The Republic of Korea, better known as South Korea, is a country I haven’t traveled to (yet). The plan was to hit up South Korea in 2020 before the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but… you know what happened. Even though during our 11-month stay in Malaysia I kept looking for an opening, South Korea never reopened for tourism during that time. At least not in an affordable way (mandatory hotel quarantine was like €2800 per person from what I remember).
In Malaysia, I got really into k-dramas and soju. I even started learning some Korean on Duolingo and now I can read the alphabet (slowly). I love the language and writing system. It just makes sense! From a k-drama of the same name, I know that I should write my name either as 아이리스 (the English pronunciation of ‘Iris’) or as 이리스 (the Dutch pronunciation of my name). Since the first is the name of an evil cabal in the TV series, I’m not sure if it’s good or bad to use that spelling. Which one should I use in South Korea? Let me know in the comments!
I hope that in the future, you can find posts about South Korea on this page. For now, perhaps read about other countries in Asia, such as Malaysia or Thailand.
Things I’d Like to Do in South Korea
- Hitchhike with the locals! I know there’s a Korean pop song that’s called “hitchhiker”, so perhaps people know what it is?
- Explore the capital Seoul. I mostly want to visit the famous spots from the k-dramas
- Go hiking in the mountains and perhaps paragliding?
- Visit Jeju island and go up mount Hallasan (1947masl)
- I have looked at several rivers in South Korea that look ready to paddle. I’d love to kayak down the Nakdong river
- Learn more and improve my Korean. Hopefully, so I can order vegetarian food (this seems difficult)
Right now, it’s not really interesting for me to do intensive research into visiting this country and gathering information. But once there are ideas of visiting or if I find inspiration, I might add it here.
If you know cool places and things to do in South Korea, comment below so I can always find your suggestions again once I start making the dream come true! Tips are especially welcome if you are Korean or have lived there for a while
Are you a travel blogger and do you have good posts about South Korea? Drop them in a comment below and I’ll read them!
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How the Pandemic Put Me in a Language Learning Crisis
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Pandemic in Penang: A Play-by-Play from Two Digital Nomads in Malaysia
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The Balkan Trail (I Keep Running into the Same People)
Remember this guy from one month ago? His name is Dongbum and he’s from South Korea. We met in Kotor in Montenegro and ran into each other again yesterday in Pogradec, Albania. He also had a hitchhiking sign, so it clicked. There seems to be a kind of Balkan Trail, just like there’s a Gringo Trail in South America and the Hippie Trail in Eurasia. I sometimes look at this map of backpacking trails by Sandalsand to get the big picture. I’m still not sure if where we are now is part of the Balkan Trail, but the coincidence wasContinue reading