Seoul Mar 2022

It's been too long~ I visited Seoul last month from 16-22 Mar 2022 - my first time there for holiday. It was also my first real break in a while and overall, I don't think I've ever been happier with a trip! So much so that it was useful to have a mask to hide behind when I started smiling randomly on the streets haha. 

Corny as it may sound, there were things I saw, heard and felt on this trip that I want to remember forever. If I had to summarise or pick a few highlights, they would have to be the musical, the palaces, the little hike and the walks by the Hangang. But really, almost everything was great, and that is why this post is 9k words long with over 100 pictures included - fair warning to anyone who might have clicked in! 

[Contents: chronology (days 0-7), covid-related bits, cost analysis, conclusion.] 

Day 0, 15 Mar Tuesday (Night)

I booked a 1.25am flight on 16 Mar. The whole idea was to get to Seoul and get the all-clear as early as possible to seize the day. So on 15 Mar, I worked as usual before heading to airport at 10.30pm (3h in advance of the flight as recommended by most guides). 

As expected, there was a queue at the check-in area (serving multiple flights) for checking of the PDT memo and vaccination cert. At the end of the check-in process, I was given the blue KR-SG VTL lanyard and told not to lose it or face quarantine in Seoul. I was a little nervous about going solo after 2 years of rusting but thankfully, everything went well and smoothly throughout the trip!

Talisman for warding off the quarantine monster. This picture was taken after the OAT PCR in Seoul, where I obtained the circular sticker proffering the ability to take public transport. Just a few weeks previously when rules were stricter, taking public transport was not allowed at all.

Day 1, 16 Mar Wednesday

Fast forward to about 8.30am when the plane touched down ahead of schedule in ICN. There, all processes went faster than expected (document checking, immigrations, OAT PCR, installing my pre-purchased Korean SIM card) and by 10.30am, I was on the Arex train to Seoul. I reached my hotel (Nine Tree Myeongdong, just 2 minutes from Myeongdong station) at 11.45am where I got a real shock from looking in the mirror. Now I know why it's called a red-eye flight - my eyes looked like Frodo and Sam's when they were crossing Mordor xD.

Sunrise at the start.

The protocol was to stay in the hotel room and wait for the PCR results (hoping that it'd be negative otherwise it would be a rather sad holiday indeed). At about 1pm, I noticed the results had silently slipped into my inbox at 11.40am (no alert thanks to battery saving) - barely 2h since the test time at 9.45am :o Their efficiency was really laudable, especially since there were quite a few people being tested that morning. So without wanting to waste any more daylight, off I went!

For a start, I wanted to get the vaccination pass conversion thingy out of the way so that it would be easier for establishments to verify my vax status. On hindsight this wasn't needed by that point, but I couldn't be sure since it was a very recent policy change. Either way, I ended up not getting the thingy because the hotel staff directed me to a public health centre in another district (구) which had very strict service boundaries and couldn't take my application. 

Thanks to this, I found myself in Itaewon. As this was an unexpected visit and I had no idea what to do, I just strolled around... and found the place rather quiet. Turns out Itaewon is famous for nightlife so I was probably there at the wrong time of day and day of week.

Noticed these colourful lanterns along a few streets in Itaewon.

By then, I was tired enough to head back to Myeongdong where I managed to get into a cafe without having to show my vax status or do any contact tracing... exactly like how things were pre-covid! Nevertheless, I kept my printed vax cert handy throughout the trip, but at no point was I asked to show it.

Myeongdong was a shell of what it was pre-covid, with many stores shuttered. I stayed there more for the centrality than any interest in shopping, but I hope it recovers soon.

I crashed very early that night.

Day 2, 17 Mar Thursday

The plan was to spend the entire day south of the Hangang since I was headed for Coex at night. First on the agenda (and first out of the many parks visited) was the Olympic Park. I didn't read up beforehand on what I'd find there, and it turned out to be a huge place packed with a few different attractions. Good thing I got an early start!

I entered the park from the southeast where the running track and sports facilities were. There, I found it quite cute to see a bunch of ahjummas cycling around in bright yellow vests and knee and elbow guards. Seems like group cycling lessons were a thing - I passed a few more of them struggling to cycle up a bridge while an instructor cheered them on.

The running track was made fancy by many sculptures by foreign artists, such as the giant thumb sticking out (sorely) right in the middle.

Seoul's convenience stores tend to come with seating areas, hot water dispensers and microwaves. Epitome of convenience especially if one is cold and hungry!

The nature areas were further inside the park, centered around the Mongchon Fortress. Looking back through my photos, the landscape was mostly brown and not very pretty compared to the pictures of cherry blossoms I've been seeing at the time of writing. Nonetheless, I remember being very happy simply by being free to walk around in the cool weather in a foreign country in the middle of the week!

Joining the locals on their morning brisk walk around the hilly terrain of Mongchon Fortress.

View from the top of the hill.

The walk and cold wind were enough to make me hungry, so I backtracked to the convenience store to grab a snack and tick off the experience of eating there like a local before heading to the other exit towards Jamsil. I passed an art museum and a reservoir (sadly dried up) before exiting through the World Peace Gate.

Flags of the nations that participated in the 1988 Olympics.

The 1988 Olympic torch flame still burns beneath the World Peace Gate.

