First Impressions of South Korea – We Love Seoul!

First Impressions of South Korea – We Love Seoul!

Seoul is the heart of South Korea and  a city known for seamlessly combining   Korean traditions and history with the modern  expectations of a mega city after spending 3   weeks exploring Mongolia the least densely  populated country in the world we hopped  

On a flight from Ulaanbaatar and arrived  in Seoul to explore this world class city   that is home to more than 10 million people  we’re about to get our first impressions of   Korea as we hit the streets to take in as many  sights and experiences as possible in one day  

From what we’ve heard we can expect stunning  historic landmarks we just got to like the   actual I think the main building of the palace so  beautiful unparalleled skincare unfortunately I   haven’t found any beauty products for myself oh  they’re in there you just haven’t been looking  

And topnotch food well my meal sounds amazing  there is no way I can do this in one bite I’m   going to try turn me messy I’m definitely going  to this is actually the size of my head oh my

[Music] Good morning all right everyone welcome to  Korea I can’t believe we’re here I’m so excited to   be here we’re just walking around the community  that our hotel is it Myeongdong yeah just like   getting our very first impressions of the city it  is super cool it feels so different from Mongolia  

Where we just yeah it just seems like even way  more modern than normal just because of where   we came from in Mongolia um but man the city is  awesome so far we’ve only taken like a few steps  

But it’s so bright it’s so vibrant there’s so  many cool stores around here like there’s lots   of shopping stores there’s tons of cafes and we  have heard about Korean Cafe culture I’m super   excited about it we obviously have which already  diving into we got our first coffee and so far  

We are at 100% success rate for good coffee  and soul one for one the other thing that I’m   already noticing at ton here is like shops that  sell skincare products I have seen so many of   them just in the few minutes we’ve been walking  here like they are everywhere you can tell it’s  

A huge de here that’s true you know we have a lot  planned today but I feel like we haven’t gone very   far at all Nicole has been really enthralled with  some of these shops well I definitely see people  

Come here for beauty beauty products there’s  just so many I’m like really not into beauty   products but like Ian we can’t carry them we  live out of a backpack but man if I didn’t live   out of a backpack i’ would be going crazy here  it’s just so it’s so affordable unfortunately I  

Haven’t found any beauty products for myself  oh they’re in there you just haven’t been Looking I can’t believe there’s like a whole other  shopping mall underground here as we make our   way to the metro station I wish I had more time  yeah I just wanted to just do a holding shopping   yes like like getting skin care products I’m  we wanted do some sightseeing today but we keep  

Getting distracted by all the things that we could  buy it’s so cool I love how those turn Styles   don’t have any like blockages or anything like  that like you could just walk straight through   so much faith in people so yeah exactly like  maybe the crime is probably so low that like  

There’s no point just everybody’s honest enough  to just tap their card the honor System at the Metro we I actually never navigate with the  paper map but my normal navigation app is   Google Maps and it actually doesn’t really work  well here you have to get a map called I think   the caca tea that’s really good or the caca  Metro which is really good for the Metro um  

And also Naver which is ideal for looking around  so no Google Maps Naver and cacao Metro but yeah   instead of that I just kept it old school cuz  our hostel had nice paper maps and he circled  

Some stuff so I’m using a paper map today just  going to whip out my map and my Lonely Planet   book and then you know we’re back in 2010 we  haven’t traveled like this in a long [Music] Time so we’re just walking around theat  bjun hanuk village now this place is like   a neighborhood with lots of traditional old  style houses they look very very pretty a   lot of them have been converted to more like  restaurants and cafes but it’s still kind of  

Worth it to walk around and admire the older  architecture this is a really pretty part of   the city and there are lots of people in that  traditional handbo dress and they are really   taking advantage of the scenery because  there’s also like a lot of professional  

Photographers around that are doing like little  photo shoots of people it’s great spot to do it   I cannot believe people live here what a cool  place live canag that’s your front door that so [Music] cool [Music] we made it to the insadong  shopping street which is a famous street here  

In Soul that is known for selling a lot of  handicrafts or like traditional Korean things I   will end by of like just general art I see lots of  art like jewelry and painting yeah and it’s just  

Like really nice walking Street we’re hoping to  get some lunch here yeah I’m not sure we’re going   to find it though it like properly so far is just  all shops of like beautiful it looks like handmade  

And like like small local shop made it’s beautiful  I mean I don’t know they locally owned but it   looks like [Music] that I think we just witnessed  the first scammer here in Soul so that guy was  

