Things You Must “See/Eat/Do” in Korea

Hi, everyone. This time I want to tell you something that you must see, eat and do in Korea. They are all my favorites. Here we go ;^)

<SEE>

-Part <SEE> contains some place that I want to recommend.

1. Palaces

: There are five palace in Seoul. Deoksugung(덕수궁), Gyeonghuigung(경희궁), Gyeongbokgung(경복궁). Deoksugung(덕수궁), Changgyeonggung(창경궁), Changdeokgung(창덕궁). In Seoul, most buildings are modern style. However, these palaces are traditional Korean style of architectures. I wish you could feel traditional Korean feeling by seeing them. There are opening palace at night four times a year. If you want to enter at night, you need to get ticket before you go. It I also very popular for Koreans so it is very hard to get ticket. I recommend to go there in the daytime and see there wearing hanboek.

2. Jeju Island

: Jeju is very beautiful island. Many Koreans visit there for resting because its mood is peaceful. There are Cheonjiyeon falls, Seongsan illchullbong turf cone and etc. Especially I recommend Udo island near Jeju island. It is called liitle Jeju.

3. Gyeongju

: Gyeongju was the capital of Silla. So there are very various remains. Especially, there are Bulguksa Temple, Seokguram and Observatory. Silla was religious nation and their religion was Buddhism. So there are huge Buddhism remains like Bulguksa and Seokguram. Meanwhile, Gyeongju observatory is the oldest observatory in the eastern countries. In Gyeongju, You can see very old ruins and the origin of Korea.

<EAT>

-Part <EAT> contains some foods that I want to recommend.

1. Soy sauce marinated Crab (간장게장)

: Soy sause marinated Crab has nickname. It is meal thief. Because it is very delicious, people eat very fast when they eat rice with soy sauce marinated crab. Koreans eat this like this : put rice on the shell of soy sauce marinatied crab and mix rice with crab meat and guts. I recommend this strongly.

2. Korean sausage and rice soup (순대국)

: Korean sausage is called Sundae. It is chitterlings with noodle. You could think strange but believe me! It’s very delicious. Korean sausage and rice soup is very popular. When Koreans drunk, they overcome a hangover with this soup.

3. Grilled pork belly (삼겹살)

: It goes without saying that Grilled pork belly is the favorite food for Koreans. I think you already know this food, so I will tell you to eat grilled pork belly more delicious. When you grill meats, put Kimchi and seasoned bean sprouts with them. And eat pork with grilled kimchi and seasoned bean sprouts and rice wrapped in lettuce leaves. I’m sure that you can’t stop to eat them ;)

<DO>

-Part <DO> contains some culture that I want to recommend.

1. Memorial Service (제사)

: In Korea, there is memorial service for ancestors. Not just for one person, It is for their family’s ancestors. It is because of influence of Confucianism. Of course, some family don’t do memorial service like Christians. However, most family do this. That’s why every family member gathers together on Korean’s holiday like Chuseok and New Year’s day. There is some rule for preparing food and its position. The oldest man lead the memorial service.

2. Games that Korean play when they drink.

: If you go to drink in Wangsimni on the beginning of spring semester, you recognize the pubs are too noisy. That’s because some students play games. Especially university students play games when they drink. When they enter the university and meet each other at the first time, they play games together and become familiar. I heard there are some games like poker in western countries. However, we don’t need any cards or tool. We just play game with clap or song. For example, there is strawberry game. The first person say one strawberry with clap and beat like this : clap clap clap “strawberry”. then next person say one more strawberry that before like this : clap clap “strawberry” “strawberry”. The beat is made of four times of claps. When it is the fifth person’s turn, we have to plus four times of clap like this : “strawberry” “strawberry” “strawberry” “strawberry” /clap clap clap “strawberry”. The latter part is same as what we do first time. When someone say eight times of strawberry, next person say one less strawberry like this : “strawberry” “strawberry” “strawberry” “strawberry”/ clap “strawberry” “strawberry” “strawberry”. do on and on fast. It is the easiest one.