The World Peace Gate from the outside.

I then headed to Gangnam to check out the shopping thoroughfare and find lunch. There were too many choices for food, so I let my legs walk me and ended up in a second level cafe for chocolate souffle pancake xD. On holiday = eat whatever I want! 

This gets a photo because it was the single most expensive meal of the trip (KRW 27,500 including the drink). It was nice, though I didn't eat the coffee ganache and some of the chocolate toppings since it was a little too much :x

The street I was at in Gangnam, where people walked all over the road and cars inched slowly around them.

Food out the way, there were two more attractions to cover that afternoon: Seolleung and Jongneung Royal Tombs and Bongeunsa Temple. After the mild chocolate overdose it was a good time to take a walk in some peaceful places. 

The grounds around the Seolleung Tomb where ancillary buildings such as the shrine and guard's quarters were preserved.

While wandering around the tombs, I was stopped by an ahjussi who asked me something in Korean. I guess I didn't look the least bit foreign, what with the round glasses and KF94 mask that pretty much everyone else wore haha. Since I could hardly catch what he was asking, let alone understand enough to answer, I blinked twice and said something like "sorry, 외국인 (foreigner)". This situation repeated itself a handful of times throughout the trip but for that first time, the conversation went on slightly longer with a utilitarian mix of Korean and English as the guy asked where I came from before ending with "nice to meet you!".

The Seoulleung Tomb is the mound on the right, and in front of it many statues stand guard.

The path towards Jeongneung Tomb. These paths were split between the King's road where visitors were permitted to walk along and the Spirit/Incense road (usually the larger portion on the left side) which had to be avoided. Seems like royal humans were considered humans all the same.

The Bongeunsa Temple was a short walk away from the tombs. Instead of going in by the main entrance, I followed the meditation trail and entered the temple grounds from halfway up the hill.

The dirt paths and buildings made it feel like an olden day village.

Up close, the buildings were really quite pretty. For this particular one, there were many people taking photos of the tree with pink flowers next to it.

I went in to view the Buddhist statues (there were sooo many) but didn't take any photos inside as there were people in the midst of prayers.

That put me just across the road from Coex - the day's final destination. By then, I was definitely ready to sit down and rest for a while haha. Since there was still some time, I dropped by Starfield Library in the mall and managed to snag a seat. No better thing to do than read the book I'd brought along (something I tend to do whenever I travel, whether physical or digital). 

It's really pretty, and I assume they have a system to retrieve the books at the tops of those shelves.

If anyone was wondering why the funny trip dates, it's because I was planning to watch the musical Fan Letter with Super Junior's Ryeowook performing in the lead role. I'd found out about it while following Suju updates and stuff, but the music and storyline really piqued my interest. As part of my Korean self-learning, I translated all of the musical song lyrics so that I could understand the story. It's projects like these that make learning fun, and I experienced goosebumps twice in the process, first from listening to the songs and second from finally understanding what they were talking about. 

One interesting thing about Korean musicals is that they have rotating casts. I intentionally watched Ryeowook's final 2 performances on 17 and 19 Mar and it was worthwhile to see him perform with different actors. Another fun fact is that Koreans come seriously prepared for these things. I spotted quite a few people using mini binoculars/telescopes to get a better view of the actors' expressions. Also, taking photos/videos is allowed during the curtain call so the whole theatre was filled with the sound of DSLR clicks, leading to many HD photos/videos floating around online afterwards.

Fan Letter is popular with locals and both performances I attended were very packed. I wore the Temasek mask over my KF94 mask to feel a little safer within the crowd.

17 Mar happens to be a key date in the story, so there was an extra souvenir for that day's viewers and a special curtain call where Yoon Namu (the actor in front) read his character's final letter dated 삼월 십칠일. This was also his final performance and this was taken during his closing speech with a very sad Ryeowook in the background.

I'll say a little bit more about the musical in the 19 Mar section. It was at Coex Artium which up till 2020 also held the SMTOWN Museum. I definitely would've gone there if it were still around, but no choice but to wait for it to reappear somewhere in South Korea and visit on a future trip. 

Saw the SM artists' hands display outside the Coex Artium but didn't go comparing my own hand size coz #covid.

The musical ended at about 11pm and I got swept up in the crowd rushing to the subway as though there were a zombie apocalypse xD. To my surprise, the station and train were super packed. It was a Thursday night so it seemed like people were either working or partying very hard or maybe stretching out the dine-in curfew, not sure. This was the day where South Korea's cases peaked at 620k although the locals didn't seem very concerned anymore. But I was rather unnerved since I still had to care about my PDT and it certainly didn't help that many people were talking loudly on the train. I kept my double mask on all the way back to the hotel where I thoroughly sanitised everything before finally getting to sleep past midnight.

Day 3, 18 Mar Friday

This was the designated Palace and Hanok day, with quite a few extras!

It started with brunch at Cafe Onion (Anguk branch) - one of the very few planned meals for the trip. I'd found this recommendation on Ladyironchef's page while poring over VTL guides during planning and the location gelled very well with the day's agenda. Must say it was totally worth the visit, if not for the food, then for the setting. The cafe was nested in a conserved and repurposed building - a sign in the toilet said that this was a 100-year-old Korean house (and so please don't throw things in the toilet bowl).

