Should You Come to Korea?

 23 August, Oriens Hotel and Residences, Seoul

Back in Seoul and one of our favourite hotels on this trip, on our last night before catching a night flight home tomorrow from Incheon.

We don’t often do promotions for hotels, but this place has just so much going for it, we need to share it with those who may be considering coming to Korea. The Oriens is located a few minutes walk from two subway lines that service 90% of the sites we have wanted to visit in the city. The service is great, good English is spoken by staff and the rooms are large and comfortable. There are basic self-catering facilities -  a two-burner hotplate, full size fridge/freezer, electric jug, microwave, iron and ironing board and a washer/dryer that actually dries. We have stayed six nights in total over two visits for an average price of AUD125 a night. There are also multiple eating options available nearby.

Our trip back to Seoul from Jeonju was uneventful, though it could have been a disaster if we hadn’t realised in the nick of time that we were waiting for a bus that was headed in the wrong direction.

We were on the high-speed KTX again today and because the fares are so insanely cheap, we shouted ourselves First Class seats. We were lucky in avoiding much of the forecast heavy rain and arrived at Oriens fairly dry.

As is tradition for our blogs, the last entry is a review of the country from a traveller’s perspective.

So, South Korea. As this was our first trip here, we started with a clean slate, just a few, loosely-held preconceptions. We had imagined it to be much like Japan, perhaps a little less developed. On the broad scale, this was a bit off the mark. We feel we know Japan well, but it has to be said that while both countries have incredible infrastructure, highways, subways, rail networks, ports and heavy industry, Korea seems that little bit more modern and progressive.

The Koreans seem to us to be way more tech-savvy than the Japanese. Even older people have the latest phones and flash their credit cards about as though they were born with them.

A more international comparison is complex, but looking at comparative western countries, Korea is right up there if not ahead in many areas. A nation of just over 50 million people produces and exports cars, heavy machinery, electrical goods in competition with the best and biggest of them.

As travellers experiencing Korea for the first time, we have found the people helpful, respectful and honest. People leave bags on tables while they visit restrooms, goods are displayed on the street outside shops with no attempt to secure them. We have been offered help on numerous occasions as we wandered, dazed, through subway transfer areas. We weren’t lost of course, just dazed!

Unusually in Asia, Korea is predominantly Christian. There is an interesting story behind the conversion of this once Buddhist country, largely a 20th century process. Following the end of the Japanese period of occupation, from 1945 on, Christian churches established missions offering religious services, followed by the distribution of food. That was all that was needed. Now crosses appear on commercial buildings as well as churches, visible from almost any point in a city or town.

There is still however, promotion and maintenance of Korean culture, a culture that we knew little about.

Young Koreans in particular are outward looking, very western in their appearance and behaviour, though with the underlying respect that pervades their culture.

After our first visit to Japan, we commented that we had enjoyed our travels, but were unsure whether we would return. In subsequent visits we found more to see, do and experience in Japan and after eight visits, we will return for more. Our experiences in Korea probably fit the same mould. It has been a great experience, but we haven’t seen all there is to see and learn about Korea.

One final note. Do NOT come in late summer. Heat plus humidity plus rain and potential typhoons can make being out and about very uncomfortable.

 22 August, Jeonju

Another blisteringly hot day, but a dry heat, a Mt. Isa sort of mid-summer day.

Despite the heat we strolled, very slowly, the kilometre or so to the Pungnammun Gate and some restored sections of the old city wall. 

The old city wall once enclosed many royal palaces, halls and monuments associated with the Joseon Dynasty. In the centre of the Gyeonggjijeon Hall complex we came upon a small, rather unremarkable, raised hall that we wouldn’t have bothered to climb up to, unless we had seen a few locals climbing down.

 Inside was a small archive of the Annals of the Kings of the Joseon Dynasty. We assume they were copies, but the very fact that the originals are somewhere in a more secure storage is incredible. These documents, the daily record of events, the historian’s drafts and the diaries of the Royal Secretariat, were prepared by court mandarins, reviewed and revised before printing and were not shown to the King during his reign, nor to the next king. All materials used in their preparation were destroyed, so they were designed to chronicle the real story of the King’s rule.

Alongside the royal halls and monuments is the Hanok Village. Largely restored, the village does have some attractive alleyways, but as with some other “heritage villages” we have seen, the heritage nature has been consumed by tourist outlets.

