I explored Asia's hottest new spot - and what I found blew me away

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3 days ago

Sky capsules of Busan. Picture: Getty Images
By Ben Silvester
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I'm standing in the sandy outer courtyard of Seoul's Gyeongbokgung Palace. It's an enormous fortified square - at least 100 metres from wall to wall - but it is thronged with a crowd that has stepped straight out of the 19th century.
The women are wearing hooped, high-waisted dresses in satin and brocade, with pearls and flowers in their hair, while the men have bright, flowing robes and tall, black, Amish-looking hats. At first I think there must be some kind of costume drama being filmed. Then I notice the phones. Everyone is taking selfies or staging elaborate group shots, posing and then obsessively checking the results.
A Korean girl sulks past in a white dress covered in golden flowers, ignoring her friends. But as soon as she sees me taking photos she flashes a serene smile and a peace sign and glides on.
Locals dressed in hanbok at Seoul's Gyeongbokgung Palace. Picture: Ben Silvester A country in fast forward
This scene - I realise later - is what South Korea is all about: it's a country that reveres its traditions while embracing the future like nowhere else on earth.
The crowd were wearing hanbok, Korea's national dress, our Seoul insider guide Meggie explains on a walking tour the next day. In the past decade it has roared into vogue with young people dressing up to look their best at cultural landmarks and take photos of each other. Tourists have jumped on the trend, too, getting free entry to top attractions if they're wearing hanbok.
"What you saw at the palace was basically a standard Sunday," Meggie says.
Tourists dressed in hanbok enjoying free admission at Seoul's Gyeongbokgung Palace. Picture: Ben Silvester
"Nothing makes an old Korean person happier than seeing a bunch of foreigners wearing hanbok. There are retiree social clubs where they'll spend the whole afternoon down at the palace just watching the foreigners in their hanbok taking pictures of one another."
Our Seoul walking tour takes us along the Cheongyecheon, a miraculous stream fringed by willows, reeds and a forest of skyscrapers. Running through the centre of the CBD, the crystal-clear creek was a fetid trickle surrounded by shanties just a few decades ago.
"The city literally went from dirt roads to skyscrapers in 10 years," Meggie says. "People donated jewellery and even the fillings in their teeth to the cause. They took amphetamine injections to work longer hours and drag their country into the future.
"Korea is the only country in the world to have gone from an OECD borrower, to an OECD lender."
Seoul now vies for the most liveable city in Asia, with the world's fastest internet and a subway system comprising 768 stations and trains every couple of minutes. But among the glittering glass towers you're still likely to find an ancient stone gate marking the city's original limits, or a grand 600-year-old palace sweeping across 40 hectares of the central business district.
It's a dizzying collision of old and new.
Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul. Picture: Getty Images
Korea's bullet trains - operating since 2004 - are a prime symbol of the new.
The Korea Train eXpress, or KTX, whisks us across the peninsula from Seoul in the north-west to Busan on the south-east coast, one of 69 services between the two cities each day.
The conductor bows as he enters the spacious, spotlessly clean carriage and bows again as he exits. The 420 kilometre trip takes just over two hours, and as we glide along, the mountains, rivers and paddy fields feel like a stage sliding by the window. The earpopping whoomph as we plunge into a tunnel is about the only reminder we are travelling at 300 kmh.
Busan is the gritty upstart to Seoul's sophisticated ancient capital. Built on maritime trade, commercial fishing and heavy industry, its roots are deeply blue collar. When Korea's film industry boomed in the 1990s, the bad boy, gangster or criminal character was always from Busan.
Gamcheon neighbourhood of Busan. Picture: Getty Images
"People here are tough. Hot tempered, but warm hearted," our new guide, Brian, says. "It might sound like they're shouting at you, but they're not. They call this the summer capital. It's my favourite city, a romantic city."
Seeing the broad expanse of Haeundae Beach from our hotel's rooftop pool - framed by densely wooded low mountains plunging to the glittering sea - it's easy to see what he means.
Korea's biggest fish market - Jagalchi - is the city's beating heart. It is a riot of colour, with huge rainbow umbrellas shading an endless array of molluscs, crustacea, squid and fish. Some of the seafood looks mouthwateringly good. Some, like the aptly named "dog penis fish", or spoonworm, not so much.
Brian says chopped spoonworms are often included among the dozens of small dishes in your everyday Korean meal.
"It's a delicacy for some people. Very chewy, like gum," he says.
Spoonfish is best filed under "acquired taste", along with hongeo, aka "piss skate", which is basically a sting ray that's been fermented in its own urine.
Most Korean food is far less challenging, but visitors should be prepared for bold flavours - from rich, marinated beef ribs or barbecued pork belly to bright, spicy octopus or a cauldron of chicken broth filled with delicate hand-cut noodles.
A fish market in Busan. Picture: Shutterstock
On one level the daily meal is simple, built around rice, soup and kimchi - the chilli-fermented vegetables served at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Most visitors, if they know about kimchi at all, only think of cabbage, but there's an astonishing array of choices.
"There's actually a saying here: 'Does it kimchi?'" says Jun, our host for the trip and an endless source of fascinating and quirky facts. "People will make kimchi from basically any vegetable, fruits like apple and pear, seaweed, and even seafood and meat."
Beyond the rice, soup and kimchi, each meal is distinguished by its banchan, or side dishes. Chris - our guide for a moonlit food tour of Busan - gets into an argument with the waitress about which banchan to order at our first stop.
