In about 5 hours’ time, I can be mendacity on a mattress in central Seoul as an ultrasonic cleaning system sucks away repeatedly at my pores, only a gleaming pane of glass away from dozens of ladies wrapped in cling movie and cosmetic surgery bandages who’ve come right here within the hope of a brand new face. For now although, I’ve an altogether totally different form of dystopia to contemplate.
I’m standing on an remark deck peering by means of a pair of stationary binoculars throughout an completely vessel-free river at three North Korean farmers strolling by means of golden-yellow paddy fields within the gray morning mist. Eldritch droning siren sounds blare out of giant rectangular loudspeakers on the North’s aspect, an effort to drown out the sound of the Ok-pop being broadcast from the South — itself a retaliation in opposition to the 1000’s of balloons carrying garbage that North Korea has despatched throughout the border in latest months.
On the low hills behind the fields stand rows of uniform one- and two-storey homes and some dilapidated condo blocks, all of them apparently lived in — together with the one with no roof. A army remark tower, partially hidden by bushes, serves as a reminder that I’m in all probability being watched too.
That is the view from the Odusan Unification Observatory, an intensely eerie, surreal and voyeuristic vacationer attraction, although additionally an undeniably thrilling one for anybody remotely on this a part of the world. Searching over the Imjin River that flows from the North into the South — identified within the latter because the “River of the Lifeless” due to the variety of corpses discovered floating down it from the previous — the observatory is lower than two miles away from North Korean shores and but exists in a completely totally different actuality.
On the hour-long bus trip right here from Seoul, our tour information identified rows of huge tv studios that produce the Ok-drama collection which have captivated audiences everywhere in the world. A mile away, an enormous shopping center sells luxurious western trend manufacturers comparable to Prada and Mulberry.
The observatory is one cease on a tour that additionally takes in Imjingak, a park and cultural centre established within the Nineteen Seventies as a manner of consoling the South Koreans who’d been separated from their households within the North. We’re proven varied remnants of the Korean conflict, such because the rusty bullet-riddled army practice that was the final to cross the border in 1950, and a fence tied with tens of millions of prayer ribbons for the reunification of Korea.
As soon as our group has had permission from the South Korean army, we take a gondola that carries us above layers of coiled barbed wire into the “Civilian Management Zone”, a buffer space earlier than the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) correct. Purple triangular landmine indicators line the pathways like bunting, whereas Harry Kinds and Ok-pop play out of the audio system dotted across the park, in case we aren’t sufficiently entertained. Within the reward store, DMZ-branded mugs are offered alongside sweetened tea made with inexperienced tangerines from Jeju Island, and scrumptious deep-fried honey-and-cinnamon yakgwa cookies.
It makes for a moderately disorienting and but thrilling begin to my journey: 10 days travelling round South Korea, organised by specialist operator InsideAsia. The journey is basically self-guided however there’s a rigorously deliberate itinerary, in addition to a number of days of expert-led excursions in locations alongside the route. The corporate says it has seen curiosity within the nation soar over the previous few years. Some 7.7mn overseas guests got here within the first half of this yr, in accordance with the Korean Tourism Group, 73 per cent up on the identical interval in 2023, and it’s hoping to draw 30mn annual guests by 2030.
Simply as Japan skilled a tourism increase within the early 2000s within the wake of Sofia Coppola’s love-letter to Tokyo Misplaced in Translation, and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, it seems that the massive worldwide success of Ok-pop acts like BTS, Ok-drama collection comparable to Squid Recreation and critically acclaimed movies just like the Oscar-winning Parasite is translating into an actual eagerness to discover South Korea.
And the “Korean wave”, or hallyu — because the Chinese language have dubbed the explosion within the recognition of Korean tradition — extends effectively past the realm of leisure. The nation is more and more influential on the planet of trend, artwork, and delicacies too (final yr it exported some 44bn tonnes of kimchi). “Ok-beauty”, in the meantime, has develop into a thriving multibillion-dollar market as girls around the globe attempt to emulate the “glass-skin” look of Korea’s worldwide stars.
So it’s to pattern the latter that I go to the glitzy, completely heaving PPeum Clinic in Myeongdong, Seoul’s principal purchasing district. It’s straightforward to see why individuals journey right here from throughout Asia: Botox is on provide for lower than you’ll pay for a complicated salad in London — costs begin at 30,000 gained, roughly £17. However I am going for a someway dearer (100,000 gained), although non-invasive, “waterglow peel” that’s meant to concurrently deep-cleanse and deep-moisturise my pores and skin.
