The theme of this summer vacation is Asia. The three cities that I went to are Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Due to a lack of time, I only spent four days in Seoul, but the time spent there was unforgettable.

Food

Didn’t really get to eat different Korean food here. But I got to eat Crab Bibimbap. The big bowl on the right is Crab Bibimbap and like most Korean restaurants, they serve side dishes (반찬) too.

Another thing I got to try was Seolleim (설레임). I saw a bunch of students drinking from this and it looked delicious on a hot weather. So I went and got a milkshake flavor. It’s basically ice cream inside this plastic thing.

Places

Incheon International Airport

The first place I been to had to be the Incheon International Airpot. In my opinion, this airport is very big and beautiful. It has decoration everywhere. At night, it looked even more beautiful. The only bad thing is that many stores in this airport and airport railway close during midnight, which gave us some trouble getting to our hotel.

Seoul City Hall

Next to the Seoul metro station, there is a city hall. I didn’t really go into the building. But the look from outside is enough to show how cool this place is. During one of the nights here, I also saw a bunch of people protesting for something I don’t even understand. And there are tons of police standing around the city hall.

Deoksugung Palace

Across from the City Hall, there is a palace called Deoksugung Palace. The front gate is called Dae Han Mun as it is written in the picture. This palace was inhabited by various Korean royalties until the colonial period around the turn of the 20th century. It is one of the “Five Grand Palaces” built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty. Inside the palace, there are several buildings that were built with natural cryptomeria wood, painted wood, and stucco. Some buildings were built according to Western style too. In addition, there is also the National Museum of Art. This is also where I got the ice cream that I listed above.

King Sejong

Not too far from Deoksugun Palace lies the great statue of King Sejong. King Sejong was a scholar. He promoted cultural, economic and scientific research. He founded han’gul, the Korean script which later evolved into the Korean language today.