We spent 3 days in Seoul, South Korea. We ate delicious food, visited the markets and tourist sites, and even went to the DMZ (border between South Korea and North Korea). It was a great end to our trip. Special to thanks to Kyong for again meeting up with us and again showing us around (MVP for amazing hospitality in TWO countries), to my great friend Luke for making the trek to hang out, and to our new friend Ryan.

DMZ

President Trump visited the DMZ on June 30th, a few days before we had our reservation to visit the DMZ and the JSA. Since the whole area is under military jurisdiction, our original plan was cancelled because of (unconfirmed reports of) meetings between the Trump admin and NK officials taking place in the JSA.

We still got to visit the touristy sites they allow you to go to, including Dorasan Station, a lookout tower, and the 3rd tunnel. The Dorasan Station is a now inactivate train station that used to run to small towns just north of the border. It is mostly symbolic as of 2019, with hopes of an eventual Pyongyang/China connection in the future. Very cool to see reunification symbols in person and learn more about the history.

Seoul

I was excited to visit the 광장시장 (Gwangjang Market) to try the street food I saw on the Netflix show “Street Food”. The 빈대떡 (Mung Bean Panackes) tasted like delicious Korean fried hash browns with cabbage, there was awesome spicy 떡볶이 (Tteok-bokki) in many dishes, and the 칼국수 (Kalguksu) reminded me of Japanese Soba with different broth and flavorings. Other foods eaten include dumplings, Mayak Kimbap, and ofcourse all of the different 김치 (Kimchi). All of the street food and restaurant food was delicious and incredibly different from the Japanese food we’d been eating on the trip. Definitely a highlight to try authentic Korean cuisine.

Other locations visited in Seoul: the Gyongbokgung Palace, some bars in Gangnam, Bukkhasan National Park. Very interesting to observe the cultural differences of Korea, even if we were only there for a short time.

End of Our Trip

I am exhausted but had an amazing time making memories on this trip with my family. The culture shock was a lot in the beginning, but near the end I’m very proud of how much we’ve learned and how much we’ve experienced on this trip. I love you all, thanks for making this a trip we’ll talk about for years to come. :).

Here’s to the next trip!