Clockwise (from top left): main entrance from street, inner entrance, eggplant pizza (loved it) and chai latte, courtyard just inside the inner entrance.

This place is well-known. Hence firstly it was a good thing I was there early on a weekday. Secondly, I was only a little surprised when I sat down and heard people behind me talking about "Tengah" and how it is "a car-lite town...". Didn't recognise anyone but can't miss that accent anywhere haha.

Food settled, it was time for the main stuff and I decided to start off at the palace further from the cafe - Gyeongbokgung. I entered from the side entrance and immediately felt a sense of grandeur, simply from the vast open space enclosed by looming walls. There were only a few other people around so I had a serene and somewhat surreal experience wandering from building to building, unencumbered by modern views and noises. 

Passing through the Geunjeongmun (Third Inner Gate) where the royal guards stood watch, cap feathers fluttering in the cold wind.

Approaching the imposing Geunjeongjeon (Throne Hall), I felt like I was transported to a different time.

So grand, even from the side view!

The inside of the Geunjeongjeon. Chose the side view because I find the vine motifs on the rafters really cool. 

It was a good thing I changed phone just before the trip. The new 0.5x zoom out function came in handy many times here and it was great not having to wait a few seconds to capture each picture (my old phone was getting slow). Also, the photos here are mostly unedited save for some cropping and alignment. Though it wasn't all bright and sunny when I visited Gyeongbokgung, I thought the original cloudy day lighting gave the pictures a very suitable dignified feel.

These short trees with flat tops were quite cute.

Many ins and outs to explore all over the place!

I got a little lost in back areas of the Gyeongbokgung. After going to the toilet and exploring the garden nearby it, I took the path that I thought would take me back to the entrance... but ended up back at the toilet. It took a bit more confused wandering before I orientated myself and found the way out, but this was actually an excuse to mention the toilet. Every single public toilet that I entered in Seoul/Incheon, whether in a park or subway or cafe, was impeccably clean. I found it super impressive that there weren't even any droplets or black shoeprints on the floor - a far cry to our own.

Hyangwonjeong - super pretty but I ended up walking around it three times when trying to find my way out.

At the end, I exited through the main gate of Gwanghwamun, following some of the royal guards on one of their ceremonies. It's a sign of the times (and I've been told that I was lucky) that I managed to get a full shot of Gwanghwamun in all its glory without a throng of tourists decorating the photo.

Conveniently trailing behind~

At Gwanghwamun

The next stop was the Bukchon Hanok Village and because I wasn't rushing for time, I decided to take a walk up the main road of Samcheong-ro. At that time, I didn't know that Samcheong-dong was a trendy cafe/restaurant area, I just wanted to look around and remember wondering why there were suddenly so many hip yet cozy-looking cafes everywhere. 

Oops, the tree is in the way but there were definite European vibes along this stretch.

This store selling ornamental chickens caught my eye and I went in but didn't buy anything. Still had much walking to do and didn't want to be carrying porcelain around.

The Hanok Village was on a hill so it was good that I already got to the top and could make my way down through the village. As these were real residences, there were signs everywhere requesting visitors to keep the volume down and respect the homeowners' privacy e.g. by not trying to open the doors and enter their houses.

Korean Kampung~

Was mildly tickled to see the traditional wooden doors fitted with modern digital locks.

I dropped by the Tteok Museum on a recommendation. It was a cozy place to hide from the wind for a while and appreciate the variety of colourful (wax) tteoks for every occasion and festival.

Then, it was time for the "next palace". Turns out that the large green area on the map (bigger than Gyeongbokgung) was made up of three separately ticketed sites: Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and the Secret Garden. I entered from the main entrance to Changdeokgung. Overall, it seemed similar to Gyeongbokgung, just smaller.

Western-inspired drop-off point.

Long passageways at the courtyard peripheries. I didn't walk within those at Gyeongbokgung because it was too tiring to explore every inch of that huge place, so I made sure to do so here at Changdeokgung.

There was another ticket box at the entrance of Changgyeonggung after going past the Changdeokgung buildings. At that point I didn't realise that it was a totally different palace and assumed that it was some special inner grounds of the previous one. The walkaround within it actually reinforced that perception because the feeling was quite different from the first 2. Instead of sprawling grandeur, it felt more like a really nice park sprinkled with artifacts and special architecture.

The entrance led to the high path overlooking the main palace buildings, and I decided to explore the back areas before looping back here. Saw at least 2 couples in hanboks getting their photoshoots done!

Walked around this man-made pond with my coat buttoned up all the way coz the wind here was on full blast mode.

Garden and greenhouse with UK vibes~

Haminjeong - open pavillion great for chilling.

Couldn't resist taking pictures of the many many cats I saw on the grounds of Changgyeonggung! The cutest were the white and grey-patched family (saw 5 of them running around) and the unbothered ginger loaf napping under the shrub next to the pond. To quote le sis, I "travels all the way to Korea, takes pictures of cats" xD.

I didn't get to visit the Secret Garden because only guided tours were allowed and I missed the last English tour, so that's definitely something for a future trip. And in any case, it might have been a stretch to squeeze it in even for me.

