9 cool things first-timers in Seoul must try

Filipinos have long been fascinated with South Korea —from K-pop to K-drama, to skin care, to food. It’s not surprising many of us want to take our relationship with South Korea to the next level: Go visit the place!

The better news is: From February to April 2018, Filipinos can enter South Korea visa-free. That’s thanks to the Winter Olympics taking place in Pyeongchang County, from February 9-25.

A first-timer in South Korea, Drew Arellano recently visited the capital and did all the important things one must do when visiting for the first time.

1. Experience a Korean bath house. It’s called jjimjilbang and it’s basically a sauna. It’s a huge thing in Seoul, where lines usually form for bath houses during the weekends. Usually, bath houses serve traditional cold Korean drink, a refreshing concoction made of rice.

2. Have raw crabs and shrimps. Koreans love their gejang — raw crabs dipped in soy sauce. There is also the shrimp version, which Koreans eat with rice o noodles.

3. Enjoy Myeong-Dong. It’s a long shopping street that has everything. Feel free to go shopping, or for a more immersive Korean trip — go on a street food trip. There’s the famous egg bun, pancakes, roast lobster, cabbage omelette, meatballs, and more.

The long shopping street of Myeong-Dong is made up of stalls upon stalls of delicious street food

4. Check out Seoullo 7017. Often compared to New York City’s High Line, Seoullo 7017 is an old flyover that was turned into an elevated public park just this year.

5. Swing by Seorak Mountain. Feeling a little outdoorsy? Soerak just 4 hours away from the city, has a lot of trails you can trek — from a 2-kilometer trail for an hour’s worth of stroll to a 20-kilometer trail for a 12-14 hours trail. If you’re just looking to marvel at the mountain and revel in nature, take the cable car that will bring you to the peak.

6. Visit the Garden of Morning Calm. It’s a 30,000 square meter garden populated with 300 types of flora from North Korea segregated in 20 themed sections. It’s so beautiful that it’s appeared in several Korean telenovelas.

The Sky Bike also features a zipline, if you're feeling more adventurous.

7. Do the Sky Bike. A four-kilometer track built by the beach for a bike. “It’s like a car but with pedals,” Drew observes, adding it takes 20 minutes to complete the entire track. If you’re feeling more adventurous, the park also has a zipline.

8. Go grape-picking. Uh huh, an organic grape farm near Seoul allows visitors to not just pick grapes but also to make jam, as well as grape juice.

9. Make a ring at the ring university. Apparently, rings are super popular in Korea — rings as in yes, singsing — which is why an establishment such as a ring university exists. Here, you yourself can make a ring for your sweetheart — choose a design, watch the craftsmen play with silver to create the ring, rub it to shine, and then have it engraved, if you feel like it. — LA, GMA News