U2: The Joshua Tree Tour in Seoul

The unthinkable (for me) happened just before the year closed. I finally got to watch one of my all-time favorite bands, U2, perform live in concert! That this was The Joshua Tree Tour made it even better. After all, The Joshua Tree is arguably their best album and a favorite among their fans (myself included).

I have been listening to their music a whole lot over the decades and a lot of their songs are among the most played in my iPod (yes, I still listen to music on an iPod LOL). They became an even more significant part of my life when my band covered a lot of their songs during our gigging years in the 2000s. So when the Asia and Oceania leg of their tour was announced, I knew I had to watch.

The problem was that the tour originally included only New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. They only announced the Philippine leg after sales for the shows in the other countries were done. By that time, my friends and I already bought our concert tickets in Seoul and we already booked our flights and hotels. Naturally, we weren't the only ones. Many of their Filipino fans, including a lot of my friends, got tickets to their shows in other countries already. Ah well, I just thought that it was a great excuse to travel with my friends and get to see more of South Korea.

Their concert in Seoul was held at the Gocheok Sky Dome. The show started at around 7:20pm and there was no front act so the moment the lights dimmed and U2 stepped out on stage, the stadium erupted. They played four songs before running through The Joshua Tree album in sequence. My two all-time favorite U2 songs are I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and Where the Streets Have No Name so when they played these two songs (these are the first two tracks of the album), I got really emotional. I was so moved and overwhelmed that if their concert ended then and there, I would have already been satisfied. That they were just starting made my experience so much better because every song they performed after that felt like a massive bonus to an already amazing evening. (Check out their full setlist here.)



The show of course was legendary. Bono was truly impressive. He is 59 years old already but he was still hitting every note with power and confidence and he sang 24 songs with almost no break. The rest of the band were equally incredible. The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton were all at top of their game. Their music was powerful, evocative, and sensational and the atmosphere they generated was absolutely electric. As if the sublime sound they were generating wasn't enough, the gigantic LCD behind the band provided a visual spectacle that perfectly accompanied and complemented the music, making the overall experience truly magical and unforgettable.

I left Gocheok Sky Dome feeling ecstatic, blessed, and still in a bit of disbelief. I have now seen U2 perform live, something I thought I would never get to do in my lifetime. If not for the wedding I attended on December 11, I would have watched (or at least tried to watch) them again when they performed at the Philippine Arena. Still, I am very thankful that I got to witness one of my favorite musical artists perform live. This is an experience I will truly remember for the rest of my life.

Nami Island and the Garden of Morning Calm

Our fourth and last day in Seoul was spent touring the outskirts of Seoul. We booked a private tour with Sweetravel Korea. I think the standard tour that we took is supposed to include a visit to Nami Island, the Garden of Morning Calm, and Petite France but we adjusted our tour so that instead of seeing Petite France, we would go strawberry-picking instead.

Nami Island

This visit to the strawberry farm was first in our itinerary for the day. We were given a container and we could take as much strawberries as we could fit into it. There were so many ripe fruits that I ended up overfilling my container so I actually had to give some of my strawberries to Mitch and Ferg and I had to eat a couple on the spot. Apparently, I also picked the strawberries incorrectly but it wasn't my fault; we weren't taught the proper way for picking strawberries. Thankfully, one of the ladies in the farm saw me and told me how to do it correctly. Despite my blunders, it was a really cool experience and the strawberries were very delicious!

Our second stop was Nami Island. This has become quite a popular place to visit among Filipino tourists because of the many photo opportunities here, especially during fall. It is actually in the middle of the Han River and to visit it, you have to take a short ferry ride.

Welcome to Nami Island

It was December when we were there so it wasn't fall anymore. As such, we missed out on the photo op in the area lined by Gingko Biloba trees (this area looks beautiful during the fall). I still took a lot of photos, and had a lot of photos of myself taken, at the Metasequoia Lane. According to a sign in this area, this lane "began with seedlings from Seoul National University's School of Agriculture in 1977. First made famous as a setting for some of the most romantic scenes in Winter Sonata, it has now become one of the most visited spots on the island."

Metasequoia Lane

We then wandered around the rest of island to enjoy more of its beautiful scenery.

