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What does one do in Seoul?

circumspice

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Well, apart from B&Tailor, that is.

I am looking for any food recommendations, shops or day trips.
 

chobochobo

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Well, I'm in Seoul. Just about to go visit BnTailor. I see you have not had any replies :)
 

Joffrey

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Itaewon is a great neighborhood. Timeout.com is good for ideas
 

circumspice

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I had the misfortune I think of:

Posting this right when StyFo was changing platforms
Continuing to hold out hope that we can bring CM and SWD together into one place for content like this.

Anyhow.

General Seoul thoughts:

Cabs and subways are cheap. Getting to/from Incheon airport is cheap $8-10, be it by the airport train or the limousine bus. The gotcha with the limousine bus is that there are some marked signs for it that are for exiting the bus only... but don't seem to express that concept in English. I was able to get straightened out by one of their bus drivers. I arrived in Seoul, took the airport train to Seoul Station, but struggled awhile with the signage to find the cab stand.

Naver.com is roughly the South Korean google. Your cab driver will likely use this and not Google maps. The takeaway is that your cab driver may have a hard time finding a place if you only have the English address for it.

Google maps doesn't quite work all the ways you'd expect - you cannot use Maps offline as South Korea has security concerns. I like to download a city for use offline on a small wifi only tablet....nope.

Dining solo may not work at Korean BBQ places.

Restaurants seem to move around / web sites may not mean much. There are some places in business who apparently cease operating the web site in your travel guide, there are others' whose sites proclaim locations that seem to no longer exist.

You probably can get measured and 2 fittings done at BnTailor if you have your own fabric. They don't normally do CMT, so you may want to coordinate fabric with them ahead of time (at least a week for them to receive it from Europe)

You may want to download a Seoul metro map, or find a hard copy. The most annoying thing about the Seoul metro is that all the directions are given in the context of other stations that your ***** ass doesn't know the location of. Couple that with it being a very large system, and many subway cars only having full system maps on one side of the car may result in your orienteering yourself line by line ("I made it to line 5.... now I need to find a map to figure out which direction I am going in....").

General East Asian (defined as Japan and S. Korean) travel tips I have found to be true:

Staying in ~3.5 star business hotels has a lot of value - just enough English is spoken at the front desk for you to get cabs to where you need them and your laundry done. The rooms will be clean, and you can be in them for under $100 USD a night.

The food courts in the basements of good department stores are generally air conditioned to acceptable-to-Americans levels, and can often decent to great value.

More later...
 

chobochobo

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@ circumspice. Thanks.

I agree about Google maps - current rules limits the resolution, and directions are limited to public transport - you won't even get walking instructions. Thankfully the public transport directions on google maps are reasonable, and taxis aren't prohibitively expensive.
Foodwise, there's a big range but BBQ or Fried chicken is a staple. Following the local crowds and avoiding tourist traps is the way to go.
 

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