I don’t remember exactly how it started, but the beauty of this project is that me and Juno started to think about something very similar in the same time.
We chat a lot (Twitter, Skype, but most of all Whatsapp) and I started to wonder how Seoul looked like, I mean of course I can read about it on any guide, but since both me and Juno are “living the local life”, I thought it would be cool to see if these two big cities have something in common. Because I am sure there must be something! Personally I think even Cairo and New York City share many similarities. Aren’t they both crowded and… dirty? ;)
Then Juno came up with this beautiful idea of the “Sister Cities” project. We decided a list of questions to answer. It wasn’t that easy: what we are trying to do answering these questions is giving a real informative knowledge of the cities we are talking about. I mean, if you go to Cairo, Egypt or Seoul, South Korea with our Q/A lists you’ll be ok :)
I am posting Juno’s list and she is posting mine. What a nice exchange! So let’s start… go Juno!
Juno is a travel blogger from Seoul, Korea. She’s currently employed in Seoul as an engineer but she loves hiking and backpacking, and always takes advantage of her free time to explore! Read her stories and see her beautiful travel pics on http://runawayjuno.com
1. Weather.
Significant four seasons. Snows a lot in winter, rains a lot in summer and covered with beautiful color in autumn and spring. Three months each, exactly four weather.
2. What Kind of street food to eat.
This article may help you get ideas of it. Korean are food lovers. You can find something to eat in any street in the country.
http://runawayjuno.com/2010/03/02/foods-in-the-street-of-seoul-south-korea/
3. Transportation to use. and price.
Bus, subway, train, taxi you name it. Base fair of bus and subway starts from 1000 won, about 1 USD. Taxi is fairly cheap, starts from 2400 won. In my experience, about 10,000 won for 15 km. My favourite is subway. It spreads all over the city, and is the best way to keep on time. We all know traffic jam in a big city is a nightmare.
4. common drinks (water, coke, milk.. something local, you can get it from the store).
Bottled water is not quite popular, and you can find a lot of bottled tea. Green tea, citrus tea, Jasmine tea, and mixed tea. Coffee is really in at the moment. At least three coffee shop in one street.
5. Where to go/ what to do at night.
Movie, club, restaurant.. countless places. If you ask me where to go, I will say Hongdae. You will love Hongdae if you are into clubbing, if you love food, if you love vibrant atmosphere. Night shopping, drink, movie, street food.. everything is here!
6. What kind of activities you can do at day time.
Anything you can think of. Sightseeing, walking around the Chunggye stream.. It can sound quite strange, but I like to go to a big book store. I can read there as long as I want. It makes me happy, surrounded by thousands and thousands of books.
My favourite thing to do in Seoul is watching small theatre show. Musical, play, or comedy show. Music is a great way to feel the culture. It’s not in traditional Korean song, but all the culture is melted in the two hour show. And also it’s fun! Good looking people dancing and singing in front of me, what’s not to like?
http://runawayjuno.com/2010/08/21/my-dots-are-on-the-world-map/
7. Religion and religious habits.
You will notice so many church crosses, and temples. Those are two main religions here. Even though people believe in different things, Confucianism is the foundation of Korean culture. It is more like a Chinese philosophy than religion, it is widely spreaded. Such as, respect your elder and ancestor. Korean’s New Year’s ceremony and Chuseok ceremony is based on the philosophy.
8. Dangers, if any
I believe Seoul is one of the safest big cities in the world. Despite the fact Seoul is one of the busiest, and crowdest place in the world, I never had any serious crime. Occasion car crash, thief, bugler like any other place, but luckily I had no experience in that area. Have to be secured because crime does exist anywhere but I can only say it is a fairly safe place.
9. Main landmarks
The palace. Gyeong bok palace, among the most. It is the main palace where King used to live, and you can see the energy in it.