Alas, I’m not certain my pores and skin seems to be any extra glass-like afterwards (apparently you want a course of therapies to essentially discover the impact), however it’s a enjoyable and strange vacationer expertise. It’s additionally a possibility to go to sleep among the jet-lag earlier than an evening spent consuming cocktails and somaek — beer blended with soju, South Korea’s nationwide spirit — in among the metropolis’s many buzzy consuming holes with a superb information, Meggie Yu.
After a number of sturdy drinks at Myeongdong Sookhee, a speakeasy hidden behind an arrogance mirror, its partitions adorned with vintage mother-of-pearl and black lacquer cupboard doorways, we dive right into a tiny spot in a again alley for some barbecued mackerel, earlier than hopping round just a few extra bars till the early hours.
Koreans, sensibly, don’t consider in consuming with out one thing to eat, so all kinds of anju (any meals served with alcohol) are introduced: varied types of packaged seafood-flavoured snacks (cuttlefish and shrimp appear to be significantly fashionable), home-made vegetable crisps, savoury pancakes, the ever-present kimchi and, my favorite, a tasty mixture of the latter two to kind kimchi-jeon.
Anybody who has visited Tokyo may have a way of familiarity in Seoul: the stacked neon indicators, the karaoke bars, the 7-Elevens, the massive zebra crossings, the temples juxtaposed with skyscrapers, the mountains all the time seen within the distance, even the izakaya bars, which South Korea is stuffed with. Within the springtime, there’s additionally a substantial amount of pleasure concerning the cherry blossom, or beot-kkot, a lot of which was planted by Japan in an effort to instil “cultural refinement” in the course of the brutal 1910-1945 colonial interval.
But it surely strikes me that whereas there’s a form of nostalgia to the imaginative and prescient of the longer term that Tokyo presents — with its hectic pachinko parlours and its merchandising machines and its practice jingles — Seoul offers much less in futurism and extra in a form of nowness. There’s a palpable buzz that comes from visiting a spot that’s proper in the course of having its second, and that is aware of it.
Seoul has loads of historical past to supply too, nevertheless, and on my second day there it’s time to pattern a few of that, courtesy of a Korean information referred to as Hong Yoon-sik, who insists I name him Stefano. From my resort reverse the colorful Jogyesa Temple, he takes me to Bukchon Hanok Village, a neighbourhood within the historic Jongno District, a 10-minute stroll away.
Bukchon’s hilly streets, with their picture-perfect homes and views over town, present an exquisite setting for an invigorating morning stroll and an artisanal espresso. (Seoul has extra espresso retailers per capita than every other metropolis on the planet, so that you by no means should look far to search out one.) However whereas a lot of the village’s 900 restored hanok — conventional Korean dwellings that includes distinctive curving tiled roofs — are nonetheless lived in, the sheer variety of sightseers in Bukchon even early within the morning makes it really feel extra like a theme park. Indicators written in Japanese, Chinese language and English ask guests to please speak quietly; a curfew and different restrictions will quickly be launched to take care of the latest inflow.
The tourism increase is once more instantly obvious at our subsequent vacation spot: Seoul’s historic crown jewel, Gyeongbokgung Palace. Right here a whole lot mill round dressed up in conventional hanbok clothes, employed out for the day from specialist retailers close by, taking elaborate images of themselves and one another.
After Seoul, it’s time to take an opulent intercity bus trip — totally reclinable seats, particular person TV screens — 100 miles north-east to Sokcho, on the coast of the East Sea (or as a lot of the remainder of the world calls it, to Korea’s chagrin, the Sea of Japan). I’m right here to not marvel at this curious fishing town-cum-beach resort, however to make use of town as a base for a visit to the beautiful Seoraksan Nationwide Park, one in every of 22 such parks in South Korea. It’s an outstanding place to decelerate after the commotion and clamour of Seoul.
The day I go to is Hangul, a nationwide vacation celebrating the introduction of Korea’s phonetic alphabet within the fifteenth century. I’ve no information immediately however, within the mannequin of America’s nationwide parks, there are all kinds of marked-out trails and prompt routes, making the entire thing very straightforward and accessible.
Sadly, not solely is it a nationwide vacation however October is excessive season, which means that the strolling trails are packed. On the plus aspect, my timing additionally implies that the leaves on the maple, oak and ginkgo bushes on the mountain slopes have began to show, forming an impressive tapestry of yellow, orange, pink and purple.
The morning after a feast of pink snow crab in a strip-lit all-you-can-eat spot in Sokcho’s harbour — rubber gloves, industrial scissors and a bucket all supplied for de-shelling functions — I’m taken 100 miles south to spend just a few hours on the pleasant Hahoe People Village, which dates again to the 14th century and is one in every of South Korea’s 16 Unesco World Heritage Websites.
Alongside dusty, flower-lined paths are a number of dozen stone-walled, thatched homes, most of that are nonetheless inhabited. Pops of brilliant orange persimmons mild up the bushes like lanterns; the daisy-like lilac Korean starwort gives a backdrop for a lot of a selfie-stick image.