Just beyond the Hanok Village, we climbed steep narrow roads to a small urban village that has encouraged artists to paint murals on the walls of its houses. It was all a little “untidy” and the art very average, but an interesting way for a small, fairly poor, part of the city, to secure its survival.

As we move closer to the end of our trip, we are developing some understanding of the long history of Korea. There is evidence of human habitation on the Korean peninsula since Paleolithic times but no evidence that these people are related to the current “Korean race.” The Dangun Jaseon dynasty is identified as loosely covering the period, 2300 BC to 200 BC. Most of this period was characterised by invasion and tensions with the Han Chinese and the Mongols. From around 200 BC, the southern part of Korea was under the sway of various Kingdoms, including the Silla, Gaya and Baejke kingdoms. By 700 AD, the kingdoms had been consolidated under the Silla Dynasty. The Unified Silla period lasted for around 500 years, then the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties dominated until around 1910, when a period of Japanese occupation ravished Korea until the end of the Second World War in 1945. From 1945 until 1948, Korea was under American military governance and, after the Korean War, the country was split along the 38th parallel, creating the divided nation we know today.

 21 August, Best Western Plus Hotel, Jeonju

Long Express Bus ride today from Busan to Jeonju gives us another opportunity for a “bonus blog.” This time it is on Korean hotels.

There is a fairly universally held belief that hotels are much the same the world over. To some extent this is true but, in some countries, particularly in Asia, there are some clear differences. In Japan, for example, rooms are universally smaller than in the west and in Vietnam, grand lobbies are a feature. In Korea, there are a few features that we have found to be a little different. To begin with, hotel room doors generally open outwards. This threw us at first as we thought the door to our room was not unlocking. Opening outwards makes some sense from the point of view of increasing usable room space, but it takes a bit of time to get used to.

Korean hotel rooms are fairly high tech. Light switches are concentrated in a main panel that controls all lighting in the room. Charging points with a range of attached cables are very common. In our experience, these are very slow. Korea uses the two round pin European plugs and we have found our chargers, with an appropriate adaptor, charge rapidly. In some hotels, standard universal power sockets are also available. An interesting quirk is the use of the TV remote to control lights and the air conditioner.

In the bathroom, the high-tech Japanese style toilets are often found. Spa baths are sometimes provided, but showers are open -  very fashionable, but extremely annoying as flooding can be a problem. Towel size is another Korean eccentricity. In three of the five hotels we stayed in, we were only provided with four tiny towels, each about half as big again as a standard hand towel. Sometimes a bath mat was provided as well, but not always. One hotel we stayed in had a different approach. They provided just one enormous towel and two of the hand towels for two people. No bath mat. We asked for a second big towel, which was happily provided.

Coffee and tea makings are provided, but coffee is always that horrible three-in-one mix that is far too sugary for those of us who don’t take sugar. Strangely, coffee or tea cups are not always provided, though they will be handed over on request. In Busan, we were only provided with small paper cups.

Channel options on the large-screen, generally smart, TVs are just amazing. Our hotel tonight has over 700 channels. We have always been able to find a couple of English language stations and tonight we even have Australian ABC.

One hotel we stayed in had a washer/dryer in the room, but that isn’t common, despite being advertised in the room description at booking. However, free washing machines and dryers have been available if you ask.

One very scary feature of Korean hotels is the “Descending Life Line.” This is simply a rope ladder that allows guests to escape fires by letting the ladder down from your room and climbing down!

Free, fairly fast Wifi is also universally provided in rooms.

In our experience, hotel check-in times are fairly universally enforced. Mostly our rooms haven’t been available until 3:00pm.

 18 August, Bonus Blog - Getting Around Korea

Our bus to Busan this morning doesn’t leave until 10:40am, so we have a bit of time up our sleeves, enough, in fact, to note some things we have learned about travelling independently in Korea.

To put Korea into an Australian context may help go some way towards understanding travel distances, travel times. South Korea is in area less than half the size of Victoria, Australia, but its population is almost exactly twice that of Australia. Seoul has a population of just over 10 million people, about the same as Sydney and Melbourne combined. Busan, the nation’s second city, is home to just over 3.5 million people.

