South Korea is a very diverse country where the tourism opportunities are vast. The country has four different seasons and everything looks different during for example autumn compared to summer.
Something that makes it much easier for us non-Koreans in the group is that you can always count on Koreans helping you if you are ever at a loss on where to go. In spite of the linguistic barrier, they ALWAYS help out and go out of their way to do it. Out of personal experience I have witnessed Koreans walking 1 kilometer extra only to show the way (even though it was only a straight street). Other times they have said ”follow me, I am taking the same bus anyway and I will let you know when you need to get off”.
Of course there is room for improvement. If you do not speak any Korean at all you will surely encounter tricky situations. Choosing food in a restaurant from a menu board all written in Korean is hard even after half a year or more in Korea for the foreigners in this group. We recommend tourists to try to pick up some hangul skills if possible prior to departing to Korea, at least then you can read some food and place names. On the other hand, the subway system and the stations are some of the more easily maneuverable that we have seen. Most of it is written both in English and Korean and it is easy to find one’s way.
All in all, if you want to experience the numerous rich cultures in Asia, we highly recommend Korea which has not been altered much because of tourism. We would like to give a big thank you to the people behind the Korea Tourism Brand Leaders Project who made all this possible.
