Allie's Got Seoul: Sharing Seoul

This weekend I had a sudden and surprise visitor, Uncle Pete! While on business in China I nagged him about taking a side trip to Seoul…but even though we were on the same side of the world I honestly didn’t expect it to happen. He was here before I could say annyeonghaseyo.

The trip would be brief, not even 48 hours, but I knew just what to do. I try to personalize my tours and include at least one new experience for myself as well. Friday evening we hopped on the subway to Yeouido Park to see the night skyline. The rest of the evening was spent in Itaewon/Noksapyeong, an area that in retrospect had a bit too much Western influence for your first night in Korea. But at least there was good beer.

Ideally your visitor mentions he has a torn ACL before you trek him around the city and up and down subway stations. After what I imagine was an exhausting evening, we stuck to cabs for the rest of the weekend, which are much cheaper compared with America. I spent more time transporting above ground than I usually do…a fun change looking at something other than my iPhone or dozing Koreans on the subway. I learned that cabs can sometimes be faster. Sometimes NOT…with a city comes traffic. And despite GPS, language barriers can leave cab drivers unsure of your exact destination. But what I appreciated the most about cabbing around Seoul was that Pete and the taxi drivers had matching shirts!

Part of living in Asia includes watching major American sporting events in the morning…such as the Super Bowl over brunch. Both Saturday and Sunday mornings began with lattes and March Madness. That’s the way, uh huh uh huh, I like it, uh huh uh huh.

First stop: the 63 Building. The third tallest building in Korea of, surprise, 63 stories. My tour always includes an aerial view of the city and I had yet to experience it from the 63. Apart from the observatory, you could spend a whole day at the aquarium, wax museum, restaurants and so on. But we were on a schedule.

I finally perfected a walking tour loop downtown: Gyeongbukgong Palace -> American Embassy -> along the Cheonggyecheon urban stream -> Jogyesa Buddhist Temple -> Insadong for lunch and maekju. Along the way we even experienced a provocative live art show that felt like it should have been straight out of Hongdae. If you don't see a few oddities, you're not fully experiencing Seoul. For lunch, haemul pajeon (seafood green onion pancake) I am happy to say hit the spot. The weekend also included kimchi, dalkgalbi, and mandu. Unless you have the seven stomachs I have, you can’t fit it all in a weekend, but I’m pleased with our sampling. However, I realize now that the weekend uncharacteristically did not include any rice.

I pat myself on the back because the tourist needed a nap. Meanwhile I explored the Yeoungdeungpo Times Square mall adjacent to the hotel. Yet another all-inclusive complex in Seoul containing hundreds of stores and every chain imaginable…even the second-largest movie screen in the world. I don’t even want to begin to comment on all the shopping malls and opportunities in Seoul.

If you come visit me (and this is invitation!) I’ll rearrange my schedule to show you a great time. But there was one event that I could not and would not reschedule. A short film festival in Gangnam had been on my calendar for a while. Not only because it sounded awesome but because “Fishing Without Nets” would be showing, a film created by a high school classmate that won at Sundance last year. The festival was quirky (Lookatme! Lookatme!) but Pete got to meet a few friends! There was one last brewery to hit in Hongdae before calling it a night.

It just so worked out that I had Easter brunch with family. And of all people, my arch egg-cracking rival. On the way over to the hotel Sunday morning I stopped at none other than 7-11 to pick up a couple hardboiled eggs. Let it be known that the Easter 2013 title is mine.

Always bittersweet to say goodbye to someone who is America-bound. I wouldn’t mind making a visit every now and then. Next visitors…Mom and Dad!