It was close to dinnertime at the end of the main agenda, but I wanted to check out the SMTOWN&Store just a station away at Dongdaemun before calling it a day. The store mostly stocked previous seasons' merchandise and I bought some just for the fun of it. Dongdaemun seemed like a chic place (at least judging from the Dongdaemun Design Plaza), but I decided to leave the rest of it for next time.

Passed by some quirky art at the DDP. If you clap into certain sound receivers, the light trees respond with a little shimmy. It was more amusing for me to watch other people clapping at the trees though xD.

So I thought the day would end with dinner but it was hardly 7.30pm when I finished my dabao-ed tteokbokki and pork skewer from a street vendor back in hotel. During the planning phases I imagined that I could have fun days and restful evenings watching shows on my laptop but that doesn't seem to be my style after all haha (as long as the weather was bearable). So I added one more inner layer because the cold wind had become even more biting in the evening and set off for the Cheonggyecheon, about a 15-minute walk away. 

In my previous work, the Cheonggyecheon was a frequently mentioned site lol. The stream used to be covered by a road before that was demolished to recover the space for the enjoyment of the public. Perfect for an after-dinner stroll!

Unsurprisingly, I clocked the highest step count of the trip (and probably in my life so far) that day: 34k, with over 25km covered!

Day 4. 19 Mar Saturday

It snowed~ Probably can blame climate change unless this was somehow normal for spring in Seoul. The temps were consistently quite low (below 10°C in the day) during the week I was there and people were all still decked out in coats, but this day was the coldest. I'd wanted to go to Yeouido in the morning but decided it might be better to huddle indoors for a while.

There was even an emergency alert the night before, one of the many I received on the trip. All of them were marked "Extreme" (so I got a bit of a shock for the first one I received) but they were mostly just routine updates on the daily covid case count in whichever area I happened to be in. This was the odd one out:

I could understand the first sentence without Papago: "snow expected from tonight till tomorrow".

View from the hotel room that morning.

I took my time pondering what to do with the unplanned blank while chewing some bread and eggs from 7-11. In the end, I decided to hop over to Haru & One Day (Suju Donghae's cafe) in Seongsu-dong and hope for the weather to turn. 

Homely interior that I'm sure would be packed on weekends.

The weather did cooperate so Seoul Forest it was! I attempted to take a bus there, but must've gotten on the wrong loop or something because it went another way at a fork and never turned back. I had to get off and walk to take the subway back in the direction I came from -.-

Happens that the building housing the SM Entertainment office is near the Seoul Forest station, so I walked in for a look and was greeted by huge panel displays of Suju's latest single album and music video, freshly released around that time!

Seoul Forest was rather dreary and slushy. It probably would be a lot prettier around time of writing since spring has come for real and filled it with colour. I was aware that my visit was about 2 weeks too early for the cherry blossoms. It would have been a bonus to an already fulfilling trip, but seems I can't have everything and will have to go back anyways xD

It was already a few weeks into spring, but seems like the trees and the flowers still wanted to sleep in haha.

Interestingly, there was a deer corral in the Eco Park area. The stag just kept staring at the does from its side of the fence xD.

After some wandering around, I ended up on a footbridge towards the Hangang Waterside park where all gloomy feelings from the weather just melted away. 

Maybe when I come back to Seoul one day, I can see this place in either bright pink or yellow instead of Lone-lands brown.

But this made it all worth while.

There's something about open spaces near water bodies that lifts my spirits and the Hangang is MASSIVE. Like 1km wide. Our Singapore River really has nothing on it. I remember parking myself on a bench just to enjoy the view for a while before putting on some music and taking a walk eastwards to get back to the subway.

What a view! Btw, those speckles on the water were ducks, thousands of them! A grand flock for a grand river.

Feeling decidedly happy, it was time for me to head over to Coex for my second and final viewing of Fan Letter. The seats for that night's performance were completely sold out because there was another popular actor performing (Lee Kyuhyung, whose version of my second favourite song of the musical I have listened to many many times). For me, it was a superior performance to the one on 17 Mar. Firstly, my view was better even though my seat was about 10 rows further from the stage. It was the aisle seat so I had the full view of the stage and didn't have to try and view portions of it around someone's head. Secondly, it was the final performance for most of that night's cast and they really poured their hearts into it. 

The musical has very good songs (which was how I decided to watch it live in the first place), or at least they're the kind that I'd listen to in normal times, sort of like Wicked. The song that I enjoy above the others is 눈물이 나 (Tears (as in from joy)), because it's the only fully happy number in a musical that is rather intense and emotional. In that scene, the main character is bursting with joy as he meets his idol for the first time. What made it even better that night was that Ryeowook sang a different arrangement at two lines at the climax of the song:

목소리 멜로디 타자 소리 하모니

모든 풍경은 금빛으로 눈이 부셔

I think this is the real value of watching a live performance where the singer is skilled enough to change things up in a way that elevates the intent of the song. Reading some Korean reviews afterwards, it seems like this was the only time this happened. That night's performance was not recorded, so I consider myself lucky to have been able to watch it and want to remember how he sung those lines forever. 

I tested out the extent of my phone's zoom-in again and the results were not great, so I mostly sat back and enjoyed the closing song and speeches.

One final group hug/merry-go-round before leaving the stage :')

Fulfilled a key objective of this trip, and every last bit was worth it!

