Adventures with Jack and Julia

Seoul was relatively high on our lists for a variety of reasons, the top of which being the food. Of the dishes we knew, it was enough to make the journey over. Little did we know about all the other amazing delicacies we’d get to try and the rich history and culture we would get to immerse ourselves in too!

On our first full day, we explored Insadong culture street and stumbled upon an art exhibit in Yeollin Songhyeon Square. An architecture expo called the “Walls of Everyday Life” filled the park with 24 unique wall fragments designed by global creators as well as one long twisted piece of art that was what initially drew us in.

The big plan for today was to explore the Insadong area as we had a date with some korean barbecue in the area later, so it was perfect timing when we had a couple of extra hours to kill and happened upon the free to enter Seoul Museum of Craft Art! The standout exhibit consisted of wired and beaded dresses, sculptural hanbok and the snow fairy dress designed all by Geum Keysook and all stunning to witness. We wandered through the whole museum and enjoyed learning more about Seoul’s history and culture through the lens of folk and craft art. It was an interesting change from other art museums we’ve been to as it highlighted beautiful mother of pearl lacquerware called najeonchilgi, celadon pottery, wooden furniture, and beautiful linens and embroidery.

After the museum, we spent some more time wandering the streets and side alleys of Insadong before, stopping for tea and a pastry, before Julia’s first kbbq experience which did not disappoint. When you go for Korean barbecue, it’s common for a bunch of side dishes to be included along with your meat without an additional cost but what was great about the place we went was that they made special ones for Julia to enjoy that were gluten free. Gochujang unfortunately has gluten but we discovered some other sides of pickled vegetables that Julia loved and went perfectly with the juicy pork.

Day two was our castle sightseeing day. We just happened to be in Seoul during the Lunar New Year, so entrance into the castles and many cultural sites was free during our stay! We also managed to make it to Gyeongbokgung just in time to witness the changing of the guards, which involves an elaborate performance complete with marching and instruments at specific times each day and was a treat to witness. Next, we visited Changdeokgung Palace and wandered through Bukchon Hanok Village, where we stopped to have an adorable caricature drawn of ourselves:

Dinner tonight was another first time experience for Julia. We went to Sky Gimbap to try a gluten free version of gimbap and tteokbokki, both of which were delicious! Gimbap is basically a Korean sushi roll and tteokbokki is made from rice cakes cooked in a spicy red sauce. She was able to make the sauce in a way that Julia could have even though the recipe usually has gochujang so it was a special treat for sure.

For those who haven’t been to Seoul, it’s quite a giant sprawling city and is divided into different areas, much like Tokyo. On our third day, we had a huge day of walking from the Seoul Forest (where we saw some cute deer!) to Gangnam to check out the Starfield Library, Coex Mall and of course, the massive Gangnam style hand sculpture! Inside the mall, there was a group performing a traditional dance for Lunar New Year and was parading through the mall for everyone to enjoy as well. Another memorable moment from this day was when we stumbled upon a Tim Hortons! It was pretty fancy in there and very busy but obviously we had to stop for a quick bite. The servers though it was awesome we were from Canada and it was funny to see all the themed foods and drinks like the Victoria Butchart Gardens Latte and the Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto espresso drinks. Was great to feel a bit of home while being so far away.

Day four was one of Julia’s favourite days in Korea, and ended up being one of our favourite hikes that we’ve ever done. We had no idea that Korea had so many amazing hikes and how huge the hiking culture is here before coming but the community is massive and apparently hiking is something that’s super popular for people of all ages here. We chose to do a hike in Bukhansan National Park and didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into. The beginning of the hike was similar to the hikes we have done in BC, but closer to the top was a whole new experience! We were scaling the side of the mountain, hoisting ourselves up using metal railings and there was a limited amount of supports considering how extremely steep it was. Though harrowing, it made for a very unique and fun experience that we didn’t expect to have in Korea and the views at the top of the hike were breathtaking as well. We also learned that the trail that we chose was originally used to transport ammunition and supplies over top of the mountain through one of a few secret gates and given how intense the trail was, we can only imagine how hard it must have been to make that journey with a ton of supplies and without getting caught.

