Korea

Landing in Incheon was a bit of a nightmare. The foreign entry line I'm certain had a thousand people. It took about 2-3 hours just get past that so it ended up being close to midnight. Even though I had everything planned and got my SIM card and transportation card with no issue at the airport there were so many obstacles. Only about 2 of the ATM machines were working and maybe 4 of the bus ticket machines for the whole terminal. The ATM machines did not recognize any foreign cards and the bus ticket machines only accepted the transportation card. To add money to your transportation card balance you may only use cash and this is true for everywhere in Korea and Taiwan. So the only option to take the bus out of the airport for me at the time was to go to a foreign exchange teller and exchange dollars. Even taking the bus would have got me to the hotel at maybe 3am. I ended up getting an Uber because Korea's versions of Uber doesn't take foreign cards either.

When I got to the hotel I recognized the ATM-like machine in the lobby. They have these machines that give foreigners a pseudo Korean credit card to use and the machine accepts foreign bills, Paypal and foreign credit cards. Of course there's a fee and a bad exchange rate attached. I saw lines for this machine at the Korean version of Times Square.

On top of all this I had to go to 6 different convenience stores to find an ATM that recognized foreign cards. The only one that worked was outdoors too so there's always a risk there. I ended up withdrawing all of the currency I felt I needed for the entire trip from that machine.

So fair warning to bring at least some Korean Won with you before you travel.

I stayed steps away from the famous and infamous Gwangjang market. It was revealed a few years previous that they would overcharge tourists surreptitiously. It's also quite old and it's heyday was probably a long time ago. The hotel location made it fairly easy to get to around though and lots of interesting places within walking distance.

Gwangjang Market is a bit overwhelming for tourists that can't speak Korean but I took my time observing and exploring since I could basically walk by every day.

I managed to find a proxy service for ordering Korean delivery food. It took a lot of searching on the internet months beforehand and the service didn't have many options but it worked! Without the service there would've been no chance. I've heard on social media that one of the bigger apps is finally allowing international credit cards but it has never seemed to be a priority over there. I got Korean fried chicken, a Korean delivery favorite.

One of the Korean map apps that I was using ended up banning my account because they detected international traffic when I was in the middle of planning and plotting out places to visit. Google Maps is not used in Korea and Google even warns you that they don't update their maps there.

I got to try Korean breakfast toast sandwiches and it was probably the most underwhelming thing I had traveled to go eat. It wasn't terrible but I should've listened to my good Korean friend about them.

I went to get a scalp treatment and afterward my hair and scalp felt so good for like over a month. I did ask if there would be any English at this particular branch and found out it was totally non-existent when I got there. We had to talk about whether I had dry or oily scalp over Google translate. I didn't try any of the skin treatments because some of them involve injections and I really don't know very much about that stuff. I did buy a whole bunch of things from Olive Young and they're one of the stores that does your tax free at the register. Otherwise you'd have to collect your tourist purchase tax refunds at a kiosk at the airport.

I happened to end up near Namdaemun Market and it was pretty crowded, more than Gwangjang Market. There was a huge line for the Hotteok, Korean pancake with brown sugar filling. This particular spot was all the rage online but I didn't feel like sticking around as it was hot out.

You can kind of tell from the picture above that there's not a lot of shade in Seoul. There's tall buildings but they're all kind of spaced apart and you can even see the big parasols they've built. I even went through a few underground shopping centres to get around dealing with the constant sunlight.

I researched several places to solo eat in Korea. Especially for things like barbeque and marinated crab the restaurants will make you order double portions if you're alone or simply not seat you. Luckily there's a small chain of solo booth barbeque spots and even then they have booths for larger parties as well unlike the ones I went to in Japan. Tim Hortons, Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts are almost unrecognizable on the inside here compared to North America. Even the Five Guys here are found in the most luxury malls with much fanfare.

I was by Myeongdong twice this trip. Going at night is much nicer because all the food stalls are only set up for dinnertime. This is where all the tourists go to shop and is filled with currency exchange places. I had my first So-tteok So-tteok pictured above and it was really good.

I don't like vermicelli glass noodles but the japchae I had here from the street vendor made me change my mind. I took a lot less photos in Korea because there were generally so many more people around at all times.

My snack haul! The croissant with flakey salt is a huge trend in Korea and there were just so many well known American brand chips and snacks that I'd never seen before. Apparently the Yonsei cream breads were also starting to trend online as well and was really good. I got the Korean walnut cakes fresh from Gwangjang market.

Went to check out LoL Park, a well known eSports venue in Korea. It also had a PC Bang (internet cafe for games) but most of the kids there were just playing FIFA. I went to check out Hongdae during the day and was surprised it was basically a city district completely catering to college aged kids. I originally planned to take a day trip out to Suwon but I had to take it easy because of my ankle.

I hopped on the train to Busan the next morning. The train stations are nicer than any train station in America even the Taiwanese and Japanese ones though I did only see the two biggest ones in Korea. I got some freshly rolled kimbap for the train ride but it very uneventful and not extremely scenic. Busan hotels are much cheaper than Seoul ones so I got a very nice one next to the train station. I had some kimchi-jigae, kimchi stew at the station and hopped on the bus.

I immediately went to go see the sights. I didn't imagine wind would be such a factor. It was loud even on video. There's a glass floored overlook here above the water but it was so windy I felt like my glasses or my phone would get blown away. I took the bus over to one of the famous beaches here.

Walked along Gwangalli beach. Had to stop at a convenience store to get a drink and ice cream to get somewhere to sit away from the shade. The beach is lined with crowded restaurants the entire way though. This is Millac Market, it had a lot of food and little shops but people come here for the view.

I quickly discovered I was right by their Chinatown and got some Jajangmyeon, black bean sauce noodles. The Chinese predecessor of Jajangmyeon is pretty different but the Korean version is definitely more popular. I saw a group of soldiers eating here too.

After going to Olive Young and getting the last things I needed from there I went back to the hotel to rest and ended up watching some K-dramas. It's actually surprising how much you can understand without subtitles for some of these more modern K-dramas. I ended up watching a few episodes of Lovely Runner, they run several episodes back to back. I ended up finishing that show later after the trip. Highly recommend it and quite serendipitous to catch a show that I'd like so much.

The next day I was in a bit of a rush to check out of the hotel because the checkout time written in the catalog in the room wasn't updated. So I thought I lost my earbuds for hours. I ended up finding them while I was about to make to purchase new ones. Almost felt like a waste of time and effort but I got to see more of Busan's commercial areas. There's a very popular version of Donkatsu here in Busan but most of the specialty shops had limited hours. Found a place at the mall I was at. It was a rainy day so I spent most of it at the malls and underground shopping centers.

My final meal in Korea was called Nakji-bokkeum, spicy stir fried octopus. It's another regional dish in Busan.

I didn't get to do like 75% of the things I wanted to do in Korea but I had to take it easy because of my sprained ankle. I did do a lot of off the beaten path exploring that weren't planned or I guess all that exciting but I did only spend 5 days there and my arrival was rougher than I'd like.

I took the train to Busan's airport and flew out to Taiwan again to catch my flight to the US.

Taiwan and SF