With your picture and words, you captured the feeling of Busan so well. It is not just another big city like Seoul.

shelemm Yes, Busan has a totally different feel than Seoul. I really liked it!

Day 8 Huinnyeoul Culture Village (Sunday May 18)

Yesterday had been long and full and, honestly, overscheduled, so I promised Mom that today would be more low-key. We started the day by going to a church service and then made our way to Huinnyeoul Culture Village, a seaside community in the Yeongdo area of Busan. It�s sometimes called the �Santorini of Korea� because of its white buildings and cliffside location. The forecast called for an overcast day, but once again we lucked out with sun.

We first stopped at a little cafe with an oceanview terrace. Mom had a mango smoothie and I had a passionfruit ade. We strolled slowly up the walkway until we got to Huinnyeoul Beach Cafe. I loved this cafe, it�s one of the prettiest cafes we visited! We entered on the street level and ordered a scone and Basque cheesecake. We then went down one level and chose to sit in front of a picture window at a little round table covered in a crocheted tablecloth and a vase of fresh flowers. There was also an outside terrace space, but even the sunshine couldn�t tempt us away from the delightful interior. There were only a couple of other groups in the cafe and great music was playing over the speakers. The scone was just okay, but the cheesecake was the creamiest, most delicious I�ve ever eaten. I can�t say enough good things about this cafe!

Huinnyeoul Culture Village was smaller than I had imagined, and the Jeoryeong Coastal Walk down by the sea was mostly blocked off, so after walking back and forth on the mid-level walkway (between the street and the Jeoryeong Coastal Walk), we decided to head back to BIFF Square. Mom wanted to do some clothes shopping, and this was the perfect day because all of the little shops and stores around our hotel were open. We both bought several pairs of socks - not something I�m in great need of, but Korea has very cute, very cheap socks. We also discovered that what we thought were baby clothes stores were actually pet clothes stores! Koreans love their little white dogs, and just about every dog we saw was wearing an outfit.

After a 30-minute rest in our hotel room, we set out to eat dinner. I�m not usually a big meat eater, but I really wanted to try KBBQ, and Mom reluctantly agreed. We found Dasoni Korean BBQ on the second floor of a building close to the hotel. It was early enough that we were the only customers there. We chose the minimum amount of sirloin - which I think was 300g - and that ended up being the perfect amount for us.The woman running the restaurant lit the burner at our table and began to grill the meat on a pan. When it was almost finished, she brought over several plates of banchan (vegetable side dishes). We both loved the meal, and I regret that we only took this one opportunity to eat KBBQ. After dinner we were full but not too full to make our daily stop at Go Mango.


Drinks with a view at Huinnyeoul Culture Village

Huinnyeoul Culture Village

Huinnyeoul Culture Village

Huinnyeoul Culture Village

The Jeoryeong Coastal Walk was mostly blocked off

These photos don't really do it justice, but the Huinnyeoul Beach Cafe was the cutest cafe we visited

Huinnyeoul Beach Cafe

Huinnyeoul Beach Cafe

The creamiest cheesecake I've ever eaten

Koreans love to dress up their dogs!

A full outfit

Delicious KBBQ

Day 9 Songdo and Travel to Jeju Island (Monday May 19)

Another sunny morning in Busan! I had been worried about the weather since the forecast showed mostly overcast skies for the time we’d be there. Busan is a coastal city, and the ocean just looks so much prettier in the sunlight. Although we did have a couple days of rain and cloudy skies, luckily we were there long enough to get some sunny days too.

We started off the day walking the Songdo Cloud Trails at Songdo Beach. For breakfast we grabbed a breakfast sandwich from Starbucks and smoothies from a cafe next door and then took our food out to a bench on the beach.

We then spent an hour or so walking the Songdo Coastal Bolle-gil Trail to Amnam Park. This is a very pretty walking trail on a red iron walkway along the side of a cliff. As we walked, we could see the gondolas of the Busan Air Cruise passing overhead. Once we got to the Amnam Park area we had to decide if we wanted to walk across the suspension bridge to Dongseom Island or explore Amnam Park. We chose to meander through the Healing Forest in the park, which was beautiful and relaxing. We tried the outdoor exercise equipment that I’ve seen in so many K-dramas, rested in a couple of gazebos, and fed treats to a family of stray cats. We didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to explore the park and forest, but I loved our experience there. This would be a great place to spend half or most of a day.