Nam san and Seoul N Tower is the must, can’t leave out Han river. Newly built Gwanghwamun city square and Chunggye stream are another attraction.
http://runawayjuno.com/2010/04/17/itinerary-of-short-trip-to-seoul-1st-day/
10. Daily or short trips available outside of the city
Short trip to Suwon to see Hwasung (fortress), Hiking trip to Soyosan (mountain) up north, beautiful river side in Yangpyeong. All of these places are within 2 hours way from Seoul.
http://runawayjuno.com/2010/04/24/itinerary-of-short-trip-to-seoul-2nd-day/
11. Average possibility count to encounter with bugs (mosquitoes, .. various)
Mosquitoes- you have to be prepared for that. Well, not like Thailand but believe of not Seoul is quite nature friendly city, so it’s quite great place for them to live.
12. Language skills (What kind of language do they use, normally)
Korean is one and only language in Korea. Many young people can speak and understand English pretty well. Not the older generations. English education has been performed quite a long time but practical usage has been not long. However If you pick some words up, people will be so pleased.
13. If you are traveling to your city, you are not going out without…. ( )
Transit card. It is the number one item to get around the city. Go for bus, subway and some vending machines.
14. Any extra ordinary custom
Sadly, still male chauvinism is left; many customs are against woman doing things. For example woman smoking in the street, is not illegal per se, but it’s highly frowned upon.
Based on Confucianism culture, age is really sensitive factor in the culture. Don’t wave to elders, always bow use your back.
When hand things to stranger, use one hand under the other, especially to elders.
I know, a lot of rules and it is bugging me a lot of times, I think respect elders custom is quite good.
15. Your secret tips
If you are going to stay here more than three days, get a transit card as soon as you arrived. You can buy it in convenience store. Cash in, and use it for public transportation. It gives you a lot of discounts. For example, if you take subway and translate to a bus, it will cut your fair more than half. Use the good system!
Thank you Juno for this beautiful journey in your city, Seoul. If it wasn’t for you I would know nothing about it!
39 Comments
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jason Hussong, Giulia. Giulia said: Travel Reportage of "Sister City": #Seoul, by @runawayjuno vs #Cairo, by @Giuliaccia :-) #travel #korea #sistercity http://fb.me/Am4kS0KV […]
Thanks for making it so beautiful! I’m really excited about this. :)
Good to know about Cairo as well. Only think I know about Cairo is just Pyramids… didn’t realize it’s really diverse place!
Thanks-
Everybody knows pretty much only about the Pyramids. But there’s so much more to see! I didn’t know anything either, when I first went to Cairo on my own. It’s such an exciting place. You have to see it, it will be such an experience!: ) Wish I could be your guide…
I love picture number nine. The food looks scrummy as well. Not normally a lover of street food as seen sellers put their hands in weird places before serving it. But I would definitely give that food a go.
Street food can be “dirty” but also surprisingly clean. Seoul looks like a very clean city! I wouldn’t mind tasting every single typical food there:p
Hi Juno! ^^ I am a travel blogger who also lives in Seoul, even though I’m an American! I like reading your blog.
Hi, how do you like Seoul? :) Thanks for reading and liking my blog! Hope you enjoy beautiful Seoul!!
hi..
nice to see both cairo and seoul in the same breath..incidentally i moved to seoul from Cairo only this march and myself compared a list of contrasts of the two cities which i keep adding to as I see more and more of Seoul..culturally I find many contrasts when I compare the two cities..and incidentally I havent found many Koreans travelling to Egypt..though I have started promoting the city around my circle here..and yaa am not a Egyptian.am an Indian who likes travelling around..cheers..
Love this comprehensive guide to Seoul! Runaway Juno is one of my favorite bloggers and I hope to visit her in S Korea one day. My only critique: NYC is not dirty! It’s cleaner than most of the cities I visited on my RTW trip and smells quite nice– unless you pass a garbage bag in August or a fish market in Chinatown ;)
Oooh, I so hope to visit her too: )
Concerning NYC, well I remember pretty big rats and cockroaches even in “fancy” areas of Manhattan… and the metro with its “scents” was sometimes really disgusting. Yeah, Chinatown smelled really bad and all that garbage in the streets was not pleasant! Cairo is different – litter everywhere! But hopefully things are changing: )
What a GREAT idea girls! Love this post on Seoul, never been, but it is definitely on the to-do list!