After the musical, I stopped by at the Seoul Station Lottemart. Another key objective of the trip was to bring back a goody bag for le sis' birthday. It's a seemingly inane thing but I didn't foresee that it would be so difficult to schedule a slot to visit a supermarket. Guess I'm that uninterested in shopping hahaha. Good thing this Lottemart was open till midnight and I managed to carefully select just enough goodies to fill a reuseable Fairprice bag. There, I encountered Singaporeans pushing a full shopping cart of stuff xD.

The goody bag courtesy of Lottemart, 7-11 and CU. Contents artfully arranged by le sis on the floor back home. I was quite pleased to see that only a handful of stuff were available in local stores when I went scouting.

Day 5, 20 Mar Sunday

The first thing to do was to clear my PDT ART at Jongro Yonsei ENT Clinic which was open on Sundays. The registration queue was about 40 people deep when I got there, but it moved fast because the receptionist brutally skipped numbers if there was no response within about 5 seconds. All-in-all, I got my negative result about 1.5h after entering the clinic.  

I'm #4 on the list here: 클라리스, which reads Keullariseu. Below me was a Ricardo (리카르도/Rikareudo). Cheap thrills from knowing how to read my own name in Hangeul hahaha.

That PDT memo was like half the ticket home so I literally breathed easier after getting it - no more worries and double-masking! And so, there was no better time for a hike.

Since I didn't prepare specifically for hiking (how to train while hiding from covid at home) I just decided to pick something extremely doable. So the Achasan-Yongmasan trail it was, as all the online guides said it was easy. The hike was also slotted on Sunday since hiking is a favourite pastime of Koreans and there would be many people around. While travelling solo there are places where I don't want to be alone alone. Normally it would do good to avoid crowds in covid but this was why I did the PDT early haha. And true enough, the trail was very lively and packed with ahjussis/ahjummas and families with small kids.

For a semi-unplanned thing, the hike went pretty well! After a few greyish days, the weather couldn't be more perfect! In fact it was probably the best weather of the entire trip. And though it was a short and easy hike, the views were nothing to scoff about. 

Easy stairs near the start. Most of the Achasan trail was as gentle, but because I hadn't been exercising much it wasn't completely effortless for me xD

Different terrains including this sort of hemp path that was also present in many of the other parks/trails I visited.

There were rocky sections too. At a particularly steep point there was a choice between the rock and stairs. I chose the stairs for that coz I was in sports shoes.

There were many points where I stopped to look at the view (and rest) and this was from the Hangang viewing point on the way up Achasan.

One funny thing was that I totally missed the peak of Achasan (must've been inconspicuous). While following the signs and the crowd in general, I found myself at Achasan Fort 4, which was already on the way to the Yongmasan peak about 800m away.

Somewhere around Achasan Fort 4 where I was being confused about where I'd find the peak. I didn't bother doubling back because the signs said I'd already passed it. 

I don't remember much of the final 800m except that there were lots of stairs. But eventually, I got to the peak and joined a line of people waiting for their proof shot.

The very obvious marker at Yongmasan peak (Yongmabong)! The group behind me kindly offered to help when they saw me trying to use the free handphone stand at the photo point. 

The peak was rather crowded with people resting and having a snack, so I moved on and came upon the main Yongmasan viewing point. I must've spent a long time there just soaking everything in :D

모든 풍경은 금빛으로 눈이 부셔
The whole landscape dazzles with gold

The viewing point faced west, so this was roughly the view towards the northwest and it made me think what a huge city Seoul was. I was later surprised to discover that Seoul is not bigger than Singapore, just denser.

View towards the southwest. The main river visible in the picture is not even the Hangang but the Jungrangcheon if I'm reading the map correctly. It's a tributary of the Hangang which is the huge patch of water that can be seen by zooming into the southwest.

Eventually it was time to descend. People who prefer more challenge can choose to hike the opposite way i.e. up Yongmasan, towards Achasan and down the gentle way. On hindsight, this might have been a slightly better option. Going up the steep side might be painful but at least it would be fun. Going down it was painful and not fun. The descent began with some stairs (if going up, they would be endless stairs) but was dominated by very steep rocky terrain with fixed ropes. I was happy with the ropes but because they were on the righthand-side, I ended up going down left leg first most of the way. 

If it looks nice and flat, it's an optical illusion. Maybe rotating about 30 degrees anti-clockwise would be more representative haha.

My left knee was rather upset by the end of it. The great thing about this trail, as with many other things in Seoul, was that it started and ended near a subway station. I made my way over gingerly to the Yongmasan station while contemplating how to survive the next 1.5 days.

It's worth mentioning here that I relied a lot on the subway for getting around. By extension, this meant putting in a lot of leg power too. Similar to my London memories, I feel that we are blessed in Singapore to have an abundance of escalators serving almost every exit of every station (even if some are only up-riding ones). I must've climbed/descended over a hundred flights of stairs in those 7 days, and walked a few km worth in those underground connections. The 300m between the 2 Tampines stations has nothing on the long passageways of the Seoul subway system, not just between lines but within stations from platform to exit. I found this similar to but even more intense than HK. All this made no small contribution to my fantastic step count haha, and which was why I had to find a solution for the knee.

