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Travel Planning: Fall in Asia Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo Recap: Time in Tokyo Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul Recap: Time in Seoul Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui Recap: Time in Hong Kong Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO After a few days in Seoul, we were headed to Hong Kong flying Cathay Pacific in Business Class. Hong Kong was probably the city I was most excited to visit while Seoul was the city I found least interesting, so I was ready to get on this flight! We left our hotel extremely early in the morning to catch the airport bus and experienced a lovely tour of Seoul while picking up the rest of the passengers at their hotels. Finally, we were on the road to Incheon. For those who don’t know, Incheon literally couldn’t be farther from Seoul if it tried - I couldn’t believe how far away it is for being Seoul’s most major airport. I think it took about an hour to get there once we made the last pick-ups in Seoul proper, maybe a little less, so I could be exaggerating a bit, but I really appreciate cities with airports actually in the city! Anyways, we arrived at Incheon Airport and checked in fairly quickly, which was nice, but then we were met with one of the longest lines for immigration I have ever seen. Apparently the 2014 Asian games were going on, so there were a TON of people flying through Seoul. Luckily, we got to the airport plenty early, so once we finally made it through the line, we headed straight for the Cathay Pacific lounge. The lounge is located in Concourse A up an escalator from the departure floor on level 4 near gate 118. You'll even find a cardboard cutout of a Cathay flight attendant showing you where to go.  ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Entrance I honestly don’t know what I was expecting, but I guess I was expecting too much. The lounge is very small and really nothing special. That being said, it is quiet and there are free snacks/drinks, so might as well sit here rather than at the gate! The lounge had 3 seating areas and a small area with snacks and drinks. Since it was early in the morning, there were breakfast dishes out. These included lots of breads, some cereal, probably some sort of congee or something (although I can’t remember), and hard boiled eggs. Then, there were also some salads and cup noodles and snack foods like nuts, pastries, pretzels, and… chips and salsa? I love chips and salsa, so even though it was 9AM and I was in South Korea, I was all over that. There was also a selection of juices, milk, soda, coffee, tea, liquor, and I think some beer in the refrigerators.  ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Seating  ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Seating  ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Food Selection  ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Seating  ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Food Selection  ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Food Selection  ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Food Selection Overall, the lounge is underwhelming just because it’s small and doesn’t have much going on, but if you have access, it’s a good place to kill time before a flight. We were there before it got too busy, but it did start filling up, so keep in mind that it will likely be a bit busy if you visit anytime other than early morning or late evening.
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Travel Planning: Fall in Asia Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo Recap: Time in Tokyo Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul Recap: Time in Seoul Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui Recap: Time in Hong Kong Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO All told, we spent about 2 days and 3 nights in Seoul and to be honest, it was plenty. I didn’t particularly love anything about Seoul and wasn’t really that excited about visiting. We were mostly there because of the way our award ticket routing worked out. The one thing I was dying to do while we were there was to visit the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, which is only about 1.5 hours North of Seoul. Chris and I both have a weird fascination with North Korea, so it was a given that we would want to check this out. Not only did we want to see the DMZ, but the area that’s actually the coolest is the Joint Security Area, which is where you can see the North and South Korean soldiers facing each other and you can technically set foot in North Korea when you’re inside of a conference room. We had initially booked a tour to see both the DMZ and JSA through Viator, but it was cancelled a few days after booking. Apparently, we were visiting near to a Korean holiday and the JSA would be closed for something like a month because of it, so even if we went another day, it wouldn’t have