Traveling - China & SKorea

[pr0ficient]

I'm going to Hong Kong for work in early Spring (March or April) and plan to follow it with a brief holiday in China & SKorea. A few weeks ago I was contemplating taking a short tour of N Korea as well, but I've decided to hold off for obvious reasons.

I want to spend a few days in Hong Kong, then I'd like to travel to a more rural area of China. My final week will be spent in S. Korea where I'll visit Seoul & a friend who lives in Jeon Ju.

Any suggestions for stuff to do in Hong Kong & Seoul (sightseeing, nightlife, etc.)? And what about rural destinations worth visiting in China (i.e. cultural, nature)?

Any and all advice is appreciate,
-Michael

[tiddles]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

in seoul, there's a couple of good clubs: eden in gangnam and volume in itaewon. gyeongbuokgung palace has a crash course on some korean culture and history and is pretty cheap. hit up yongsan for the largest electronics market in east asia. insa-dong is where lots of the korean traditional crafts are sold, they're overpriced, but you can get some cool shit like north korean soldier badges. sinchon, hongdae and gangnam are where you party if you want to meet college girls who want private english lessons in love hotels.

depending on when you come, it might be yellow dust season. so be prepared to have your lungs raped by china's pollution. tours to the DMZ are still running as far as I know.

anyway, let me know when you're in seoul

[djkix]

Re: Advice for traveling in China & Korea

Michael, long time! Awesome, you're going to Korea!
For nightlife, you'll def want to hit up the Hongdae district (my fav place) and you'll immediately see that the crowd that hangs out in Hongdae are diff from the other districts - they're spunky hip. Gangnam (or Kangnam) has mega clubs where they do Korean style "booking" (google it). In Hongdae, there are many smaller clubs anchored by a few big ones. My info is old so I can't guarantee accuracy but I went to a club called Museum in 08 and M2 in 04. Those are the big ones. Then there are smaller ones. I've also had some great times at club M.I., Joker Red, and MWG (Myungwolgwan). Seoul really has a great nightlife with fantastic music. I also enjoyed some great underground hiphop at NB (caught DJ Krush there one time). These are all in Hongdae. If you can, time your trip on the last weekend of the month where on Friday of the last week, there's an event called Club Day in Hongdae where you can buy a pass to hop from club to club. You can read more about it here:

http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20090821000076

Dude, 21 clubs!!!! They've been doing it for quite some time. I did it in 02 and it was awesome.

Other things in Seoul - Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, and Nandaemun for shopping (if you go to Nandaemun during afterhours on weekends, you see lots of outdoor stalls (called pojangmacha) for food and drinks - it's awesome), Seoul Tower on Mt. Namsun or 63 Building, ferry ride on the Han River, Gangnam for drinking and eating, Shinchon for drinking and eating (visit Yonsae univ campus if you want), Ehwa womens univ area (aka Iidae) for shopping that's a bit diff from the other shopping districts, Gyeongbokgung palace, Insadong for old cultural stuff (you should go to a restaurant where they serve royal king's food), Korean War museum (def recommended), Noryangjin for fresh seafood (if ou don't make it down to Busan) that you buy at the market and eat at any of the many restaurants that will prepare the fish for you (go with a local so they can haggle) etc. There's tons to do and it's cheap. And beware of the green bottle. If will seriously mess you up if you're too loose with it. There's also the Folk Village which is a little outside of Seoul. If you like to gamble you can go to Walker Hill casino or Seven Luck casino (make sure to take your passport). If you have a friend with military access, then ask for entrance into the US base in Itaewon. Lots of ppl also like going to Coex mall... a gigantic... well, mall. If you're into amusement parks, there's Lotte World.

One thing that I'll recommend is to study up on the city/country that you're visiting before you get there (buy necessary guidebooks, hit internet sites for tourism) and also search for expat forums. Those have a wealth of local info that you wouldn't be able to get here. Do pick up maps at the airport (for Seoul, pick up a free copy of Beetle Map).

Have fun! Message me on FB if you have any questions. I'm not on MS regularly so I may miss it.

[Dhar_2]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

go to hong kong island.

keep an eye out for whos playing, try volar.

otherwise if u like fancy "in" bars there dragon eye.

otherwise in that zone there is a hundred and one bars/restaurants toget hammered in

[Jenks]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

I hear North Korea is nice this time of year.

[floridaorange]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

^Great snowboarding

[DancingQueen]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

I can't say Korea is a place I would want to be visiting right now with so much up in the air after the recent firings between N and S Korea...

