wow what a day and a half
We start our Korea trip in beautiful Pittsburgh at 12pm check in on firday May 9th. Once we go though all the pre-departure protocols and slides its time to have a light lunch before last stretches, on the bus and away to the airport at 3:30pm. After an anxious delay of our flight to Atlanta we finally board at 8:10 and are off and away on our first leg of the trip. We land in Atlanta and sprint to our next connection and final destination of Seoul via Icheon airport. A fun fact actually is the Icheon airport is currently under expansion and set to unveil a new terminal that once opened will make it the third largest airport in the world which is truly astonishing. Our flight which is just over 15 hours lands on the morning of Sunday the 11th at 4am making our total travel time of about 22 hours in total. Now after all this our first day in Seoul begins.
We are introduced to our tour guide to Seoul, Jinny Kim, who is bright and knowledgeable woman full of facts about Korea and the places we will visit.
My first full meal in korea was a traditional pork noodle soup at a restaurant by the hotel that is open 24 hours. I also was able to try the traditional side dishes that arrive before and with the meal of kimchi and rice. It was absolutely delicious and I nearly filled myself up on just that before my main dish even came out. I had a traditional hot noodle that was absolutely delicious and before I knew it we were off to the next location.
Our second stop after dropping our luggage is the impressive Gyeongbuk palace. It is where the old kings of Korea lived before Japanese occupation. It used to be much larger however much of it was destroyed by the Japanese and is now built over. At one point the compound was so larger even the king who lived there would get lost. The current structures and landscape feature 10 buildings and a main road that has three levels, one on the left for military one on the right for civil servants and the middle raised one only used by the king. This walking path runs directly through the entire complex a straight road from the gate to the coronation building to the king’s offices, residence, and queen’s residence. I also particularly liked the king’s garden which was incredible beautiful.
Next stop a short walk away was the Bluehouse. Bluehouse is the residence and offices of the Korean president, similar to the American Whitehouse. Its multi building complex has a beautiful and commanding presence. Constructed by Hyundai construction in 1994 this landmark has become a huge tourist attraction since its opening as a public park in 2022 but will most likely return to its original purpose in the next president’s term. It is on the location of what first used to be the royal gardens and then was the occupying Japenese main ruling office but when Korea was liberated it was turned into the president’s office in 1948.
Our next stop was Tong-in market which is a long road of street vendors for various foods. The interesting part about it is that should you choose you can exchange your money for old Korean currency and use that at certain stalls to pay for your food. I was able to exchange my money for the currency and even got to save one as a souvenir!
After lunch Professor Yun had a fun challenge for us, the two who made it back first would get a special treat from Doctor Yun in the form of a free meal. Although my group was not first or second we were able to make it back on our own and all together.
At the end of such a long day of excitement, anticipation, and activities I was exhausted and not long after getting ready for bed and a much needed shower I fell right to sleep.
Ill see you tomorrow for my next update on my explorations in Korea!