It wasn't long ago that I was writing about my winter break in Thailand, and here we are already reliving winter break part 2. When I came back to Korea this time around, it wasn't the job or pay that sold me on this gig, but rather the extensive amount of time off. Our school has thus far been off for Chuseok, late fall, winter/holiday break, Seollal, and next week is our first of two spring breaks. For anyone currently living in Korea under the hagwon schedule, my deepest condolences. I once lived that life, fighting for my 10 days of vacation, but no more of that, I'm growing very accustomed to my nearly 50/50 work to vacation mode. This is the lifestyle I'm accustomed to after all, in the past it was more like one year on, 6 months off, but I'll take these interspersed holidays with glee. None of what I've said so far should come as a surprise, but the plans I chose to make with my second winter holiday may shock some. Instead of running off to some tropical island, remember SE Asia is at my fingertips, I chose a stay-cation followed by a long weekend in Seoul. Winter in Jeju is a mixed bag of surprises, we went from ice rain to warm sunny skies, soon followed by normal rain and of course the bitterly cold wind. Through all of this I forgot that Seoul experiences a pretty standard winter, with most days hovering in the just above or below freezing range, and somehow I decided that was what I wanted for my winter break. I do believe that a large factor in this decision is my post-pandemic preference for the comforts of home. I've always been a bit of a homebody, but after two years of being told to stay at home, it often feels like the only options. The recentish development of a boyfriend which comes with a cozy apartment and full kitchen made it easier to chose the hang out at home option, over jetting off to another country. There's also the travel weary feelings that I haven't shook since the pandemic has eased global stresses, and sometimes travel just sounds like too much of a hassle when I know there is more to see, do and explore here. All other factors aside, there's also the fact that I have friends in Seoul and have been promising a visit since I returned 6 months ago, it felt like an appropriate time to deliver on those promises. I'm not a huge fan of Seoul, I've never felt the desire to live there, yet every time I visit the city treats me well. Living in Korea as an expat has given me ample opportunities and reasons to visit the city, and I sometimes forget that not all locals do the same. Talking through plans with Seohui I was surprised to learn he's only been to Seoul a handful of times, and it's likely I know more about the city than he does - add to that my propensity for travel, and guess who was making all the plans? We arrived early afternoon on Friday and I don't think we could have been more unlucky with our timing, Seoul was experiencing one of the coldest days of the year with temperatures far below 0. This was more like the winter I remember from Wisconsin and far from what I'm accustomed to in Korea, believe you me, I was not entertained. Miraculously though, I pulled a positive attitude from somewhere, and after dropping our bags at the hostel we were out the door for exploration. We were staying in Jeongro 3-ga, a district of Seoul north of the han river and about half way between namdaemun and dongdaemun (the south and east gates of the city). I much prefer this area of Seoul as it retains much of the charm and atmosphere of the old days, unlike the shiny new streets of gangnam, the overcrowded bustle of hongdae or the culturally rich foreign district, Itaewon. All of those areas are great in their own regard, and we visitied most, but for a central location I prefer Jeongro. Despite the cold we opted for my usual mode of transportation, walking, and wandered through the old streets of Insadong en route to a random vegan bunshik stand I had found online. We ordered ramen and kimbap, basic yet very delicious, the only downside was that the restaurant was little more than a tent attached to a building, I was hoping for more of a relief from the cold. After eating we continued walking to the west and after about 20 freezing minutes reached the contemporary history museum. One of my coworkers had visited this place earlier in the year and highly recommended it. Being both free and well heated I couldn't think of a better way to spend the afternoon. The museum covers a comprehensive history of Korea pre- and post- war, and includes a few additional exhibits on the first and second floor, which included a section on COVID-19 during our visit. The evening concluded with dinner, which was a much more difficult ordeal than I could have imagined. We entered the first restaurant at 7:32 only to be turned away, told that the last order was 7:30, and 10 freezing minutes later were told that the next restaurant was also done serving. I was shocked, in Seoul, on a Friday night? What did the world have against me? Finally we chose the restaurant directly behind our accommodation and the cold must have gotten to my brain because I decided a round of somaek (soju and beer) would be a great way to end the evening. In all honestly though, I wasn't wrong - at least at 30 something I know how to stop after one round. Saturday the temperatures were slightly warmer, or at least I was telling myself so to gear up for a day of wandering the city. Being so close to the Cheonggyecheon I figured it would be a good place to start our day, but the walk was not quite as enjoyable with the freezing temperatures and bitter wind. The main goal of the morning was to reach Namdaemun market, as I was set on enjoying a set meal of boribap for lunch,, so after a very brief stop at Gwanghwamun square to see King Sejeong, we circled back for food.. The market was packed, apparently others were just as willing to brave the cold as us, which made our lunch much less intimate than my first experience with the curious, happy ajummas that served me. Nevertheless the food was delicious, cheap and served in over-sized portions, so I'd call that stop a success. We wandered the market a bit more before walking to Seoullo, an