Seoul
28 November 2025
The first thing I noticed upon arriving in Seoul is that everyone is hot. Every single person you see on the street is dressed in smart business casual. It made me feel awful about myself. I realized that my ratty travel clothes were shameful and embarrassing. Halfway through the trip, my self-disgust led me first to a Uniqlo to purchase some passable clothing and then to a medspa to get some work done.
Día 1
In my last post, I explained that we flew from Okinawa directly to Seoul. We took the train from the airport to the city. Upon exiting the subway, you have to return a card to get 500 won back. I managed to do something wrong and couldn’t redeem my card for the appoximately $0.35 I was owed. A nice Korean guy approached us when he saw we were struggling and led us to other machines where he submitted Kaitlin and Indi’s cards. The coins popped out, he took them from the machine, handed them their coins, and said, “Enjoy your time in Seoul.” Then he walked away without a backward glance.
When we exited the subway station, we discovered it was freezing cold. We had to brave a 5 min walk to the hotel. Jonny and I were in shorts. I was nearly hypothermic before we located the hotel entrance down a walking street.
Our Airbnb turned out to be incredibly small. It consisted of a living/kitchen area with a table and a couple of stools that one person could comfortably stand in at a time, a tiny wet bathroom, and two bunk beds 2 feet apart made out of plywood and 2×4’s. The beds were rock hard – the hardest yet, and that’s saying something. Futons are more comfy. It was the second-worst place I slept on the trip. *foreshadowing next post*
Jonny found a place to eat, so we braved the cold to walk there. It was like a small Korean Denny’s called LABAB. It offered cheap Korean comfort food with generous portions. Jonny really liked his bibimbap; everyone else thought the food was mid.
After dinner, we walked down streets with a lot of foot traffic, exploring the city. While walking, the Korean Denny’s food triggered something diabolical in my bowels. I frantically searched the surrounding businesses for a bathroom with no luck. I entered a state of desperation, and shop after shop turned me away. I became nonverbal as I diverted all my faculties to send strength to my besieged sphincter. The neon lights around me began to blur. My mind drifted. Just as I was ready to accept my fate, Indi pointed out an arcade. I waddled inside. My waddle turned into a run when I saw the bathroom door. I barely made it in time. I had gone clammy and completely nonverbal before closing the dirty stall door with my shaking hands. Apparently, someone else had also narrowly avoided tragedy in the same one-stall bathroom just before I entered. But, instead of eating a pork cutlet, they had gorged themselves at an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. Still, all I felt was gratitude.
We walked around some more, but my near miss put everyone in a solemn mood. After all, everyone has been in a similar predicament. I believe they were thinking, “That could have been me.” It was in this moment of quiet contemplation as we walked Seoul’s brightly lit city streets that we collectively realized something: it was Thanksgiving Day! How could we have forgotten? Suddenly, the spirit of Thanksgiving took on a new meaning. Silently, we joined hands, forming a small circle in the middle of the road. Foot traffic diverted around us like water flowing past a boulder in a stream. For a timeless moment, we smiled in gratitude, looking from person to person.
Our high was ruined when we tried taking a bus to the night market. We had another Taipei bus experience – we could not find the right bus, and when the right bus came, it didn’t stop for us. We went back to the hotel in defeat.
Día 2
- Gongpyeong Historic Sites Museum
- Gyeongbokgung Palace
- Bukchon Hanok Village
- Changdeokgung Palace
- Insa-dong Culture Street
- Myeongdong Night Market
We woke up late this morning. I was the first one up at 9:00 am. We didn’t leave the house until 10:00 am. We decided to visit an Uniqlo to get more layers because we got so cold the night before.
How cool is this police station?
I saw a surprising number of cartography supply stores on the walk.
Gongpyeong Historic Sites Museum
On the way there, Indi spotted a museum – Gongpyeong Historic Sites Museum. We diverted to check it out. It turned out to be the ruins under a skyscraper that were found when digging deeper to create deeper foundations for taller buildings. It was much bigger than expected and pretty cool, especially considering it is free.
We met up with Jonny and Kaitlin at Uniqlo to improve our fashion and to buy warmer clothes.
Gyeongbokgung Palace
We walked to Gyeongbokgung Palace – one of the main attractions in Seoul. I’m not sure why my expectations were so low, but the palace vastly exceeded them!
The detail and craftsmanship were impressive. The temples are so intricately and ornately adorned with painted and carved decorations that it’s easy to stand staring in admiration, noticing more and more detail.
We walked around the grounds and saw many people dressed in traditional Korean attire. Some were Korean, some were not. Like most other countries, Koreans get a kick out of foreigners dressing in local traditional attire (hanbok). May the dogma of “cultural appropriation” never make its way out of the West.
I like these photos so much that I am adding too many. I know that, you know that. Let’s be adults about it. Scroll through fast if you must.
Just a few more.
Okay, done.
Bukchon Hanok Village
After that, we went to the Bukchon Hanok Village. It was cool but really crowded.
