The Soul of South Korea -  May 2024 -  Jenn Boyd - Hostess Roundup

South Korea is one of the most vibrant and cleanest Asian countries to visit. The country combines Buddhism traditions alongside ancient historical sites, 21 century architecture and the modern advances of technology.

Our first stop is the capital Seoul; a bustling modern city yet turn a corner and you can visit a 14th century palace, a temple with magnificent gardens, take time out to sip tea in a hanok teahouses, visit one of their UNESCO sights, immerse yourself in the many museums or you can shop till you drop at Namdeamun market. We stayed in the district of Insadong home to Songhyeon Green Park which is full of large modern sculptures in amongst the gardens, art galleries, handicraft shops, hanok-style tea houses, and antique shops.

South Korean cuisine is like a feast every time you eat and we certainly feasted our way through the country from a Michelin star restaurant, to traditional street food to royal court cuisine. Here’s just a few dishes we ate along the way. Each main meal is served with an array of side dishes that can include all sorts of mini plates of pickled vegetables, chili marinated tofu and fritters which Koreans call “Banchan”. Bibimbap, is an iconic dish of rice, meat, vegetables, bean shoots topped with an egg and of course no meal is complete without kimchi – (spiced, fermented vegetable, usually cabbage). The delicious Korean barbeques are typically a thin strip of meat brought to the table raw and cooked on a tabletop grill and served with Banchan and dipping sauces. We dined on Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), Naengmyeon (buckwheat noodles served ice cold) all washed down with their delicious rice wine Soju. We ate Bulgogi, made from thin slices of pork and beef marinated in a mixture of garlic, pepper, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil.  If you love eating then South Korea is a culinary destination that is not to be missed.

We left Seoul on a Korean KRX (fast train) travelling for two hours to the city of Jeonju. Time to slow the pace down for our overnight accommodation in a traditional homestay. This city of Korea has the largest surviving neighbourhood of traditional houses called Hanok. We strolled along the streets of the village, went to the local fruit and vegetable market along the riverbank and admired the gorgeous hanok buildings. Jeonju is also the culinary home to bibimbap and makgeolli a Korean rice wine with a slightly fizzy but creamy flavour and YES of course we tasted it

We ventured to Seoraksan National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Protection site and one of Koreas most beautiful mountains, we had perfect clear skies and were fortunate to see the rocky limestone peaks alongside beautiful streams, ancient colourful temples, giant Buddha statues and stupors in amongst the pine and oak forests. Some of the sisters took the cable car ride to the top of the mountain for dramatic views overlooking the national park and coastline.

We then took a flight to the island of Jeju, a volcanic island and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jeju Island is famous for Jeongbang Waterfall, the only waterfall in Asia to fall directly into ocean. We continued to a local market, where the theme was the colour orange with the main produce of the island being tangerines. We saw the iconic stone statues all over the island called Hareubang, meaning Old Grandfather and the sisters got lucky; as we were driving along the coastline we saw some women hauling in a fresh catch of seafood. These women are a community on Jeju Island that are called Haenyeo, most of them are aged from 65 – 80 years. They free dive up to 15m depending on their experience to gather shellfish, such as abalone, sea urchins and seaweed. We were privileged to meet them and have a quick chat before we visited the Haenyeo museum to learn more about their fascinating lifestyle.

We returned to Seoul and stayed in the Myeongdong area a shopaholics paradise with huge department stores, hundreds of shops including everything kitch as well as skincare and clothing, restaurants, and cafes. At night this place really comes alive with rows and rows of street-food carts selling a variety of delicious street food from savoury to sweet. The sisters spent their last couple of days trying the street food and filling their suitcases.

South Korea is a dynamic urban landscape with an interesting history, cool vibes, to breathtaking landscapes and traditional architecture, they live a unique lifestyle with intriguing attractions. And no one does QUIRKY quite like South Korea. The Korean wave refers to the rise of popularity around the globe of everything that is South Korean. Also known as K-Culture which covers, K-Dramas, films and TV series to K-Pop, their music has taken the world by storm with Gangnam Style and BTS, their fashion is K-Cute and K-Beauty offers some of the best skin care in the world.