It seems that most other tourists don't venture much beyond the more popular photo op areas because there are a lot of other spots on the island that are quite isolated and serene.

I mentioned how the Metasequoia Lane was made popular by the Korean drama Winter Sonata. There's actually another spot on the island where another scene from this show was taken: the leads were building snowmen on a table. While I am not familiar with this show, I still decided to take a photo of it myself. :)

This is where a scene from Winter Sonata was taken.

After our afternoon stroll, we decided to take a break and have some coffee and pastries at a cafe on the island. I noticed that there was a really nice deck outside where you can view the Han river. Naturally, I couldn't pass up on this photo op, especially since there was no one else around. :)

We left Nami in the late afternoon to head to our final stop: the Garden of Morning Calm.

The Garden of Morning Calm

This place becomes very popular during winter because from December to early March, it features the Starlight Garden Festival. During this time, the entire place is decorated with lights, providing its guests with an incredibly intricate and dazzling display of color and illumination at night.

The garden showcases many awesome displays at night during the Starlight Garden Festival

There were a handful of vibrant tunnels that made for great photo ops.

The garden is actually a lot larger than we all initially thought. There are dozens of brilliant, interesting, and instagrammable sections throughout the grounds.

My favorite section though is this gloriously jaw-dropping sea/ocean scene.

We spent a couple of hours walking through the Garden of Morning Calm before heading back to our hotel. This was our last day in Korea and it was a good way to end our trip. That said, there is one more part of this trip that I still haven't written about: the U2 Joshua Tree Tour concert in Seoul.

DMZ Spy Tour

We booked a DMZ Spy Tour because my friend Mitch really wanted to go to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which is the ceasefire area between North and South Korea. However, shortly before our trip, we were told that we wouldn't be able to go to the DMZ because of swine flu concerns (presumably on the North Korean side). The tour company proposed some changes to the itinerary which we were ok with so we proceeded with the modified tour.

Wall of photos and memories at the My Town exhibit in the Odusan Unification Tower

Our first stop was Bugaksan Mountain. Our tour indicated that this was the infiltration path of North Korean Spy Commandos. We started out at the Bugak Palgakjeong Pavilion or the Bugak Skyway Octagonal Pavilion...

Bugak Skyway Octagonal Pavilion

...before going on a bit of a casual stroll/hike. We walked along a path that allowed us to take in some panoramic views of Seoul, especially at the Bugaksan Mountain Sky Observatory. (It actually started snowing ever so slightly while we were here; you can probably see a bit of the snow if you zoom into the following picture).

Bugakgsan Mountain Sky Observatory, with a little snowfall :)

Our next stop was the Odusan Unification Tower. This observatory gives visitors a glimpse of the separation of North and South Korea and the impact that this division has had and continues to have on all Koreans.

Odusan Unification Tower

The tower is located at the at the South Korean border, where the Han and the Imjin Rivers meet. There are many telescopes around the tower that allow visitors to look across the border to North Korea.

Possibly the most moving exhibit in the tower is called My Town, which shares photos and memories of families separated by the Korean war. It was heartbreaking to see pictures of these families, knowing that some of them were never, or will never be, reunited during their lifetimes.

Photos of families who were separated by the Korean War :(

After visiting the Odusan Unification Tower, we then headed to Imjingak Peace Park (also called Imjingak Resort) which also commemorates the Korean War. According to wikipedia, it was built to console Koreans who have been separated from their loved ones due to the division of Korea. One wall in the park is filled with ribbons that have messages of hope and prayers for unification.

Imjingak Peace Park

Visitors can also see a section of the Gyeongui Train Line which was destroyed during the Korean War.