I'd planned to visit one of Suju Yesung's cafes for a post-hike teatime since they were only about 2 stops away, but both were way too crowded. The entire hike took about 2.5h so it was only about mid-afternoon at that point. 

In principle, the weather was too good to waste. So, even with the sore leg, I revived the previously shelved plan to visit the Yeouido Hangang Park. Anything to do with the Hangang, especially in such good weather = no ragrets! The place was bustling but the best thing was that even though there were sooo many people around, there was enough space for everyone. 

Glad for a clear day and a great view of the cityline at the back!

More public seating, where there were probably Koreans eating their favourite ramyeon :p

I took a walk and saw many people doing all sorts of things, from BMX stunts to flying kites to sparring (like muay thai) to feeding seagulls to filming an MV (or at least I guessed it was, because the guy was dancing and lipsyncing). At a random point I stopped to sit down and reply insta messages. This took some effort because, even though the pictures don't show it, the wind was quite cold and made my fingers go numb very quickly.

Walked this way down to soak up some more sun and atmosphere!

Enough space and sunlight for everyone~

There was also a pasar malam selling the usual ramyeon, corndogs and skewers but I had a specific plan for dinner that night. Thus I headed back to Myeongdong to patronise the No Brand Burger outlet almost just downstairs from my hotel. That night I had the best appetite of the entire trip for which I credit the hike and the relief from the negative ART!

Got back around sunset which painted some life into the quiet streets! 

That night's dinner was inspired by the pre-bedtime mukbang videos le sis and I like to watch. Ordered ala carte at NBB (the drinks were bought from elsewhere) because it was a key objective to try the cheese balls hahaha. Verdict: they were well worth it for the cheese but I'd have preferred if they weren't coated in sugar :x I ate the first one as is, scraped the sugar off the second and gave up and peeled the third open just for the cheese. The burger and wings were good too, as was life :D

Day 6, 21 Mar Monday

Lazed in a bit, plainly because the downstairs pharmacy only opened at 10am and I needed to buy a knee guard before attempting to go anywhere.

I'd planned to take one day trip out of Seoul and the choices were either Suwon and Incheon. The historic fortress at Suwon caught my attention while researching but to balance out the experiences in this trip, I decided to leave that for next time and head to the port city of Incheon instead. It's conveniently connected by subway (right at the end of Line 1) and the journey felt very similar to travelling home from NTU haha. 

The attractions in Incheon were all conveniently bunched near the train station so, as usual, I walked from one to another starting from Chinatown. The main gate was just opposite the station and it was unmissable.

Yup, definitely Chinatown, 中华街.

Paint the town red! Though it was Monday blues for everyone not on holiday xD. Most of the buildings around looked like Chinese restaurants.

Encountered stairs once again but at least these were pretty stairs.

Met a line of zodiac statues partway up the stairs, looking all serious and dignified...

And then there was the rooster, clearly stunned and unable to speak. Btw, the description reads 酉鸡 although it first registered as 酒鸡 (drunken chicken) in my mind xD.

The stairs connected to the Jayu (Freedom) Park. Throughout Incheon, there were many statues and monuments paying homage to both the Korean and US Navies and their roles in the Korean War. Good thing most of them came with English descriptions so I could learn a thing or two. Hopefully the next time I visit South Korea, my Korean reading comprehension skills would have improved enough to apply to these things instead of having to rely on the presence of English.

Statue of US General Douglas MacArthur standing tall in Jayu Park.

Worth the climb - the view of the harbour.

The next attraction of Songwol-dong Fairytale Village was a short walk away. This attraction spanned quite a large area so I meandered around in a general downhill direction. I had wayyy too many photos to choose from for this place haha, and even then I think there were parts that I missed out since there were many parallel pathways.

I liked that many of the decorations were in 3D and it's like the designers basically spammed all their childhood memories of Western fairytales, Disney movies, classic cartoons and added a whole load of imagination to create so many kid-friendly designs. 

Rarely anything ordinary - the buildings were all either specially designs or had decorated facades. The one built to resemble a palace on the right was actually a One Piece cafe (spot the Straw Hat jolly roger?) though sadly it wasn't open.  

Some of the simpler and yet eye-catching displays.

The last stop at Incheon was Wolmido, an island just a little off the mainland and easily accessible by bus from the train station. I got off near the seafront and walked along the Culture Street filled with cafes and seafood stalls selling "jogae clams". Didn't get to find out what those were coz I was attracted to a snack stand selling cheese hotdogs and had one of those for lunch instead xD.

Nice seaside vibes~ The monorail tracks reminded me of Sentosa but I don't think it was in operation.

Snack stand where my basic reading skills came in handy for recognising the 치즈핫도그 (chijeuhatdogeu) prominently displayed at the front! The people at the left were enjoying the steaming eomuk soup which also looked very nice in the cold weather - shall try that next time round.

The 치즈핫도그 was big and worth the ~S$4.50 for the generous amount of cheese! Another trip objective fulfilled here haha. On this trip I got to try cheese balls and a cheese hotdog, just missing long cheese sticks which will have to wait for the next visit.

Sea view for a change! The sun was shy that day though it appeared from time to time.

Not forgetting the very cute location proofshot.

