After Taipei, we thought we were feeling a little burnt out of large Asian cities. There are only so many times a night market is exciting, a temple is beautiful or subway line impressive, so when we landed in Seoul South Korea it was without much fanfare.
But like anything, when the expectations are low, the reward is often that much better, and that was very true with Seoul. This beautiful city won our hearts through its neighborhoods. Instead of the massive maze of Ho Chi Minh, Taipei or even the nicely dressed maze of Singapore, the little we saw of Seoul was full of charm, beautiful neighborhoods, trails, parks, fantastic food, all connected by bike paths and subways.
We stayed in a charming Airbnb, made personalized perfumes in a real-world chemistry class at the heart of an ancient part of the city and enjoyed lovely walks and runs in the park, watched a Korean traditional dance, visited museums, ate at michelin star dumpling restaurant, learned how to eat Korean Barbeque, and enjoyed perfect coffees.
We came to South Korea; however, not for Seoul, we came here for the Four Rivers bike path - a 400-mile long trail that connects Seoul to Busan. The day we were planning to start was raining hard, so we postponed the trip a day, again grateful for the flexibility for this year.
The beauty of the perfume class.
I have leaned to love the feeling you get in each city when you first arrive. The vast open modern feeling of Seoul greeted us as we excited the MRT.
With a little funk added in.
Having fun.
Our final product.
I loved the fact many Koreans dress in traditional cloths (often rented for the day) to go to the museum, or out to dinner.
This kiddo was not as excited.
Art everywhere. This was clearly related to some children’s game as kids kept jumping on.
I would have come to Seoul for this book store alone. I loved this eight story display.
and so did this kiddo.