Gyeongui Train Line

After lunch, we headed to a coffee shop at the War Memorial Museum Wedding Hall for what would be one of the highlights of my Korea trip: an interview with a North Korean defector. To be honest, I came into this interview with a lot of trepidation because I wasn't sure I would know what questions to ask or if the questions I thought would be too sensitive or even offensive. But once the interview started, my concerns quickly disappeared. As we listened to our interviewee's stories, we all wanted to learn and understand more and everyone in our group asked multiple questions. What I heard during this interview could fill a blog post or two by itself, but it was moving, humbling, and sobering to discover why our interviewee decided to defect, how he did it, the challenges he faced in crossing the border and later in bringing his family with him, and financially supporting his other loved ones who are still north of the border. Even as I write this, I am moved when I recall the tremendous difficulty that our interviewee had to endure and the fear he had for his life which led him to leave North Korea. One of the most heartbreaking things he said was after Kim Jong Il began his rule in 1994, North Korea experienced a massive famine that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths due to starvation. He even recounted seeing dead bodies piling up on the streets. :( I can't even begin to wrap my head around that.

After the interview, our guide took us to the War Memorial of Korea. This museum is massive, with exhibits spread across three floors of the museum. Due to the limited time we had, we skipped the first floor, which features historical exhibits prior to the North Korean invasion in 1950. We headed immediately to the second floor which holds the Korean War exhibits.

War Memorial of Korea

We then made our way to the third floor which displays items that have been donated to the museum. The exhibits here showcase the nations and troops who fought to restore peace. There was a section the featured the Philippines. An estimated 7,420 Filipinos fought in the Korean War, with 113 being killed in action and 229 more being wounded.

Tribute to the Philippines

This was the last stop of our tour. The day was absolutely jam-packed but it was very enriching and powerful. I highly recommend this to anyone who visits Seoul. Our tour was run by Kevin Hwang. I believe my friend Mitch booked him through With Locals. There are a couple of sites that provide Kevin's contact info (such as this and this) so if you are interested in booking this same tour or taking the proper DMZ Spy Tour (when there is no restriction to enter the DMZ), check out these sites so you can contact Kevin.

Seoul Food

We took a Secret Food Tour for us on our third day in Seoul. The tour is supposed to be a group tour but luckily for us, no one else joined us so it turned out to be like a private tour. This 3-hour tour involved a lot of eating and some walking as well. Our first stop was Gwangjang market, which we also visited on the evening of our arrival. We got to try some of the same food, plus a few more. There are a lot of food stalls here but arguably the most popular is the Gohyang Kalguksu Stall which was featured on Netflix's Street Food (episode 6).

Gohyang Kalguksu Stall, owned and operated by Yoonsun Cho

Owned and operated by Yoonsun Cho, this place is known for its delicious hand-cut noodles. Our tour included the drinks upgrade so our noodles came with a small bottle of Soju (this may have been the first time, or if not then definitely the first time in a long while, that I had alcohol at around 10am LOL) . Of course, you can't have Korean food without a side of kimchi. I'm a huge fan of hand-cut and hand-pulled noodles so I really loved this dish. The broth was really flavorful too, making it a perfect dish to have on a cold winter's morning.

hand-cut noodles from Gohyang Kalguksu Stall

After that, we headed to a nearby stall to have some bibimbap. (Cool thing about Gwangjang market: the seats are heated so even in winter, it feels quite comfortable to sit down.) Bibimbap is like fried rice with an assortment of vegetables and sometimes meat. I believe the bibimbap we had was a vegetarian one. We were also served some delicious mung bean soup.

bibimbap and mung bean soup

We then headed over to another spot to enjoy some mung bean pancakes. I believe these are locally called Nokdujeon or Nokdu Bindaetteok. These were served with some onions in soy sauce (or something that is like soy sauce) and our guide Joseph told us we can dip the pancake into the sauce. This was a good idea because it helps cut the oiliness and balance out the richness of pancake.

mung bean pancake

Our drinks upgrade meant that we also got a bottle of makgeolli, which is like a sparkling rice wine. I actually really liked this, it was like a light, alcoholic soda.

Makgeolli

By this time, I was getting really stuffed but we had one more stop in Gwangjang market to enjoy more carbs LOL. We got a plateful of what I believe was kimbap or gimbap, which is like Korean sushi.

kimbap or gimbap

These were served with rice cakes which I love.

rice cakes

Thankfully, we took a break from eating to go on a bit of a long walk. As we walked through the streets of Seoul, Joseph shared some interesting facts about the city. He also took us to Sewoon Rooftop to take in some panoramic views of Seoul.