We would have returned to Shandrani (the Italian restaurant with the cat), but it was closed Mondays. Instead we ate snacks and made one final stop at Go Mango before gathering our luggage and boarding a bus to the airport.

I was surprised at the patience of Korean bus drivers. In Japan the bus drivers are really strict about keeping to a schedule and they get visibly and audibly frustrated if anyone takes too long boarding or disembarking. I know that Korea has a “pali pali” culture (pali = quickly or hurry), so I expected the bus drivers here to be the same, but in all the times I saw people take a bit longer to a board a bus - whether they were elderly, had luggage, or didn’t have the right payment method - the bus drivers seemed remarkably laid back about it. In fact, I really didn’t see much evidence of the pali pali culture at all; more often we’d have to navigate around people who were walking too slowly because they were focused on their phones.

Overall I really liked Busan. We spent four full days and two partial days there and traveled all over the city. Ideally I would have liked 1-2 additional days to have more time in the Haeundae and Gwangalli beach areas, as well as more time in Amnam park or doing coastal walks. And of course I regret that we had to miss out on our Gyeongju tour. I don’t think Busan is a city I’d dream about living in, but it’s definitely one I would revisit.

We traveled by bus to Gimhae Airport and took a short flight on Air Busan to Jeju Island. I had made a rental car reservation with SK Rental Car via booking.com, and while it took a bit of time to take the shuttle and then check in at the desk, everything went smoothly. Our drive to our accommodation on the south coast of the island probably took as long as the fight from Busan! The speed limit for a lot of the drive was 55 km/hr (which is about 35 mph), which was actually fine for this cautious driver. I don’t really want to be driving fast on unfamiliar roads. We tried to turn off the car’s navigation, but we weren’t able to entirely turn off the road alerts, so between Naver map’s navigation through my phone plus the alerts from the car, we were getting almost constant notifications about traffic cameras, school zones, and speed bumps. It was half annoying and half funny!

We checked into our accommodation at U+Sea in Namwon, which I had booked through Agoda. This was a small apartment with sea views, and we were both really happy with it. The owner/host Chul met us in the parking area and gave us an orientation to the property, telling us about several recommended restaurants in the area. We dropped our luggage in the apartment and then walked next door to an American cabin-themed restaurant (I forget the name), where we had burgers and fries for dinner.


Songdo Cloud Trails

Songdo Beach

Songdo Beach

Songdo Coastal Bolle-gil Trail

Songdo Coastal Bolle-gil Trail

Songdo Coastal Bolle-gil Trail

View of Busan Air Cruise from Songdo Coastal Bolle-gil Trail

Amnam Park Healing Forest

Amnam Park Healing Forest

Day 10 Hamdeok Beach & Seongsan Ilchulbong (Tuesday May 20)

The intention for our stay in Jeju was to slow down a bit, relax, and maybe even spend a day or two in our apartment without going anywhere. However, I also planned a full itinerary for each day, in case we did want to get out. The idea was to be flexible, especially since we weren�t sure what the weather would be like.

When we awoke in the morning it was foggy, so we couldn�t really see the beach outside our window, but we could hear the waves, which was incredible. There was rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so we decided to spent this day out and about, exploring the northeast and eastern coast of the island.

The drive up to Hamdeok Beach was delightful. It was so green, and I loved seeing all of the walls built out of volcanic rock. Also, it got sunnier the closer we got to the north coast. Our first stop was Cafe Delmoondo, which is at a prime location on/next to Hamdeok Beach (and has plenty of parking). We ate out on the terrace, and while the pastries were nothing to write home about, mom�s mango hallabong smoothie and my hallabong passionfruit ade were both really good. But what you really come here for are the views! The sky was blue and the water was bluer and so, so clear. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I think that morning alone made coming to Jeju worth it. After a leisurely breakfast, we wandered around the beach areas on either side of the cafe.

Next, after a fairly short drive that was made longer by a few wrong turns, we arrived at the Haenyeo Museum, which is dedicated to the women divers of Jeju Island. I first learned about haenyeo from reading the novel The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See, and I was excited to learn more about this unique culture up close. The museum is small, but it�s very well done, and I really enjoyed the visit.

