We left Hong Kong in the very early hours of the morning to fly to Seoul, South Korea. Phoebe, an avid K-pop fan, has been excited about Korea from the moment we left and I am pleased to report that it has fulfilled her expectations! I have also finally given in to watching Squid Games to ensure I get the full Korean experience. The first thing that struck us on arriving was the cold! The daily temperature hovered around zero but Seoulites are prepared with their hand warmers and duvet duffel coats. Some of the metro seats and benches at bus stops have heated seats, which was a welcome discovery.

Seoul is like stepping into the future, full of sky scrapers and LED signs. Craig is our family navigator which I am very pleased about here as the metro system appears to need its own qualification to travel on it – there are 23 lines and nearly 770 stations with numerous entrances and exits. We also used many buses, the city is massive!

Our first day out was to a temple for a dose of culture then to Gangnam. We all know what that area is famous for and they even have a ‘Gangnam Style’ statue that plays the tune, I attempted the dance with Phoebe but I think she was embarrassed of my Mum moves and ran off before we got to the finale. The malls (as per the rest of Asia) are full of all the cute characters so we often get stuck browsing teddy capybaras and the like. We visited Starfield Library, the biggest library I have ever seen, with escalators, books to the 2nd story ceiling and a Starbucks.

Gyeongbokgung Palace was another day out where the girls wore traditional Hanbok dresses and twirled around like princesses. I declined this experience, being way past my pretty dress era. 

We visited the Demilitarized Zone (a buffer zone between South and North Korea). The area is heavily militarised and we had to visit on a tour group whereby soldiers checked our passports and our group was constantly counted to ensure no there were no defectors to the north! We were not allowed to take any photos towards North Korea but we saw it through binoculars and climbed through the 3rd tunnel which was built by North Korea for invasion and discovered by the South in the 70s. 

We have yet to fully appreciate Korean cuisine as it is hard to find a restaurant to cater to all of our needs but we have had plenty of fried chicken, corn dogs and some Michelin starred dumplings. 

You know how you meet someone on holiday then never see them again? Well, I saw a Facebook post from someone we met on holiday 6 years ago (and have not been in touch with since) of them doing the Gangnam dance under the statue, it turns out that they had just moved to Seoul! It led to us getting in touch and having a great day catching up at a trampoline park. 

South Korea is another hit for us! Our next stop will be on a bullet train to Busan in the south.