The following day we decided to take it easy and do another hike (lol). Following an amazing gluten free waffle breakfast, we went to Inwangsan Mountain Park to do the main hike which ended up being much shorter but still with rewarding views at the top. Following that, we did some more sightseeing in Gwanghwamun Square to see the King statues and check out another free exhibit called HiKR Ground – an interactive K-culture space. This space was cool but a little bit disappointing for us, as it was mainly themed rooms for filming TikTok dances as opposed to actually talking about k-pop and having interesting interactive exhibits like we thought. On the day we walked to Gangnam, however, we passed along this street that had a bunch of sculptures dedicated to famous k-pop groups which we felt was a much better attraction to see.

For dinner after our second hike day, we went to a restaurant called Plant Cafe and the food was to die for. We took a couple of desserts with us that we’d definitely earned after climbing multiple mountains.

Given we’d flown all the way over to Korea, we felt it would be worthwhile to visit another city while over here and after quite a bit of research decided on Busan. We boarded a bus to make the journey there as we didn’t want to chance the trains (if you’ve seen the movie “Train to Busan” you’ll know why…) and we arrived in about four and a half hours.

When we arrived, we wandered through markets where Jack tried some delicious street food and Julia had a delicious bubble tea. Then, we made our way to the Gamcheon Culture Village, a colourful village with painted houses, murals, shops and cafes. After seeing multiple posters, murals and statues around town, we learned that the people of South Korea love the story Le Petit Prince, for its themes of love, innocence and nostalgia. There was a line up down the street to take a photo with a life size statue of Le Petit Prince overlooking the village! Today was another big day of walking, so after the village, we made our way to the Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge, which is a bridge that you can walk out on over the water. We also took the cable car and had amazing views of the city from over the water. It only seemed fitting that we try another Korean bbq restaurant, so we ended a busy day with another delicious meal.

Busan also offers some amazing hikes, so following an amazing gluten free breakfast at a cute local cafe, we hiked up Baegyangsan Mountain for stunning views overlooking the city. When you’re in Korea, do not skip on the hikes as we’re convinced it’s a big reason why the elderly there are still so nimble. We saw people of truly all ages on all of these trails and the pathways are lined with outdoor gyms that are free to use and always had people working out. It made us wish we had amenities like this back at home to be honest since it made fitness very accessible.

We then proceeded to head back to Seoul to spend a few more nights before our next flight and new destination. For one of our final meals, we found a fantastic bibimbap restaurant where it’s all you can eat and run by these two older ladies who only charge a fraction of what they could be and just love cooking. We ate a good two or three bowls each while we were there. We also tried some local soju on a couple of occasions and makgeolli rice wine, but we found them both to taste so different to what we have at home and were so much stronger! What we usually get are quite sweet and flavoured, so when we received something very strong and closer to vodka in taste on each occasion, we realized we must be doing something wrong. The only solution here is to conduct more research as primary sources, it appears!

In any case, after 5 months in Asia, that chapter of our trip is coming to a close. And what better way to finish off our time in this continent than by having food from a very different and completely unrelated continent by eating at a delicious Mexican restaurant that we just happened to find near our hotel! This was Julia’s doing, of course, and we had margaritas to really complete the experience.

We were completely blown away by all of these countries we’ve visited so far. Each and every one had a distinct feel to them and we are so glad we chose to travel to them all. We’re already talking about where we want to go back to and everywhere that we didn’t get the chance to visit and it’s making us even more excited for the future. Next up on this whirlwind adventure, we’re making our way over to Europe next to check out tons of new places, experience new cultures, foods, and activities. Our journey over there begins in Frankfurt, Germany!

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