We continued further around the east side of the island to Seongsan Ilchulbong. I�d watched numerous vlogs in which this site appeared, and while it always seemed like a popular natural site, not one of those vlogs showed the commercial zoo at the base! The parking lot is actually much bigger than it first appears to be, so we were easily able to get a spot. We arrived about 2:30pm, and I had read online that there were live haenyeo demonstrations at 1 and 3; however, when I asked at the ticket booth where the demonstration was to take place, I was told that it had been at 2pm. Disappointing!

Since we didn�t need to rush to catch the demonstration, we decided to leave and get lunch before climbing up to Seongsan Ilchulbong. We walked to BHC chicken, where the chicken was good but not as crispy as BB.Q�s. The lady working there was really nice, she offered to give us some makgeolli, but we had to refuse because we don�t drink alcohol (although we thanked her profusely).

After lunch we finally made the hike up to Seongsan Ilchulbong. The morning�s beautiful clear weather had turned overcast and drizzly, so unfortunately our experience there was nothing like what I had seen in photos and videos. At the top it was so foggy that we couldn�t see anything. Mom really enjoyed the ambiance that the fog created, but I think that�s partly because she didn�t know what we would have been seeing had the weather been clear. I enjoyed the experience too, but my feelings were mixed with regret about the experience I was hoping to have. At least we got some good exercise!

At the bottom of the hill we fed the zoo, meaning we shopped in some of the souvenir shops around the perimeter of the parking lot. Jeju Island is known for hallabong, a type of mandarin orange, and there are so many cute hallabong-themed souvenirs. I ended up buying hallabong-themed pajamas and a silly pair of hallabong sunglasses that we used for photos on subsequent days.

I had the Seopjikoji Coastal Walk noted down as something to do in this area, but it was too drizzly for this to have been enjoyable, so instead we went to the Seogwipean Bakery, a beautiful water-front cafe. We got there within an hour of closing time, so unfortunately they were out of most of the pastries. We got a croissant to split, Mom got a chocolate latte (which was a very good, rich hot chocolate), and I got the Seogwipean ade, which had a bit too much orange peel and was slightly bitter (I wished I had gotten my own chocolate latte). With what little time we had before the cafe closed, we enjoyed sitting and watching twilight descend upon the water.


Cafe Delmoondo

Great view from the terrace at Cafe Delmoondo

Great view from the terrace at Cafe Delmoondo

Great view from the terrace at Cafe Delmoondo

Photo zone at Cafe Delmoondo

Hamdeok Beach

Haenyeo Museum

Haenyeo Museum

At the base of Seongsan Ilchulbong

Climbing stairs at Seongsan Ilchulbong

This was our view at the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong

Near Seongsan Ilchulbong

Seogwipean Bakery

Gorgeous photos. Our visit to Seongsan Ilchulbong was similar to yours as it was foggy and drizzly. Makes me to go back to see it on a sunny day.

I like seeing just how black the volcanic rock and sand is, Even the grandfather statue was carved form this.

Day 11 Rainy Day & Seogwipo (Wednesday May 21)

The forecast showed rain for most of the day, so we planned to stay inside and relax. However, it wasn’t raining when I woke up, and I couldn’t resist the urge to get out and explore a bit of the area around our accommodation. I convinced Mom to get up too, and about 8am we started our stroll on the sidewalk and street that ran parallel to the beach. After a little while, a friendly dog decided to join us. He had a collar and looked well fed, so I don’t think he was a stray, just a dog taking himself out for his morning walk.

A little further down we saw several orange tewaks, or floats, in the water. We had come across a group of haenyeo out diving! It was so cool to see them, especially since we had missed the demonstration the day before. The weather was soupy and the water was choppy, so I really admire their skill and dedication. There are only around 2800 haenyeo on Jeju Island, and the vast majority of them are over 60 years old. There’s a great article here about a young haenyeo who is trying to create more awareness of this tradition using social media.

Walking back toward our apartment, we found an area of the beach with piles of beautiful, colorful shells and also saw a pod of dolphins swimming in the surf. It had definitely been worth it to get up and out early!

