A Special Trip To Seoul
Angela Ward, owner of Angela Ward Media based in Crowborough, spent a week in Seoul, South Korea, with her KPop obsessed daughter last month. The city is known officially as Seoul Special City, and here Angela shares her enjoyable experience during this well-earned mini-break from her job in journalism and PR which she has done for 30 years.
My daughter who is aged 18 is obsessed by KPop music – that energetic boy and girl band music of South Korea. If you’re familiar with the genre, her favourite band is the girl group Itzy. She also follows ‘Korean Englishman’ on YouTube and, over the past few months, I’ve been drawn in. He’s a rather clean cut chap, who hangs out with his friend Ollie and they share an obsession with all things Korean.
His videos – and a few visits to New Malden, the European ‘capital’ of South Korea – inspired me to book a week in Seoul this July.
I’m a pretty independent traveller but, on this occasion, I asked our lovely local travel agent Paul, from Beacon Travel in Crowborough, to look into the feasibility of the trip. I didn’t want a tour – as I knew my daughter would have lots of places she wanted to visit – but he sorted us out with a hotel and flights with Asiana Airlines; both of which worked out perfectly.
My own research told me that Myeongdong would be the best area to stay. It’s probably the most touristy part of Seoul, boasting night markets and endless coffee shops. Paul found us a hotel – the Hotel Prince – which was basically on top of a Metro station; the station had its own shopping centre, which more research told me was the cheapest place to buy KPop music.
The flight with Asiana felt like we’d already arrived in Korea. On the outward flight, we were each given a ceramic bowl and a set of instructions to create a bibimbap (a rice dish accompanied by the popular Korean chilli paste, gochujang). On our return journey we had a meal of spicy braised octopus and another of ssambap – rice and meat which we wrapped in leaves, including perilla leaves.
After a 13-hour flight, we arrived at Incheon Airport in Seoul on the evening of the following day (South Korea is eight hours ahead). My research told me to seek out the 6015 ‘limousine bus’. We found the ticket desk straightaway and paid around £10 for the trip. The bus arrived almost immediately and our cases were stowed for us. It took around one-and-a-half hours, but it was exciting to leave the countryside and head into the metropolis that is Seoul. The bus dropped us directly outside our hotel.
Once we’d checked in, we set out to explore. My daughter immediately headed for Music Korea, a KPop store next-door but one to our hotel (Starbucks was our neighbour). She then dragged me into the 12-storey Daiso. Every floor featured something different – skincare, homewares, stationery, snacks etc.
It was mid-evening and Myeongdong was bustling. In between the HBAF Almond stores – selling every conceivable flavour of roasted almond – were endless skincare stores and coffee shops. This part of Seoul is particularly modern, with tall buildings and wide roads. The following morning, I headed out by myself to bring back coffee. Yes, Starbucks was next-door, but I wanted a more authentic experience, so headed past our neighbour on the other side – an enormous North Face – and into the steep alleyways behind our hotel. Here I glimpsed my first view of the iconic North Seoul Tower.
During our trip, we hung out in many music stores, but there was culture too. We visited a couple of Hanok Villages – little groups of traditional houses – as well as the National Folk Museum and the traditional Namdaemun Market with its ginseng stalls. I also strolled out alone one morning to visit the impressive Myeongdong Cathedral.
We used the Seoul Metro every day, which was easy to navigate, with station names and announcements in English. All we needed was to buy a T Money card from the local convenience store (rather like an Oyster card) and top it up with cash. My daughter and I both spent about 14,000 won in total during our seven days – around £8 – and we used the Metro every single day, swiping in and out.
As part of our KPop pilgrimage, we travelled out to the Olympic Park one morning to visit the office block, where JYP Entertainment, Itzy’s management team are based, while we paid homage to BTS at the Line Friends Pop Up Shop (fans will understand) and we joined in the hype during the launch week for a group called Zerobaseone.
We ventured into Lotte World Mall, which was huge and looked up at the world’s seventh tall building, the Lotte World Tower.
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We also spent a morning wandering round the impressive grounds and buildings of Korea University – the alumni of Korean Englishman! I am secretly hoping that my daughter might consider spending a year there herself.
We were luckier with the weather than the Scouts at the World Jamboree two weeks later. It was warm and humid and we only saw glimpses of the sun, but it didn’t rain quite as much as was threatened. If I go back again, I’d travel in the spring or autumn to enjoy milder weather alongside cherry blossom or autumn foliage. The summers are hot and the winters are cold.
Seoul – and indeed the rest of South Korea – is fairly undiscovered as a tourist destination for westerners; we didn’t hear another British voice for our entire week.
The Korean people were friendly, Seoul was easy to navigate, unbelievably clean and, considering we were two women travelling alone, we felt 100% safe all the time, even when strolling around at night. The food was incredible and we tasted lots of different types of colourful drinks in the many coffee shops. We also spent time in a cat café and cooked our own dak-galbi at our table one lunchtime. And, of course, we ate a lot of Korean fried chicken and kimchi.
Our experience was topped off by being accidently in shot on our last day during the filming of an Amazon documentary on KPop. We’ve both signed photo release forms – so maybe we’ll be famous soon!
• For more information on Seoul, visit english.seoul.go.kr
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