Seoul City feeds my soul. I feel like I am living my life instead of just existing. This lively city has that effect on me. It’s not the biggest city in the world, but it’s so much more fun there than here in Las Vegas. First off, there are people walking everywhere, every hour of everyday sort of like New York. The streets are filled with people and delicious, cheap street food. The people who sell the food are mostly grannies but still, the food is mouth watering. Especially if you have an appetite for spicy food. The only reason why I call it street food is because when you’re walking down a busy street you’ll see people standing next to a hot food stand making food.
One spicy street dish you will find is Dokbokki(Duck-bo-ki). Dokbokki is rice cake and fish cake mixed with green onions and hot pepper paste to add that spicy flavor. The rice cake is very chewy, but that is the best part of eating it. There is also Sundae (Soon-deh), Kimbab (Kim-bap), and Odeng soup (fish cake soup). Kimbab is rice rolls covered in seaweed, sort of like sushi, but instead of fish, they put chopped carrots, sometimes fried egg, spinach, yellow turnip, and crab cake. Sometimes the crab cake is substituted with Kogi. Kogi is slightly sweet, marinated beef.
Transportation is different in Korea from the U.S. They do have cars to get from place to place but most people just use a taxi. There are tons of taxis driving around. Other transportation ideas are taking a bus, a subway, a train, or just plain walking. Sometimes places aren’t that far away from where a person lives, so cars are unnecessary. Some people may think that walking from place to place is dangerous. It is, and you should always be careful no matter the location, but during the day the streets are mostly secure. It’s usually around night time when danger lurks around the corner. Never walk by yourself late at night. I forgot to mention, they drink a lot of soju (liquor). It’s only natural to drink especially if you’re out eating Korean BBQ. Kogi + soju = Good time. So stay clear of any drunken people walking around like zombies.
If you’re going to go shopping there, you should definitely try the underground mall in Uijung-bu City or the big mall in Seoul where it only opens at midnight. It’s a very unlikely time to see people swarming in and out of a mall, but I heard it’s a lot of fun. The underground mall on the other hand isn’t big vertically, it big horizontally. It spreads far out underground filled with lots of clothes, accessories, food, technology, etc. Also, you should try the sauna places there. The one I’ve been to was also underground; it was under a supermarket. The stairs wouldn’t be too far from the entrance of the supermarket, so I would go down a fair amount of steps, turn left, and there would be an entrance to a really big sauna house, or sauna shelter I should call it. I call it shelter because it has showers, jacuzzi, saunas, steam rooms, cold rooms, and lockers to put your belongings in. It also has a snack shack, food, and a place to sleep. Not to mention, it’s very clean and sanitary. That was by far my favorite place to go because it was so cozy and comfortable. Korea is a busy place, but it’s also a more free-spirited place. In my opinion, it’s the people, the lifestyle, and the culture that brings out Korea’s own personality. I highly recommend Korea to anyone who would want to experience something totally new and different. It’s definitely worth the expensive trip.