Anyone been to South Korea?

[bluethrunthru]

Thinking of going next year. I’m wondering what it’s like in the winter? Where else is there to visit other than Seoul? Do most people speak English?

TIA.

Never been. I follow the Korean Englishman on YT. The food looks great - bbq especially - so much of it is new built but plenty of tradition too. Winter is cold - they get snow etc - and English is quite widespread among the young thanks to the rise of Korean music across the world but the older are more traditional Korean speakers from what I have seen. Pack winter gear and discover your inner BTS !

 

[mexico1970]

Never been. I follow the Korean Englishman on YT. The food looks great - bbq especially - so much of it is new built but plenty of tradition too. Winter is cold - they get snow etc - and English is quite widespread among the young thanks to the rise of Korean music across the world but the older are more traditional Korean speakers from what I have seen. Pack winter gear and discover your inner BTS !

Their JOLLY channel is very good.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Never been. I follow the Korean Englishman on YT. The food looks great - bbq especially - so much of it is new built but plenty of tradition too. Winter is cold - they get snow etc - and English is quite widespread among the young thanks to the rise of Korean music across the world but the older are more traditional Korean speakers from what I have seen. Pack winter gear and discover your inner BTS !

Think it might be a Blade Runner thing, but I really like the notion of a big Asian city in (bona fide) Winter.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Hi all, has anyone got any tips for Seoul or South Korea in general?

Me and a mate are thinking of going somewhere a bit further afield next year. We've discussed Japan and South Korea, and are both leaning towards the latter.

Thank you.

I didn't go in winter, but other than Seoul, I went to Sokcho, which has a really nice national park nearby with mountains and beaches.

I also went to Jeonju, which is a historical Korean town. I imagine that looks great in winter. There's a big thing about staying in a traditional house with underfloor heating too. I'm not sure how comfortable it is though, because they put you on a floor but unlike Japan, they don't have the tatami mats.

Here it is in winter...

 

[MCFC Wirral]

Also, my colleagues during said trip were having dinner in a restaurant that had perfectly clean glass windows and doors. A korean parked his car outside and proceeded to walk into the restaurant but instead he walked face first onto the clean door because it was so clean. It left a stain on the glass - a print of his face. My colleagues said the guy then walked away to his car and after a few minutes came back with a bucket of water and a piece of cloth, then started cleaning the stain and the glass immediately around it. He then went back to his car and then came back into the restaurant and ordered his food.

During the same trip, a colleague left her phone in the public toilet, and realised that she had lost it when she came back to her hotel. She called her number and a Korean answered. The korean then offered to meet her and give her back her phone. And the korean came to the hotel lobby to do just that.

During my own trip I met a lot of friendly and helpful koreans, to be honest I have never been to a country more welcoming than Korea and I’ve travelled to many places. The streets are just so clean.

I handed in a wallet on the Merseyrail the other week but found the guy on Facebook to message him to say where I’d handed it in. I also once found a mobile on the tube at Mile End on my way to Craven Cottage to see City. It was unlocked so I texted “Dad” to let him know. The girl’s mate rang minutes later and I met them at Earl’s Court to hand it back.

Good people are everywhere.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

I was in Busan last year in June , it was about 27C, nice weather, also went to Incheon, both great places, very different, people there are lovely, most seem to speak English.
Busan is a great place, had lots of Street markets and Street food which was delicious, very clean country. Incheon was very futuristic with lots of new skyscrapers.
We went there after Beijing, it was like chalk & cheese, Beijing was grey with pollution, the people are unfriendly dont seem to like tourists, S Korea was the opposite, warm friendly & colourful.

Pretty much what I've heard. I lived and worked in China, and went back more recently to visit a friend, and I found them pretty suspicious of foreigners, frankly, although there are always exceptions. Shanghai in 2015, I have to say, was a huge improvement on my memories of Beijing. A dour, polluted city, with everybody walking round like zombies. That goes back to 1983, mind.
Good friend of mine who visited almost every country in south Asia while he lived out there absolutely loved South Korea and the Koreans. One of his favourite countries. Makes you wonder about the north, and the effect that a regime can have on people.

 

[CarlosTevez'sEnglishTutor]

I didn't go in winter, but other than Seoul, I went to Sokcho, which has a really nice national park nearby with mountains and beaches.

I also went to Jeonju, which is a historical Korean town. I imagine that looks great in winter. There's a big thing about staying in a traditional house with underfloor heating too. I'm not sure how comfortable it is though, because they put you on a floor but unlike Japan, they don't have the tatami mats.

Here it is in winter...

Looks lovely mate. Torn between going in Jan or Feb when it's really cold or in September next year. I suppose we'd get more done in the September.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Never been. I follow the Korean Englishman on YT. The food looks great - bbq especially - so much of it is new built but plenty of tradition too. Winter is cold - they get snow etc - and English is quite widespread among the young thanks to the rise of Korean music across the world but the older are more traditional Korean speakers from what I have seen. Pack winter gear and discover your inner BTS !

This is a bit roundabout, but had an absolutely delicious bbq at a Korean restaurant in San Francisco. As I remember it, you sit at a sort of bar, and the meat is cooked in front of you on hot plates. They look after it all, though. You've got to be a real meat eater, but it was just about the best bbq I've ever had, other than an asado in someone's back garden in Buenos Aires. That was just fantastic. Korean cuisine does have a good reputation, I believe. There are vegetables, too.
Watched “Gangnam Style“ on Youtube for the umpteenth time. It is funny. It's so over the top.

 

[bluethrunthru]

This is a bit roundabout, but had an absolutely delicious bbq at a Korean restaurant in San Francisco. As I remember it, you sit at a sort of bar, and the meat is cooked in front of you on hot plates. They look after it all, though. You've got to be a real meat eater, but it was just about the best bbq I've ever had, other than an asado in someone's back garden in Buenos Aires. That was just fantastic. Korean cuisine does have a good reputation, I believe. There are vegetables, too.
Watched “Gangnam Style“ on Youtube for the umpteenth time. It is funny. It's so over the top.

Korean Englishman has loads of vlogs like this - the food looks spot on

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

By the way. Using chopsticks. Had never used them before when I moved to China. I'd say it took me, my (then) wife, and son (then aged two and a half) about three days at the outside to learn how to use them. And once you know, you know. It really isn't rocket science.
They do find it odd, though, seeing you use them left-handedly. Throughout Asia.