Seoul is a great city to explore owing to the beautiful architecture, temples and endemic culture that is preserved amidst a modern, economic boom. The food is my world-wide favorite (sorry Lima now you and ceviche are now #2) — spicy, savory barbeque and lots of fermented vegetables — it is as if someone calibrated my palate to be magnetized specifically toward traditional Korean cuisine. I’ve been trying to return to Seoul for the past four years after visiting in 2015. It took a while because of all of the other places in queue (at least thirty, I think) — this time around I squeezed two weeks in before returning to the USA for Thanksgiving. It was long enough to sate my cravings for Korean food but not long enough to be ready to leave Seoul again. I secured a well-located Airbnb in the district of Songa-pu which besides being conveniently located via hyper-accessible transportation to nearby Gangnam had a lot to experience and explore in its own right. I joined a gym that I absolutely loved and the people were very kind and friendly. One of my favorite parts was the exercise uniforms they provided each visit; absolving my […]
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I arrived in Seoul on December 15th having no idea what to expect. I’ve never visited Korea before and I hardly know anything about its ancient or modern culture; but my perceptions led me here. It might seem silly to admit that part of my curiosity was piqued by the Samsung brand over the past 5 years. After inadvertently purchasing a new Samsung refrigerator, mobile phone and watching Samsung out work Apple, the richest company in the world — I came to respect the country that could harbor such a hard-working underdog — a country I had never really thought much about. All of a sudden I was thinking more about it and noticing other brands I liked – LG, Hyundai (I rented a Genesis, the upscale, under-priced rival to the BMW S3 four years ago — a really great car) and I decided there must be something in the water over in Seoul that was causing these guys to kick so much ass. My perceptions were not off base — South Korea is really a fascinating place that has been incredibly fun to explore. What’s most surprising is that historically, Korea hasn’t been in the market of winning, but losing (to Japan mostly). […]
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