We spent the next several hours reading, writing postcards, and catching up on journals.For breakfast we ate tangerines we had bought at a grocery store the previous night, and they were delicious! I also introduced Mom to the K-Drama When Life Gives You Tangerines, which is partially set on Jeju (as is one of the best K-Dramas I’ve ever watched). At lunchtime we went back to the cabin restaurant. I would have liked to have found another KBBQ restaurant, but this was a concession to Mom, who liked the American restaurant. We split a pizza, which was huge and had a ton of cheese but needed more sauce.

By now the rain had tapered off, and we were ready to get out and explore a bit. We drove to Seogwipo, the largest town on the south side of the island. We stopped at Jeongbang waterfall…or at least at the time I thought we did. We parked in the parking lot for the Honeymoon House cafe and followed signs for the waterfall, but we never had to pay the entrance fee that was mentioned online, and what we saw wasn’t very impressive. I’m wondering now if we ended up on a side path and didn’t go far enough to see the actual waterfall we had intended to see.

After that we went to the Seogwipo Olle Market - and had no problem finding the nearby parking garage, which I had read can be tricky to find. We had a lot of fun wandering in and out of the shops in the market. We bought hallabong juice (good), hallabong ice cream (good), souvenir candy (not good), and fresh hallabong fruit (not nearly as good as what we’d bought at the grocery store but more expensive).

Our last stop of the day was Cheonjiyeon waterfall. This was located in a pretty, park-like area. The waterfall is in what feels like a bowl or basin surrounded by trees. I really liked it. I’ve seen some great photos of the falls lit up at night, but that must be earlier or later in the year, because we stayed until closing time and it was still pretty light when we left.


Foggy morning walk in Namwon

Colorful shells from the beach

Our friendly canine campanion

Haenyeo out diving

Haenyeo out diving

Hallabong sunglasses and pjs

The area near what we thought was Jeongbang waterfall but probably wasn't

Seogwipo Olle Market

Friendly fruit seller at Seogwipo Olle Market

Tangerines from Seogwipo Olle Market (but the ones we bought at the grocery store were better)

Park area at Cheonjiyeon waterfall

Cheonjiyeon waterfall

That is so great you got to see them diving. So it's not a myth. You are the Tangerine Queen.

Once again, proof that getting up early has its advantages.

From your Day 7:
�At Haeundae Beachwe collected shells along the shore and then sat for a few minutes enjoying the sun. As expected, those of us trying to catch some rays were mostly tourists. It was interesting to see a number of Korean women wearing gloves and face masks to cover their skin. Korea does not mess around with sun protection!�

This made me laugh as I remember walking (ambling) in a quiet .Gwangju park and hearing rapid footsteps behind me.�turned to see a startling apparition all in white just a few feet behind. I can only hope my gasp wasn�t too audible!

shelemm Yes to getting up early while traveling! I didn't want to write "authentic haenyeo, as opposed to the ones doing demonstrations for tourists" because they're all authentic haenyeo, but it was cool to see them out, independent of any tourists attractions.

nyse Oh goodness, I can definitely imagine how surprising that would be!

Day 12 Aewol & Return to Seoul (Thursday May 22)

So far, both mornings had been foggy, and I was really hoping to see the sun shine on the beach near our apartment. I was in luck because before we checked out, a bit of sun broke through the clouds.

The plan for today was to explore the eastern part of the island before returning the car and flying back to Seoul. Our first stop was the Innisfree Jeju House. Innisfree is a skincare brand that uses green tea as an ingredient in their products, and there is a store and cafe near the fields where the tea is grown. We parked in a large parking lot full of buses, but luckily most of the tour groups went to the Osulloc Tea Museum, which is right next door. This was a pretty quick stop, just long enough for me to stock up on some skincare products.

Next we drove to Comma Cafe, near Hyeopjae Beach. This was another cafe with a great view. We ordered a croffle and mango smoothie to split and then wandered up to a third floor terrace to eat. This cafe has multiple photo zones and places to sit or lie down and enjoy the views. In some of the spots you aren�t even allowed to eat, they are solely for photos. We took our time at this cafe, lying on one of the nets under a canopy after we�d finished our food.

After the cafe we walked along the shore to Hyeopjae beach and the parking lot where we�d left the car. Unfortunately, by this point clouds were starting to roll in.