been possible to see. We were a bit disappointed, but went on the tour anyway. The tour company picked us up directly from our hotel and after making a few other stops, we were on our way to the DMZ. Our first stop was Imjingak, which is a park with war artifacts and the Freedom Bridge, which POWs crossed on their way back to freedom. From there, we headed to an area built around one of the infiltration tunnels discovered by the South Koreans. The North Koreans actually tried to tunnel into South Korea, but many of the tunnels were discovered and then completed by South Korea so they could be blocked off. We put on some hard hats and took a walk down into a long, dark tunnel to see where it had been blocked off, then trekked back up the steep tunnel, which was surprisingly tough. After that, we headed to Dora Observatory, which would allow us to see over into North Korea with binoculars, but unfortunately the weather that day was misty and foggy, so we couldn’t see anything. Our last stop was Dorasan Station, which is essentially a train station used by workers who move between North and South Korea. After the DMZ tour and back in Seoul, while they had a captive (literally) audience, the tour company awkwardly took us to what was essentially a ginseng exhibition hall where employees educated us about how ginseng is grown and then tried very hard to sell it in every possible shape or form.  The first of many temples at Imjingak  Soldier with strange likeness to Kim Jong Il at Imjingak  I want to go to Pyongyang!  Our view of North Korea Once we escaped the ginseng exhibition, we were dropped off in central Seoul and set off to find lunch. A coworker of Chris’ gave us a list of recommendations for Seoul and we ended up at Mr. Pizza, which is a Korean pizza chain that caters to women. Chris was really excited to visit, which just goes to prove that he’s half female. It was kind of odd, but the pizza was decent and we honestly weren’t quite ready to foray into Korean food just yet. After lunch, we walked along Cheonggyecheon Stream, which was created as part of a urban renewal project and was quite beautiful. Fittingly, on that rainy day, there were hundreds of umbrellas hung over the top as some sort of art installation, which was really cool looking.  Cheonggyecheon Stream  Cheonggyecheon Stream As our last stop of the day, we decided to head over to the War Memorial of Korea, which was housed in quite an imposing building and was a pretty extensive museum covering much of South Korea’s history up to the Korean War. The exhibits were in Korean and English, so we could at least read things, which was nice, and it was also free. Worth a visit, but I doubt you’ll have patience for all of the exhibits. That night, we were so tired that we just skipped dinner and went straight to bed.  Ship outside of the War Memorial of Korea The next morning, we decided to visit the two main palaces in Seoul, Changdeokgung and Gyeongbokgung, which are located next to each other near downtown Seoul. We started with Changdeokgung. The various temples were beautiful, but the design doesn’t vary at all, so they are all the same colors and have the same look. After a while, the design gets a bit old and there’s not much to see. We made it out of the palace and wandered through a bit of Bukchon Hanok Village, which is a historic neighborhood with the highest concentration of traditional homes. After this, we were a little palace’d out, but decided to see Gyeongbokgung just in case it was something really good. Sure enough, the buildings had similar designs to the first palace, but the grounds were much more beautiful and we liked it much more. If you’re trying to decide which to visit, go with Gyeongbokgung.  Changdeokgung Palace Entrance  Chris at Changdeokgung Palace  Gyeongbokgung Palace  Gyeongbokgung Palace After our busy morning, we decided to try out some Korean BBQ for a late lunch. We found a place that looked like it might have some English on the menu and sat down. Neither Chris nor I have ever had Korean BBQ before, so we ordered and then literally had no idea what to do once the food came. We knew we were supposed to cook our own food, but we didn’t know when you were supposed to start or how high to turn the burner on or anything. So we kind of just sat there trying to find someone nearby who was cooking to use as an example or trying to find someone who spoke English that we could ask. Unfortunately, there was no one. After a while, our waitress came back (she spoke zero English) and said some things in what sounded like very exasperated Korean. She started cooking stuff for us and we basically gave her sheepish looks and tried to apologize for our ignorance. That was enough Korean food for me!  Korean BBQ Seoul was an interesting city, but is definitely not a place I feel the need to return to. I’m sure I would like a smaller Korean city more, so maybe someday, but on this trip, we were happy to be heading to Hong Kong early the next morning.
