The Han Aesthetic: Top 10 Things We Miss About Korea

As many of you know, our time in Korea has sadly come to an end and we've returned back to our family home in London. But of course, after a whopping 36 weeks - 8 months for those of you not fond of maths - we've obviously gotten used to Korean lifestyle and thus have a list of things we miss.

:: A picture from our trip to Jeonju as we look out onto a hanok village and city-scape ::

Since you guys seemed to really enjoy our Top 10 Things We Miss About The UK post, we thought this time round we'd share with you the things we miss about Korea as well.

10. Cheap (Pretty Much) Everything!

We're sure a lot of you are shocked that this is so low on our list since we've told you countless times about the wonders of cheap clothes of Gangnam Station and the low prices of cosmetics from Korea's ever-famous road shops. Not only that, we've purchased a fair amount of tech for a lot lower than we'd have gotten it at home too.

We can't lie, London IS one of the most expensive places to live in the world and South Korea is actually the cheapest, so there's no way all the wonderful and cheap (but good quality) goodies we got could be left out of our list, but at the end of the day, while it's something we love in Korea, it's not why we love Korea. Therefore, all the beautiful, cheap things (that we required 5 suitcases to haul back home) only come in last on our list.

9. Actually Having 4 Seasons

Another big difference between Britain and South Korea is the weather. We know last time we wrote that we missed our crappy weather back home in London, and we honestly did, but we do also love the way Korea actually has 4 distinct seasons.

:: One of the many cherry blossom pictures we took during Spring in Korea at the Han River ::

When we left Korea it was nice, sunny 27*C and when we arrived in the UK on the same day it was a very cold, rainy 13*C... Just like when we left for Korea, it's really hard to adjust to the massive temperature and weather change; as the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side... Not to mention Korea has just started summer whilst the UK is still barely into spring.

The temperature aside, there's not denying that the cherry blossoms in Spring and fallen leaves in Autumn look absolutely beautiful in Korea. There were many occasions when we found ourselves wanting to be outside just to enjoy the scenery, but somehow we don't have that same urge in the UK. Despite living in an area known as the 'Garden of England', somehow it's just not up to par with the scenery Korea has to offer even within the city.

8. Closing Times

Okay, bear with us on this one, we know how utterly ridiculous this sounds, but hear us out!

The thing is, neither of us are particularly morning people... or midday people... or even afternoon people........ In simple terms, don't expect us up before 4pm! If it wasn't a human requirement to be exposed to sunlight to live, we could more or less guarantee we wouldn't see it.

:: Welcoming 2015 at our favourite
restaurant, 2am on New Year's Day ::

However, the problem is that here in the UK, most shops close at 5:30 - 6pm. So after taking out time to shower, eat breakfast and get dressed, we haven't really got much to time to do anything. However in Korea, we have the luxury of most commercial shops staying open until 11pm and most restaurants & convenience stores being 24 hours 7 days a week, and yes that's including bank holidays~!

Honestly, no matter what time of day (or night) it is, the streets in Korea are always buzzing, and it's great for us that we don't have to sacrifice our routine to still be able to go out and get things done. It wasn't odd for us to pop into our favourite restaurants at 2am for 'lunch', but now we're back in the UK, it looks like we'll have to go back to raiding the fridge for our midnight snacks.

7. 'Service!'

And no, we're not talking customer service (thought that's great too;) this is a very unique trait to Korean shops that you can't help but love. When a Korean says they're giving you 'service', essentially what they mean is: 'You brought something in our shop, so allow me to give you tonnes of samples of our other products!' On the one hand, it's a great marketing scheme to get people to try your different products and keep coming back to your store, but on the other hand, who doesn't love free stuff? Sometimes the samples you get seem to be worth more than what you even bought.

You mainly get service in cosmetic shops, but another place you tend to get service is in restaurants. Restaurants (and other places) that you frequent are called your 단골 (Dan-gol*) and you often tend to get friendly with the waiters and waitresses working there. Once they learn your face and you're on good terms, you're more or less signed up for free fizzy drinks and extra side dishes every now and then: we actually have a restaurant where we've never had to pay for drinks!

Unfortunately 'service' isn't really a big thing in retail stores, but if you stop by your local market or underground and buy a lot you may get a free pair of socks or better yet, a discount!

*단골 (Dan-gol) is made from the words 다니다 (Danida) which means 'to go to routinely/on a regular basis,' and 골 (Gol,) the contracted from of 곳을 (Gos-eul) meaning 'place'. So 단골 is literally 'A place you go to frequently/on a regular basis.' However it can also be used to refer to a person/customer that comes around often, eg. "That guy over there is our shop's dan-gol, he comes every Friday without fail!"

