2019 Japan/Korea - Seoul 5
On our last day, we decided to head further east and explore a little over the river as well. We probably traveled the most on this day, but because much of it was in the train there weren’t too many opportunities for photos along the way. First stop, the Lotte World Tower!
The tallest building in Korea and the 5th tallest building in the world (according to wikipedia anyways) it was definitely the tallest structure I’ve been in. The blazing fast elevators shot us all the way up from a few floors in the basement to the 117th floor. From there there was a couple more floors served as the observation deck. We got up to the 122nd floor, but the building tops out with a reserved 123rd floor. In other words, pretty dang high, accented by the fact that nothing else in the city was anywhere near as tall.
Next stop was another architectural highlight, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (or DDP) which houses an art museum and shopping plaza. Unfortunately wasn’t able to get any good shots of the building as a whole, but the way the building shaped the space up close was just amazing. Like Gehry’s Disney Hall in LA or MoPOP in Seattle but bigger and simpler forms.
Needless to say, it was pretty fun shooting photos here.
Not wanting to push ourselves too hard on the last day (the trip back involved a transfer in Tokyo where we had about half a day in between Haneda and Narita airports) we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring more deeply the lively neighborhoods near our hotel.
During our wanderings, we discovered a place that immediately got our attention; a cafe with a corgi!
This was Watson, a sweet (albeit a little tired) lil guy. The cafe owner was clearly a big fan of corgis in general as you can tell from the decor.
And from one dog to another, we found a stand that sold corndogs! Turns out these are actually a staple of Seoul, locally known as just a Seoul Hot Dog. A few key differences between theirs and ours however is that theirs are fried in a crispier coating, similar to tonkatsu, and are also sprinkled with some sugar. I was already a big fan of regular, American corndogs, but they are nothing compared to this Seoul styled ones! Soooo goooood.
Soon we wandered to a cafe that had a unique take on its interior design. Everything was penned as if you were inside a comic strip. It was a pretty amazing at first, but also got a little disorientating after a bit.
That evening had been pretty on and off with the rain, so after waiting a bit in that cafe, the rain appeared to have ended for the night and we went back out, wandering our way back to the hotel.
Seoul was a place that I had modest expectations for going in, but those expectations ended up being far exceeded. The people, the food, the art, the food, the architecture, the food, the style, and oh yeah, did I mention the food? All of it was just a blast to experience. If I had to choose, I feel I still enjoy Japan more, it’s more my speed, but Seoul was really fun.
I guess the difference between Tokyo and Seoul would be like the difference between London/Paris and Amsterdam. Sure Tokyo has a stigma for being a city that promotes “weird stuff”, but to me Seoul was definitely the more funky, looser of the two. One thing that I really noticed was the style of Seoul’s art culture was distinctly non-Anime, as if when defining their visual style they started with “Rule 1: Don’t look Japanese.” Much of it genuinely felt more modern and Northern-European with a light layer of “Kawaii” tones than it did Japanese or some of the styles I’ve seen from China.
That said, I’m not at all suggesting that they’re just adopting European styles: It is through and through a genuinely Asian culture and it packs all of the energy and intensity that I never felt in Europe. NYC is probably the closest I’ve experienced that feeling outside of Asia, so it’s probably down to the number of people living so close together. Either way, the whole trip was a wonderful experience and each opportunity I get to be out here just makes me more eager to go back again.
2019 Japan/Korea - Seoul 4
We pick back up in Jongno-gu, near the Gyeongbokgung Palace . Lots of pics so I’ll be brief with the descriptions. This was one of my favorite areas though, with the architecture and Kiwa Taproom in particular being really memorable to me.
A cool funky building located near the modern art museum.
Of course visiting the palace itself. It was surprisingly popular for people to visit the palace wearing traditional outfits which you can rent from a bunch of shops just outside the walls. We expected the main customers to be the foreign tourists but there were a surprising amount of Koreans who also rented out the outfits, maybe incentivized by the reduced entry costs for those wearing the outfits.
Lots of effort put into this themed clothing store.