overpass which closely mimics the High Line in New York. Again, not as pleasant in the cold, but I love watching the chaos of traffic from above, the efficient flow at this intersection never ceases to amaze me. We had originally planned to spend the rest of the afternoon at Dragon Hill spa, but I wasn't feeling it so instead we made our way to Hongdae for a cafe break and dinner. Hongdae used to be me go-to location for both accommodation and nightlight when visiting Seoul, but the second we left the subway I knew that I've outgrown this area. The cafe I wanted to visit was actually east, more-so Mapo-gu so we were able to avoid the masses of young, energetic bodies. Dinner was another near failure, in our attempt to eat Okonomiyaki the first small restaurant we visited was out of ingredients for the night, and the second had a one-hour wait, but we endured the cold, wandered the streets for a while and were rewarded with yummy food and cool atmosphere at Passion Tako. Having been in the city for two days it was time to make due on the promises to visit friends. We began the day with a subway ride south, just past the Gangnam district where my friend Pete runs his own restaurant. He shifted into the cooking scene a few years back after putting in nearly a decade of work on the hagwon circuit, and although he works long, demanding hours, I can see he has a passion for his current work. Previously running his operations through multiple ghost kitchen locations on a delivery only model, he has since opened a brick and mortar shop, Macro Kitchen in Daechi-dong. They specialize in healthy salads, bowls, wraps and modified Korean favorites, and the food is amazing using high-quality ingredients. Since we weren't too far from the river we decided to kill an hour relaxing riverside (again not as pleasant in winter) before meeting another friend in Seongsu for coffee. I've read that Seongsu is considered by some to be the "Brooklyn" of Seoul, due mostly in part to the revitalization of an old factory neighborhood. The area now provides a contrast between old and new, with some warehouse buildings still in operation, while others have been converted to trendy, hip cafes. If the cafe culture in Korea didn't annoy me before, this evening reaffirmed those annoyances. Never in my life did I imagine a waiting list for a seat in a cafe, but we encountered such a situation at not one but two cafes we tried to enter. Thankfully we found a seat at the third, and I was able to spend an hour catching up with Minjin, a previous student of mine back in the days of Buskam High school. I'm so grateful our relationships has endured both the years and the changes of life as we both mature and move in separate directions, and am always excited to meet and discuss life and plans for the future, including goals of traveling together outside of Korea. We ended the night with Korean BBQ, something I have surprisingly had very little of this year, and was shocked to find wine on the menu, and at an affordable, by-the-bottle price, which thankfully meant no more soju for this girl. Our final day was centered around one thing and one thing only, food. Seohui had never been to the infamous Gwangjang market, a popular destination in Seoul for sampling all of the delicious street food of Korea. I woke up early with an odd craving for patjuk, a red bean porridge, odd as I've only ever eaten this dish once before, but our location near traditional tea shops in Insadong made it easy to fulfill. With family on my mind we picked up a few small souvenirs, already planning ahead for our visit to the states this summer, and then went back to our accommodation to drop our goods enabling us to explore Gwangjang market freely. The market is most well-known for bindaedeok, a mung bean pancake, but there is so much more that you can find here as well. Our first course was a classic kimbap, ddeokbookki combo, which I could maybe eat everyday of my life if the situation presented itself. From there it was time for the 'pancake' and although I had bought cider (Korean sprite) in an attempt to avoid maekkoli, who was I kidding, day drinking on Monday sounded so much more fun. We probably could have and maybe should have called it quits at this point, but instead were persuaded to sit at the stall of an adorable grandma, likely 80+ years old, and my buzz told me a platter of jjeon would be a wise idea. There was much more food than expected, and when the grandma asked if we were drinking soju or beer, I compromised with a second bottle of maekkoli, why I'll never know. I suspected that one of our fried goodies was a large slice of mushroom, but immediately upon putting it in my mouth knew it was far from it. I was fairly certain I had just bit into a chunk of beef lung, but Seohui wasn't buying it. Turns out I was right, but why I know the flavor so well is beyond me, trust me I never want to experiencing it again. After the market we walked east towards Dongdaemun, climbed a small portion of the city wall and made a quick stop by Dongmyo market, home to a variety of used clothing and random goods, where I scored a new (used) $10 coat. With nothing to do and no where to be we opted for a return to our accommodation to rest before deciding how to spend the evening. Ultimately the afternoon drinks caught up with me and i passed out for nearly an hour, waking only to change to sweatpants, buy some ice cream and settle in with a movie to finish the evening. By this point we were toured out and a night in felt like the appropriate way to bring this visit to an end. I have no immediate plans of returning to the city, but rest assured my next trip will not require a winter jacket, hat and hot packs. I'll save the next round of exploring for warmer days and sunny skies.
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AsiaKoreaWhere to start. After living on and off in this country for nearly 10 years I have memories, experiences and stories galore. I'll now always be a bit partial to the Land of the Morning Calm. Filled with delicious foods, beautiful nature and friendly people, I'm always happy to return. Archives
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