South Korea

My friend Andreas and I took a detour from Japan to visit South Korea. We checked in at the New Seoul Hotel, and I appreciated the name for its bad dad joke. Since the artist Psy was the catalyst that exploded K-pop’s popularity into the Western mainstream with the global mega-hit Gangnam Style in 2012, I made Andreas follow me all the way to Gangnam on the subway to see the Gangnam Style statue. While K-pop had already been building a massive following across Asia for over a decade by then, it was this song’s popularity that served as an unprecedented global breakthrough. The release shattered cultural and language barriers, becoming the first-ever video to reach 1 billion views on YouTube and fundamentally changing how Western media and audiences viewed the Korean music industry.

It was pretty hard to find the statue, so we got lost and accidentally stumbled across the Starfield Library in the COEX Mall first. The two-story library has 13-meter-tall bookshelves and more than 50,000 books, so it looks pretty funny when people use escalators to go find the books. When we got to the giant bronze sculpture of two overlapping hands forming the iconic “horse-riding” dance gesture made famous by Psy, standing 5 meters high and 8 meters wide, people were dancing to the song since you could press a button nearby to have the music video playing out loud. I did my research by watching it before I tried my worst at dancing, and it was fun to see the joy the sculpture brought out in the people visiting it.

After enjoying a great meal at a Middle Eastern restaurant called Hummus Kitchen, we went back on the subway to then go for a stroll along Cheonggyecheon, which is an 11-kilometer urban waterway in the heart of downtown Seoul. Once a neglected waterway and later buried under an elevated highway after the Korean War, it was dramatically restored in 2005 into a beloved eco-friendly public park and pedestrian walkway.

I then suggested we should go to Myeongdong Shopping Street, which is a vibrant, neon-lit pedestrian district. Renowned as the global epicenter of K-beauty and K-fashion, it is also packed with bustling night markets featuring street food. They even sell Dalgona cookies, which I recognized from the TV series Squid Game.

The next day, we went on a tour to see the neighbouring country North Korea in the distance. They had to change the tour because of military activities in the DMZ, which is the demilitarized zone between the countries. So we couldn't enter the Third Tunnel, which is a military passage dug by North Korea beneath the DMZ. Discovered in 1978 and located just 52 kilometers from Seoul, it was intended to serve as a surprise invasion route for a massive North Korean infantry attack. We couldn't go to the Dora Observatory either, which is the northernmost observation point on the South Korean side of the DMZ in Paju. It provides visitors with sweeping panoramic views directly into North Korean territory, including the Propaganda Village and the city of Kaesong.

Instead, we headed for the Odusan Unification Observatory, which is situated just two kilometers across the river from North Korea. It offers visitors a rare vantage point to gaze into North Korean territory. We looked in the binoculars and realized we treated every move from the people on the other side like something amazing. “Look, look, he’s moving!” we screamed with excitement just because a man walked on the other side of the river. We then realized how comical this behavior from us was. But North Korea is so enclosed and special that even a glimpse into life over there seemed exciting.

We then traveled to Imjingak Pyeonghwa-Nuri Park, which is a sprawling, historically significant memorial and recreation peace park just 7 kilometers from the DMZ. We saw and walked on the Freedom Bridge, which was a former railroad bridge used to repatriate over 12,000 prisoners of war at the end of the Korean War. They also had an altar where South Koreans separated from their families in the North can pay respects to their loved ones. We saw a steam locomotive, which now is a bullet-ridden, bombed-out train from the old Gyeongui Line, serving as a reminder of the division between the two Koreas, and the Peace Bell, which is a massive 21-ton bell forged in the year 2000 to pray for global peace and national unification.

Our tour guide Alex King did a great job explaining the history of the divide between the two different parts of Korea and the impact it made on the families that got caught in between two different political agendas. He made me feel every emotion from crying to laughing when he shared personal stories and the background to the divide at the same time as he was easygoing, I couldn't have asked for a better tour guide. He made the day interesting from start to finish, and I just wished we had more time at the park because I had to skip lunch to be able to see the amazing sculptures of the peace park on my own. I met a South Korean tourist from Seoul there though and he was a solo traveler too, so we talked and agreed to be each other’s photographer for the small time being.

