Tr1boy

wotz bin goin orrrn?

dunroving

Hey, I was looking for you the other day and saw you hadn't posted for a while. You must be having too good a time.

I'm off to Korea (Seoul/Daegu City) - any tips on what to do/where to visit? I won't have much free time (conference presentation), but may tack a day or two on at the end. I have never been in the East so I am quite excited at seeing a completely different culture. The world track and field champ's are on in Daegu City while I am there, but I'm not sure if I can make it.

Tr1boy

We've been ok thanks. I've been road racing a fair bit and did the amateur version of The Tour of Flanders back in April (those cobbled climbs sure sort you out). I was down to do Ironman Regensberg in Aug but have had to pull the pin due to some family business to take care of in Korea and the US in July. Plus my calf is not great. I might look at racing 'Challenge Henley' in Sept (ironman distance race).

Mrs T still not really settled. I can see a return to oz in our future (I kinda sensed it a few mts back) but things are ok, been seeing the sights, traveling etc.

OK, Korea. Don't know much about Daegu except it's famous for apples and was vying to be the capital city of Korea at one point. I think it has some good unis there (which makes sense as to your trip I guess?). It's not far south of Seoul, we went through it on the bullet train once coming up from Busan (I think the train is called KPT or similar).

As for Seoul it depends where you are staying really. The most western friendly (as in US chain eateries) is probably Itaewon. I don't like it there as there quite a few off duty US soldiers looking to get beered up and also it just has a 'strange' feel to me. Maybe it's because I'm too connected to Korean culture, I'm sure loads of expats find it ok.

Samsun Don is quite western friendly as it has the intercontinental hotel, lots of blue chip companies and Lotte World and the Hyundai store (huge, i mean huge shopping towers).

For something more cultural check Gyeonbokgung the city. It's a palace where they do a small tour and you can see very colourful guards displays. Also the national museum is very good (heavy military focus).

If you have time I'd recommend seeing the DMZ, it's about 90mins from the ctr of Seoul, but it needs to be arranged in advance (couple of days) and it can be quite a bit of faffing with passports and stuff but was definitely worth it.

If it's your first trip East, you don't really need to seek out many things per se as you'll probably just revel in the 'weirdness' of it all.

For good souveniers check out Hankookdong market. The subway is very clean, quite cheap and efficient, but busy. If the budget permits, check out the French Restaurant at the top of the Hotel Shilla (nice but quite expensive). Korean food is cheap. Most westerners like 'bul gogi' or 'dak gogi' (bbq beef and chicken). Bib bimbap is a favourite as well. Lots of food is soup based, bbq based or noodle.

There is a uni famous for art and music (Hongik Uni) and not far from there is a place called Saekyodon where students play music, sing, drink and stuff at night. It's about as Bohemian as Seoul gets.

'Comsam neda' means 'thankyou' and 'anyahosayo' means 'hello'. People will bow a lot. if you bow back don't make eye contact.

BTW you can check you bags and do immigration for departure at the Intecontinental hotel, so you don't have to drag you bags around on the last day.

Have fun

ETA: Seoul is nightowl city, things are open for a long time on Thurs/Fri/Sat and in the mornings some places come look quite drab. Nights and lights is where it's at.