Heart and Seoul Weekend Getaway

I'm so thankful for 10/10 and all the glorious 10/10 holiday weekend travel opportunities. This year was no exception. I found cheap flights to Seoul, and my kid loved Busan two years ago, so I was keen to take her to the big city for some culture.  I found return flights for two at 12,000 NT with Jin Air.

What a happy surprise, one of my favourite beers from home I can't get in Taiwan, Oh My Guesthouse

There are several ways to get from Incheon Airport to the city. We took the fast airport train to Seoul Station and changed twice (Jogngno Station, then Gyeonbokgung Station) to our guesthouse. On our return trip we just took the Airport Limousine (10,000 KRW/ NT 274 each), as our flight was early and there would be no traffic on the road, the bus only took an hour and seemed easier than switching trains.

Getting around Seoul, or our northern bit was easy with the rechargeable T-Money Card (KRW 3,000). We used it for buses and subways, recharged it several times and passed it on to our Guesthouse owners to gift to other travellers.

 We stayed north of the river (Jogno) near to the president's house and all the UNESCO palaces and famous markets. There was enough to see and do (and eat) in this area for 4 days and 4 nights. Our guesthouse was conveniently situated 2 bus stops (10-minute walk) from Gyeonbokgung Station, one block from the Northern palace entrance and president's house.

Our Oh My Guesthouse was in a residential neighbourhood. The owners lived upstairs and were extremely friendly and helpful. When we arrived we happily ate their leftovers, sweet potato noodles with veg, a little meat and seaweed, very fragrant with sesame oil and roasted seeds and nourishing. There were 3 rooms around the shared kitchen and all us guests (a Russian couple, and a Japanese woman) all had our own bathroom. Breakfast was complimentary and included hard boiled eggs, toast, coffee, fruit, cereal. Enough to fuel us until brunch at the traditional market a couple of blocks away. Our room was a bunk bed, desk, very simple and new for (NT 3,628/ KRW132,000) 4 nights. Obviously, she got the top bunk.

My kid was begging to rent a traditional Korean Hanbok dress and there are several places to rent them around Gyeongokgung Palace. She rented the cheapest one for 10,000 for 4 hours and we busted ass to get it back on time, and were late 10 minutes and charged 2000 KRW for it (not much, like 100 NT). So I'd recommend renting the Hanbock for the day. We were literally running those last ten minutes to make it on time, and I twisted my ankle something fierce (stupidly wearing boots with a small heel) and now several weeks later it's still not 100% recovered.

View of Deoksugung Palace from the 13th floor cafe in City Hall (Jeongdong Observatory), free, Seoul Subway Line 1, 2 Exit 11

Our first day it was raining, but not intense like Yilan, so for us it was fine, and by the afternoon and the rest of our trip it was sunny and dry. I had anticipated it would be cold, having gone on previous 10/10 holidays to Japan, freezing our tails off, but no, Seoul was warm enough during the day and constantly walking, sightseeing, we were overdressed.

Our first couple of days we explored the most famous five Grand Joseon Palaces and Confucius Shrine, which are conveniently clustered together and World Heritage Sites. I bought a combination ticket, which was good for a month, and on the first day, my kid had free entry with her Hanbok dress.

Selfie at the Secret Garden

 I especially looked forward to the Secret Garden tour, as that was memorable for me when I visited it 14 years ago during the winter. I was hoping to see some trees changing color and we weren't disappointed.  The only way to see the Secret Garden is to take a tour and when we were there, the Korean tour was starting so we joined them.

Sandwiched between Gyeonbokgung and Changdeokgung is Bukchon, a quaint tourist trap of beautiful traditional "hanok" Korean houses and cafes, galleries and international restaurants. We saw a couple of the old style houses and roofs and turned back. My kid and I prefer to eat street food, cheap shops frequented by Uni students, or the traditional market between our Oh My Guesthouses and Gyeonbokgung station. It's much cheaper and authentic. A street away from Gyeonbokgung Station there is a "food street" where we splurged on a traditional Korean BBQ dinner. I came to the conclusion that many Korean foods are food you eat when drinking beer or foods you eat nursing a hangover from drinking too much. My kid and I basically were walking and eating the whole time, sampling this and that.

