Korea South

The Perfect Korea Itinerary With Seoul, Busan & Gyeongju (2024) – One Week Travel Guide

September 4, 2023 by Bino 14 Comments

South Korea has become somewhat of a rising star in the tourism scene in recent years owing in part to the proliferation of Korean TV shows and pop music. The cities of Seoul and Busan undoubtedly appeal to folks who like seeing pretty and cute things and it’s probably not surprising that the visitor demographics here dis-proportionally lean towards females. If you are thinking of visiting South Korea and would like to have a practical itinerary to cover both Seoul and Busan, allot at least 5 or 6 days. If you are also visiting Jeju, you’ll need to add 2 or 3 more.

The two major cities of Seoul and Busan are the most intuitive places to explore during a trip to South Korea – Seoul for its cosmopolitan vibe and traditional culture and Busan for its seaside chic. This travel guide aims to show you how these cities can be done in as little as a week.

…

Discover 18 of Seoul’s Top Must-See Attractions (Don’t Leave Without Heading to #11)

June 9, 2023 by Bino Leave a Comment

Within two decades, South Korea transformed itself from a developing country to a first world country. Today, millions of visitors head to Korea to experience the Korean culture that has been propagated so much through their local TV shows and movies.

Seoul’s metropolitan area is home to more than 25 million people and there’s always something happening at any given time of day. Contrary to perception, there is so much more to Seoul than just Korean drama filming spots, cafes and shopping centers filled with cosmetics shops and clothing stores. With how Seoul is often portrayed in the media, its rich heritage and natural landscape can easily be overshadowed. Set between mountains and a river, the capital of South Korea provides a wonderful experience for every traveler.

Seoul is the country’s window to its past, present, and future. From monuments, ancient palaces, temples, culinary delights to outdoor recreation, Seoul has it all.

If you intend to visit Seoul in the coming weeks, check out the following travel deals for Citi Cardmembers:

S$10 off on Klook with minimum spend of S$60 until 30^th June 2023.
Up to S$100 off on Traveloka with code: CITIXPLORE until 30^th June 2023. Valid for flight, hotel and travel experiences.
Up to S$100 off on Trip.com until 30^th June 2023. Valid for hotels and flights.
Receive an American Tourister Flashflux Spinner 68cm/25” Exp Luggage upon charging a minimum qualifying spend of S$2,000 on Singaporeair.com or the Singapore Airlines mobile app. Valid until 30^th June 2023.
Up to 10% off Asiana Airlines airfares with additional baggage allowance of up to 23kg (worth USD$110).

Here’s a list of the most interesting places to visit and things to do when you are in Seoul, South Korea:

…

Seoul-ful Sojourn

October 10, 2009 by Bino Leave a Comment

A lot of people I know travel to South Korea just to visit the drama series filming sites. With the hallyu craze in full swing, their TV shows have become some of the most watched across Asia and I do know some who have stacks of their DVDs at home. They visit… no, they worship the actual sites where they filmed for some of the well-known Korean TV series.

It’s a shame really, for South Korea offers so much more than that. I started my journey in this country in Seoul – the vibrant capital of this very industrious nation. The government has done quite a bit to spruce up the city’s image and make it more visible in the world stage. The city has become much more cosmopolitan in recent years, and a lot of expats (mostly english teachers) are helping make Seoul a more tourist-friendly place.

Seoul has plenty of beautiful women, with near-symmetrical faces, big eyes, even eyelids and smooth, clear skin. You’d be forgiven to think that it’s in the Korean gene for the consistency is found down from the waitress in the restaurant and the department store salesladies to the white-collared office workers clenching their cellphones in one hand and LV bags in another. However, someone clued me in on the plastic surgery scene in the city. Procedures are very cheap and almost everyone does it – even men! I heard Seoul is becoming a haven for plastic surgery (aside from Bangkok) and that a lot of Japanese come just to have it done.

Aesthetics aside, the city has 5 royal palaces, and I was able to visit the major 3. Most of them look similar to each other, and they pale in comparison with the ones in China or Japan. It’s still worth a visit, as these places often have the changing of the guard ceremony which is quite interesting to watch. Admission to each of these places is also very affordable, at US$5 or below. For those who have time to visit only 1 palace, I would recommend either Gyeongbokgung or Changdeokgung. The latter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and can be visited only with a guided tour (included with ticket price).