Handing out like bracelets or something I’ll tell  you cuz he approached me and I was like tell no   and then we saw him do it to another guy so he  approached with like this little card with like I  

Think it was like a Buddha on it like a gold card  and he like comes up to me and he says he tries to   hand out to me I’m like no and he’s like no lucky  lucky and I’m like no and I just walk away yeah  

And then we see him approach another guy yeah like  a couple other tourists there he was giving them   bracelets like the lucky bra no no he gave him  bracelets first and then he gave him this little  

Card oh really he did the opposite to me and uh  I think he was trying to get some donations so   that reminds me of like a scam like that’s really  famous in New York City like especially at Time  

Square where have like scamming monks that look  like they’re trying to get donations to build   their to build their Temple but they’re not real  monks they’re just trying to get your money they   try to give you something first and then they ask  for a donation so that what was happening and then  

The guys there as soon as the monks started  giving him the card he started like the guy   started giving back their bracelets like trying  to like trying to walk away so yeah I think that  

Might have been uh the first like scammer person  I’ve seen here in Soul I wonder if he tries to   pickpocket you at the same time yeah actually my  where’s your wallet I don’t have a wallet that’s

[Music] good this is pretty cool we finally  found a place to eat it took way too long um   and we are being served just a million things  already I didn’t think this came with either   of our meal but here we are everything smells  pickled something I’ve learned about Korean  

Food just when researching things in Soul is  that Korean food doesn’t just come with your   plate that you order it comes with usually a  ton of side dishes you’ll end up probably for   like one order you probably end up with four or  five different plates just for yourself it’s so

Cute soup what is that bean sprout bean  sprouts yeah I don’t know um maybe cabbage   oh Kimi and another vegetable honestly I  I’m not too sure this is the only this is   the only vegetable I feel certain of in  all of this thank you well my meal sounds

Amazing that’s H oh this is fine this is really  hot okay I got thein Bop but I got a certain   kind of bibin Bop one second I think it is called  DOA B iin Bop B Bop is like really really popular   traditional Korean food particularly Among Us  foreigners probably because it’s so beautiful  

It’s like I was reading a line that in BB Bop  there’s usually 30 or more ingredients like   just in this plate which is wild so shibby rice  down there a bunch of vegetables I thought there  

Was going to be beef here I’m not sure oh yeah  maybe this these little bits here a beef and   a raw egg on top and I think it’s supposed  to kind of like mix it mostly together and  

Then you can like it’ll it’ll cook the egg  cuzz this bowl is on fire also pleas don’t   make fun of me Korean Chopsticks are like  thin and like I find them very difficult to hold [Music] wow super good we like natural flavor  like I don’t taste like sauce or anything like  

That I can taste the sesame seeds just a little  bit and I feel like your egg is like sauce cuz it   just got like all mixed in there and just  cooked on the hot rice and it’s so pretty  

Good I don’t know what that soup is but that is  delicious I just got very simple um fried pork   and some sauce and some rice your pork looks  spice [Music] yeah a little bit spicy fluffy  

Rice too m this is so good so much to choose  from pork is delicious getting spicy going to   say is it too hot that’s all right I think I’m  going to be enjoying Korean food for the next  

Little [Music] while wow we finished lunch and uh  we’re just walking around and uh we just stumbled   into a very beautiful Street like the cutest  little Street we literally walk out of the   restaurant and then boom mhm this is here I don’t  really think has any particular name but it’s just  

A really cool place to walk around full of like  cafes and it’s like not just waterfall budha   and uh and now there’s a million food options  and now there’s all the food options where was   this earlier oh my God PE stuff you want this  the first like western style food you’ve seen  

Not that we want Western no I wanted to try  Korean food super happy we’ve got Korean food   but this place is a wow really really nice nice  desserts oh my God it’s so beautiful here look at like what is this it’s like the umbrella  Street the classic umbrella Street you get  

Like in every Big City really that’s right  [Music] here look how beautiful they are   blueberry ice cream I think it’s ice cream  it was just called purpleberry BL definitely   ice cream vanilla and blueberry yeah it  looks so good look how beautiful Nicole  

Covered you with my ice cream it’s  huge try it cutey cheers ice cream [Music] cheers excellent is good it’s  excellent I think a little bit on the   outside might be a little salt he  like sprinkled some stuff over top   of it that’s really good that’s  very good all right let’s walk So far I’m really feeling like soul is focused on   food and shopping which is  awesome great place to be a Tourist this is a really cool walking  area and I feel like it should be on   every tourist map because there’s there’s  a lot of really really nice restaurants and   really nice bars in there and some  really nice shopping like and it’s  