Our last stop for the day was Aewol. I had several cafes in this area bookmarked, and I randomly chose Aewol the Sunset as the one cafe we�d have time for. This was another gorgeous cafe (Korea really knows how to do aesthetic cafes) with a large, breezy interior space as well as a large terrace. Mom got potato soup and I got a slice of carrot cake, and we ate on the terrace. It was mostly overcast, but the sun did break through a bit while we ate. The area was beautiful, and I was really regretful that we wouldn�t have time to do the Handam Coastal Walk or explore any more cafes.

I loved Jeju Island! I know that there are a lot of kitschy things to do there, but it�s also beautiful, and there were so many natural, cultural, historic things that we didn�t have time to do. We spent two full days and most of a third day there, and ideally we would have had at least two more full days. If I ever return to South Korea, a repeat visit to Jeju Island will definitely be on the itinerary. Once I was home, I reread Lisa See�s novel The Island of Sea Women and was reminded of Jeju�s tragic history. In 1948 there was an uprising, which resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths over several years due to political violence. These days Jeju Island, with its clear water and white sand beaches, is a vacation and honeymoon destination. It's really easy to forget or overlook its violent and heartbreaking past.

Driving back into Jeju City and finding the place to return the rental car was a bit stressful, but luckily we arrived without incident. We took a short Jeju Air flight back to Seoul, landing at Gimpo airport, which has a nice subway connecting into the heart of the city.

Our home for the next couple of nights was New Blanc Central Myeongdong. The room was significantly smaller but newer than the one we�d had during our stay in Seoul at the beginning of the trip. The hotel is located in an area near lots of small printing and binding shops to one side and furniture shops to the other. We liked it.

We were tired from the travel, but I was determined to eat dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken with vegetables and cheese) before leaving Korea. The place I had bookmarked was over in Hongdae, so we took the subway to that area of town. We probably could have found a place to eat dakgalbi closer to the hotel, but I wanted to see Hongdae anyway. Sin Migyeong Hongdae Dakgalbi is a casual but highly rated dakgalbi restaurant. We ordered the minimum 2-portion dakgalbi with cheese (which could have easily fed 5 people), and it was one of the best meals of the trip!

I would have liked to have wandered around Hongdae to see street performers and just enjoy the lively atmosphere, but Mom was tired (and honestly, I was too), so after dinner we headed straight back to the hotel.


Comma Cafe

Photo zone at Comma Cafe

View from Comma Cafe

View from Comma Cafe

Hyeopjae Beach

Clouds started to roll in while we were at Hyeopjae Beach

Pretty walkway along the area near Hyeopjae Beach

It was foggy when we got to Aewol

It started to clear up a bit just before we had to leave. I wished we'd had another day to explore this area.

Mom at Aewol the Sunset cafe

Day 13 Yeouido Hangang Park & Skin Clinic (Friday May 23)

The hotel we were staying at was close to Susanna�s Apron, a cafe we had visited on the first day of our trip, so returned to have breakfast there a second time.
Our church has a temple in Seoul (which is different from the chapels we visit on Sundays), so we went there to worship. It�s a small temple tucked away in a residential neighborhood, but the grounds are lovely and the people there were kind and spoke a surprising amount of English.

After the temple we made our way to Yeouido Hangang Park. Riding bikes along the Han River was something I really wanted to do while in Seoul. Mom convinced me to rent a tandem bike (I�d never ridden one before), and we had a half-fun, half-frustrating hour of riding the bike along a path. After we returned the bike, we spent a bit more time in the park on foot. A number of couples or small groups were picnicking in the park, and several of them had small tents with a little pendant banner across the tent opening with a blanket and small, low table in front. I imagine this was a set-up that was available to rent, since many of them looked similar. It was adorable and felt like something straight out of a K-drama.

We took the subway over to the Seoul Forest area for lunch. We walked up and down a cafe street several times before deciding to eat at a sort of nondescript restaurant because Mom saw an advertisement for a club sandwich. I was kind of annoyed at this choice, but I also understood it; she was craving something light and fresh, and that�s not the type of food we found readily available in Seoul. Mom had her club sandwich and I ordered spaghetti carbonara, which was good.