Gyeonghoeru Pavilion @ Gyeongbokgung

Deuksugung Palace

Changdeokgung

Seoul is also a haven for shoppers as it offers plenty of bargains. The shopping districts are concentrated around Myeongdong (midprice), Gangnam (high end), Namdaemun and Dongdaemun (low-end to mid-priced). I personally prefer the latter for its multistorey shopping malls such as Migliore and Doota. For a more bohemian vibe, Insadong is the place to be with its art galleries and stores selling all sorts of crafts and knick-knacks. Near its end is Tapgol Park, which houses a 500+ year old pagoda. Frequented by seniors, the park is also the site where the Korean constitution was first read aloud.

Insadong

We stayed at Fraser Place serviced apartments during our time in Seoul. For a much bigger floor space, the price is comparative to hotels in the city. It’s a good area and not far from the city centre. For ultimate convenience however, I would recommend Ibis Myeongdong or some other boutique hotel in the Myeongdong area.

For a megacity, I found Seoul to be mildly charming. Despite being the capital of a relatively developed nation, the city is still very gritty, with frequent traffic jams and occassional smog in the air. Certain districts can also appear too grey or soul-less but this is changing fast. Seoul is often throwing in new surprises so who knows what I’ll find the next time I visit?

changing of the guards

The Demilitarized Zone in Korea

October 8, 2009 by Bino 5 Comments

Getting into North Korea is a tricky affair. Tourists aren’t allowed in except on guided tours where the guide actually follows you around the whole time! It’s also prohibitively expensive given the quality of food and lodging that you get. An alternative is to just go on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which is what I did in April. It gives visitors a chance to step into North Korean territory, if only for a few minutes. There wasn’t any dramatic scenery or exotic culture to brag about, but the trip proved to be a surreal experience.

Reunification Park

The only way to book a tour of Panmunjom from South Korea is via accredited travel agencies. We went via Grace Travel and it cost about US$45-50 per person. Basically, the tour took about 6 hours. Transportation, lunch and a guided tour was included for the price. We had to go to the Lotte Hotel in Seoul in the morning where the tour buses departed. In a mad rush, I accidentally lost my glasses on the way. But we still made it in time.

Before going to Panmunjom, we stopped by a few places including the reunification park, plus some small villages near the border. We were also shown the unused rail tracks that led all the way to North Korea. The tour itself was quite somber, with startling reminders of the Korean War and the Cold War. If I’m not mistaken, Korea remains as the only divided nation in the world – a divided nation in the sense that the Korean people are homogenous and share the same language, culture and traditions but they are split into two- and it is hard to imagine that the wealth disparity between the two countries could be any wider.

We stopped for a Korean lunch on the way to the DMZ. As usual, we were fed with an array of appetizers including the famous kimchi. Most people find Korean food to be an acquired taste but I didn’t have any problems with it. In fact, I love their cuisine. I really like their staple barbequed meats and bibimbap. Just thinking of it makes me hungry.

good old Korean food

After lunch, we headed straight to Panmunjom which is the place I was really excited about. Security was tight from the time we went in. A young American soldier stayed with us the whole time inside the bus. He joked around with the group and seemed like a really nice guy. Someone in the group asked him how it was being stationed in the DMZ, and he replied that it was really boring. I’m not suprised!

We arrived at Camp Bonifas inside the DMZ and alighted in order to watch a slide show about the Korean War and a briefing about the protocol inside. We were not allowed to wave to the people in the North Korean side, make unnecessary gestures or bring cameras with large lenses. We were also given a United Nations ID in order to identify us as visitors. The whole thing really looked like a big thing to them, and anything involving North Korea was taken seriously. Of course, it didn’t help that our visit coincided with a missile test conducted by Pyongyang just a few days before so tensions were high.

me inside the conference room

We finally arrived into the blue conference room which is divided into the North and South. It looked like a humble shack with some desks and chairs inside. A South Korean soldier was also standing guard, with a clenched fist and taekwondo pose. We were allowed to roam around the room – so for a few minutes I was technically in North Korea. From the outside, we could see the North Korean soldiers in the building on their side. They were likewise peering at us, probably wondering what sort of amusement tourists get in visiting places like these. We were also shown the North Korean ghost town, where the buildings were set up to look like the North is actually doing well. It even had a very tall flag post and a speaker blared North Korean propaganda at regular intervals. We also stopped by a monument that showed the dozen or so countries that fought in the Korean War. The Philippines was one of them, and it was the only Southeast Asian country that participated aside from Thailand.

the great divide

The tour ended with an obligatory souvenir store stop which to me, ruined the tension-filled atmosphere of the place. They had these North Korean banknotes for sale with the picture of Kim Il Sung, the late president of the communist North. It reminded me that my technical “visit” into that isolated country didn’t really count, and that I might come back to take another tour of the DMZ next time, perhaps from the North side. I know I will.

South Korean soldiers