Changdeokgung Palace
Next, we walked to another palace – Changdeokgung Palace. It was at least as impressive as the first palace, but with less people! The architecture is so graceful, all of the adornements and decorations so painstakingly perfect.
We got lunch at a dumpling place called Bukchon Son-mandu. The lady running the place was a character. When she took our order, she made some forceful recommendations on what we should get, and we listened.
Indi and I shared a spicy soup and a dumpling platter. We both enjoyed it, but it was a little too much food for us. Kaitlin and Jonny ordered a soup and two dumpling platters – they are insane
We tried our best to serve, but the Koreans mogged us.
Insa-dong Culture Street
Insa-dong Culture Street was our next stop. It’s mostly a shopping area. There were pretty Christmas decorations everywhere. I noticed on the street and in other parts of Seoul, more calligraphy shops than I would have expected. Some craftsmen make stone stamps, which are super cool, and I really wanted one, but they’re like $75. I continued to buy cheap art prints or postcards that called to me.
Myeongdong Night Market
We were gassed from all the walking, so we returned to the hotel to rest for 20 minutes because we found ourselves close by.
We took the train to Myeongdong Night Market. It is a massive market with a ton of street food. We got cream-filled pastries, chicken skewers, grape skewers, and more. We stopped by the Nike store because Jonny is a super fan.
We stopped at an arcade near our hotel on the walk back. Indi and I absolutely smoked Kaitlin and Jonny in the games we played. We played a monster truck game that was a lot of fun.
Día 3
- National Museum of Korea
- N Seoul Tower
Indi and I left the hotel early and went to a crossaint place for breakfast. It was simple but good. After that, we went to a small cafe where Indi ordered a tasty blueberry tart.
National Museum of Korea
We met up with J & K and took the metro to the National Museum of Korea. We spent two hours walking around the museum. There was a lot to see, and we all enjoyed it. I wish we had had more time. In our last 20 minutes, I rushed through as many exhibits as I could, taking it all in before leaving.
We made our way back to the Myeong-dong area for our appointment. Shopping on Myeong-dong Street, Jonny stumbled upon a med spa. Indi made an appointment for a consultation for all of us. Instead of an individual consultation, we were led into a tiny room as a group. They had to bring in an extra chair, which barely fit. We were then told one by one the major issues with our faces. That public humiliation was a wake-up call. I have sworn that in 2026, I will dedicate my life to looksmaxxing. We all ended up getting something because, apparently, it’s much cheaper in South Korea than in the US. I got some Botox and two facial treatments for about $150 USD. It felt like it took a long time, but I was told I was glowing afterwards.
Our appointment lasted 45 minutes. After everyone was done, we walked to a nearby Korean BBQ place. It was all you can eat within a 2-hour time frame. It was good but not great. It took less than an hour for my resolve to looksmaxx to crumble. I hate myself for being so weak.
N Seoul Tower
After lunch, we went to the N Seoul Tower. We searched for an ATM for so long to take out cash to charge a bus card. We finally found one near the bus station.
The tower was a little busy, but it wasn’t as busy as I was expecting. As we were ascending the tower, we came across an arcade and decided to play some games before going up to the observation deck. We played Taiko no Tatsujin (the drumming game), DDR, Tetris, and a punching bag game. Indi hurt her wrist punching the bag too hard and complained about the pain the rest of the night very vocally.
We bought tickets and waited for the elevator to go up the tower. The line wasn’t too bad, and before long, we made it up. At the top, the view of the city through the smudged glass was pretty good. We hung out there for a while, taking it in. I bought a couple of postcards.
Before leaving, we used the bathroom and were surprised to find the urinals were right against the glass looking out at the view. It’s the same for the stalls in the women’s bathroom. Hopefully, no one has strong binoculars.
We took the bus back toward our hotel. We walked along the river through the city. It was a pleasant walk.
We meandered in the general direction of our hotel. We found a skincare store that Indi wanted to see. She shopped around but didn’t buy anything.
I love pedestrian streets in East Asia.
For dinner, we stopped at an outdoor food stall. Common throughout Seoul are red tents on the side of the road offering street food. Inside are small tables and chairs where you can sit and eat somewhere warm. We ordered a really good potato thing. We also ordered a chicken plate. He misunderstood which one I wanted and gave us a plate of chicken gizzards. As I write this, I’m still keeping them down by force of will. I ate the most of them of all of us by far. Jonny ate some, and the girls ate none. The flavor was fine – not much of anything besides the sesame seasoning. The flavor wasn’t the issue; the texture was awful. It reminded me of the texture of a semi-raw vegetable, but also chewy. The less we speak of it, the better.
Some people were still hungry. Jonny got a mediocre $3 bibimbap at a place, and Indi got a similar gimbap from a different location of the same chain we ate the first night in Seoul. The four of us were sitting at the table with her, and a lady working there told us to get out because we weren’t paying customers. So we stood outside and watched her eat through the window alone in silence.
It wasn’t a particularly good end to an otherwise great trip, but sometimes it be like that.
Next time
On our next adventure, we take the train to Busan.
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