After maybe an hour of walking around, we finally stopped at a dumpling restaurant to have some Korean dumplings. I forgot to take note of the name of this place or what the these dumplings are called. They are the sweet side but still pretty good.

Korean dumplings

There was a bit more walking after this before we made our way to Shin Old Tea House in Insa-dong for some tea and snacks. This was the last stop of our Seoul Secret Food Tour. Joseph explained all the tea options to us and highlighted one of them, saying it was something that was not very common so we all ordered that. Unfortunately, I can't remember what it was but it was fruity and delicious. We also got two types of sweets. I don't know what they are called but both of them were good.

Tea and snacks at Shin Old Tea-House in Insa-dong

Of course, the Secret Food Tour wasn't the only opportunity we had to enjoy local cuisine. On our first night, we walked over to a nearby restaurant to enjoy some delicious Korean barbecue. It was pretty cool that one of the wait staff here helped us cook the food in front of us. We got three types of meat but my absolute favorite was the beef.

Korean beef barbecue

We had more Korean barbecue for lunch on one of our tours but this one was not very traditional. Instead of beef or pork, we were served duck.

Korean duck barbecue

During another tour, we also got to enjoy some Dak Galbi, which is spicy chicken with vegetables.

Dak Galbi

Chicken and Beer is also quite popular in Seoul so we got to try it a couple of times. On our second night, we had dinner in Kkanbu Chicken. I ordered Cass beer to go along with it.

Chicken and Beer from Kannbu

On our third night, after the U2 concert, we had more chicken and beer in a restaurant near Gocheok Skydome. We actually got in the restaurant when it was empty but right after we ordered, a horde of people who I presume all also came from the concert went in so in a matter of minutes, the restaurant went from almost empty to full.

more chicken and beer

While this last item isn't Korean food, it is something we got to try in Myeongdong night market and I feel it is worth sharing. If you love takoyaki, try to look for The King of King Tacoyaki, which serves the biggest takoyaki I have ever seen and eaten.

The King of King Tacoyaki in Myeongdong

It is also packed with a variety of ingredients. It isn't cheap but it is really good and perfect for takoyaki fans.

Next post: DMY Spy Tour

Seoul City Tour and the Gyeongbokgung Palace

We arrived in Seoul at around noon and we checked into our hotel rooms at around 2pm. We had about an hour to get a bit settled and have a quick meal before our guide arrived at our hotel for our Seoul City Tour at 3pm. Our first stop was Gyeongbokgung Palace, which is the largest of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon dynasty in Seoul, South Korea.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

It is regarded by many as the most beautiful palace in the city and it served as the royal residence during the Joseon dynasty.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Our second stop was Bukchon Hanok. This picturesque village served as a residential area of government officials and dignitaries during the Joseon dynasty. Bukchon translates to "northern village" and was named as such because it is located to the north of Cheonggyecheon Stream and Jongno. Hanok is the term for these Korean traditional houses.

Bukchon Hanok

This place continues to be a residential area so tourists who go around this area to appreciate its beauty and to take photos are asked to keep their noise levels down.

Bukchon Hanok

It was winter so the sun had set by the the time we got to the third stop of our tour, the Jogyesa Temple in Insa-dong. It is one of the most important Buddhist temples in Korea.

Jogyesa Temple

It was pretty cool that it was dark by the time we got there because the temples and the surrounding areas looked incredible at night.

Jogyesa Temple

Our final stop was at the Gwangjang market where we got to try some street food, including mandu or Korean dumplings. (We would visit this place again for our street food tour in a couple of days.)

Mandu from one of the stalls in Gwangjang market

It was around 8 or 830pm when we got back to our hotel. Mitch and Ferg wanted to have some Korean barbecue so they asked the hotel receptionist for a recommendation nearby. He wrote down the name of the restaurant (in Korean of course and pointed it out on the map). A bit of a proud moment for me was when I managed to spot the restaurant based on its location on the map and by recognizing the Korean characters (even if I didn't know what they meant). It was actually on the second floor so you had to look up to spot its name. The food here was pretty expensive but really good.

The restaurant we visited is on the second and third floors of this building. Its name is indicated by the blue lit letters.

Next: Seoul Food