Emergency Alert Extreme

A very unexpected Seoul adventure

One morning in Seoul, we awoke to a very interesting text alert.

We’d become accustomed to text alerts during our time in Seoul, and honestly, had taken to disregarding most of them, as they generally fell into two categories: Amber Alert type notifications for missing persons (in which case we would be of little help given a language barrier and unfamiliarity with the area), and weather notifications (which often seemed self-evident, i.e., “it is currently raining heavily.”) (And, every other text alert we received was titled “Emergency Alert Extreme” - even the weather notifications. Hence, the title of this post.)

For some reason, I decided to open (i.e., google translate) this one. I called out to Beau in the other room of our AirBnB, read it to him, and we both said, well, huh. That’s interesting.

A 6:32 a.m. in a foreign city, without any more useful information, we looked at each other over coffee and agreed to wait and see whether we could learn more. After all, we had no vehicle, no idea where to go, and no idea what we would even do upon arriving…elsewhere…

And we also logically knew that if something really bad had happened (or was about to happen) from the border to the north, we were unlikely to get too far geographically in whatever small amount of time we’d have. “We had a good run,” we agreed. “It’s been fun.”

As you’ve since likely heard in the world news, this was an alert that was, apparently, erroneously triggered when North Korea launched their satellite (which subsequently crashed into the sea). Ultimately, we didn’t see any panic firsthand, or hear the evacuation alerts, and after we got the subsequent “all clear” text alert, our day continued mostly as usual.

Fortunately, this was just a blip in our experience of Seoul: but it’s certainly one we won’t forget anytime soon. And it was a great reminder that, although we’re on the road, it’s always good to have a basic emergency plan in place, even if that’s just an identified emergency meeting place in case you’re separated during an unexpected event.

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Exploring Seoul along the Hangang River

We ended up spending just over 10 days in Seoul, and while we enjoyed it, we definitely preferred our time in Busan. That said, here are some of the highlights of our stay:

The War Memorial of Korea

We walked here on a rainy day and enjoyed a few hours at this pretty incredible and free musuem. In both scope and architectural design, it felt influenced by the Smithsonian. And while we’d anticipated it to be mostly focused on The Korean War, it actually had a range of displays and exhibits on wars across this history of Korea. (It was helpful that we’d recently watched the historical K-Drama My Country: The New Age, because many of the historic locations & terms felt familiar in a way they wouldn’t have otherwise.)

A memorial status out front; Kim Il Sung's limousine; a display in the historic exhibit

As always, we spent quite a bit of time wandering around the city on foot. One day, we walked along the river path for several miles to reach the Gangnam region of the city, where we found Seoul’s magical bookshop: I felt like I was in Book Disney.

Scenes of Seoul: the small alley to our AirBnB entrance; the extensive fitness trails along the river; the ubiquitous outdoor fitness centers

Another day, we went out to explore Changgyeonggung, a large palace complex, but found it inexplicably closed. (We weren’t the only one surprised: there were quite a few tourists wandering around, and no signage or information online.) So, we continued on to the charming and historical neighborhood Bukchon Hanok Village.

Scenes from Bukchon Hanok Village

We loved seeing the traditional architecture as well as many people dressed in beautiful traditional clothing.

A final city outing took me to Gyeongbokgung Palace (where I arrived just in time for the changing of the guard), the National Folk Museum of Korea, and on a streamside stroll through Cheonggyecheon.

Top row: changing of the guard and a palace selfie; Middle row: beautiful details of the palace structures; Bottom row: Folk Museum exhibits.

A few culinary delights of Seoul: the salty butter croissants that were ubiquitous (and delicious); the random Haribo World and shop in the lower level of a shopping complex; yummy gimbap; when we thought we ordered a regular size of takeout crispy chicken, and got way more than expected. .

We’re glad we spent some time in Seoul: it’s a fantastic city full of history, great food, and friendly people, but we were ready to head south to our next destination: Cambodia.

Before we left Korea, though, we had one more place to see, which I’ll be sharing about in my next post…

Have you been to Seoul? Is it on your travel bucket list? I’d love to hear.