Decided to get a little fancy this night and went to a recommended Korean BBQ restaurant. Not that we encountered any bland food on the trip, but if I had to choose a best meal in Seoul, it’d probably be this one.
Before ending the night we swung by the Kiwa Taproom for a few drinks and late night snacks. It’s hard to see here but the place was actually more like a covered patio which let the city air and sounds come in and provide a more lively ambiance without needing a large crowd.
Also their glasses had childrens-book styled paintings of cats and dogs, so cute!
Ok, that’s it for this day. Next up will be the last full day in Seoul.
2019 Japan/Korea - Seoul 3
Started off the next day heading over to a nearby cafe for some breakfast. One thing that struck us while there was that compared to other places we’ve been to, Seoul felt like it started relatively late. Again, breakfast wasn’t as widely common as it is in other cities and to further support that fact, most of the morning meals we ate were from Australian-based or themed locations.
So while I got to visit my Honda museum in Japan, Michelle got to get her plant kicks at the Seoul Botanic Park. We expected something smaller but it actually ended up taking a good amount of time exploring the whole area. Especially enjoyed the little plant theater stands.
Michelle thinking about how she can smuggle a few in our luggage case.
Definitely one of the more memorable cafes we visited. Seriously, Seoul’s cafe density is shocking. Even as a massive coffee addict, it was even a little overwhelming for me.
Gonna take a pause here as there are many more pics from the 2nd half of the day.
2019 Japan/Korea - Tokyo 4
Before we headed back to Central Tokyo, we swung by Shimokitazawa, an area best known for its many vintage clothing shops. Despite being known for being one of the largest cities in the world, there are plenty of areas within Tokyo that don’t feel incredibly busy and crowded. This was not one of them, as the small floor space of the shops meant that it only took a dozen or so people to make the place feel packed.
Once we decided to start heading back, we swung by our favorite neighborhood, Nakameguro. This was the area that we stayed around during our first visit and it’ll likely be the area that we’ll try to look for lodging for the next time we go back.
2019 Japan/Korea - Tokyo 3
Starting off the day right at Hoshino Coffee next to Tsukiji Market. Unfortunately the market had closed (as a thriving fish market) back in 2018 so nowadays it’s more of historical site than anything, not that I personally am complaining about the lack of fishy smells.
Later that morning we headed over to Gotukiji to visit the Temple and check out the area. As fun as Tokyo itself is, the neighborhoods outside offer a really nice breather from the pace of the city.
This temple is best known for cat figurines. Lots and LOTS of them.
2019 Japan/Korea - Tokyo 2
This was a place we originally discovered in our first trip and then later stumbled on another branch in Dundee, Scotland of all places. Considering they’re based out of New Zealand (and nothing to do with the streetwear brand) it seems like they try to stick with small islands.
A tiny, homely bar with craft beer and cute dogs? Love it!
2019 Japan/Korea - Tokyo 1
Last year in October we took a trip to Asia. Originally we were planning on going to Hong Kong and Seoul, but due to the protests that were happening in HK at that time we ended up making a last minute change to Tokyo since it was still relatively close to Seoul and we didn’t need any excuses go to back to Japan. Since I already saw a lot of the typical tourist locations from the previous trip and I wouldn’t be able to make it to one of T-Site’s car meets, I wanted to go to someplace really special, so we spent one of our days outside of Tokyo but the rest of the time in Japan was in the city.
We arrived late at night and so we went straight to the hotel, walked around a little bit to find some dinner, and went to bed. Last time we were here we went for an AirBnB but earlier in the year Japan changed some of the regulations that allowed for hosted places. That resulted in a decrease in options and an increase in pricing to the point that the hotel options ended up being more attractive on both fronts. Our hotel ended up being a little further from central Tokyo than we liked but the room itself was VERY roomy, had a funky Scandinavian-like style, and had a great view.
2019 Northwest Trip Pt 2
While our trip was in both Seattle and Portland, I ended up only really taking pictures in Seattle as we knew we would be out late in Portland and I didn’t want to risk carrying my camera with me the whole day. Anywho, here’s the rest of the pics. We’ll be back soon though, as next time we come back up here we’ll be going even further north. ;)
