Seoul - what a super city
 

Just back from 10 days visiting this wonderful city - so clean, so much to see. Just a super place.

i have been there and have just the opposite impression....can you tell us why you feel that way....??

The subway was spotless (unlike the one here in Toronto which is filthy), super efficient and got you almost anyplace in the city and for miles outside the city - my son lives 1.5 hours out in the 'burbs but the subway went there as did buses - local and non-stop to his area and it was cheap - and the subway stop announcements were also made in English; endless food choices - western and Asian; safe - kids can walk around at night as did I on my own; wonderful shopping - I've been in a lot of department stores but none with so many staff as the Lotte nor with 2 floors of restaurants - nor as large; they tore down a freeway through the city to uncover a river and made a walkway along - at all hours, safely. Great hiking walks along the old walls in the city and outside...I didn't know it such a mountaineous country. I never saw any sign of graffitti.

What didn't you like about it?

we just thought it was boring....the sites are sort of run down and uninspiring, even the one that recently burned down....

yes it was clean but so are many asian cities....

the food was only so so... we never had a decent piece of meat, and i don't mean filet....

the shopping is good

the people were not especially friendly like in other asian cities...

when people ask us, "where do you have no interest in returning to...?, we always reply without thinking "korea".... if you know me from this board, you know that i love asia in every way....

but i respect your comments and i am glad you loved it....

I should read over what I write before posting.

Food isn't a big part of any trip I take - in fact, I dropped 3 pounds while I was there - a big breakfast was all I had most days until I went to stay with my son and we went out to local restaurants in Bundang. We had kalbi the last night in Seoul though - it was okay.

I rarely stopped to study a local map or the subway map without someone stopping to help me so I found people helpful and they often asked where I was from.

I enjoyed just walking around in Insadong, Myeong-dong and other areas but also visited two of the palace grounds, the Bukchon (sp?) traditional neighbourhood, took the cable car up Namsam, the Anglican and RC cathedrals, etc. The prison in Independence Park was gruesome but a part of their history so worth seeing. Thought their War Memorial/Museum was super. I thought the one gate that wasn't burned down or being renovated looked pretty good at night.

Everyone enjoys different things - next I'd like to see Japan.

bob - i too found it bland. The efficiency and cleanliness is there and trans cheap but food expensive.

somehow, it was just a nameless city.

polly--i agree

Well, my impression is Seoul is not Kyoto or HK, so it may be lower on the "WOW!" scale. However, I didn't find the city boring. As in Tokyo, it's a kind of place that looks all concrete and modern but you scratch a surface and see rich history--palaces, insadong etc.

Food is not as cheap as in HK or Taiwan, though quite reasonable. (My favourite is frozen yogurt at Red Mango chain).

I'm not sure how many other Asian cities OP has been to--those of us who travel to Asia frequently tend to take cleanness, good public transportation and efficiency for granted. So it's probably a matter of what you're familiar with, and what your expectations are.

As in many things in life, I think it is a case of "Satisfaction = Expectation - Performance" IMHO.