On our last full day, we spent it at the touristy and expensive Insadong neighbourhood, just south of Bukchon. Here we went to three different traditional tea houses (and some of the cities oldest), walked into a few art galleries, antique stores and of course headed straight for the Trick Eye Museum (what we also did in Busan two years ago.)

The tea houses we visited were Dawon in the garden of the Kyungin Museum of Fine Art, Shin Old Tea House (신옛찻집), sitting on the floor in a little private, sunny and  airy veranda sipping chrysanthemum tea, and the Moonbird Only Thinks of the Moon 달새는 달만 생각한다), a dusty, bric-a-brac faded photograph feeling nook off an alley, blast from the past which my kid loved.

During our time we tried to visit  Namdaemon Market but really just stayed in the periphery. Looking into the cramped, crowded bodies on bodies crowd is my kid's least favourite thing, so we also skipped on the newer Dongdaemun Market. There are so many night markets around this area, including the upscale Myeongdong Market, Gwangjang and the front gate of Ewha Women's University -if one is so inclined.


My kid and I were more into the food, tea and history than shopping.

There were tons of examples of a lively democratic public body, free speech, protests, political posters, people camping out. I couldn't read Korean, but the photos of Nazi Trump buddying up with Kim Jong-Un were obvious enough.

All and all an epic short and sweet trip. If we ever return,  or if  I had an extra day, I'd like to take her to the DMZ which is a day trip from Seoul (I was there in 2004 on a tour with the US Army).

Accommodation	NT 3,628/ 132,000
Airport Limo/ AREX all stops	Limo 1100NT/660NT ₩40,000/₩24,000
T-Money Card (transport)	₩3,000 x2=₩6,000/ NT 165
2 days Lunch + Dinner (₩ 7,000 a meal) 1 day ₩ 30,000/ 2 days + 1 dinner = ₩ 95,000	₩ 100,000= 2, 750 NT Be safe: 5,000/181,728
shopping/extra/	5,000NT/ 181, 728
Combined Palace Tour	₩ 10,000 each/ NT 550 (total)
Changdeokgung Secret Garden	8,000 ₩
Follow Cheonggyecheon Stream	free
Jeongdong Observatory (정동전망대 view of Deoksugung Palace. cafe located on the same floor if you need a refreshment.	free
Hike Bukhansan	free
Sunset over Bukchon Hanok Village	free
Total

September Cornucopia: Persimmon

Maybe it was global warming or the lack of summer typhoons that were spinning away from Taiwan every time, but persimmon season came a month early in my backwater. My landlady's dad has a few trees in front of my house (which he gave me a bucket full), and my neighbors have tons. Not wanting to waste and in the spirit of exploration we tried out all kinds of persimmon recipes.

Where I come from in the States, persimmon isn't available (when I was growing up). I didn't even know what they were until moving to Taiwan, but apparently, the Pacific NW and California have them. They are also grown in Korea and Japan.

Crepe cake with persimmon-ginger, flax seed jam

There are two main varieties, one that can be eaten crunchy like an apple (Fuyu) and the other that is only sweet when its soft and bursting like a fig (Hachiya). My neighborhood has the latter. I got literally over 40 on the verge of bursting ones from my neighbor, so my kid and I made a batch of jam and added a bit of ginger from another neighbor and some chia seeds for nutrition (and it helps to gel.)  We burnt the bottom of our pan (it was too thin) and had to try and remove the burnt bits before we gave some to our neighbors and coworkers. Once opened, it had to be eaten within a few days because the chia seeds made it spoil easily. We had so much, my kid baked a bunch of crepes and used the jam to make a crepe cake!

 Most of our leftovers I pureed and put into the freezer or I used the dehydrator and dried them. With the dehydrated pieces, I made a Korean fruit tea (Sujeonggwa) that is stewed with ginger and cinnamon sticks. It's traditionally served cold, but its such an autumn weather drink for a cool rainy day like today! 

Persimmon Cheesecake

We just got another bag from our neighbor so my daughter baked some it into a cheesecake. There is still plenty of fruit left over for another batch of cookies or fruit bread spiked with rum. This cornucopia of baking with persimmon isn't doing any favors for my waistline, but life is still sweet.