또봐요 Travel Planning: Fall in Asia Review: LAX Star Alliance Lounge Review: Singapore Airlines Suites Class LAX - NRT Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo Recap: Time in Tokyo Review: HND JAL First Class Lounge Review: JAL Business Class HND - GMP Review: IP Boutique Hotel Seoul Recap: Time in Seoul Review: ICN Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class ICN - HKG Review: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui Recap: Time in Hong Kong Review: HKG Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Review: Cathay Pacific First Class HKG - SFO Background First, a little background on the (very special) IP Boutique Hotel in Seoul... As you will remember, we chose to stay at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. By we, I mean Chris. He was dead set on staying at the Park Hyatt, but I was just not willing to pay for half of the stay (it's exorbitantly expensive). Unfazed, Chris decided that since we had three nights in Tokyo and three in Seoul, I could pay for the Seoul hotel and he would pay for Tokyo. As long as he could stay at the Park Hyatt, I was free to choose literally any hotel in Seoul. Even a hostel. I accepted the challenge and found the best hotel I could under $200 a night - enter: the IP Boutique Hotel. The Hotel Online, the hotel looked quirky and kind of fun. The rooms are decorated in a very interesting way. Admittedly, the design wasn't quite what we were used to, but I thought it could be fun. After combing through Trip Advisor and Hotels.com reviews, I decided it was at least decent, so I booked it. After finding a 15% off coupon for Hotels.com (seriously, always Google for a coupon code before booking ANYTHING), I ended up paying $158/night for 3 nights. I was satisfied. We arrived at the hotel around 8 PM after our flight in to GMP. Traffic was absolutely insane and it took almost two hours for us to get from the airport (which is much closer to the heart of Seoul than ICN) to the hotel. The hotel is located in Itaewon, which is an area of Seoul known for having a lot of expats, which we figured meant we could find some different food and some English speakers. We actually liked the area a lot. It was lively and had a ton of choices for restaurants, bars, and shops. The hotel was also about a 5-10 minute walk from Itaewon Station, which was super convenient for getting around the city. Your first impression (and your last impression) of the hotel will be almost an assault of color and odd design choices. Coming from the Park Hyatt, we literally could not have found something more different. Gone was understated, muted luxury. It was replaced with rainbow colors, white leather, and glass and mirrors. So much glass and so many mirrors. The lobby was something. It had several hanging swings along the side of one wall, a lot of mirrors, and various pieces of funky artwork. After such a long taxi ride from the airport, we were pleased that check in was very easy. The front desk agents spoke English and processed us quickly. Somehow (I have no idea how), we had even been upgraded to a suite. We took the elevator up to the third floor (which had a bit of a funny smell) and were greeted with a dark hallway. We made it to our room and were met with some combination of sterile, yet rainbow decor (if that exists). The furniture was all completely white. The chair and sofa in the living room were white leather. All of the furniture in the bedroom was white. The color was on the floor and in the accents around the room. Bright red carpet, a giant strawberry decal on the wall over the bed, a rainbow comforter. It was really quite something.  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Living Room  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Living Room  IP Boutique Hotel Lobby  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Bedoom  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Bedoom  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Bedoom After getting over the initial shock of the decor, the hotel really is completely functional and wasn't bad at all. For the price, you really couldn't beat it and it had everything we needed. The hotel offers free wifi, which is awesome, and the room has everything you would need. We had a safe, two TVs, a closet, a desk, a nice bathroom and there was also a coffee maker, free water bottles, and a minibar. The bathroom was one for the books. It's just glass and mirrors. Luckily, the glass is frosted, but not all the way up or down. The glass also doesn't extend all the way to the ceiling. This means that the bathroom is not enclosed. At all. This means that "bathroom sounds" can be heard with absolutely no effort whatsoever by anyone sitting in the bedroom. You'll want to be very secure with the person you're staying in this room with. The bathroom leaves almost nothing to the imagination and I was certainly not prepared for it. That being said, it was still nice. We had a large tub, the shower had a nice rain shower head, and the toilet was Japanese, so it had all the bells and whistles you could ever need.  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Minibar  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Bathroom  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Bathroom  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Shower  IP Boutique Hotel Suite Toilet At the end of the day, we had a decent place to stay and it was cheap. Would I stay here again? Probably not. It was a bit too weird for my taste and I probably would just bite the bullet and spend a bit more if I ever find myself back in Seoul. However, it honestly wasn't bad and if you're okay with funky decor and an exposed bathroom experience, go for it - the location was great, the hotel was clean and the wifi was free.
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