"I like the Seoul-ites" Seoul by akikonomu

Half-expecting Seoul to be as chaotic as Tokyo, I thought Seoul was rather laid back comparatively. My deepest impression of the city after a week there

1. Museums, museums, museums - there're all sorts of museums in Seoul. And we're not just talking about relics-filled ones. I visited this reclusive Embroidery museum (see Tips) where getting there was a bizarre enough experience. Then there's the Cartoon Museum at the foot of Namsan and some other specialty museum. I think there was even one showcasing crockery or cutlery of some sort.

2. Honest and patient folks. I can neither speak, understand nor read Korean, yet I not once doubted the hawkers, taxi drivers or any locals I interacted with. Not just in Seoul, but the rest of Korea. Whenever I eat out, which I do for every meals, I simply point at the picture of the food and pass on a W10,000 note at the end. Never fail to get the correct change (I do notice what the locals pay). Works at roadside stalls too.

Once in Gyeongju, I had this wonderful set dinner with alcohol and half expected it to cost me a bomb. When settling the bill, I drew out 2 W10,000 notes and was told (in sign language) that my meal costs W9,000. This still confuses me, because I thought the prices on the menu added up to something more than that.

Then there was once I tried to hail a cab to drop me at the hostel. When the cab driver helped me read the map directions of my destination, he pointed out (with a smiling, not smirking face) that the hostel was just one street away and I could walk, instead of sending me on a roundabout ride.

3. Enterprising hawkers

You'll find a fair share of enterprising hawkers in the wholesale markets (Namdaemun and Dongdaemun). Hawkers pushed free food into my hands after a purchase; vendors patiently attending to my questions of prices of 1001 items from their stall (without once rolling their eyes or snubbing me), some even offering free samples.

Very good strategy of making you want to come back for more. On top of it all, they exude real warmth and kindness. I sometimes felt that they get a bit motherly / fatherly on me though.

4. K-dramas vs real-life Seoul. Much of the lifestyle showcased in Korean dramas, or reported in the media, do not seem to reflect the real society.

Missing from the real Seoul (thankfully) are rude, loudmouth, brash people (there was a slew of Korean dramas like My Sassy Girl where the main lead would be some tyrannical, violent person who tortures the love interest; or some dramas with shrewish women screaming at each other). Most people I saw or dealt with were gentle, unassuming characters (well, unless they all start morphing into something else at some special time of the day?)

Plastic surgery - media often covers stories on the expertise of Korean plastic surgeons and how local and foreigners flock to get their faces structured like some hottie. I simply didn't see any obvious indications for myself (or maybe I was blind to that).

So, for better or for worse - go experience Seoul for yourself.