6 . Being Able To Travel On A Whim

Without a doubt one of our favourite things about Korea is that there is always something to do! Actually, while we really wanted to go to places like Busan and Jejudo, we ended up barely ever even leaving Seoul for the majority of our trip. Part of it was not having time and money, but more than that, honestly there was just so much to see in Seoul that we didn't even need to leave the fun packed city!

Though we live in London, there isn't much to do outside of central London (or that's affordable,) but we love the way that there is something to do no matter what part of Seoul you are in and there's always something somewhere new waiting for you to explore it. Even after our 8 long months, there's still things we didn't get to see, so we can't wait to go back.

:: Traditional Korean gazebo at the Grand Children's Park which also has a museum and free zoo (amongst other things) ::

Not only that, but seeing how much was hidden in the most obscure parts of Seoul, it's also encouraged to try and travel around our own city and find any hidden wonders it may have in store for us!

5. Our Room & Apartment

If you follow us on Instagram then you're probably aware that we lived in a little apartment with two of our amazing classmates, but we've never really went into detail about our apartment.

Like anyone else, our room is our safe haven and our favourite place to be, it's where we shot all of our indoor videos and where we spent the most of our time. Not only that, but since we were staying in an apartment we really had a lot of freedom with how we decorated our room which we never had at home or university. We still couldn't paint the walls or anything but we had a fun time rearranging furniture and buying stuff for our apartment.

Not just that but our apartment was located in possibly the best location ever! Our apartment was in the heart of Shinchon and just 20 minutes from our department at Yonsei university, but despite being in such a busy area, because it was on a little side-road it still gave us the privacy (and quiet) that we needed. On top of that Shinchon itself is just such an awesome place to live, which brings us to our next point:

4. Shinchon at Night/Night Atmosphere

~~This is actually two points in one but it's our list so we can do that XD~~

Korea at night has got to be one of the best things on earth, honestly there's no other way for us to describe it. We don't know what it is about Seoul compared to other cities but the atmosphere is truly unique. Maybe it's because everyone seems so rushed and busy during the day but night time in Korea feels so relaxed and ethereal. The streets are still bustling and there's so much going on around you but it's still peaceful and refreshing.

In Shinchon and Hongdae especially, since there's so many students night time is a time for them to let loose and enjoy themselves a little after worrying about finding a job in Korea's super competitive job market all day. In Shinchon, the main road from Yonsei's front gate all the way down to Shinchon Rotary is full of buskers with a passion for music or dance or even magic, and alongside them are shopoholics, couples, the groups of friends who haven't seen each other all week long... In short it's a time where everyone comes together.

:: The night view in the backstreets of Shinchon near our home ::

And it's not just in big city areas too, even in the quieter parts of Seoul, night-time is the perfect time to go for a stroll if you just want to have some alone time to think things through or de-stress. Korea as a whole is pretty safe too, even at night so it's one less thing for you to worry about as you get some fresh air and unwind.

Maybe that's an overly poetic way of putting it, but it's also our most sincere expression of how it made us feel.

3. Noraebang

Now, if we're talking about things we love to do in Korea, this has definitely got to be top of the list! Firstly, for those of you unfamiliar with the Korean language, noraebang is the Korean term for karaoke, but there's more! This isn't the kind of karaoke your dad does drunk down the pub on a Saturday night, no friends, this is much, much better.

In Korea there are actually places you can go and rent a booth with a flat screen tv and a karaoke machine with all your favourite K, J, C and American pop songs on it! Not only that, most come fully equip with maracas, tambourines and strobe lights. If you prefer singing by yourself, some even have private booths (really for couples tho) where you can sit in private and sing your heart out. All that for a small fee of $5-15 for 'an hour' (when you really get at /least/ another 40 minutes free; 'Service!')

And remember what we said before about dangol? Our favourite noraebang has given us 3.5 hours free before~ No pop star has ever held a concert for cheaper! ;P

2. The Food

Where do we even start with Korean food? Actually, one great thing about Korea is that it's actually a lot cheaper to eat out than it is to cook, so while we were in Korea we ate out A LOT. While its still not the healthiest option, traditional Korean food is quite healthy and since we always ate out, we had a bunch of chances to try tonnes of different Korean dishes.

:: Harmony tried her hand at making our
favourite dish, the look is perfect but
the taste missed that authenticity ::

Fortunately we're not picky-eaters either so we've tried a bunch of different cuisines, but Korean is without a doubt our absolute favourite. While they do have some mild flavours, Korean food is more often than not on the spicy and savoury side which are our favourite types of food! Honestly, if we were only allowed to each one thing for the rest of our lives, traditional Korean cuisine would be it!

That said, while we're super fond of traditional Korean food, we're not big fans of the overly sweet Korean takes on food from other countries. It seems Koreans really love their sugar, but to each their own.

1. All The Amazing People We Met

We know we joked about missing tea more than family and friends in our last post, but in all sincerity, Korea would have been as amazing an experience for us without all the amazing people we met there...