[pr0ficient]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

@ tiddles: thanks for the advice. gyeongbuokgung looks like a must, especially after reading more about it on wikipedia. I'll definitely be looking up those clubs and the electronic market you mentioned. I've been reading a lot about the DMZ tours, but what's drawn my attention the most are the tours to Kaesong. http://www.northkorea1on1.com/cities.cfm?cid=kaesong has a 1 and 2 day tour for a reasonable price. I'm not drawn to NKorea for any particular reason except for the fact that it will be a very interesting & unusual experience. Do you have any knowledge of these types of tours to Kaesong?




@ djkix: Hey Kihun, thanks for chiming in--I was planning to get a hold of you one way or another. Your advice last time around proved to be invaluable!

I definitely like hearing that the nightlife & music in Seoul is good. I'm going to start googling the places on your list this week. I'll have 4-5 nights around JeonJu followed by another 4-5 nights in Seoul. I'm thinking that sightseeing & shopping during the day and partying up each night will be my routine. I'm also really looking forward to the food there, I have heard many good things--especially about the fresh & 'still moving' octopus. I've learned that eating in Asia is worth the trip there alone. I doubt I'll have time to go to Busan, but I'll be sure to make a trip to the Noryangjin fish market. Is it similar to the Tokyo fish markets? Do they eat the same type of dishes? Is sushi popular? Sashimi?

Booking clubs? Now after reading up on this it seems a bit odd. Are all clubs like this? Have you done this before--what's your opinion? Also, what is the green bottle you're referring to?

Anyways, I appreciate the advice. As I go through your list of suggestions I'm sure I'll have some more questions. My friend from Jeon Ju will probably be going to Seoul with me as well, so it will be nice to have someone familiar with the city showing me around for once.

Nice to hear from you, I'll keep in touch! -Michael



@ Dhar Thanks for the info. Hong Kong island looks massive. After looking at its myspace page, Volar looks like it draws some quality DJs. It says it's a 'members only' club. Do you know what this means?

[floridaorange]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

You might get some useful info about the cuisines in Korea from this episode of "Bizarre Foods."

[pr0ficient]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

You might get some useful info about the cuisines in Korea from this episode of "Bizarre Foods."

Hey John, thanks for the post. The moving octopus in video 1 is exactly what I'm talking about. I think that has got to be a lot of fun to eat.

[floridaorange]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

^Your welcome, also watch video #5. That's the other video with specific restaurants and it even shows how locals search the internet for those hard to find restaurants with the best food, like BBQ'd eel.

I'm going to try Kimchi thanks to these vids

[tiddles]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

Noryangjin is where you can find the octopus. it's pretty tasty. I don't know anything about Kaesong, it sounds like soemthing a friend of mine did though.

The booking clubs are pretty stupid for foreigners IMO. The places that get international DJs are just like western clubs, dress nice and don't look like you're in the army and they'll let you in no problem. The bars in hongdae/sinchon have some decent hiphop bars, too.

http://partyluv.com/ has got most of the club listings, but they usually only book stuff 3 -4 weeks in advance. Eden is the best club in Seoul for house/techno IMO. Foreign Djs usually place from 2-4/5am. I just missed François K's gig a few weeks ago Diggers and sasha both came through last year and are due for a come back sometime soonish hopefully.

the green bottle is Soju it hurts

[feather]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

@ Dhar Thanks for the info. Hong Kong island looks massive. After looking at its myspace page, Volar looks like it draws some quality DJs. It says it's a 'members only' club. Do you know what this means?

It usually means just that ... you either get a member to bring you in, or you tell them you want a table which costs a lot of money 'cos that means you'll be buying bottles of alcohol ...

Which part of China are you visiting?

[pr0ficient]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

It usually means just that ... you either get a member to bring you in, or you tell them you want a table which costs a lot of money 'cos that means you'll be buying bottles of alcohol ...

Which part of China are you visiting?

I have a few days of work in Hong Kong, Jinan, and/or Shanghai.

Then for holiday, I'm thinking Hong Kong, Guilin (and the surrounding scenic areas), and maybe Shanghai if I have time. Hong Kong is a definite, but the rest is still up in the air. I keep reading great things about Guilin, and I especially like the fact that it's only a short flight from Hong Kong. As much as I'd like to go to more rural areas, I don't have enough time to waste 10-20hrs on a bus or train.

Have you been to Hong Kong? How does it compare to Shanghai? I love mega cities, and while I'd like to visit the most populated city in the world, if I had to pick between the two I'd probably go with Hong Kong. It just looks so beautiful, vibrant, & exciting!

[bobjuice]

Re: Traveling - China & SKorea

Great stuff Michael. Never been to either myself so i can't offer much in the way of advice. Just hope you have a great time which i'm sure you will.

Travel well and good luck mate.