First thing to note is that getting about in Korea is relatively easy - if you speak Korean, or you plan ahead, can use technology and have internet access while you travel. We fall into the latter category, so here is what we have learned.

Although internet access is widely available in Korea in hotels, restaurants, on trains and buses and in some city centres, it is far better to have your own full-time access. As using phone data can become expensive unless you purchase a local data plan, we use a portable WiFi dongle. They generally work out much cheaper than SIM data plans and most arrangements include unlimited data. Most support multiple devices as well. We have booked ours online through Klook and had no problems.

 We found Google Maps next to useless in Korea and much prefer Kakao Maps or Naver. Both take a bit of getting used to, but once mastered they are indispensable. Other apps that we have found useful are the Seoul Kakao Subway app, the Busan Subway app and, of course, Google Translate.

Although Korea has an excellent rail network, it doesn’t reach every destination that we want to travel to, so we have needed to use the equally excellent intercity bus network as well. So let’s look at the rail network first. Aside from subway systems which we will explore later, the national operator, Korail, has three broad service levels - KTX, high-speed rail, ITX, intercity express trains and Mugunghwa, limited express. All three run on time, are clean, safe, comfortable and amazingly cheap. Korail has a range of Rail Passes, but they did not suit our travel plans this trip. 

The Korail web site and app are a little confusing at first. Just as in Japan, the main stations are not always in the centre of the city you want to travel to, so you often need to know the location of the departure station to do a booking. For example, Seoul intercity trains leave from a few major stations other than Seoul Station. Using other sites such as Rail Ninja, or RometoRio, will help identify the stations you need. But don’t book through either site. Use the Korail booking service. It accepts foreign credit cards and provides E-tickets immediately. There is no need to print your tickets. Amazingly, there are no ticket turnstiles, or pre-boarding ticket checks on the Korail network, you just plop into your booked seat and off you go! Staff do seat checks, but we have never been asked to show a ticket. We recommend booking at least a couple of days in advance, particularly on weekends or during school holidays. Standing only tickets can be purchased if you are pressed. The standing ticket allows the holder to occupy a vacant seat, but that seat must be given up if a ticket holder turns up. Surprisingly, the price difference between standing and booked seats is fairly small. 

Stations have English signage and train announcements are in English, Chinese, Japanese as well as Korean. Ticket machines don’t take foreign credit cards, so counter bookings will generally be necessary if you have not booked online. Staff always speak at least some English so booking is no problem. Just be clear about where you want to go and at what date and time. Check timetables first and don’t be one of those annoying foreigners who hog the booking windows while they dither about! Last point. On the KTX, the difference between business class and economy is small enough to splurge!

Getting to and from Incheon airport is best managed using the Express ARex airport train. It is reasonably priced, easy to book by machines at the airport and the ARex ticket machines do take foreign credit cards. There is another option, called the “All stops” train, basically a subway train that, as the name suggests, makes all stops to Seoul Station. Cheaper, but the ARex, at AUD10 each way is so cheap, why bother?

Both Seoul and Busan have extensive subway systems and Seoul’s is one of the largest in the world. One drawback we have noticed is that train frequencies are less often than on major city networks elsewhere. Silly as it might seem, having to wait three of four minutes for a subway train is noticeable if you are used to more frequent services. Not a serious issue, but plan to factor transfer time into your travel plans in Seoul in particular. Subways are rarely crowded, we have only had to stand on a few trips. 

Tickets can be purchased in all stations, but we never bother. The Korean TMoney card is universally accepted throughout the country on buses, subways and in convenience stores. The card can be purchased at dispensing machines or convenience stores and can also be topped up at either. Subway fares are also very cheap. Using IC cards like this takes the hassle out of working out how much to pay and how to pay and there is often a small discount applied when using an IC card.

Intercity buses come in two categories - Express buses or Intercity buses. The former use the highways and make few, if any stops. Booking online is very difficult as most sites don’t accept foreign credit cards and those that do, charge outrageous service fees. Ticket machines in bus stations don’t take foreign cards either, but they do have an English option and can be useful to explore timetables before heading to the ticket counter armed with destination and departure date and time. As with trains, buses depart and arrive on time, so don’t be late.