It was actually quite cold and windy at the Culture Street so I admired the sea view for as long as the cheese hotdog lasted before cutting through the Wolmi Theme Park to get inland. This little seaside theme park reminded me of the one at Brighton in the UK and the old Escape theme park in Pasir Ris. Since it was a Monday, the theme park was unsurprisingly deserted except for one particular ride.

Almost everyone present in the theme park could be found at the Disco Pang Pang, a ride I recognised from a variety show. It was controlled by an operator-commentator who would try to spin and bump people out of their seats while they clung on for dear life. The ride itself was full and there were many additional people gathered around to watch the show xD. 

The yellow banner asked for cooperation because of ongoing filming for JTBE TV. I found the channel here and aside from being quite amusing it gives a sense of how violent the bumps can be. 

Definitely not a smooth ride xD. Didn't get to see anyone flying from their seat though!

The last thing to do at Wolmido was to visit the Wolmi Park (as in the kind with trees). I wasn't in any condition to go up (or more of to come down) Wolmisan so I contented myself with exploring the sea level areas. As with Seoul Forest, it probably would've been prettier a few weeks later in the real spring. The lampposts doubled up as speakers which played music and I even recognised a few songs while walking around. 

The water features in the park were mostly dried up. Not sure if this was a factor of the season/weather or water saving but the water would have made things much prettier. 

Not quite a spring look, but still impressive.

A very early sneak peek of cherry blossoms!

There was another deer corral at the park and rabbits too! A bunch of them came dashing over when I approached the enclosure, which was really cute to see.

After Wolmi Park, I took a quick detour to view some Naval monuments before concluding the Incheon tour and returning to Seoul.

While I hadn't planned anything specific for dinner, I thought it'd be nice to have a drink since it was the last night. (I only had beer on the first and last nights btw, was too busy for alcohol throughout this trip xD.) So, the Pasir Ris girl's habit of slotting things along the way of a long journey took over and I dropped by the youthful neighbourhood of Hongdae. I'd originally planned to save Hongdae for a future trip with friends, since it's known for its pubs and nightlife, but it was well-worth the peek this time. It was probably the liveliest place I went to in the trip, and note this was on a Monday night.

Definitely more alive than Myeongdong!

Found some really nice street art along the side streets.

The pub that I was eyeing didn't seem to be open, so I decided to go for chimaek (chicken and beer) instead. I'd previously passed by a whole stretch of chimaek restaurants somewhere in Myeongdong but my appetite was never good enough. Korean food isn't always convenient for solo small eaters haha. The smallest portion on the menu was for 1-2 people so I got that along with 500cc of draft Cass beer. The chicken (original flavour) was good but of course I couldn't finish it and asked to takeaway about half of it.

On the other hand, I easily finished the beer because it was smooth and tasted really good, sort of like a fruity cereal! As always, draft>bottled>canned. So I ordered another 500cc xD. Note to future self: drinking lots of cold beer in cold weather makes one very cold. My teeth were even chattering as I brisk walked back to the subway like a frozen penguin.

The final dinner in Seoul :')

Day 7, 22 Mar Tuesday

Since the flight was at 4.30pm, I had the morning to find breakfast and do some final exploration at Namdaemun Market. Again, it was quiet though the stalls were all set up for business.

Random shot from the fresh food section of the market.

Breakfast was a honey hotteok coz it was the only flavour I could read out of the 2 options xD. It was quite good! Not as oily or sweet as I thought it might be.

I'd mostly packed the night before so after some final stops at 7-11/CU to pick up some perishables for the goody bag, I checked out and headed to the airport slightly earlier than planned. Not a bad thing though, because there was already a long queue of people at the counter by the time I got there. I still had time for a quick lunch afterwards before flying home~

I joined the queue slightly before 1.35pm (3h before the flight) when the counter opened. It moved steadily but it took me 1h to get to the counters as everyone had to have their vax certs and PDT memos checked.

Some covid-related bits

And that's a wrap for the fun stuff! Now we come to some background that can't not be talked about.

I first entertained the idea of travelling again back in Oct 2021 when things seemed to be looking up. If I made it to Seoul in Jan/Feb, I could've watched more than one musical. But that would require the stars to align and of course omicron had to appear in Nov and throw the universe into disarray. A colleague said: "there's light at the end of the tunnel, but it's a huge fire!" Hahahaha oh well. So I shelved my thoughts and excitement. Fortunately, come Jan, omicron was proving to be a kinder variant than delta and on CNY, I started planning. 

People have asked me whether the planning was tedious or complicated. I think it wasn't so for me because (1) I started early with clear intentions and (2) information was very clearly laid out online. Or maybe it's coz my occupation trains me well for logistical escapades xD. 

That said, I was genuinely nervous about the covid situation over there. Things were quite similar in SG and Seoul for some time, but SG peaked and declined earlier while the numbers in KR just kept reaching new heights. With some turns of fate, I pushed back the dates from the original plan of early Mar but the situation still wasn't improving. Rather than being scared of covid as an illness, I was way more concerned about the possibility of turning positive overseas. [At time of writing back home, I'd already gone through covid and it was indeed mild and inconsequential. Probably coz I'd already suffered in advance through my 3 moderna jabs.]

