So I am back from South (side) Korea.
I had a metric bucketload of fun. Highlights were:
- Hanging out with my old buddy from Tsinghua days
It was a pretty fun time drinking it up and just chilling with Chang again. Talked about old times, stupid antics that we got up to, you know basically reminiscing about the slacker days of being a international student in Beijing.
Drinking culture in Sth Korea is pretty fun and cool when you are a student. All fancy free with a huge array of options for fun, entertainment and above all convenience. It probably gets a whole lot less fun after the student part of your life though, as I hear adult life for a male is pretty stressful.
- Seeing the pretty scenery of South Korea in Spring
We hiked quite a bit and Spring, whilst cold in South Korea, does provide some nice scenery. In particular, the cherry blossoms which are well, blooming during that time. We checked out the famous Seoraksan National Park along with some other nature preserves. There are many sites still not yet visited and definitely worthy of a return sometime, especially Jeju.
- Gong to the DMZ
Salsa will probably want to talk more about this, but the DMZ tour was definitely something that was hugely interesting. From seeing the ROK soldiers, to US marines, to glimpsing Nth Korean buildings and people, the whole setup is steeped in intrigue and lost opportunities. Which of course why Salsa is even more interested in Nth Korea, even buying up a few notes of their currency which is currently trading at 1 AUD to 146 Nth Korean Won (if you can somehow buy it).
- Eating
This one is pretty self explanatory. Food is a massive part of Korean day to day life. It seems from a casual observer’s point of view that they are always eating. Yet I did not see any fat people. Most of the dishes are communal, like BBQ and big plates of chicken in stew similar to the Chinese dish ???. All in all a lot of their dishes are very much geared towards being good with drinks and alcohol, like their version of Izakuya.
- Jeju
Jeju is a volcanic island in the south of Sth Korea. The whole island is basically a tourist attraction with loads of things to see and do. In the middle is Hallasan which is a massive volcano with a huge crater at the tip. But the area is also known as a honeymoon destination for Sth Koreans (and the Hawaii of Sth Korea). It is a massive place and we only scratched the surface (although Salsa erroneously thought we could cycle everywhere). It’s very pretty and definitely worth a repeat visit, this time more cycling and leasing a car to drive around to all the places we missed. We also had an ocean view room. 🙂
All in all, a good time and a great place to visit.