The term "waitress" might be misleading, this woman is formidable. She gives Chris a dismissive wave and shake of the head as she walks off to place the order.
"She didn't like what I was ordering," Chris laughs. "She said 'what are you thinking? Don't get that, get the pork!'"
Yangdong Folk Village. Picture: Getty Images
Much of Korea is run by these ajumma, or "aunties", women of a certain age with a work ethic forged from a time when their country was far less prosperous. The two aunties running this hole-in-the-wall work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. One is on the grill while the other does everything else.
"They don't mess about," Chris says. "This is their fiefdom and if you step out of line they'll kick you out."
The waitress is right about the side dishes, of course - the spicy stir-fried pork and the prawn and spring onion pancake are incredible.
The rest of our evening consists of three full dinners at different locations, finishing up at Busan's harbourside pocha - rows of mobile tented street carts complete with a grill, a selection of wonderfully fresh seafood and another stern-looking aunty.
The grill provides some warmth against the chill breeze as it jangles the rigging of the nearby fishing boats. But more importantly it perfectly sears the fresh-caught mackerel, cockles and beef short ribs as they are cooked before our eyes. Gyeongju: the open museum
South Korea is starting to catch on as a destination for Australian tourists, but it's still a dark horse compared to neighbouring Japan. More than 200,000 Australians touched down in Korea in 2024 - 25 per cent up on 2023 - but nearly 800,000 visited Japan.
The relative lack of visitors has allowed Korean culture to fly under the radar, but the country is a treasure trove of hidden history.
The ancient city of Gyeongju - just an hour north of Busan - is a stunning example.
The hills of Daereungwon in Gyeongju. Picture: Ben Silvester
Gyeongju was the capital of Korea's Silla kingdom for nearly 1000 years. At its cultural peak in the year 750 it was the fourth largest city in the world, but centuries of invasion and civil war buried many of its greatest treasures.
Walking the city today, the skyline is dominated by dozens of mysterious rolling green hills. The 10 and 20-metre high mounds run literally through the centre of town. It was only in 1921 - when a local farmer dug up an enormous gold crown in his backyard - that archaeologists realised the hills were the tombs of Silla kings and queens dating back 20 centuries.
Most of the tombs still lie unexplored, but one has been excavated and reinforced for public access. It is an eerie experience descending past the countless decades of soil and gravel, down through the thousands of melon-sized rocks surrounding the burial chamber to the tomb itself. The mummified occupant has been removed, but his heavy timber resting place remains, laden with the intricate gold and silver necklaces, belts and weapons that lay with him for so long.
Burial mounds
More than 16,000 artifacts have been dug from the Gyeongju soil over the past century.
"This place has the name 'open museum', because you can dig almost anywhere and find thousand-year-old treasures," Brian says.
Our accommodation channels the historic surrounds, with verandah-fronted rooms surrounding a peaceful stone-covered courtyard. These traditional timber and stone houses are called hanok, and despite dating back to the 14th century they're remarkably snug in winter and cool in summer.
BUSAN The best way to see Busan's rugged coastline is on the unique Haeundae Blue Line Park Sky Capsule train.
to see Busan's rugged coastline is on the unique Haeundae Blue Line Park Sky Capsule train. Don't miss Gamcheon Culture Village, where locals have painted an entire hillside of houses to transform a slum into a rainbow-hued wonder.
GYEONGJU Yangdong Folk Village, a short drive from Gyeongju, is a must see , preserved as it was in the 15th century.
, preserved as it was in the 15th century. Don't miss Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple, perched on a mountain outside Gyeongju. Both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and among the few greatest achievements of Buddhist sculpture and architecture. Pop-ups and cherry blossoms
Back in Seoul for a final day of touring, it is the official close of the cherry blossom festival. We have followed Jun to Yeouido, an island in the middle of the Han River. Han means "big", or "great", indeed no other major city on earth has such a broad river running through it.
Yeouido is the home of the annual festival and its thousands of cherry trees are still heavily dusted with powder-pink and white blossoms. The avenue stretches out nearly a kilometre and it feels like the hushed crowd can sense the serenity of the moment.
Suddenly a deranged scream bursts from the crowd. Then, after a short pause, another similar cry.
I push forward, expecting a fight, or surprise protest, but then I decipher a snatch of the Korean phrase: "Kamsahamnida!"
The Haedong Yonggungsa Temple outside Busan. Picture: Ben Silvester
This means "thank you", which is confusing until I see the blue and yellow booth and the Ikea branding. A queue of locals are lining up at a pop-up event to celebrate the opening of a nearby store. Each one has to shout their welcome message into a tripod-mounted megaphone, earning themselves a small Ikea-branded chocolate as dozens film the spectacle.
Several young Koreans deliver pretty tame efforts, but then an auntie steps up to the megaphone and unleashes, her voice breaking as she yells "KAMSAHAMNIDA!!"
Getting there: Jetstar is the largest carrier between Australia and Seoul operating up to 10 direct flights each week. Flights from Brisbane start at $269, while Sydney fares start at $318.
Touring there: Inside Asia's Soul of Korea small-group tour (maximum16 people) is designed for both first time and repeat travellers. The itinerary includes visits to Seoul, Jeonju, Busan and Gyeongju with nine nights' accommodation, private transfers and a full-time insider guide from $6080 per person.
Explore more: insideasiatours.com/au
The writer was a guest of Inside Asia