Food for the Soul in Seoul

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Secret Garden

As a first timer to Seoul, I could not believe how lucky i was to be able to see Seoul in 5 days.
In addition, my Korean friend, Miri Kim has been back from her postings abroad and it would be a double bonus to catch up with her.

I hatched a plan with Miri, I sent her < CNN's list of 55 things to do in Seoul > and she asked me to highlight the things I wanted to do.

Many of my friends have gone ahead of me to enjoy Seoul.  I, for one, adore Korean food and seduced by Korean skin care and beauty products judging by the ageless beauty of Korean women.

I packed my best walking shoes, minimal clothes, save for a pullover for chillier nights as I was hoping to buy clothes there too.

Some like it with many side dishes

What a modern, clean and efficient airport, ready to rival Singapore's Changi Airport.
Moving along quickly, we got the luggages and headed for the waiting cars. The drive to the hotel in Itaewon, Grand Hyatt Hotel took about 60 minutes.  This is one of the first hotels to operate in Seoul and I can see a popular one among the foreign business community.

The rooms were "korean style" with plenty of wood panelling and brush paintings of goldfishes. The bathroom could do with updating as the taps harked back to the 70's and who still uses shower curtains these days?

Just can't skip kimchi

I had my first surprise at how expensive Seoul was at breakfast:  Grand Hyatt's Breakfast buffet costs 45 000 KRW per head ( approx. 45 euros ) and since we were not planning to pig out at breakfast, we decided to go a la carte.
Nonetheless,  we were still set back by 45 euros for two persons and i had measly pancakes and a selection of 4 danish with two rounds of coffee. Coffee was 11 euros..

Price of coffee downtown - 5.50 euros, croissants range from 2.60 - 3.80 euros, In the restaurant prices for an average Korean dinner can cost anywhere from 20 euros to 55 euros per person.

My schedule which Miri had handed me included visits to two Palaces where I chuckled at the tourists in their rental Hanboks. We browsed through Insa-Dong, a shopping street for Korean arts and crafts, and ended up in two makeup stores, Innisfree and Clio. I loaded up on cosmetics and skin care products, which were on my shopping list. Hurray!

Sulhawasoo facials

At my request, Miri booked a facial for me at Korean's best known skin care brand, Sulwhasoo, in uptown Gangnam. A 90 minute pampering took place where all kinds of lotions and serum were applied on my face. In terms of beauty treatments and products, Korea is the go-to- destination.

In Seoul, I rediscovered my preference for that chlorophyll mass call Macha. : I had Macha Latte and Macha Roll, Macha Tiramisu and bought more Macha powder home. At Miri's invitation,
I tried special Korean Ginseng Chicken at a well known traditional kitchen.

Super Ginseng chicken Broth

Dinner Companion

This is a city that truly does not sleep. For the jet lagged, insomniacs, Dongdaemun is the district to be. This wholesale area has several multi storey buildings, that sell clothes, shoes and operate from 10am to 6am the next day. In fact, we were there around 9.30 pm and already buzzing with crowds, mostly Mainland Chinese tourists and Koreans.

Johanna, my new Korean friend had wanted so much to show me the museums as Seoul had a good collection of history museums and modern art museums. Sadly, my timetable could not fit in a museum visit so she ended up as my dinner companion. Next time Johanna!
Kamsahamnida  감사합니다)

Pink slots are reserved for ladies

Our last day, we scheduled a tour to the DMZ, but we were not lucky with the weather. It rained the whole day so visibility was almost nil to see North Korea. Nonetheless, the trip had to go on because trips here are tightly regulated and controlled. I went down on foot in a tunnel for a brief 15 minutes as it was a 20m descent and the slope was very sharp. Getting back up was one difficult climb! Thank goodness we were booked for a train ride down tunnel 3! It was a claustrophobic experience to walk inside this tunnel the end, where through a tiny window, you see North Korea just some 10 meters away.

Hopefully, as i write this, the meeting with Trump and Kim will take place in Singapore.