All pedestrians so you’re not worried about  traffic we just walking through super super   cute it was really nice if we figure  out what it’s called we’ll put on the screen think that means [Music] success oh it’s so beautiful

So [Music] good all right we made it to Chang  Yak gang Palace which is absolutely beautiful   it was originally built in like the 1400s but  it was burnt down along with all the other   palaces here uh in the late 1500s when Japan  and Korea were at War but this was the first  

One that they rebuilt after that I think  it was rebuilt in like 1610 um and it is   absolutely stunning I guess it’s one of the  best preserved from this particular Dynasty   in all of Korea on his it’s meant to be like a  really good display of Queen architecture and  

Like artwork it used to be at where like the  king actually resided for a while or various   Kings resided for a while um and it’s also where  they like did work with their ministers and such  

We just got to like the actual big building of  like I think the main building of the palace so Beautiful [Music] I know it’s kind of silly but I feel kind  of bad or Nicole is saying she feels kind of bad   we feel kind of bad but we had no idea that  Korea had Kings didn’t know didn’t know but  

Apparently this is his Palace yeah and the  a king was coronated here the ceremony the   sign says this is where it happens he’s got  a really cool Throne it’s a very cool Palace   I think what’s different from like this I’ve  never seen it any other Palace we’ve ever been  

To is that the lights have like curtains on them  and I assume they’ve been here for a while they   look very old smells old like it smells old in  here the old old wooden old wooden Palace smell  

I think also probably the most impressive part  of this is like the paint the paint that goes   like all the way up all over the ceiling like  it’s stunning it’s so beautiful so detailed yeah I got to say so far Soul seems to be just  a photographer’s Paradise there’s so many cool  

Photo spots around the city like just even in  the modern area and the kind of traditional   area and even here in like the very historical  paly kind of area there are such beautiful uh   buildings and also uh Greenery like they’ve done  such a great job with the landscaping around here  

Almost like any wall or any Nook or any doorway  could be like a fantastic photo spot [Music] [Music] so is just one more thing that we  really wanted to do on this first day in   Soul and that is to go to Korean barbecue  we’re actually meeting up with some friends  

If you guys saw our goby desert um video a  couple of weeks ago then you would have seen   a couple of American women with us so we’re  meeting with them today because they actually   live here here and soul and hopefully  they will help us do Korean barbecue

Right so we met our friends and uh we are  actually back at Mong dong neighborhood once   again and this place is way more livelier  than it was earlier in the morning there   are so many more people here and there are  a lot more Street vendors out some different Snacks yeah all right found our dinner spot and I   love it cuz I’m just like sitting on  a stool outside a restaurant near the street thank you so much how do we fit everything  on this table there’s so many plates here there  

Are so many plates here oh my God I’m overwhelmed  by the choice this looks so good you guys thank   you for ordering for us we have no idea what  to order oh we got I crave this now it’s I  

Really yeah I need to go become Korean go come  over and like 100% expecting to cook all this   myself and cut it up she like did all the hard  work because she probably thinks we don’t know  

What we’re doing I mean we kind of don’t know  what we’re doing but I would have tried anyway   they know what they’re doing these guys are they  doing so this is what you do you like make your  

Little lettuce crab oh oh wow you have to get it  in one bite you have to eat it in one bite now   you can do it with the camera I’m not ambitious  I always break the lettuce off those stem too I  

Eat mine in two bites I not that great put some  of this in there you just put anything in there   whatever you want just don’t forget the meat oh  don’t worry I won’t put I got Quail EG in there  

And a little bit more of the meat you put rice in  and some rice and bean sprouts Quail back in there so bad I’m butchering this but  you can definitely one cheers cheers that was pretty good you

Guys pretty good M the meat is actually really  really good and I love how you can just combine   it with different different like sides to  make into a you know every to make every   every bike different there is no way I can  do this in one bite I can’t it’s just going  

To be such a mess I don’t know I’m going to  try come here mie I’m definitely going to it   looks like you just ate like a piece of grass  or like a giant Leaf what there anything in

There a big piece of meat how is it it’s very  very good yeah it’s really good turn out of 10 for barbecue no one will yell at you when you go out well so I haven’t had Korean barbecue in a  long time but man that was good it was so good  

