Our first day in Korea started early, but not too bright. After a 15 hour long flight, the plane landed at Incheon International Airport at 4 AM, and my first surprise was how cheap things were in the airport convenience store. I’ve never seen an airport where you could get a bottle of water for under a dollar! We then departed for Seoul by bus, which was about an hour long ride. We got to catch the sunrise as we saw our first glimpses of Korea. At the hotel, I finally got to shower and eat breakfast, which was surprisingly good. Then we thankfully got a little time to rest.
Activities started around noon. Our first stop was Gyeongbokgung, the royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. We got there by subway. I’ve taken the subway before in other countries, but I’ve never seen one as crowded as this was! It was amazing to see firsthand the incredibly unique architecture of Gyeongbokgung Palace, as well as some beautiful nature. One thing that was striking was the sudden transition from modern city to medieval palace. We also got to witness the changing of the guards ceremony. We then walked through Cheonggyecheon, a former road converted to a beautiful public stream. Eventually, we reached Insadong, a shopping neighborhood where we broke in to groups to eat lunch. Will, Mike, Noah, and I found a random restaurant on the third floor of a building where we got dumplings, sweet and sour pork, and glass noodles. It was cheap and very delicious.
We then walked to the Bukchon Hanok Village, a neighborhood that has many traditional Korean houses. It attracts a lot of tourists, but is also an actual residential area, so it’s important to keep quiet, and there’s people there to make sure you do so. Our final stop for the day was Gwangjang Market. We tried live octopus, which I hated, but at least I can say I tried it. There were endless different vendors to try from, but I had a mung bean pancake for dinner and a hotteok for dessert, which was delicious. We got back to the hotel fairly early, around eight. I walked 27,000 steps and was exhausted! It was a fun but busy first day in Korea, and I went straight to bed.