Intercity bus services are fairly easy to manage if you have mastered your mapping app. Both apps mentioned above provide accurate timetables and route maps. Just tapping on the bus stop icon on the map pulls up a list of buses serving that stop. Tapping a bus number shows the route by bus stop name. These lists are only in Korean, but a map option is offered that shows the route on the map. Checking the route then allows you to confirm that the bus makes a stop near  your destination. Check a few routes, because many buses may meet your needs. Major bus stops also have a live display showing the progress of buses towards your stop. Tap on with your TMoney card and you are on your way. As always, the challenge with bus travel is knowing when to get off. For important destinations in cities, such as tourist attractions, there may be English announcements. Otherwise, we check our progress on the mapping app and press the button as we near our stop. Tap off and that’s it.

To get some idea of travel costs, our travel from Gyeongju to Busan, about an hour’s duration, AUD10, Our five hour+ bus trip to Jeonju AUD24 each. Subway fares paid on our TMoney cards are a fixed rate of around AUD1.50 per trip. Our final trip from Jeonju to Seoul, two hours, on the high-speed KXT in business class AUD50 each.

On some other issues. We brought far too much Korean Won with us. All we read before coming to Korea convinced us that cash was still king in Korea. Not so. Credit cards are now widely accepted and in some cases, cash is not accepted at all. Many fast food outlets use screen based ordering systems that operate on cards only. Some cash is still necessary because, at the moment at least, TMoney cards can only be topped up with cash.

19 August,  Busan

Miserable day today, overcast and drizzly rain. Not a great day for Haeundae Beach, but we gave it go. To be fair, the beach would have been fantastic on a nice day. Even in the less than favourable conditions, the good people of Busan still flocked to it and its associated cafe culture. We also took a train ride along the beach front, that again would have been beautiful on a different day.

The day was redeemed on our return journey when we stopped off at the Busan Museum of Modern and Contemporary History. The Koreans do great museums! The history of Korea from pre-historical times through to the present day was laid out with great English, Japanese and Chinese explanations. Our luck had turned because, behind the Busan Museum, we found the UN Korean War Memorial Cemetery. Soldiers from sixteen nations, led by the USA and including both Australia and New Zealand, are buried here. There are 281 Australian graves in a well-maintained sector of the cemetery. 

20 August, Busan

We were a little miffed this morning when we opened our shutters to a sunny morning and a relatively clear sky, perfect for what we did in the rain yesterday. Taking advantage of the sunshine and fairly good visibility, we headed off to Busan Tower Observatory for some spectacular views of the city and port. The tower is 120 metres high but its location on the top of a hill increases the altitude significantly. 

We haven’t said much about the costs of entry fees in Korea, because most of the attractions we have visited have been free for seniors. We should have paid 5,000 Won (AUD6) to visit the Museum of Modern History yesterday, but we didn’t notice until we read one of the brochures we bought home. We had just walked in and headed for the lifts. The Busan Tower today was AUD10 for seniors,  amazingly cheap in comparison to similar attractions in other countries. Yesterday, we paid AUD12 each for the hop-on, hop-off train trip along the coast. Taking these very reasonable prices, the often free entry for seniors and the very cheap local subway and bus fares, (AUD1.30-1.50 per trip) Korea is a bit of a bargain.

Our next stop was the enormous open air fish markets. Located right at the fishing wharf, everything looked and smelt fresh. There was also a large, indoors, air-conditioned market where diners can pick from an incredible variety of live seafood and have it cooked on the spot.

Last stop for the day was the multi-coloured Gamcheon Village in the hills above the port. During the Korean War, refugees settled on and cultivated the slopes to survive. In 2009, students and artists joined with the original villagers to decorate the village as part of the Village Art Project. The area has been called the Machu Picchu of Korea, but an alternative could have been the Korean Bo-kaap, a very similar suburb in Cape Town South Africa.

The heat and humidity were becoming unbearable by early afternoon, so we escaped back to our hotel to do a bit of washing and pack our gear for the five hour bus trip tomorrow to our last stop, Jeonju, before heading back to Seoul and home.

17 August, Gyeongju

Unlike that mid 20th century dynasty that was promised to “last 1000 years,” the Korean Silla dynasty prospered for a little over 1000 years from 500 BC until it declined over the second half of the 6th century AD. For almost all of this period, Gyeongu, which was once called Seorabeal, was the capital of the three kingdoms that united to formed the dynasty.

