace and Changdeok Palace.  The village was the home of noblemen back in the day.

Sky Guesthouse

Our room

Traditional decorations

Inside our room

It did have a modern bathroom though.

We left our luggage and walked around the old homes and enjoyed the architecture of Bukchon Hanok Village.  The place was teeming with Chinese tourists, this time in rented hanboks instead of kimonos.  I wonder if they're hot in this sweltering heat?!

The streets of Bukchon

Traditional hanok architecture

As we walked towards the end of the village, we saw Baeknyeontojong Samgyetang.  According to their sign, they've been on the Michelin Guide three years in a row for their Korean ginseng chicken soup.  This dish is famous and popular in Korea, and we hadn't eaten lunch, so why not?!  After we were seated and placed our order, several tour groups came in, uh-oh.  We've never had Korean ginseng chicken soup so we don't have anything to compare it with.  But we thought the soup was pretty bland.  Did they really get on the Michelin Guide?

We questioned this after the meal.

Ginseng chicken soup with banchan

Fried ginseng with honey dipping sauce

Fried chicken

Ginseng juice--very herbal tasting

After our tummies were full, we walked to Baek In-Je House Museum.  It is a well-preserved example of a traditional hanok.  You can't actually walk into the building.  You can only look into the rooms through the windows.  And there are only about five rooms.  So we were done with that place in about 5-10 minutes.  It wasn't worth the walk to get there.

I had planned on visiting one palace during our time in Seoul.  Changdeok Palace is known for its secret back gardens.  Since it's the middle of the summer and hot and humid, I didn't think we'd be able to fully appreciate a garden.  So I had picked Gyeongbok Palace as the one we would visit.  When the time came, we were both hot and tired.  So we decided to save the palace for our next trip and went to the air conditioned National Folk Museum.  It has some dioramas and replicas of traditional houses and artifacts.  It was a nice and enjoyable and cool way to spend a couple of hours.

Were men shorter back in the day?

Good to see women stayed the same size

Guardian post: an object of worship for the village

Relaxing on a fake traditional porch

A traditional Korean wedding

A funeral bier

Traditional Korean game?!

We then walked along Samcheongdong Road, a street lined with traditional hanoks that houses cafes, galleries, and shops.  We had a few snacks along the way.  It was dinner time, but since our lunch was so late and we've been snacking, neither of us was hungry.  Therefore, we bought some instant ramen from a convenience store, just in case one of us got hungry and went back to our hanok for the night.

Purple sweet potato ice cream, milk and redbean iceflakes

Churro with custard and cream cheese filling

A popular snack shop--I'd rather have a boyfriend

Wednesday, July 31, 2019


As opposed to the traditional Japanese tatami floors, the Korean hanok floors are hardwood and a lot harder to sit on.  Our futons for the night were also thinner than the futons we've had in Japan.  All this combined to produce a slightly uncomfortable night of sleep.  We should've just stayed one night instead of two.

These hanok stays generally come with breakfast.  Sky Guesthouse provides a good continental breakfast.  It would've been nice if they could've alternated with a traditional Korean breakfast but the food was plentiful and filling.

We meandered down to Insa-dong, a neighborhood that sells traditional Korean goods with teahouses and eateries.  We walked around a bit but didn't make any purchases.  Most of the traditional Korean goods are very similar to Chinese goods and we already have plenty of those at home.  We ended up just having a few street snacks for lunch.

Hotteok, a Korean sweet filled pancake, in the shape of poop

The palace we almost visited yesterday

Egg tarts

We had another Airbnb experience to go to.  This time it is to make our own skincare.  We went to the workshop of Victoria where she first explained the importance of "clean" skincare.  She then analyzed our skin and developed a "recipe" for each of us.  We then followed her recipe and made our own customized toner and serum.  We also made two customized lip balm.  I couldn't wait to try them.

