South Korea

With all of the North Korean threats these days, Japan and South Korea may sound like unsafe places to be traveling. However, despite missiles flying over Japan while we were there and Trump threatening war on Kim Jong Un, it really didn't seem more at risk than the US and life continued on as usual.

Jeju

Jeju is an island off of South Korea that is known as the "Hawaii of Korea" and I have to agree with the comparison. It's a volcanic island with gorgeous beaches and all of the modern Korean amenities. Koreans travel here regularly to get better air quality and explore the natural wonders. I have never seen more selfie poles and I have never had less shame taking pictures of any and everything.

Sinead had a list of cities that were good for digital nomads and had mentioned some of the places to me a while back. On that list was Jeju, which is also famous for its haenyeo divers. Once we researched the island and divers more, it was obvious that this was going to be our destination.

Haenyeo are women free divers whose tradition dates back over 200 years. They dive up to 60 feet deep for 2-3 minutes (and are trained to hold their breath up to 10 minutes) without air tanks and collect shellfish, octopus, and seaweed to sell. They hand the tradition down through their daughters and are the primary breadwinners of the family in this partly matriarchal society. Legend has it that it used to be men's work but because all the men had to join the army, women took it up and it turned out the women were better at it. These women have such basic equipment and dive nearly everyday up into their 80s and 90s!

We had the opportunity to see the haenyeo in action despite the high swells. These badass 50-80 year olds geared up and dove in the water without hesitation.

Gearing up

Caught an octopus!

Another octopus

Sinead in pure heaven

We got to learn their techniques and some of the sea life that they catch. We caught turbin shellfish (Sinead's a pretty good free diver and found many more than me) but didn't manage to snag an octopus despite Sinead chasing one for awhile. The haenyeo went in the water for less than 3 minutes and had already grabbed an octopus.

We ate these fresh caught turbin shells raw on the spot

Besides the haenyeo, we explored some of the beautiful beaches of Jeju. We were there in the off season so they weren't crowded. Plus Asians aren't big on actually going into the water or sun bathing, so the beach scene is very different. The white sand beaches were incredible and a lot of the sand was actually a ton of teeny tiny seashells.

The giant loud speakers on the beach making periodic announcements reminded us that Korea isn't entirely free of its autocratic past.

I pulled Sinead away from the beach and made her "hike" with me to get a view of a giant crater and the city. In reality, it consisted of walking up and down a thousand steep stairs. The aerial view (which we didn't see) is more impressive than the land view though. Typical Sinead was unimpressed and hurried back down to spend more time with the local divers of this area, trying to learn about what they caught that day.

Aerial view taken from the internet

Our actual view

But this view is pretty nice

Only the beginning of the descent

Our small hotel/homestay had the sweetest and most helpful owner. He spoke little English but told us how as a teen he was an aspiring pop star and serenaded us with his singing skills. He's also an artist and photographer, so Sinead had a pretty big soft spot for him. It made our stay super enjoyable. The view at the place wasn't bad either.

Haenyeo house on the hotel property since a group of them dive right outside

We went on a real hike over a hill from the hotel to town that was covered in purple wildflowers. It was good to be back in nature after all our time in Tokyo.

Pocket wifi is everywhere in Japan and Korea, including Jeju. So Sinead had high speed internet to work from anywhere. This freedom was amazing. I see why this was a top digital nomad destination on the list. Even so, it's relatively undiscovered and we saw no other Americans and very few westerners at all.

We both wanted to stay in Jeju longer (there were a lot more waterfalls and swimming holes to explore), but unfortunately already had everything booked for Seoul.

YOLO

Seoul

I found Japanese people to be more polite and respectful than anticipated. On the contrary, I found Korean people to be bigger, louder, and have less public etiquette than expected. It was still a super friendly environment, but the contrast from Japanese culture was a shock to me. There were many more similarities to Americans than Japanese, even though their countries almost touch.

I captured the matching parent/child outfit but unfortunately didn't get a picture of any of the matching couples. It's a really popular thing to do.

Everything in Seoul was the trendiest thing you have ever seen. There were tons of cute cafes, restaurants, rooftop bars, and brunch spots.

Custom cocktails in a to-go pouch to drink as you wander the neighborhood

 

All of these cafes are super chill and let you hang out as long as you want. So Sinead got more solid work time in while I planned more of our trip.

Plastic surgery is rampant in Seoul and people shamelessly walk around with fresh bandages from nose jobs, chin jobs, face lifts, eye corrections...you name it. I didn't get any pictures.

The shopping was endless and relatively cheap compared to American shopping. American thrift shops are all the rage as is clothing with English phrases on it. More often than not though, they got the wording incorrect...

K-pop is everything in Korea and there were groups of youth doing organized singing and dancing all over the streets. There are performance stages setup throughout the neighborhoods and all the cliques perform regularly. It was really catchy and fun. Sinead has a growing obsession with k-pop now.

To get our dog fix without the fear or ring worm, we went to a dog cafe. We officially became crazy dog ladies. But, it also reminded us both that Sinead is still pretty allergic to them and just in denial.

I'm not a big fan of Korean food. My palate and kimchi are extremely incompatible. The foods are very spicy and fatty and there is a lot of red meat and pickled vegetables (yuck). I was missing Japan. Sinead, on the other hand, loved Korean food and the boisterous energy of BBQ places and street food markets. At least the desserts were good!

Sooooo many instant noodles

My dream come true: blueberry and green tea soft serve

Basically donuts but better

Fresh honeycomb soft serve. Seoul is really big on honey.

The Korean BBQ experience I could get behind. Everyone goes in a group and drinks soju (basically rice based vodka) and beer and socializes while barbecuing. It's pretty fun.

Note how fatty of a cut of meat that is.

Seoul is huge. We went to different neighborhoods throughout the city and all of them were popping. We explored Hongdae where the 20 year olds hang out, Gangnam (of Gangnam style) where the fashionistas hang out, Ewha where the studious women hang out, Itaewon where the internationals and gays hang out, and Myeongdong where the street food lovers hang out. We even took the subway and got off at a random stop one day just to explore somewhere new without tourists around. Everywhere we went was clean and safe and fun to explore.

All the youth

Ancient meets modern

 

The small gay neighborhood was very quiet during the day but popping at night

Street food stalls for days

One of the highlights of Seoul was going to the night market. There was a bustling strip of food stalls selling Korean pancakes, noodles, meats, live octopus (you literally eat it while it squirms), and seafood. It was full of almost exclusively locals, and a lively energy that made you feel excited. Sinead was stoked on this place. She wanted to chat with everyone and make friends with every Korean woman running each stall. It was a blast and the only thing that kept us from staying all night was how overly full were were after stall-hopping.

Next we headed back to the US so that I could work for a week and keep my job!

Waving and bowing to us on the runway as our plane left - just like Japan