Seoul

Many people have blogged about Seoul, writing about "Seoul Food" or "Lost Seoul" or any number of other double entendres. What strikes me, though, is that Seoul is not so full of soul. This is not an insult--merely an observation. Seoul is often compared to New York City, as both cities are known for their good food, modern sky rises, and economic prosperity. However, Seoul is no concrete jungle. It is a quietly modern city, without the glitz of Hong Kong or the elegance of Singapore. There were very few "wow" moments where a rare sight caught me off guard. Instead, I just enjoyed an easy-going week in a city where the food is excellent, the cafés pop up at least twice on every street corner, the subways are clean and efficient, and the residents are respectful, pleasant, and helpful.

This normalcy is probably why I felt so comfortable there. People didn't follow me around or take pictures of me. The food was abundant, varied, and delicious. There were plenty of sights to see and activities to do that kept us entertained for a week, but in the end the palaces and markets were not so extraordinary that Seoul should be a top destination for sightseers. Instead, we were content to wander from place to place, stopping to smell the coffee. (Which we often did more than once a day, my friends sipping their coffee while I enjoyed a tea.)

I do not feel that Seoul is so "normal" because it is Western, however. Actually, I couldn't help comparing what I saw in Seoul to what I know about China. In my opinion, South Korea has more soft power than China. As China struggles to export its authoritarian government ideas, kitschy 90s sounding pop, or antiquated history TV dramas, South Korea is a hit, given that it succeeds at being both modern and distinctly Korean. Despite one invasion by the Chinese during the Qing dynasty, two invasions by the Japanese (one in the 16th century and a more recent occupation at the beginning of the 20th century), and an epic civil war that led to the divide of the Korean peninsula along the 38th parallel, South Korea has managed to endure and even thrive. While China modernizes by building high rises overnight and establishing more and more KFCs, South Korea has its own food, Korean dramas, beauty products, fashion, and economic success that attract attention from the rest of the world. Advertisements in the subways in China are full of Western or Chinese models, who strive to embody some of the more prominent Western characteristics--light hair, wider eyes, whiter skin. However, though the occasional image of Kate Moss glowed on an illuminated billboard, advertisements in Seoul were full of truly Korean models. They were thinner, more professionally coiffed, heavily made up models to be sure, but the images with which we were bombarded suggested a quiet sense of national and ethnic pride that China seems to lack. Seoul is not a sight-seers haven, but it does have a lot to offer. While I would not recommend spending too much time at any of the palaces (which my friend initially described as "sober" and then upon further prodding dared to say were "a poor man's version of Chinese palaces"), I would recommend a trip.