Lip balms in the making

Concentrating hard on not spilling

Our customized skincare items

Our next stop was Gwangjang Traditional Market, a traditional street market that is known for traditional clothing and street food.  But first I had to get more cash because our hanok had to be paid in cash.  I must have missed that part of the rules when I made the reservation.  I went to a couple of bank ATM's but they didn't take my card.  I read online that the ATM's inside subway stations or convenience stores are better for foreign cards.  So I tried a few of those, but still no luck.  I found an ATM for a bank that takes foreign cards but it says my password is incorrect.  How is this possible?  I had just used my card a few days ago in Japan!  Unless my bank had shut down my card due to suspicious activity?  But I had already informed them of my travel plans!  I was freaking out because I had already exchanged the only dollars I had brought with me.  Even though my SIM card was for data only, I tried the 1-800 number on the off chance it would work, but no dice.  I tried calling The Husband via Whatsapp, which makes calls via WiFi, but it was 2 AM his time and he was asleep.  Pick Up The Phone!!  I decided to try my ATM card one more time.  I can't explain it because nothing had changed, but my card worked.  I got more cash than I needed just in case this would be the last time my card works.  Crisis averted.

Now that we were flush with cash, we sauntered into Gwangjang market and found the food stall area.  It smelled delicious as our sweat rolled down our foreheads and our backs.  This market is covered overhead but is otherwise exposed to nature.  That means it is sweltering during the summer and freezing during the winter.  We placed our orders for mung bean pancakes and tteokbokki, rice cakes in a sweet and spicy sauce.  The food was wonderful.  We also got a to go order of mayak kimbap, crack kimbap because it's so good it's like crack.

The market sells raw ingredients...

...as well as ready made food.

Food stalls ran down the middle of the market.

Freshly ground mung beans

Bindaetteok--mung bean pancakes

Tteokbokki that was too spicy for The Girl

I saw a sign at a nearby stall for "live octopus".  This is something I've seen on travel shows and something The Husband wants to try.  So of course I'd have to eat it for him.  I placed my order and the owner got on her cell phone.  Less than five minutes later, a live wiggling baby octopus was delivered.  I'm assuming it's a baby octopus since it's only the size of a hand.  She showed the wiggly octopus to me to reassure me that it was indeed still alive.

Yep, it's fresh and alive

She then proceeded to chop up this octopus to one inch pieces.  A plate full of cut up but still wiggling octopus with some hot sauce and seaweed was placed in front of me.  With each stir of the chopstick or a shake of the plate, the octopus parts would resume their wiggling.  I closed my eyes and placed a small piece in my mouth and chewed and swallowed.  The octopus really didn't have a taste.  The taste comes from the hot sauce.  It did have a crunchy texture.  For my second bite, I let it sit in my mouth for a few seconds before swallowing it whole.  There was a slight wiggling sensation in my mouth but none in the throat.  I had made The Girl promise to try at least one bite.  She placed the smallest piece she could find in her mouth and swallowed it as fast as she could.  I tried to convince her to feel the wiggling and then chew it but no dice.  She had eaten her one piece and she was done.  I ate a few more bites but had to leave the rest.  I just couldn't finish the whole thing.  This is a novelty item for me, not something I find delicious or enjoyable to eat.  I felt bad towards the owner for leaving so much behind.  But really I was full and not because the octopus was bad.  To make it up to the owner, I order some mandoo, Korean dumplings, to go.

Our exotic snack

We went back to our hanok, packed up, and had a late night snack of kimbap and mandoo.

Produce trucks parked near residential areas for easier shopping

Mayak kimbap

Pork mandoo and kimchi mandoo

Thursday, August 1, 2019


Another continental breakfast later, we left the hanok and took a taxi across town to Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas.  This would be our last hotel before going home.