I’ve actually never had Korean barbecue but it  was top top eye what I love about it is not only   was the food good but it I felt like it was  a full experience cuz like you’re having meal   with friends you’re kind of cooking together  you’re kind of putting your food together and  

Like it’s a whole like I we’ve been there for  like a couple hours couple of hours perfect for   me I love a meal like that so we’re at suing  apparently it’s a there’s a dessert here that  

We have to try out appar it’s very popular and  right now I can see that cuz there’s a ton of   people here and the line for the food or like  all the orders ahead of us there’s a ton of

Them oh my God thank God you said to share one  this is actually the size of my head um what   do you call it Bingo bingoo traditional Korean  dessert or like typical Korean dessert typical  

So Nicole and I got the terasu flavor and then  they got the mango and Cheese look like a more   like a cream cheese than it is like a cheese  cheddar cheese but man these look massive

Really cool so good I choked on the cocoa  oh my God it’s so good I don’t think it’s   like shaved ice like normal shaved ice  I feel like it’s like shaved milk shaved   frozen milk it’s like very fluffy yeah  it’s fluffy I look like goes from like  

Poopy in my mouth to like nothing I put it  in my mouth weird so apparently the sou and   Cafe is really popular um and now I can  see why this looks so good m that’s crazy [Music] man well everyone we have had an awesome  first day exploring soul and getting to know this  

City I cannot wait to see more of it if you want  to see more Adventures from us make sure you hit   subscribe in the next video we’ll be checking out  the DMZ or the demilitarized zone which would be  

A completely new experience for us come and we  cannot wait see you in the next one I think I   just pressed the call button I thought it was  like the button to let me cross the street   you called the police I called somebody someone  started talking through and I’m like I just walk

Away there I thought I was to cross the street

We are visiting Seoul, South Korea for the first time! We only have a short time here, so we are packing as much into this one day in Seoul as possible to get a realistic first impression of South Korea. While exploring famous landmarks like Changdeokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village, Myeongdong District, and Insadong Shopping Street, we try our first Korean foods including Bibimbap, purple berry ice cream, Korean BBQ, and even go to the famous Sul Bing for Bingsu!

This one day in Korea was jam packed! After arriving after midnight the night before, we started our day of exploring Seoul in the Myeongdong neighborhood. Getting our first impressions of Seoul is this district was awesome, because it has all the best shopping! We had heard that Korean skin care was first class, but seeing it in person in Myeongdong showed us what that really meant. We hopped on the train at Myeongdong and made a quick stop at Bukchon Hanock Village to see the beautiful Hanbok outfit and traditional buildings before heading to Insadong Shopping street where we narrowly evaded being scammed! If you’re headed to Seoul for a trip of your own, make sure you keep an eye out for scammers!

We had our first proper Korean meal for lunch and it was incredible! I got the Bibimbap and Mico got stir fried pork (spicey!). Eating in Korea is a totally new experience for us and we were not expecting there to be so many dished served with our meal despite only order two plates. We were happily surprised at the variety and flavours that we got in our lunches.

After lunch we stumbled into Ikseon-Dong, which was a complete accident. This pedestrian only shopping area should be on every tourists map because it is stunning! We tried purple berry ice cream and strolled along the beautiful streets until it was time to go to Changdeokgung Palace. Seeing old-school Korean architecture up close in the form of a palace really made us feel like we were in Seoul. The Palace grounds were stunning, and we were glad to have the chance to learn a little bit about Korea history as we walked in the same place as many Kings before us.

We might have saved the best for last on our one day in Seoul. We ended our day by going out for Korean BBQ for with friends, and it was incredible! We didn’t know what to expect of Korean BBQ, but it turns out that not only is Korean BBQ delicious, it’s also a lot of fun to sit around and slowly share a meal with friends. To top off the night, we went to Sul Bing Cafe to try Bingsu for the first time. This milky, icy, dessert was the perfect way to end our first day in Seoul.

If you are planning a trip in Seoul and only have a short amount of time to visit, we can highly recommend replicating the day we had! The great thing about being a tourist in Seoul is there is so much to see and do, but any time you want to take a break and sit down for a while, you are bound to have incredible Korean food!

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== Chapters ==
0:00 Myeongdong could not be more different from Mongolia
4:31 Bukchon Hanok Village
5:41 Scammed at Insadong Street
7:43 Our first Bibimbap!
10:54 We had no idea Ikseon-Dong was a place
13:15 Visiting Changdeokgung Palace
16:15 Korean BBQ!!!
20:15 Bingsu to round out our day of eating