now it's time for our life an info segment where we focus on information
that we hope is useful for your everyday life today we are going to focus on some
Korean culture for that I'm glad to say we have our Eamonn son in the studio
with us min son I hear you have some travel tips for foreigners who are
planning to come to Seoul right hi mark so when people travel to another country
first thing they consider is to look for places to go and the second thing is to
find out how to get to them right because getting to places is often
difficult when you arrive in a strange country especially if you don't know
anything about the language that's right so for newcomers to Seoul using the
subway can be a very handy and effective way to get on get around the country get
around the city so a Seoul has a well-established and reliable public
transportation and Subway's are connected to almost every corner of the
capital and you can get from A to B for a relatively small fee and the basic
subway fare is only slightly over one u.s. dollar and there's an additional
fee of about 10 cents based on distance and that still very cheap so if you were
to take line number one they old it all this is the way line from the one end in
gyeonggi-do province to the other and the internal which is in
chungcheongnam-do province the one-way fare is just about three and a half
dollars so if you stay within seoul subway fares are super affordable the
subway is also in good condition it's clean fully furnished with air
conditioners it gives on free Wi-Fi and the train comes frequently and on time
Subway's run non-stop from around 5:30 a.m. until midnight but make sure to hop
on the train well before being nice so you are safely get to your destination
without having to grab a cab yeah having to grab a cab late at night in Seoul can
be quite a hassle indeed so it's good to get the subway and like I say it's great
I take the subway quite often myself coming to and from
work is very cheap and clean like you say especially compared to a great many
big cities around the world but if you're just here on vacation
don't be daunted it's quite easy there are lots of signs in English as well but
what famous hotspots are easily accessible via subway so Seoul offers
numerous and attractive tourist spots and for foreign visitors
and most of these places are reachable by a subway so visitors can do almost
everything from shopping sightseeing and learning more about Korean history so
for example some well-known places are studied along a subway line for which is
the sky blue line the city's landmark Seoul in power and Myeongdong shopping
districts are accessible by tomorrow and Yong dong station that's on line 4 and
tong diamond design Plaza is also on the same line where visitors can go to
exhibitions to some clothes shopping or see Dongdaemun gate for those who want
to take a look at the history of Korea they can get off at its own or some
cactus station to go to the National Museum of Korea and the War Memorial of
Korea ok so you could basically spend one day just going up and down line 4
which is the one that runs from the south to the north of the capital but a
lot of people here who live in Seoul love the Hangang River parks there
aren't that many cities around the world where you have a park right by the river
that's away from the crowds of people we see in Seoul tell us some other stations
we should be alighting from if we want to find some of these parks right there
are multiple entry points to the Hangang Park as the river runs from the west to
the east side of the city a subway station that I recommend getting off
from is the Express first terminal on station it's on line 3 and 9 line 9
comes directly from Kim PO International Airport and it's only a 15-minute walk
to the park from the station so it's springtime
there are beautiful flowers and it's just nice to be outside yeah
visitors can take a stroll or run by the river or rent a bicycle or a tandem to
go there father the rental cost for bikes is just two
and a half dollars per person for one hour and visitors can rent a tent for a
more laid-back experience tents are allowed on from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 13
specific areas there are two areas in Pampa Hangang Park and recently the city
government made a new regulation that requires tends to have a nice to size
open to prevent any inappropriate behavior so otherwise violators can face
a fine of about 880 US dollars that's alone yeah it is so make sure to keep
the door open and the parks are also a really popular spot for locals wanting a
break from from the hustle and bustle of the city
I usually rent a bike or walk my dog here there are also many beautiful
flowers so I like taking pictures as well on Fridays and Saturday so there's
a night market that comes with the food trucks
I think foreign visitors can enjoy the river view when the weather is nice and
have fun here well it's wonderful Hangang parks there are a number to
choose from my personal favorite is the Edo Hangang Park because it's relatively
close to my house and there's plenty of things to do there for adults and kids
as well so highly recommended from me and I'm sure from you as well mints on
but we do know that a great many foreign visitors to Seoul come here because they
love kpop and they want to come to the home of kpop are there any specific
places they can go via subway and which station should they get off at of course
I'm staying on the same subway line three or using the poontang line
visitors can get off at a Budong station so there is especially creative treat
for k-pop fans called K star road along with many luxury shops these are
colorful doors called Gangnam dough are on display
fans can walk around to find the dolls that represent their favorite groups
like BTS Girls Generation or EXO it was created in this district because many
entertainment companies are located in the area and it's considered to be a
birthplace for many k-pop artists many celebrities also shop there so if you
are lucky you might bump into an actual k-pop star there so we came here for the
kpop star road because we like it and see the place the SM building yeah
because well I like EXO and I like I love NCT as well yeah we we just want to
take features which is expect to have a good time and moving up some stations in
northern Seoul at anguk station on line 3 there are famous places like royal
palaces Capuchin hanok village and some Chung don't kill road where there are
small cafes art galleries and quiet le ways a lovely Kemeny walk from the hanok
village visitors can get to Korea's presidential office the blue house to
tour inside the blue house you must make an online reservation but visitors
without a reservation can quote the water fountain in front of the
presidential office and there's a walking trail starting from the fountain
leading to the other end of the blue house the walking trail used to be
blocked from the public for almost 50 years
but now visitors can enjoy 24-hour access there were a lot of tour groups
enjoying themselves when I went there yesterday so it's nice to check out
Korea's top office as well if you are heading to the bukchon hanok village
well minsun I think we could spend a week going around Seoul going to all the
places you mentioned there and where my family and friends come to visit me in
Seoul they are always blown away about how much there is to do in the South
Korean capital I truly believe that it is one of the best if not the best
cities in Asia and I truly mean that thank you very much for your report min
son we appreciate it and we hope to see you in the studio again very soon yeah
thank you for having me okay that was a wonderful report there
by humans now we're going to take a quick look at
some other cultural events here in Seoul that might be of interest to you