We didn't have any plans until the afternoon, so we first went to the Gangnam station area.  We had heard about the "Oppa Gangnam Style" stage.  It supposedly has the song playing on repeat, and people could go up and dance to the music.  After walking around for a while, we finally found the stage.  It is a lot smaller than I had imagined; only about two people can dance at one time.  And there is no music playing, at all.  No one else was paying the stage any attention so we just took a quick picture and left.  I guess the song that brought K-pop to the US attention is way past its prime.

What you see is what you get

We then walked down Garosu-Gil Road and around Cheongdam Dong.  Both of these are suppose to be upscale areas of Seoul with stores and cafes.  We really didn't find anything special about these two areas.  Maybe we just didn't find the right streets?!

We had a quick lunch/snack at a cafe called 8B Dolce that specializes in flowers.  The food and drink were visually beautiful and delicious.

Flower Rose Ade

Strawberry and mango flower bavarois

Our next "experience" is a makeup class conducted by Yeji.  I don't normally wear makeup.  One, I'm lazy and two, I really don't know how to put on makeup.  The Girl has become interested in makeup in the past year and keeps experimenting with mine.  In order for both of us to learn proper makeup techniques, I signed us up for this class.  Yeji spent the time teaching us how to do "natural" Korean makeup.  She did one side of our faces and we emulated by doing the other side.  Yuji also told us what colors would look better based on our skin tones.  I did learn quite a lot but I'm still lazy and still not using makeup.

The Girl learns that less is more.

We went back to our hotel and checked in.  Grand InterContinental is located next door to COEX, a shopping mall, convention center, aquarium, movie theater, and library all rolled into one.  I picked this hotel because it is located next door to CALT, an airport terminal located in the middle of the city.  You can check in to your flight, drop off your checked luggage, go through immigration, and take a bus to the airport all in one place.  The desks are open all day and you can check in any time as long as it's four hours before your departure time.  This means I can drop off my luggage when it's convenient for me.  It also allows for quicker security checks since the airport has a designated security line for people that came in through CALT.

Nice large rooms

Spacious bathroom

We could see a roof top garden from our room

A library inside the shopping mall

For dinner that night we decided to just stick to COEX since we still had a couple of appointments that night.  We kept following signs for the food court but I swear we were walking in circles because it seemed like we were walking forever.  We finally found some food so we picked a Korean buffet and chowed down.  The food was good but The Girl and I both had some GI distress that night so....

The fried chicken station

The noodle station

Freshly grilled scallion pancakes

Various fried foods

The snack station

Make your own bibimbap station

K-pop is getting very popular in US.  Even though The Girl is not that into it, some of her friends are obsessed.  But The Girl does like to dance so we signed her up for a k-pop dance class.  No one wants to see a middle-aged woman dance to k-pop so I decided to sit this one out.  Since I was not allowed to sit and watch the class, I decided to get a facial during this time.  Easier said than done.  The dance class started at 7:30 pm.  Most spas have their last appointments around 6-7 pm.  I could not leave my 12 year old child someplace that she's never been, in a brand new city where she doesn't speak the language for a couple of hours while I get a facial!  I finally did find a spa that has a last appointment time of 7:30 pm.  It's Shangpree Spa, one of the best facial spas in Korea!  The problem is that they both started the same time, but they're not located next to each other.  There was an approximately 15 minute travel time in between by taxi.  After multiple e-mails, I was finally able to get Shangpree Spa to allow me to show up a little late.  I could drop The Girl off a little early and I could show up a little late, it'll work.

