Trip to Korea - Day 1 (Seoul, JunoHair, Garden5 Mall and Lotte Tower)

After being married for 3 years and being together 13 years, it was time for me to finally visit Korea. Originally I came to Canada from Russia and my wife came from Korea (South Korea, of course). She has never visited Russia, but my mother came to Canada one time before that, and my wife's parents also came to Canada recently.

The main goal of the trip was to visit the parents and to see Korea.

Table of Content

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The Flight and Arrival

I have never been to Asia before.

We are on the plane

We had an argument right before the flight, but we successfully made it to Seoul. 

This was all my fault. 

The flight is tough, 14 hours, but the food on Korean Air was pretty good.

Dolsot Bibimbap (돌솥비빔밥)

A while ago, I took long train trips in Russia before, but then you could sleep most of the time, and there was much more personal space, so this long flight wasn't easy. Plus, a woman sitting next to us was constantly coughing; however, we, and most people there, were wearing masks.

After the arrival, we went through customs relativelly quick as Canadians don't require a visa when coming to Korea.

Our line was the one for foreigners because my wife is also Canadian

Incheon International Airport reminded me of Pearson in Toronto, although they're all a bit similar. No need to say that everything in the airport is modern, clean and well-organized.

We are getting out to catch a cab

Before leaving, we got an e-sim there and had no problems activating and using it.

Our way to Yeoju from Incheon took around 1.5 hours by taxi

For me, it was always fascinating to see how Koreans build condominiums, one by one and all identical if it's the same builder. It looks surreal at night.

Parents prepared dinner for us at home.

Korean homemade food (and even food outside) is very healthy

We also were carrying quite a few Canadian gifts for Jiyul's (my wife's) friends. Koreans love and respect everything American, while the rest of the world respects everything made in Korea.

Some of which (at the top) are made in Russia

The next day, we had some plans in Seoul with Jiyul's friend:

1. Jiyul wanted to do her hair at JunoHair place
2. We wanted to visit the Lottle Tower

It was time to go to bed.

The Way From Yeoju to Seoul

Yeoju is a city south-east of Seoul.

In the middle of the country

The population is just 114,750 people, yet it has quite a few important historical sites which we will visit later. My wife's parents moved there because the previous place where they lived had nothing around; they couldn't even go for a walk.

The way from Yeoju to Seoul involves at least 3 steps:

1. Get to the Yeoju subway station
2. Get to Seoul by subway
3. Get to the final destination in Seoul in our friend's car, luckily

Jiyul's father gave us a ride to the Yeoju subway station

I got a T-Money card, the card that Koreans use on the subway and other public transportation, and generally had no issues paying for the commute. Everything is automated; you just tap, same as everywhere these days.

This is us

Korean subway was clean, fast and organized, same as everything in Korea.

We had to get out at Imae station

It was pretty cold in Korea in January. Honestly, felt even colder than in Canada.

Seoul and JunoHair

We just arrived in Seoul, and I finally saw a piece of real Korea.

We had not much time to look around as we were waiting for our friend

The friend, Eun-nyoung, arrived fast and picked us up right there.

Huge thanks to her, as we would suffer a lot without a car

We briefly visited her place and headed to JunoHair

Relevant Links

Here is the list of relevant links:

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Conclusion