From there, I head south once more, to the traditional metropolis of Gyeongju, capital of the Silla kingdom that dominated two-thirds of Korea between the seventh and ninth centuries. Referred to as the “museum with no partitions” due to how stuffed full it’s with artefacts, town comprises a number of dozen royal tombs that stand up as a lot as 23 metres into the air, rigorously mown grass mounds that give the place the distinct really feel of Tellytubbyland.
Gyeongju is just not solely a really stunning and excitingly historic metropolis; it additionally feels vibesy and up-and-coming, with all kinds of cool and newly opened bars and boutiques, and it finally ends up being my favorite place outdoors of Seoul. I keep for 2 nights in a captivating restored hanok within the outdated a part of city, the place I get up to a magical view out over the sloped rooftops to the mountains past.
South Korea presents many alternatives for high quality eating, however avenue meals is the place it actually excels. In Busan, South Korea’s second metropolis, whose high-rises, yachts and sandy seashores give it a Miami-ish vibe, I’m taken on a Bourdainesque meals tour. We wander down the “Haeundae Conventional Market”, a pedestrian avenue whose stalls’ choices at first seem comfortingly acquainted to somebody who has spent every week in South Korea: fishcake skewers, tteobokki — dense, chewy rice desserts soaked in a thick spicy sauce — and sweetcorn-flavoured ice cream (Koreans appear to be obsessive about sweetcorn).
However then we get to the septuagenarian-and-upwards girls — ajumma — who stand skinning hagfish alive, whereas the fish (they seem like faceless eels, however uglier) proceed thrashing round on the blood-and-slime-soaked chopping boards. I decline to strive it. As an alternative, we step off the road into slightly hole-in-a-wall, the place we tuck into some very odd dotori-muk (acorn-jelly) and a sensational spring onion-and-squid pancake, all washed down with Korean beer.
After extra beer on the seashore, it’s time for additional seafood shocks. On plastic chairs on decking overlooking the ocean, we’re served uncooked apricot-coloured sea squirt and pale pink sea snails, each of which I dutifully strive, dunked in a wholesome quantity of gochujang sauce. Then we’re served a neighborhood speciality: chopped up uncooked child octopus, served with minced garlic, sesame oil and inexperienced chilli, that’s nonetheless shifting round, quite a bit, on the plate. I’m informed it continues to maneuver round as soon as you place it in your mouth; fortunately I’ve the excuse of being an avowed non-octopus-eater.
“Yeah, the Korean seafood expertise will get very squiggly — that’s form of a part of the gig,” my American information Chris Tharp tells me, chomping fortunately.
We take a cab to the opposite aspect of city to shut out the night time in a pojangmacha, or “consuming tent” because it tends to be referred to as in English: basically a meals cart coated in tarpaulin or plastic, the place you squeeze your self on to a bench or stool and are served alcohol and anju. It’s a totally pleasing expertise (with no squiggly surprises) and even supposing I’m completely stuffed by now, I nearly handle some pretty gyeran-mali — Korean rolled omelette — drizzled in ketchup, whipped up for us on a single range by an ajumma who can be working till the tent winds down round 2am or so.
The subsequent morning, it’s time to take the high-speed practice again to Seoul. The moderately unscenic journey by means of tunnel after tunnel is a reminder that mountains cowl virtually three-quarters of this nation of 52mn individuals. The entire of two-and-a-half-hours it takes to get to the other aspect of South Korea, in the meantime, demonstrates simply how small it’s: at 38,750 sq. miles, this cultural colossus is simply a couple of quarter the scale of Japan, and smaller than the state of New York.
After which, at Seoul’s central railway station, a sight that brings all the nation’s contradictions and contrasts into stark aid: big LED screens welcoming residence BTS star J-Hope, who’s about to return from a yr and a half of army service — compulsory for all able-bodied males over the age of 18. This may be a rustic that’s thriving thanks partially to its wholehearted embrace of capitalist modernity, but it can not totally escape its fraught previous. Some 71 years since an armistice was signed, South Korea continues to be, formally, at conflict with North Korea.
Particulars
Jemima Kelly was a visitor of InsideAsia (insideasiatours.com) and Korean Air (koreanair.com). InsideAsia presents a 12-night ‘Better of South Korea’ itinerary, together with a hanok keep, cultural experiences and personal guides in places alongside the best way, from £4,362. It additionally has a seven-night ‘Important South Korea’ journey, from £1,110, and a brand new nine-night small-group ‘Soul of Korea’ tour, from £2,895. Korean Air fly direct from London Heathrow to Seoul, from £982 return. The Korean Tourism Organisation has extra info, see english.visitkorea.or.kr
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