OCTOBER 4, 2026: EXPLORING SEOUL… SLOWLY

Given Mike’s physical condition, we decided to go easy today (and for the remaining two days)—use taxis to eliminate hundreds of stairs on the subway; visit museums to minimize street walking; etc.

So off we went to the Leeum Museum, which is really three museums in one– connected below ground. Above ground were three totally distinct buildings–each by a starchitect! France’s Jean Nouvelle, Switzerland’s Botta, and Netherlands’ Rem Koolhaus. The entry is into the Koolhaus building through a ramp that takes you below grade level. Once in the lobby you can move between the three buildings seamlessly. If you never went above ground you might not know there were three buildings— well not exactly since the walls and spaces are different but truly it feels like a single building. It’s located in the Hamman-dong area–an upscale neighborhood with high end houses and shops.

We strolled the museum’s different exhibits–traditional Korean art, contemporary, and a special exhibition of place-based works by women artists.

We then hopped into a taxi (I’m getting to be a whiz with K-Ride) to visit the Korea Craft and Design Foundation which turned out to be in Insadong, the opposite part of the city, so once again we drove through areas we had not yet seen. The taxi driver dropped us off at a nondescript building which was closed and we realized it was not the right location. Fortunately the real location was only about a 10-munute walk. And frankly when we got there, it was a big disappointment. But we strolled the walking streets of the neighborhood which were packed with people on this bright sunny Sunday. And we stopped briefly in a tiny cafe to get a light lunch of gimbap. And then we walked some more… a lot more, since we couldn’t request a taxi until we were on a regular street and that took a while.

After a short respite at the hotel, we headed for dinner at Jin Ok Hwa — apparently a Seoul landmark that originated the neighborhood’s iconic “dakhanmari” — WHOLE chicken soup. Since it was about 8 pm, we walked down a fairly dark covered alley lined with shops with fish tanks and food stalls (mostly closed at this time of night—all the wares were on tables covered with simple cloths—clearly no fear of theft) until we found a crowd of people waiting patiently in the drizzling rain, for a table at Jin Ok Hwa. We joined that group of folks waiting as we peeked in to see what was in store for us. At first we didn’t even know how to get on the waiting list. But someone took us by the hand and got us a “number” and we waited to be called. It was pretty obvious that we were the only foreigners and probably the only “newbies.” The place is three floors of eating for this one restaurant. We calculate about 250 people eating on the three floors at any one time And it is open until 1 am every day. And it was packed. And it’s been around since 1978.

There’s no need for a menu because all they serve is a whole chicken that cooks at your table in a big pot of water with garlic and some scallions and slices of potato. Since we were novices the staff came by from time to time to tell us how much longer to let the chicken cook. They also came by to cut the chicken into parts so that it would cook faster. And they motioned that we needed to make a dipping “sauce” of chili paste, soy, mustard, vinegar, and some spices at the table. We dutifully did that and also noticed that people had kimchi… so I went to the giant kimche “pail” (about the size of a very large outdoor 64 gallon trash can) and scooped up a bowl for us. Eventually the chicken was ready and we scooped out parts to eat in our stainless steel(?) bowls.. and then a bowl of noodles arrived and were dumped into the remaining stock from the chicken… and we ate the noodles. It was fun. It was tasty.

We taxied back to the hotel in the rain, only to find some White blond pop singer signing her albums at the back door of our hotel!? We called it a day.