Some very cool pictures Juno!
Hey Delene, thanks for the nice words! Yes it’s a beautiful place to visit. Hope this would help you!
I have two months until my trip to Australia, my trip is only for 7 days, and therefore I don’t want to waste time waiting for visa!
Should I arrange to obtain visa from Korea or get the Australia visa on arrival online? I had came across a website for Australia tourist visa application http://www.evisaasia.com does anyone experience on it?
Please Advice!!! Thanks in advance: P
Hey Christine, I will ask Juno if she knows about it coz I have never been to that area (yet!) – Thanks for stopping by :)
Sorry but I don’t really know about VISa because you know.. I’ve never been in that position. :)
I will ask around if you want. We have twitter!! :D
What a good idea to get some good in-depth knowledge of a new place. I loved this post on Seoul. I tried to make it to South Korea a few times when I was in Asia, but it was always so out of my way.
Hi Steve, yes that happens always. Hope you get to have a next change to visit Korea. :)
Cool concept you have going here with the sister cities. Nice info about Seoul and great photos from Juno as always!
Thanks Stephen! We really love this idea also, and can’t wait to do more with my ‘sisters’ and their cities! At some point I thought I should creat ‘brothers’ as well.. but that sounds really strange… :)
Thanks Stephen, glad you enjoyed it :) Great job by Juno as usual :) Will be posting another “sister city” article soon!
WOW!!
Great blog!!! I’m sooo jealous.
First of all i haven’t been to the far east yet, but I AM going to china later on this year – by land ! yey…
As for egypt – traveling there is great, especially on a bicycle.
The people are warm and nice and it is rather safe.
I recommand the local sweet sugar cane juice. WOW!!
and the amazing theme park at kahiro… rrrr… happy travels and keep up the great blog!! YOU ROCK
Thanxs for this beautiful information …this is really very beautiful site..love to see your blog….!
Thanks for this beautiful information …this is really very beautiful site..love to see your blog….!
great pictures thanks
[…] Seoul, South Korea. By Juno […]
What a amazing reportage!!!
What an amazing reportage!
Really appreciate this cultural exchange story,, really technology is shorten the distance. I love to see those pictures. Really Juno is a great……..even being an engineer she still nourished the love for hiking inside her. For Juno i like contribute a website that is: http://www.blogofasia.com. I hope all of the viewers here will like this site as Juno’s blog site, it’s all about Asia. I love Asia….it’s so beautiful.
I never been to Seoul but I already that there a lot of beautiful place there. Since I love watching some Korean movies. What I know is that they have the most well preserve palace. And I really appreciate you for sharing those wonderful picture. Hope I can be there too.
I really appreciate those pictures,,thanks for sharing it.
We really love this idea also, and can’t wait to do more with my ‘sisters’ and their cities! At some point I thought I should creat ‘brothers’ as well
Your are a lucky girl to travel to many place with while earning money! Your Job is pretty cool.. Thanks for sharing such a nice article.. Traveling really is very exciting.. Seoul, Korea really is a great place to be!
You had a nice travel, you gained lots of fun including your company. Thanks for sharing this experienced.
I find many contrasts when I compare the two cities..and incidentally I haven’t found many Koreans traveling to Egypt..though I have started promoting the city around my circle here..and yeah am not a Egyptian.am an Indian who likes traveling around..cheers..
What I know is that they have the most well preserve palace. And I really appreciate you for sharing those wonderful picture. Hope I can be there too. | :P
Thanks Stephen! We really love this idea also, and can’t wait to do more with my ‘sisters’ and their cities! At some point I thought I should create ‘brothers’ as well.. | :P
Good point! Thanks for sharing..
Seoul is Korea’s center for education, business and modern culture. There are a lot of activities in the city for everyone such as visiting museums and palaces, parks and mountains, and amusement parks and night clubs. So much to learn and a lot of fantastic things to do in Seoul, South Korea!
Oh I’d love to visit Seoul. :)