I was travelling for business to S.Korea for 6 days from 7 May - 12 May.
Heading to S.Korea again after more than 12 years was refreshing. The food, culture and people were as good as it was from before. But my point view on S.Korea had changed so much since then.
Back in those days, still in university, I had travelled with a senior whom I was very close with. She's travelled a lot before and so I was tagging alongside with her. Everything was all new and I did not research much on S.Korea for my trip. We were there for a conference in Jeju and met very good lasting friends from Japan. I can still recall vividly how beautiful the place was - with the nice cold weather, beautiful sea, orange-filled hillside. In Seoul, the food was great but the difficulty was to go around without knowing how to converse in Korean.
In this trip, we travelled in a bigger group of colleagues to Daegu for an event. During this time, I managed to really experience more of the Korean culture. The food were just as good, Yachaejeon (Korean veg pancake), BBQ, the side dishes, cold noodles, fried korean chicken, makgeolli (rice wine). My all-time favourites and I had it all. I had lots of warm soup to warm up myself. Did not bring enough warm clothings for the night, the temperature was around 16degC, with strong wind and rain.
The restaurants we went to were home-style; old painting decorated the wooden walls, children ran around with their bicycles, funny advertisement banner of beer - some with very good looking actors/actresses whom were from the K-dramas. Our colleagues even went for Karaoke with Korean language, there's a small serving of fruits and a big book of codes for all songs available. We sang and danced the Oppa Gangnam Style. Worked hard and enjoyed the time with colleagues.
Over the weekend, I had a getaway in Seoul with the ladies. We went to Changdeokgung; dressed in the most traditional hanbok. Taking beautiful photos in the secret garden and palace corridors. I was imaging the life of a maiden in the palace, it must have been a grand position but a lonely, restricted life. It was still a very beautiful piece of history left behind.
For lunch, we came around a tight alley with many small beautiful local shops filled with many patrons. It was like in the movies; but very modern. I loved it. The rain just brought the romantic K-drama vibes to the whole alley. At night, we headed over to an Austrian Restaurant, kimchi soup for dinner and a small music club for beer. We stayed in the airbnb in Gangnam. It was so convenient and accessible.
In the Incheon airport, I bought many facial products which were going at big bargains.
Time to say goodbye S.Korea.
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