Seoul

Hi all!

So, the World Championships in Seoul have come to a close. As usual, the climbs were great, the city was beautiful, and the athletes really left their all on the wall. I’m super proud of everyone who came out and competed. But this post isn’t about that. Instead, this post is going to be about my time exploring the city itself while I was there.

Why is there a post dedicated to just the city?

Because the city is absolutely gorgeous and is definitely deserving of its own post.

The flight to get there was somewhere around 15 hours long, and the total door-to-door travel time ended up being about a full day. The competition was in Seoul, but we had flown into a city called Incheon. The Incheon airport was about two hours away from where we were staying for the competition. After literally 18 hours of air travel, the last thing you want is a two hour commute before you can finally rest, but that’s what ended up happening.

That said, I would do it again in a heartbeat. If I had to describe the city with just one word, that word would be ‘cute.’ The storefronts were bright and colorful, the warning signs in the subway system were cartoon-styled, and there were these 24-hour shops that sold either eggs (like, just eggs) or ice-cream and sweets. These stores weren’t manned by anyone. Instead there was just a machine that one would use to pay when they were ready to check-out. My favorite thing about Seoul is that the subway systems would play little tunes whenever a train was on the way, arriving at a stop, or when there was about to be an announcement. Everyone was helpful and friendly, and they seemed excited to interact despite the fact that we couldn’t speak the language. We’d learned a few phrases, and tried to use what we’d learned to the best of our ability.

Another thing I really liked about the city was the amount of love and pride that was put into some of the coffee shops and restaurants. We’d gone on a walk along a segment of the Seoul City Wall and came across a cat-themed cafe that was owned and run by one person. It really looked as if the owner had woken up one day and decided that she liked cats, and would therefore style an entire business off of that. And it was amazing! There were cat posters, cat figurines, mugs with cats on them, and even cat-themed books and journals that one could buy. It was an amazing experience.

On a different day we were out walking somewhere and we’d stopped in this small restaurant to get some dinner. This restaurant had one guy running the place. He cooked all the food, served all the food, and handled the customer interactions. While we were eating the food we had ordered, the guy running the restaurant came over and corrected the way we ate the food! He wanted us to experience the meal properly, so he told us exactly how it was intended to be eaten. It was a very unique experience, and we loved every bit of it.

All in all, the trip was amazing. I’m glad we had the chance to go explore the city while we were there, and I really hope we get the opportunity to return there in the future.