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>>2813888
Thinking about going to Seoul for a week as a solo traveler. Went to japan recently and I had fun but I want to visit other Asian countries in fall.

1) Any must visits?
2) Must eats?
3) Is it very cold in November? I love cold weather.
4) Are women easy to pick up? ( I am white and I am considered attractive. Been asked out by women of all races and even cat called)
5) Hows the train system? Can I get by without using a taxi?
6) Are people rude in Seoul?

>>2814016
Fuck off sex tourist

1. Jejudo
2. Tteokbokki. It's like the one food item that isn't over- or under-rated. It's perfectly appropriately rated.
3. Yes.
4. Hard to say, I'd need to see your face to get a better idea.
5. It's good, but even if you had to take a taxi, they're stupid-cheap.
6. Depends on the age. Anyone in their late teens to mid-50s are rude on purpose. Anyone outside of that age range are unintentionally rude out curiosity. Something like "My, what hairy arms you have!" "What a huge nose!"

>>2814016
1: No
2: Yes
3: Yes
4: If you're black, yes
5: Yes
6: Without joking, yes. By far the grumpiest in all of Asia. Only place where I've had people randomly push me multiple times and cut in front of me for no reason. Even Chinese and Indians are more polite, as ridiculous as that sounds.

I have no notion of what I’d like about Korea beyond food and the drinking culture. What makes people want to go there? I can think of hundreds of reasons to go to Japan, China, various SEA countries, but only the two for Korea. Unless I were significantly rich, they seem like bad reasons to go across the world.

So, genuinely, what’s the deal?

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>>2815019
>I can think of hundreds of reasons to go to Japan, China, various SEA countries
Because you're interested in these places and you can easily think of reasons to go there.
>So, genuinely, what’s the deal?
>they seem like bad reasons to go across the world
Because they're interested in SK and they can easily think of reasons to go there, and for someone interested in SK food they can easily make the justification to fly halfway across the globe just for that reason.
There's the entire Korean media industry and by extension all the dance schools, Korean culture, food, bizarro world DMZ.
If you're like me and also interested in diving, then they also have a 35 meter pool, which is a fun break from the usual reef / shipwreck / cave dive - Japan doesn't have an equivalent and I'm flying to SK next week for this exact reason (plus food and my friend's wedding).
You can name a hundred different sights in Japan but for someone who isn't particularly interested in Japan, they will tell you the same thing - bad reason to go across the world.
The same person can name a hundred different sights in SK and you'd be scratching your head wondering what those places are.
t. don't care about SK and live in Japan, just using these two places as an example.

>>2815034
I wish I still had the mind of a child like you.

>>2815039
>place bad
>do not want go
>why people go
>name a bunch of reasons why others might want to go
>wah child
Bravo.

>>2815034
>The same person can name a hundred different sights in SK and you'd be scratching your head wondering what those places are.
When I’ve asked people irl who express an interest in Korea they just say things like “food,” and “K-pop.” I’m sure there are people who have more of a reason (ethnic Koreans for instance) for such interest, but I haven’t had the opportunity to ask.

I guess I’m “interested” in Korea insofar as I realize that this is a blind spot for me and want to correct it.
>>2815040
NTA, not sure what he means by childish. If you live in Japan and are into diving, flying to Korea for that pool isn’t outrageous

>>2815019
>I have no notion of what I’d like about Korea beyond food and the drinking culture. What makes people want to go there?
the food and the drinking culture

it's one of the most fun places in Asia to visit. if you want to go see temples and shrines go to Japan, if you want to see nature go to China, if you want to eat and have fun go to Korea. couple that with the fact that it's a safe and developed country while being much cheaper than the west, and I think that's enough of a reason.

women also go for shopping (Korea is big in cosmetics, fashion, etc.) plus all the stupid kpop shit, but I assume this does not interest you

>>2815050
>war, history
DMZ, museums
>nature / outdoors
Jeju, Nami, Busan
>food
Night markets
>culture
Preserved/reconstructed towns/temples/castles, festivals
>modern "culture"?
kpop, clubs
I'm sure you can easily find parallels to other countries, once again I'm going to use Japan because you mentioned it, that you find interesting from this list - DMZ and Hiroshima/Nagasaki, towns/castles/temples/festivals arr rook same, Kyushu and Kagoshima for Jeju and Busan. The Japanese parallels probably sound interesting to you, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Korean parallels do not sound exciting to you, despite both having some similarities. You may have even heard of these places before, but it just never occurred to you as strong enough of a reason why other people bother flying halfway across the globe. Simply just not your thing, nothing wrong with that.
I have the same situation with anything that only involves sightseeing. If you gave me the choice between a month long historical trip around Europe visiting medieval sites and other historical sites, or 3 days snowboarding down Alpe d'Huez, I wouldn't even blink.

>>2814277
I’m South Asian. Do I have a chance?

>>2815101
Only if you know how to make a sick biryani.

>>2815102
I can open an Indian restaurant in Korea? Is that what you’re suggestion?

>>2815110
No, I'm just saying you can redeem yourself in social situations by cooking them a delicious meal.

>>2815099
>You may have even heard of these places before, but it just never occurred to you as strong enough of a reason why other people bother flying halfway across the globe. Simply just not your thing, nothing wrong with that.
Yeah, damn, simple as.
>>2815088
I can accept that Korea has an exceptional party scene, but I can “have fun” eating and drinking just about anywhere

>>2815192
dunno man you can also watch videos of japanese temples on youtube. why travel anywhere

>>2815196
Alright buddy I’m not going to get autistic with you

>>2813888
I'm a communist, where do you recommend I visit specifically in the DPRK?