On our numerous walks up and down the street, I had noticed a cafe serving mango bingsu. The bingsu from Go Mango in Busan was good, but I was willing to splurge on this pricier bingsu to see if there was a difference�and boy was there! The ice in the Go Mango bingsu was pretty coarse, but the ice on this one was fine and soft, and there must have been several entire mangos arranged in the thinnest of slices on top. It was excellent and worth the $23 price tag - at least once.

During these last couple days I was just trying to fit in the final must-dos, so my itinerary planning wasn�t super efficient. We had taken the subway all the way from Yeouido to Seoul Forest, but we ended up not actually having time to visit Seoul Forest. Instead, it was time to head to Gangnam.

Months ago I had casually mentioned to Mom that Korea was known for skin treatments and cosmetic procedures; she was surprisingly interested and asked me to do some research. For the longest time I avoided it because I felt overwhelmed, but when she brought it up again, I hesitantly started to do some online research.

I think I have a pretty healthy relationship with skincare. Sure, I spend a bit more than I probably need to, but it�s not a ton and I�m not expecting magical results. What other people spend going to the movies is what I�m spending on serums and sheet masks. Injections or lasers aren�t things I would normally consider, but it�s so common and the prices in Korea are so reasonable, that I decided to look into it.

A lot of the clinics that pop up on search results have reviews saying that they feel like factories that get people in and out as quickly as possible, so I chose a smaller one called Orta Clinic. It had good reviews and offered the treatments I was interested in at prices competitive to other clinics I was considering, so I messaged them over What�s App to set up an appointment.

Upon arrival we met with a consultant (who was a salesperson rather than a medical professional) to talk about treatment options. I didn�t want to go in blind or be talked into something I didn�t want, so I had done a lot of research ahead of time and knew exactly what I wanted. Maybe the salesperson did have some expertise and I should have been more open to his recommendations, but better safe than sorry. I chose microneedling and Rejuran injections around my eyes, which cost ~$150. It was an amount I was comfortable spending for the experience, even if I didn�t see a huge difference afterward. Mom spent a bit more to get Juvederm injections on the marionette lines in her chin/mouth area.

I was taken first to a small room where I laid down on a bed and a technician slathered numbing cream all over my face; she then left me there for the cream to start doing its work. After about 20 minutes a doctor came to take me into a treatment room. She used a tool to do the microneedling all over my face. Thanks to the numbing cream, it really didn�t hurt. It mostly just felt like a pinch, except on my cheekbones where it was slightly painful (maybe a 3 out of 10). I was then taken to a different room with a bed to await the Rejuran injections. While I was waiting, I could hear a girl in a room near me moaning and saying �I want to kill this bear� (there were teddy bears in each room to hold on to for comfort during procedures). She was obviously in pain, and I felt bad for her, but it was also kind of funny.

I had read that Rejuran injections are painful, and given the reaction of the girl near me, I felt a bit of trepidation. Fortunately, at the beginning, the injections weren�t really painful at all. As the numbing cream wore off, they did get more painful. There were also many more injections than I had expected, since I paid for 1cc, which is the smallest amount available. By the end, I�d say the pain was a 6 of 10 (although I know that�s still pretty subjective).

After the procedures, I looked like I had dozens of little bee stings around my eyes, and there was also a bit of bruising under one eye (all expected). The �bee stings� were gone in just over a day, while the bruising took about a week, although I was able to cover it well with concealer after a couple of days. The objective of both microneedling and Rejuran injections is to stimulate collagen production so that skin looks firm and healthy, and supposedly it can take a month or so to see results. I actually felt like it made a difference to the area under my eyes for the first few weeks, but now that it�s been a month, my under eye shadows are back to normal. I think that for a lot of these procedures to really have an effect, they need to be done regularly, which I was aware of going in. I don�t regret doing it, but I�m glad that I didn�t spend more than I did. Also, the clinic offered two free shots of Botox for a Google review; I declined but it made me lose all faith in the reviews I had partially used to make my decision about which clinic to visit. I don't have any complaints about this clinic, but I don't have anything to compare it to.

Our time in Korea was winding down, and we were close to Kyobo Books, so we made a stop there before heading home. Despite being slightly embarrassed by the state of my face (but Koreans see this all the time, right?) I took an extraordinarily long time in choosing a Korean book in translation I hadn�t read before. I finally ended up with A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-ran, which I really enjoyed.


