Heart and Seoul
Discover Korea’s crazy mix of calm and chaos
Kiwis love to travel. At any one point, it’s estimated there are more than a million of us living overseas or taking a holiday. Asia has long been one of our main playgrounds, with the likes of Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo forming a golden triangle of easy exploration.
But this weekend marks the start of an exciting new era for travellers.
Air New Zealand returns to South Korea, with direct services to Seoul.
The last time the national carrier flew to Korea, the Spice Girls were telling us what they really, really wanted and Titanic had just hit cinemas.
A lot has changed. Seoul has a new soul that will be popular with New Zealanders. Think green spaces, ancient traditions, and hyper-modernity all blended with a delightful dash of Korean culture. Here’s what you can’t miss.
Kiwis love K-wave
South Korean culture is exploding in popularity around the world, and it’s known as the ‘‘K-wave’’. Let me explain.
Almost everyone on the planet is familiar with the Gangnam Style dance, but few realise the song is referring to a district in Seoul.
Gangnam is all about fashion, beauty, parties, shopping and flash cars.
It’s a little like what Ponsonby is to Auckland, although ‘‘Oppa Ponsonby style’’ doesn’t quite have the same ring.
Gangnam is ground-zero of K-wave. It’s the Hollywood of Korea. Alongside the pop stars are thousands of beauty shops selling everything from snail secretion facials to face masks laced with salmon sperm DNA (apparently, great for regeneration).
Airbnb has started offering Experiences, where locals offer tours or workshops for travellers. Many of these are beauty courses, such as making natural skincare, or even a beauty session with a TV presenter who promises to take five years off your face in just two hours.
And Kiwis seem to be loving it, as Airbnb reports Australasia is its most popular market for those seeking K-wave experiences.
A visit to Gangnam is unmissable, not just for the shopping or beauty, but to get an insight into cutting edge Seoul (with the emphasis on cutting).
Gangnam is also the plastic surgery capital of the world, with around 400 clinics in the district.
Crazy cafes
My eyes can’t quite figure out what’s going on – I’ve just stepped into a parallel universe, that happens to serve coffee.
It’s called Cafe Yeonnam-Dong, and it’s a little like walking through a cartoon.
The eatery is designed in a black-and-white comic strip theme, that tricks the eyes into thinking everything is two-dimensional. It’s not until you see a person walking through, that you realise it’s not some elaborate computer generation.
Seoul has no shortage of other fun places to eat, such as Urban Space, where you can sip your latte in a pool of plastic balls next to giant teddy bears and unicorns.
The food at these places is pretty pedestrian, so here’s what to do when it’s time for some serious gluttony . . .
Seoul’s sizzling side
Let’s get one thing straight: the best Korean food is full of carbs. We’re talking about dumplings, crispy pancakes, barbecue pork, Korean mixed rice (bibimbap), a kaleidoscope of noodle dishes, and did I mention, dumplings.
If you have a metabolism like me, you probably put on weight just reading that. But, don’t worry, you’ll do a serious amount of walking to offset your frequent frying.
An excellent place to start is Namdaemun Market, home to around 10,172 stalls, likely selling enough knick-knacks to construct a spaceship.
And dotted around this kingdom of trinkets are hundreds of food stalls. Save yourself time and get an expert to guide you. We found a Night Market Food Tour on Airbnb’s Experiences, and it did not disappoint.
We started with Korean doughnuts, then had a visit to Seoul’s dumpling lady, who became worldfamous after staring in a Netflix series. Next, we entered uncomfortable territory: wiggling octopus legs. This is called sannakji, where the tentacles continue to move long after death.
It can be a little dangerous because the suction cups on the legs can stick to your throat if they’re not adequately chewed. Nobody wants to spend too much time chewing on wriggling legs, so they often just gulp it down. And there’s the problem.
I was dared by our group to eat the largest piece, to which our guide quickly interjected:
‘‘I wouldn’t recommend that for a first-timer.’’
For some reason that still eludes me, I decided to reject that advice and put the biggest wriggler in my mouth. I had 12 minutes and 38 seconds of chewing, all of which was filled with sincere regret, then relief that nothing clung on.
Much more tasty delights followed, including a stop at a restaurant dedicated to crispy pancakes.
Also, you shouldn’t miss a Korean barbecue, where you grill meat on your table, then mix it with vegetables and noodles.
Walk of doubt
My blood pressure is going up just writing this: Korea’s tallest tower is also home to the world’s highest glass-floor observation deck.
The Lotte Tower can be seen from all corners of the city. Its super-sleek design is a striking contrast to the temples, palaces and medieval villages far below.
If your idea of fun is transparent floors, you’ll want to head straight to level 123, where you can look down on ant-like humans almost half a kilometre below. If you prefer your fun lined with concrete, at the base of the tower there’s an enormous indoor theme park.
A night to remember
Hotels don’t come cheap in South Korea but, thankfully, there’s a much more affordable option.
Koreans love Airbnb, with more than 45,000 rental options nationwide.
We stayed in a hanok, a traditional style of housing: a part of the 600-year-old Bukchon Hanok Village.
Our house was like a miniature palace, with lavish furnishings and a central courtyard that everything was constructed around.
Then our next few nights were spent in an ecoapartment, with plants and creepers hanging from the furniture, lights, bed rails, and even the stairs. It’s designed to bring a sense of nature into an otherwise clinical space, and I loved it.
Both options were nothing like a hotel.
Calm meets chaos
Koreans love to escape the chaos that 10 million people brings, with special spaces designed to calm the mind.
The city has a new Seoullo 7017 Skygarden, built on a former highway, complete with 24,000 plants – similar to New York’s High Line.
There’s also an 11-kilometre vein of greenery that runs through the city, called the Cheonggyecheon Stream. The river was once covered by a highway, but it has all been demolished and restored as part of a significant urban renewal project that is hugely popular with locals.
There are five royal palaces scattered throughout the city, which all exude a quiet calm of the Middle Ages.
And for every temple, shrine, palace or ancient village Seoul has, there’s an equal amount of cutting-edge design.
You’ll find the tallest gold-clad building in the world, which is simply called 63 Building.
The Dongdaemun Design Plaza looks like an enormous spaceship landed in the city, and it contains a design museum with an equally mindbending interior.
And the Starfield Library even has bookshelves that curve three storeys to the top of the roof.
The biggest challenge visitors face is fitting everything in. After 10 days, we’d only just scratched the surface.