The Gyeongu National Museum, on the edge of today’s city, contains thousands of artefacts of the Silla period that have been found in the hundreds of ancient sites and tombs in and around the city. We have visited scores of museums in Asia and have seldom been so enthralled as we were today. We are starting from a zero base line when it comes to Korean culture, so we were well primed for a crash course, which we got in spades. The museum was extremely well laid out and presented, with great explanations  for key exhibits. Of special interest were the pieces of iron armour, gold jewellery and even footwear!  An amusing piece was a 14 sided dice, used for a drinking game. Options included “Dance silently; bottom (sic) up and laugh; and sing and dance.”

 There are many historical monuments and site in and around Gyeongju, if we knew more about the city when we were doing our planning, we might have arranged to have more time here.

On the way back to our hotel, we chose to walk through the many burial mounds and associated historical sites  that still survive in the city’s centre. One of the most important of the remaining buildings is the Cheomseongdae Observatory which is the oldest such structure in Asia. Its importance was that it was associated with the belief of farmers that success in agriculture was strongly tied to the stars. 

The construction of the mounds was highly sophisticated, for the time. A large wooden tomb was initially constructed, holding the King’s body and sometimes hundreds of grave goods and buried up to seven metres below ground level. A timber frame was then built around the wooden tomb to hold and contain millions of rocks and clay, to waterproof the tomb. The whole was then covered with soil. One of the tombs, Cheongmachong, is open to the public, revealing details of its construction and excavation. The initial excavation was conducted by the Japanese rulers and the Korean commentary is highly critical of the quality of the work. A second excavation in 1974 uncovered more artefacts.

Tomorrow we are off on the express bus to Busan, Korea’s second city. 

16 August, Rivertain Hotel, Gyeongju

Off on the local bus early this morning for Andong station for the train to Sin-Gyeongju, the new KTX station outside Gyeongju. The KTX didn’t have a train at a suitable time for us, so we caught the Mugunghwa 1601. Even for a less than two hour trip such as ours today, the Mungunghwa, which is the lowest level of Korail trains, was fine. Flying along at speeds up to 150kms/hr with comfortable seats and plenty of legroom, even at this low end of the Korean network, this is not too bad at all. To top it off, the fare was about AUD$9 each.

Bumped into an Italian family at the hotel, then the bus stop and again at the station. They are travelling independently with two small boys, about 6 and 4 and twin girls about 2. The parents each had a twin in a backpack carrier, there was a twin stroller, a large suitcase, a small suitcase and two soft bags. Have to admire them!

Sin-Gyeongju is about 15 minutes from Gyeongju, probably a little longer if your bus driver is Stirling Moss reincarnated. By 12:30pm we were at our hotel, but unable to get into our room, so we elected to wander about town to kill a few hours. Not so good a call. It was 30ish degrees and very humid, but at least we now have the lay of the land.

 15 August Andong. 

The dreaded stomach bug remains, so it was another solo trip today to the Village of Hahoe, a small rural settlement that has been maintained in close to its 17th century state.

A normal city bus runs to the village, but it was a very relaxing today because wondering when to get off wasn’t an issue, nor was where to get on, because the 210 bus I caught this morning originated from the small terminal around the corner from our hotel. One of the other issues with using buses in strange cities is knowing how, and how much to pay. This isn’t a problem in Korea where the T-Money IC card is accepted throughout the country. So as long as you keep your card topped up it’s as simple as tap-on and tap-off.

Hahoe is about 50 minutes from central Andong, but our driver today managed it in less than 40 minutes. I guess driving through suburban streets at 80-90 kms/hr probably helped.

Even though it was another extremely warm day, wandering around the village was a relaxing experience. Social status is defined in the village through its architectural features. Tiled roofs are indicative of higher status and thick, thatched roofs reveal working class folk. The area around the village looks to be highly productive and it is fairly clear that the families living there are doing well. Although they are carefully disguised, air-conditioner units and the cars secreted in carports tell the story. The entry fee was 5000 won, about AUD$6, in line with entry fees we have experienced so far on this trip. In several instances, seniors have been free, even for us foreign folk.

We have already mentioned how cheap domestic travel is in Korea, but the reasonable prices are not only for transport. Food is also extremely cheap by Australian standards. Our evening meals have cost around $35 including two 500ml beers. Hotels are around $120 or slightly more a night in larger cities, but as low as $75 in smaller places.