We made our way to The Girl's dance class and I saw that the roads were backed up with cars and traffic.  Hmm,  I don't think Kakao Map (similar to Google Map but for Korea) accounts for the rush hour traffic.  So that would mean that I would have to travel by subway, which involves a transfer and total estimated travel time of 30 minutes. Ok, I figured that I still could do this.  I dropped The Girl off 25 minutes prior to her class.  I told her to sit on the front door step of the studio since they were still cleaning it at that time.  I also instructed her to text me with any problems since she had access to WiFi.  I then walked very quickly to the subway station, climbed the escalator stairs instead of just standing, rode the subway train, then walked very quickly to the spa.  I was on time for my appointment!  But, I was also drenched in sweat.  The esthetician then analyzed my face and made recommendations as far as which type of facial I should get.  It was going to be longer and more expensive than any other facial I'd ever gotten.  But it was The Shangpree Spa and I'm in South Korea, the skincare capital of the world, so why not!  By the time my facial was over, it was 9:15 pm.  My face was definitely looking better already.  But I still had to get back to The Girl because her class ended at 10 pm.  So I did my route in reverse, again going as fast as I could.  I got there just as she sent me a text asking me where I was. Apparently they finished 15 minutes earlier than anticipated.  I was once again drenched, with sweat running down my face.  My relaxing spa experience turned out to be quite stressful.  But it was still worth it because my skin looked so much better.  Good thing I don't live in Korea, otherwise I'd be broke with all the facials I'd be getting.

We returned to the hotel and were finally able to relax after such a hectic and stressful evening.


Friday, August 2, 2019


It was our last full day in Seoul, and it was time to go shopping!  I don't wear makeup routinely.  But I do take care of my skin, both in money and in time.  I discovered k-beauty and their multi-step process a few years ago.  I've read and heard about a multitude of cutting edge Korean skin care products, but I have not been able find a lot of them for sale in USA.  This is my opportunity to stock up on all the products I've wanted to try!

First I had to buy a new suitcase.  We had brought a full sized suitcase, two carry-ons, and a foldable duffel bag.  When I pulled out the duffel bag, I realized it was huge, which is great.  But because it is foldable, there were no supports inside.  Whatever content was inside would be shifting every which way and can potentially get crushed!  I couldn't have this possibility happen to my precious souvenirs--the Japanese skincare products and the large amounts of various Kit Kats from all regions of Japan.

Each region of Japan has their own flavor of Kit Kat

Therefore, I had to buy another full sized suitcase.  I could get a cheap one from one of the markets, or I could get a more expensive, sturdy one.  I did some research on Google to see how the cheap Korean suitcases stacked up.  Instead, I found several reviews recommending suitcases by the Japanese brand Muji.  There just happened to be a Muji store in COEX.  So I went there and tried the suitcase.  It really does roll extremely well.  So I payed my money and took my new suitcase back to our room.

We were planning to do our shopping at the Myeongdong area known for cosmetic stores.  I'd also read that there was plenty of street food to be had in the area.  So we decided to skip breakfast and eat the street food that we were suppose to find.  Except we didn't see any stalls.  There were plenty of restaurants, but no food stands.  We pressed on with our shopping and stopped in multiple stores.

Finally around lunch time, we were both famished.  We stopped into a nearby restaurant Gimgane, and the food was really good.  Of course we had to top off the food with some ice cold desserts.

Marinated crab rice bowl

Pork bulgogi and rice lunchbox

Gelato and soft serve ice cream

We finally found a food stall, egg bread toast.

We'd walked the whole length of the main street and had found most of what we were looking for.  Therefore, we decided to take a break from shopping and go to a Korean spa, a jimjilbang.  Koreans have a big spa culture.  It's where friends and families get together to relax and connect.  Jimjilbangs are generally 24 hour gender segregated bathhouses that feature soaking pools and saunas of various temperatures, massages, entertainment areas, and sleeping areas.  There're jimjilbangs of various sizes spread all throughout Korea.  Some are known to be friendly towards foreigners, meaning there're English signs and some English spoken.  We picked Siloam Sauna near Seoul station because of its better reviews.  For about $11 per person (daytime rate), we could enjoy all it had to offer for as long as we wanted.

