Tag: Korea

Cruise on the Han River

Published on by stefaniepaikLeave a comment

A unique experience that can be done in Korea is an hour-long cruise on the Han River.

The Han River is a major river in Korea that splits the capital of Seoul into North and South Seoul. The south side of the Han River is lined with pedestrian walkways, public parks, and restaurants. Fun fact, in the 1988 Summer Olympics, the Han River hosted the rowing competition.

The river cruise was super cool! While on the cruise there was live classical music that played Disney songs.

To book the river cruise, a reservation, and payment must be completed online. Then on the day of your reservation, you get to the ticket booth early to check in. Lastly, head to the designated terminal for the cruise.

My cruise was at night, so I was able to see all of the buildings in Seoul lit up. I was even able to see the Namsan Tower. The experience overall was calm and relaxing; especially since it was cold.

A Korean Thanksgiving: Chuseok

Published on by stefaniepaikLeave a comment

In Korea, one of the biggest holidays of the year is Chuseok. While it is commonly called “Korean Thanksgiving”, the holidays don’t have anything in common; both origin and celebration are significantly different. Chuseok is a mid-autumn harvest festival period that aligns on a full moon day. To celebrate a good harvest, it is tradition to visit ancestral hometowns and feast on traditional Korean food such as yakgwa, Korean pear, and rice wine. While not as common now, Korean people wear traditional Korean clothing called hanbok. The two biggest events during Chuseok are to do ancestor memorial services at home and to visit the ancestral graves where family members will clean up their family’s graves. At the graves, meals are placed as offerings to the ancestors. For Chuseok many places close, including schools, banks, post offices, government buildings, stores, and some restaurants.

For Chuseok, I spent 4 days with some of my family members and relaxed. The family I spent time with doesn’t do the ancestor traditions due to the fact that it takes a lot of time and is not very fun, especially for kids. One day I learned how to make a traditional Korean bean paste dessert; that was fun and relaxing. Honestly, they do not taste all that great, but they are super cute decorations.