The only bad part of the tour was when we went to the Joint Security Area Museum instead of the real Joint Security Area. This is because tours were suspended following a July 2023 incident where a U.S. soldier named Travis King intentionally dashed across the border into North Korea, causing an immediate security and diplomatic crisis. But maybe that was a good thing so I wouldn't do the same just to be able to say I have been to North Korea too.

They saved the best for last on the tour when we went to the Gamaksan Suspension Bridge after a short hike up a mountain. It's a 150-meter-long pedestrian bridge also known as the Gloucester Heroes Bridge, since it is dedicated to the British Army's 1st Battalion Gloucester Regiment who fought in the Korean War. It spans the Seolmari Valley, and it offers panoramic views of the valley that are amazing. The only bad thing is that my fear of heights didn't let me enjoy the walk over the bridge, but I still made it both to the other side and back. Unfortunately for me, it is one of the longest towerless suspension bridges in the country, so it took some time to walk in total fear.

Back in Seoul again, we went to Hongdae, which is one of the most vibrant, youthful, and trendy neighborhoods. The name is an abbreviation of Hongik Daehakgyo, referring to the nearby Hongik University, which is a school famous for its prestigious fine arts program. We went to a children’s playground for some reason to drink Blackpink beer together with the friendly local alcoholics before we hit the streets to find some pubs.

A greeter suggested we go into the pub she worked at, but Andreas seemed to be moving along already until I made him stop and I suggested we should give it a go even though the pub was nearly empty at that early time. I will never regret that because it turned out to be a goldmine of eccentric characters in the end. We met a lot of new people to hang with, and one of them looked like a thin version of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. I couldn't have asked for more after this day. I also talked with the greeter inside the pub later on too, she was really nice and I believe she will become a superstar DJ one day; remember where you heard the name DJ Nara first.

When we left the pub pretty early, around 1 A.M., to go back to Japan with a flight the next day, we met a really drunk older man on the subway. He seemed to have hit the high score and had a fling with him, but he seemed more interested in talking shit with us while he barely could stand, so she left in the end, and he couldn't even remember her when we pointed out the fact that he had lost the hookup for the night. It felt good that at least someone else was more drunk than us. I also played along with him when he felt it was impossible to understand what Andreas was saying, so I suggested Andreas must be too drunk, and he agreed without realizing he himself was the really drunk one.

* Best things about South Korea – The panoramic views of the valley that surrounds Gamaksan Suspension Bridge, the creativeness of Imjingak Pyeonghwa-Nuri Park, partying in Hongdae and dancing at the Gangnam Style statue

* Most mediocre thing about South Korea – the Joint Security Area Museum, give me the real thing instead

* Worst things about South Korea – it was my own fault but that I didn't have time to experience more of it

Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):

1. USA

2. The Bahamas

3. Croatia

4. Montenegro

5. Andorra

6. Cyprus

7. Grenada

8. Turkey

9. Greece

10. Italy

11. Spain

12. Monaco

13. Malta

14. Jamaica

15. Netherlands

16. Belize

17. Panama

18. Saint Lucia

19. Iceland

20. Denmark

21. Sweden

22. South Korea

23. Japan

24. Lithuania

25. Macedonia

26. Armenia

27. Mexico

28. Egypt

29. Portugal

30. Dominica

31. Hungary

32. Slovakia

33. Belarus

34. Slovenia

35. Austria

36. Russia

37. Barbados 

38. New Zealand

39. Ireland

40. Germany

41. United Kingdom

42. Belgium

43. Poland

44. Saint Kitts & Nevis

45. Vatican City

46. Estonia

47. Czech Republic

48. Switzerland

49. San Marino

50. Honduras

51. Colombia

52. Costa Rica

53. Kosovo

54. Romania

55. Finland

56. Latvia

57. Azerbaijan

58. Georgia

59. Saint Vincent And The Grenadines 

60. Antigua & Barbuda

61. Moldova

62. Norway

63. Ukraine

64. France

65. Bulgaria

66. Luxembourg

67. Liechtenstein

68. Trinidad And Tobago

69. China

70. Serbia 

71. Bosnia And Herzegovina

72. Albania

73. Morocco