It's only about a block from Seoul station

Daytime and nighttime rates

After paying our fee, we were given a key to a shoe locker.  We had to stash our shoes since the rest of the spa is barefoot only.  We then gave our shoe locker key to another attendant who in exchange gave us two small towels, a T-shirt and shorts set, and a numbered key to a bigger locker.  This would be the locker where we kept all of our stuff.  We wore the key around to "charge" whatever extra services we choose to participate in.

The first part of the jimjilbang experience is the baths.  Like the Japanese, you thoroughly clean your body first at shower nozzles before getting into the various baths.  There are a few baths of different temperatures, ranging from ice cold to warm to hot.  There are also two specialty baths, a salt bath and a mugwort bath, both with different health benefits.  These are all communal.  During the time we were at the jimjilbang, there were mainly elderly ladies.  The Girl was very uncomfortable and would only get into the baths that were unoccupied.  After about 10 minutes of soaking, she was done.  I was not ready to go since I still wanted to try the full body scrub that is offered.  Women wearing only their underwear (I'm assuming it would be men in their underwear in the men's section) would use special scrubbing mitts to exfoliate from neck to toe to remove dead skin cells.  I did not find it uncomfortable at all as the attendant turned me back and forth like a big slab of meat as all my accumulated dead skin cells sloughed away.

We then returned to our lockers where we put on the provided T-shirt and shorts and tried out the different saunas.  Except for the baths, everything else at the jimjilbang is co-ed.  Siloam has many saunas to try: forest bath, charcoal, loess ball, salt, jade, and ice room.  Most of these were at a nice balmy temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  There was one special one that had a temperature of 187 degrees Fahrenheit.  The Girl does not enjoy saunas and refused to get into any of them.  I stepped into each one to get a feel but did not linger.

You can sweat in a room made of jade

Is this what hell feels like?

We were both parched at this point and decided to get a drink at their food hall.  There was quite a menu to choose from, but we wanted the traditional fermented rice drink sold in jimjilbangs, the cold and sweet sikhye.  However, food can't be "charged" onto the locker key card.  Cash or credit card is needed to pay for it.  So we were forced to go back down several floors to our lockers for cash.  The sikhye really was delicious.

Nice and refreshing sikhye

We decided to explore the entertainment area at this time.  There were exercise machines, massage chairs, ping pong tables, karaoke rooms, and video game rooms.  We thought about the massage chairs, but they required cash.  We considered the karaoke rooms, but they too required cash.  What is the point of having these individualized key cards if I still have to carry my wallet around?!  So we had to go back to our lockers once again to get more cash.  The Girl sang her heart out in the karaoke room for 20 minutes (10 minutes for about $1).  She had originally wanted to try the massage chairs but those were all occupied.  At this point we had been at the jimjilbang for four hours, so we decided to put our own clothes back on and get back out in the heat.  It was a fun and relaxing experience and I can see why the Koreans enjoy it so much.

Letting her inner pop star out

Our next stop was Namdaemun Market, the largest traditional market in Korea.  Supposedly you can find anything you could want there, including street food.  This is where we'd planned on having our dinner.  We walked around the market in the 100 degrees humid air.  We didn't see anything worth buying, but most importantly we didn't see any street food!  It was 5:30 pm already, so surely we weren't too early.  We did see some sit down restaurants but we wanted street food.  We decided to give up and go back to the hotel.  As we were walking out of the market, we finally found two food stalls.  We bought what they had to offer and got back on the subway.

However, we were still hungry.  So we stopped at the nearby Hyundai department store and walked around their food hall.  The Girl picked a good looking beef rice soup and I picked the spicy hand-pulled dough soup.  But when our food was ready, they looked nothing like the pictures.  They were mainly soup with hardly any substance.  The Girl's choice looked like it was not spicy in the picture but the actual product was way too spicy for her.  So we ended up buying kimbap for her instead.  Note to self, Korean food hall food is no where near as good as Japanese food halls.

Very little substance in the soup

Where's the beef?