>>2815280
Is your party affiliated with the IMCWP? If so, you might be able to swing a primo tour for free

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>>2813888
lads I came to Korea and

what the actual fuck is this shit

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>>2815489
Coffee shops in general are just running out of ideas, I guess. I once had an espresso mixed with orange juice in the Czech Republic. This was at a Costa Coffee, so I wouldn't be surprised if it existed in other countries. And yes, it tasted as terrible as it sounds.

>>2815116
I still don’t get you dude. You want me to cook food and stand on the street passing it out to people to make friends? Does this actually work?
Most East Asian women I speak to just simply ignore me and most East Asian men think I’m LGBT if I start speaking to them and tell me I’m not interested.

>>2815768
Never mind, I take everything back. If you're this awkward with online conversations, you're not gonna make it with live in-person conversations.

>>2815770
Thanks for your help I guess

I have 3 months to spend in Korea.
I speak not a lick of Korean.

Where would you recommend staying for cheap?

Busan seems like a nice place. I'd be there in February-April

>>2817495
How cheap? If you want even cheaper than Busan, go to Northeast South Korea, eg. Sokcho.

But if it was me, I would also go for Busan. Much more relaxed vibe compared to Seoul, but not too relaxed. And I just like the views. I would probably spend half of the time based in Suyeong-gu, other half in Nampo-dong.

Download and get used to Papago, it will all be fine.

While South Koreans speak the best English out of East Asians, I would still learn at least "hi, do you speak English?" in Korean. That one expression just gives people a seconds to switch to English-speaking mode.

Or, you can just shove the Papago translation in their faces, people are used to dealing with foreigners and don't mind looking at your phone.

>>2817495
you can get reasonably cheap places in seoul booking 4+ weeks at a time just off of booking.com or such websites. id recommend spending at least half the time in seoul, literally half the population of the country is there/ in its immediate proximity. you wont run out of things to do

you can learn the korean script at least, only take a few hours and its pretty fun to be able to read signs, menus, etc https://www.ryanestrada.com/learntoreadkoreanin15minutes/

>>2817840
Should I learn?
Don't know how much I could learn in such short time (I have like 4 months to learn)
I speak Japanese and have met many Koreans in Japan, they always seemed like the most capable Asians (as far as English goes).

>>2817745
I just realized you answered my question above lol.

Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to learn very basic shit like ''where is x'' ''thank you for your help'' and whanot. I do find it disrespectful to just make people adapt to you rather than the opposite.

What do you think of Geoje?
I found some cheap airbnb there and in Busan. Seoul was a bit tough to find cheaper accommodation but maybe I'm just a retard for looking solely on airbnb - the thing is I'd rather have my own kitchen to cook my stuff.

Also thank you for recommending that place in NE S. Korea, I'll have a look.

I quite literally know (virtually) nothing about Korea. I like war stuff, old historical sites and good food, I'm a simple guy.

No fucks given about wahmen, mongering, kpop and all that jazz.

oh btw >>2817920
what do you guys recommend for physical sim (and eSim)

I had a look online but it looked very expensive to me, I'm probably not looking at decent places

where do you guys recommend for online shopping for groceries in Korea?

basic shit like milk and whatnot

>>2818464
cannot do online shopping without a korean phone number (not tourist sim) which involves having a long-term residence card

>>2818530

Are there really no options that allow me to have a korean number temporarily? Like even if I buy a physical sim?

>>2813888
I think that Seoul and the other big cities feel quite soulless once the facade wears off after the first few days.
There are some cool spots near the DMZ, relating to the war. Museums, tunnels and shit. These were genuinely the highlight of my trip to South Korea.

>>2818880
That's just cities in general.

>>2818840
no, the phone number is a stand-in for identity verification and only the properly registered korean phone numbers are accepted

korean internet and IT is a totalitarian shitshow that is not far from china's but somehow nobody complains about it much

>>2818880
I don't know what you mean by "soul" if you're just listing tourist places that you visited. You wanted even more of those? Yeah Seoul doesn't have much history and it's not an aesthetically beautiful city because it was razed to the ground too many times and then rebuilt when Korea was pretty much a third world shithole.
But to me the city now has way more "soul" than the majority of cities in Asia, and I'm not exaggerating that. The nightlife is world class, the arts are thriving and are really enjoyed by the public (plenty of galleries, exhibitions), there is a nice and lively local music scene often supported by the government in the form of tons of free public performances, there's lots of areas to chill and walk around (parks, pedestrian spaces etc)., and of course the food scene is fantastic.

>>2818953
sounds retarded but thanks a lot for the heads up, I wasn't expecting that at all...

I'm trying to book a place in Seoul and the only options available are:
>hyundai pay
>kimchi pay
>samgyupsal pay
>kakao pay
>samsung pay
>bibimbap pay
>bulgogi pay
>naver pay
I've given up on this particular place, but what about in the city itself? Will I get fucked if I don't prepare at least one of these options? Should I prepare some kimchi in my wallet?

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>>2819360
korea has been the only country i had problems with payments from my card (mastercard, from monzo bank in the uk...). i set up samsung pay on my phone which is no more extensive than setting up google wallet and it still got declined from time to time. useless.
i couldn't really figure anything out because many people dont seem to have any problems so i wasn't too sure, you should probably carry some cash but most of the ATMs have excessive fees so dont do many withdrawals

>>2819411
Not that guy but that's good info.

I'm getting 3 other cards before going to Korea early next year just in case, plus will take some cash.

>>2819411
I never had issues with card payments in Korea and paying by cash is usually inconvenient (most places have touchscreen ordering kiosks)
I only had to pay by cash in the smaller local markets, and to top up the metro card

>>2820135
any other tips for payments?
I never had problems with my cards in Japan.