Bridge near Yeouido Hangang Park

Cute picnic setup at Yeouido Hangang Park

Delicious (and expensive) mango bingsu

A Thousand Blues from Kyobo Book Centre

Day 14 Naksan Fortress Wall Trail, Onion Bakery, & Starfield Library (Saturday May 24)

This was another day of inefficiently fitting in the final things we wanted to do before leaving Korea.

I got up relatively early and took the bus to Hyehwamun Gate, where I started the Naksan Fortress Wall trail. It was a beautiful, peaceful morning walk along the old city walls to the Heunginjimun Gate. I had hoped to fit this walk in somewhere as a golden hour/sunset excursion, but we had too many sunset activities and not enough sunsets! I really enjoyed this in the morning though; highly recommended, whatever time of day you can fit it in. My ending point was right next to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, so I wandered around this area for a bit before heading back to the hotel to pick up Mom.

Almost all of the videos I watched in preparation for this trip mentioned Seongsu. This neighborhood wasn’t super high priority for me, but I was interested enough to want to make a short visit. For breakfast we stopped into the popular Onion Bakery (the Seongsu branch, not the even more popular hanok cafe in Anguk). We got a croissant, strawberry cream pastry, Valrhona chocolate pastry, and berry soda. Everything was pretty good, but the Valrhona chocolate pastry was a standout.

I was hoping to spend some time in Seoul Forest, since we didn’t have an opportunity yesterday, but the weather was quite chilly and it wouldn’t have been enjoyable. Instead we made our way to the Starfield Library in COEX mall in Gangnam. This is an impressive (actually functioning) library in the middle of a mall that appears in many a K-drama. I know it can easily be written off as too much of a tourist attraction, but I love books, reading, and libraries, and it was a “must see” site for me. I loved it.

Our pace was on the slower side this day and we only had a few hours left before we needed to catch the bus to the airport. Mom thought she had left her prescription sunglasses in Bb.q about a week ago, so we went back to Myeongdong to see if they had been turned in (they hadn’t). I should have eaten Myeongdong street food for lunch, but I really wanted bibimbap one last time and Mom needed her one last Jr. Whopper from Burger King. The bibimbap restaurant I found online wasn’t serving food when we arrived (the owners seemed to be eating their own lunch), so I got 7-11 snacks and the cash we’d need for the bus while Mom ate at Burger King.

At about 5pm we took the super convenient Airport Limousine Bus to ICN for our 8:45pm flight. I was able to sleep during most of the flight to Calgary (Mom wasn’t so lucky), and the rest of our travel wasn’t too onerous.

Final Thoughts on South Korea

On any trip there’s always so much I don’t have time to do, but on this trip I felt that even more strongly. I’m not sure if it was because this trip was 14 days on the ground, as opposed to the 18-ish day trips I’ve done the past several years, or because a lot of my attention was focused on Mom rather than the full absorption into the place I get when I travel solo - probably a bit of both. It’s interesting because I spent five days in Tokyo, and while I didn’t see nearly everything there is to see, I felt like I got a decent handle on that city. We likewise spent 5 days in Seoul, but even though it's a smaller city than Tokyo, I feel like we barely scratched the surface. To me, Seoul feels like a city you really need to live in to understand.

I would love to return to South Korea to immerse myself more deeply in Seoul, revisit Jeju Island, and get to know some new places, but honestly there are so many places I want to travel to, I’m not sure when or if it will ever make it to the top of my priority list again.

All of that being said, we had a wonderful time, and I’m so, so very grateful to have had this opportunity to travel with my mom (even with the almost daily Burger King stops)! Now we better turn our attention to saving up for BTS’ next tour!


Naksan Fortress Wall Trail

Naksan Fortress Wall Trail

View from the Naksan Fortress Wall Trail

View through the old fortress walls. You can't really see it in the photo, but the ultra tall and modern Lotte Tower is in the distance.

Colorful house along the Naksan Fortress Wall Trail

Heunginjimun Gate and Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Starfield Library at COEX Mall

Starfield Library at COEX Mall

Starfield Library at COEX Mall

I had my Kindle with me, so I took the opportunity to read at the Starfield Library

What a special trip you had with your mom. Thank you for sharing it with us. I appreciate getting to know some parts better and others for the first time.