Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rocklee]

Well my aunties will be visiting me for a few days and I would like to show them the "best" of seoul without doing a lot of walking around (they are near-elderlys).

1. Whats a good starting spot to go to that has traditional korean restaurants and shopping? I was thinking Coex.

2. Anyone heard of that lobster restaurant? Only saw the commercials but it sounds interesting.

3. Markets, well I might take them to Nandaemun market to buy some traditional korean stuff.

4. Is the Seoul tower any good?

5. Run out of ideas.

[ttompatz]

[Swiss James]

1. I would've thought Insadong would be better for that?

2. I ain't heard of it

3. You've got to take them to Namdaemun, it's acemans!

4. Yes. Yes it is.

5. Take them to one of the tea houses in Insadong- the best one is called "The old tea house" and it's down one of the side streets quite near Starbucks- there's a signpost for it from the main drag.

Go to Noryangjin fish market- you pick a fish- they kill it, then some lady cooks it for you. What could be more fun?

Go to your local temple- should be a nice walk in this weather.

Walk up and down Jong-no.

[Captain Corea]

Keep posting guys... my mom is coming next week and I'm needing to fill in a few days.

[eamo]

Changdeokgung Palace will start looking pretty awesome soon as the leaves change colour.

Namdaemun at night is great but I hear they don't open very late anymore.

The War Museum is a bit hit and miss but I reckon tourists will find it interesting and weird.

[kat2]

Definitly take them to insadong. The palace near there (something with a J...) is nice too. Hit up a good temple. Seoul tower if its clear. I think the War Memorial is only good if you are in to history and museums, but if you are, its nice.

[Smee]

If you go to COEX, Bongeunsa Temple is right next door, and it's worth seeing. If it's on a weekend there might be something going on at the Trade Center, too.

[Yesanman]

I agree with the idea of going to Noryangjin fish market.
It always freaks people out. It's so different.
They know, right there, that they're in a different country.
Then you sit down and the found is great and everyone relaxes again.

[korea252]

Going to a palace is a must, be aware though that they close on certain days of the week. Also Changdeokgung palace arranges tours in English only at certain times and unless it's a Thursday you can't go in without a tour guide.
You should visit www.tour2korea.com and/or phone tourist information. "Tourist information" is such a general term - they've got info on almost everything, they should be able to give you details on a good lobster restaurant aswell.

[ttompatz]

[ajgeddes]

I would take them on a cruise on the Han river. While not the most exciting thing in the world, it is great for older people. If you can, try to go right at dusk.

[SPINOZA]

Go to World Cup Stadium on line 6. Nearby is a place called Sky Park, offering nice surroundings and good views of Seoul and the Han River. It's on top of a hill, but the many steps are not that strenuous. That's a non-obvious place you could try.

Else, I say go to Dongdaemun instead of Namdaemun. Latter is a tip. However, near Namdaemun is of course Namsan Park, leading to the tower. Again, try to walk to the Tower, as the surroundings are excellent and views of Seoul just as good along the way as they are at the top of the tower. Then get the cable car back down from Namsan and you could walk to Itaewon (30 mins) from there, taking that Namsan ring road. Very nice walk that. Take a right for Itaewon at the Hyatt Hotel, following the sign for Leeum. You'll walk past a few ambassadors' residences on the road down to Itaewon Street and it's a nice, rich neighbourhood.

EDIT: sorry, the above contains a lot of walking and you said you didn't want that. oops.

[rocklee]

Hey everyone, thanks for the tips!

They'll be here for the weekends. Their combined age is around 110 years so a lot of walking will tire them I guess. They'll be staying at some nice hotels so maybe I get to stay there too and enjoy the facilities

Where is Insadong? I myself am interested in going to the towers for pictures. That area including the fish market sounds like a great place to go to.

[Swiss James]

Insadong is near Jong-no-3-ga, any nice hotel worth its salt will give you a shiny map highlighting the exact location.

The fish market is at the Noryangjin subway stop- or just get the receptionists at the nice hotel to write the destination down for you, then hand it to the taxi driver.

[Hanson]

Great info guys.

To perhaps add to the list, the DMZ tour was a big hit with my Dad, when he came over in 2002. I organized it through the USO tours. If you do a search on here, I'm sure you can find contact information about it. It had a pretty early start (7:30am or something) with a bus picking you up at one of the USO offices.

If I remember correctly, there was a half-day and full day option (including lunch provided for both). The half-day was a walk around the border with US Military personnel guiding the tour, where you can see the famous tree where a couple of soldiers died years ago, as well as the blue conference house that sits right on the border. You can see North Korean guards on the other side.

The full-day was the same as the half-day, except you went to tour a tunnel as well (which I didn't do...).

One memorable quote from an exchange between my friend (who came along) and the guide was this gem:

Guide: It is strictly forbidden to gesture towards the North Korean guards or take their pictures at any time. (...) If you look in that bunker, you might see a North Korean soldier taking pictures of you.
Friend: Do you (soldiers) take pictures of North Korean visitors to the border?
Guide: (hesitates slightly...) Yes, we do.



My other suggestion would be to try to get Nanta tickets. My mom loved it while she was here. It's a nice way to break up a day and quite funny and entertaining. Afterwards, you can take a beautiful short walk from the theater to City Hall; one of the nicest and cleanest stretches (on a cobble-stone street) in all of Seoul. The road is bordered by the wall of one of the sides of a temple (forget the name - I always get Duk-sugung and Kyongbukgung mixed up ), which you can visit as well.