How I decided to go in the end was to ask myself how much I would regret not taking the chance sitting in front of me. The musical was ending, and if not for it I could have gone to Seoul at any other time, but it was an anchoring objective after all. And not to mention, I wanted to experience travelling in covid, just for experience's sake. So the answer was that I'd have regretted very much for a very long time. 

So I committed to the trip, which meant accepting a few potential scenarios that could happen even after taking all possible precautions:

1. Testing positive in SG (whether shortly before the trip or on the PDT itself)
2. Testing positive on the OAT in KR
3. Testing positive on the PDT in KR

#1 would be plain disappointing but postponement wouldn't be costly. KR didn't accept recovery memos btw. #2 would be a special, laughable kind of sad: fly all the way there just to be quarantined for the trip duration. #3 wouldn't be too bad, at least it would've happened after having some good fun haha. It would just require explaining to people back home, dipping more into my (plentiful) leave and then rolling with the system.

With that understanding, there was nothing left but to actually take all possible precautions. Before the trip, I left home only when needed. According to google, the best time to take vitamin C is in the morning, half an hour before eating anything else to maximise absorption. So I did that before and throughout the trip. Made sure to sanitise my hands before every meal and after touching stuff. Tightened my masks. Sanitised my clothes and bag and anything I bought back at the hotel every night in Seoul. 

The first time I could actually believe that I was going on a holiday was when I received my negative PDT results on the day before the flight. I was so so relieved. I think I used to be an optimistic person but the endless plot twists at work have had a hand in changing this. 

Thankfully none of those sorry scenarios came to pass in the end. But in truth, I had quite a poor appetite for most of the trip, even with all the delicious-looking things I came across/was recommended. I attributed this to some low level stress over the possibility of turning positive, which was proven since my appetite came back after I received my negative ART result for flying home haha. This wasn't a big issue since I prioritised sightseeing and took food as fuel, mainly settling for cafe food or snacks. Probably will get judged for this but I'm no foodie xD!

As fate would have it, my pushed-back trip dates ended up being even better than the original! Many of the covid restrictions in SG and KR, which were already progressively being lifted since I started planning, had lightened by another bound by that point. I didn't have to do any self-ART while over there and could go into restaurants/attractions freely. Almost like normal again, except for wearing masks (which I was glad that Koreans still did). And as for the few key objectives, the delay was nothing but beneficial. 

Cases went wheeeeee↗↗↗ while I was there. This chart shows the daily national total towards which the case count in Seoul contributed about 20%. I remember receiving an Emergency alert: Extreme on 17 Mar saying that there were 125k cases in Seoul.

Cost analysis

Just coz I was curious haha. 

First, the key costs. The SQ flights were ~S$670 while the 3-star hotel accommodation was about S$55/night, totaling slightly under S$400. Travel insurance was mandatory under the VTL, but I would've gotten it anyway - S$70. 

Side point about the insurance: while every agency worth its salt offered covid coverage, it was important to scrutinise and compare the policy wordings. Otherwise there would be risk of having to write creative, argumentative emails if anything happened. I had a leg-up from a friend's compilation, but it was worth thinking through and researching how things would pan out if I caught covid over there. Just a hint: quarantine/isolation in a facility and treatment in hospital are different things.

This leads me to the covid-specific spending for the PDT PCR in SG, OAT PCR in KR, Korean SIM card with data and local number (still useful but not necessary by the time I went), night 0 at hotel to ensure that I had a room to wait out for the OAT results (would've been charged for early check in anyway so better to guarantee it) and the PDT ART in KR. These totaled ~S$420 or almost 20% of the overall trip costs. The covid testing costs already seemed to have fallen over time when compared with some of the older VTL guides I read. 

Was it worth it? The extra S$420? Well, on the other hand and as many people have exclaimed to me, the flights and the hotel stay were cheap. So thanks to economics, I think things balanced out! 

This trip deserved a no-scrimp, do-whatever-I-want kind of attitude, but even then there was nothing very interesting in my personal expenses lol. The musical tickets cost KRW 99,000 each. Oh, and I spent a total of KRW 39,000 on my T-money card. That's over S$40 worth of top-ups for running all over the city haha. 

For comparison, all past trips I've taken since starting work averaged about S$600 in total, thanks to budget flights and youth hostels. I chose to stay in a hotel this time because the higher cleanliness ratings were very important for peace of mind, not coz I thought it was time for an upgrade haha. I think the usual options will be back on the table when things get back to normal, but it remains to be seen whether my choices will reverse heh. 

Anyway, the expenses can always be earned back but the past two years of youth lost to covid will never return. 

In conclusion

I fully intended this to be a solo trip and managed to do the things I wanted to do and much more! It's amazing that Seoul is about 100km² smaller than Singapore but still somehow manages to fit in 10 million people, that huge river and many mountains, parks and palaces all over the place. So actually, there's still a lot left in Seoul to fill many future trips haha. Some of these include visiting Namsan, the Secret Garden, bar hopping in Hongdae, Itaewon at night, SMTOWN Museum (whenever it comes back), Dongdaemun and other tourist activities like visiting the DMZ... And there's still the rest of the country. Next time, I'll come with company to share the fun and food!

I'll definitely be back to explore Seoul and other parts of South Korea. And the next trip will be in even better times :D

Sunset at the end.

-끝-