Kimbap to the rescue

Saturday, August 3, 2019

We're going home today!  We packed up our bags and walked them over to CALT where we checked in for our flights and dropped off our luggage.  I also reserved our airport bus tickets.  Unfortunately, unlike in Japan, I could not pay for them using our T-money card.  I had intentionally left $15 on the cards (the cost of the bus) for this purpose.  Oh well, I figured we would just have to save them for the airport.  We went back to our hotel room and relaxed until it was time to board the bus.  We could've gone back to COEX but we were both shopped out.

The immigration process at CALT was literally a minute without any lines.  The airport bus was nice and roomy, and we were at Incheon airport in an hour.  There was a special security line for the people coming from CALT which was a lot shorter than the regular security lines.

I had also placed some online orders through the duty free Lotte website.  By signing up and placing the order through the website, I was able to purchase some things at special duty free airport rates plus additional discounts for being a "member."  Overall, I saved about 30-40% by ordering these items online rather than purchasing them directly at the airport.  Of course, I would still have to pick my order up at the airport.  I am not the only one who's discovered this trick.  There were lines of people waiting to pick up their purchases.  There was packaging plastic everywhere as people then proceeded to unwrap the items for easier packing.

Bags of discarded wrappings

The bags that brought the items from their main stores

While we were waiting for our flight, we saw the procession of "royalty" that happens a few times throughout the day.  We also stopped by the cultural center where we made a miniature classic Korean table.  All of these sights and activities are on offer free-of-charge as a way to spread the culture of Korea.

"Royalty" available for pictures

They will also march down the hallway with their guards.

Keeping ourselves busy while waiting for our flight

We decided to get one last meal before boarding our flight.  We went to the food hall and The Girl got Vietnamese pho and I got beef with soup.  I know, Korean food halls, but there wasn't much else available.  The food was not good and worst of all they did not accept my T money card.  So I was stuck with about $30 on cards that can't be used outside of Korea.  This is where the Japanese transit card system is superior to the Korean's.

Bulgogi with soup

Pho

Our flight from Incheon was delayed 45 minutes due to restrictions over Japanese air space.  There were some people sprinting off our flight on arrival in San Francisco due to the close connections.  But I had learned my lesson from our previous trips and had built in a good three hour cushion for our connection.  After quickly going through customs via Global Entry (money well spent), we spent our wait time at the Centurion Lounge enjoying a nice lunch.  After another connection in Houston, we were finally home with all our luggage intact.

Overall we had great trip.  Everything went smoothly and we didn't have any major mishaps.  Naturally, there were times that The Girl and I got on each other's nerves, but all was better after a good meal or a good night's sleep.  It was hard to be the only adult on the trip.  I was the one who was responsible for all logistics and most of the decisions.  I had to keep all my worries and stresses to myself so as not to upset The Girl.  Props to all the single parents out there.

I think I like Japan better than Korea.  I found the Japanese more polite than the Koreans.  The latter remind me of the Chinese, loud and blunt.  We saw no Japanese crossing streets outside of the crosswalk without a walk signal.  The Koreans were jay walking everywhere.  We were crossing the street at a pedestrian crosswalk one time that did not have a traffic light.  Even when we got to the middle of the street, the Korean cars were still driving right past us and no one was stopping for the pedestrians.  While in Korea, we were waiting at a bank of elevators one time with another man.  When the elevator finally came, as we were walking towards the elevator, the man had already gotten on and proceeded to let the elevator door close on us instead of holding the door for us.  The Japanese were very patient and friendly with us foreigners who couldn't speak their language.  On the other hand, when the Koreans discovered that we were foreigners and couldn't speak their language, it seemed like they couldn't be bothered anymore and were actually irritated at our presence.  Of course I'm not saying all Koreans are like this, just most of the ones we came into contact with.

Would I go back to Japan?  Absolutely!  But I'd go to other cities I haven't been to.

Would I go back to Korea?  Probably.  I'd go back to visit some of their historic palaces and sample more of their beauty treatments.