Korea Travel Blog

Part 2: K-Winter

There is one thing that I found as a rule while staying in Korea during the winter. When it’s -5C in Belgrade, it’s almost certainly around -15C in Seoul but feels like -20C.

This winter was mostly dry and often windy. February was coldest I think.

Serbia forces you to dress in layers so you can adjust yourself on the fly. Big differences between sunny and shady places. Also, it's warm and humid inside of buses, but cold outside. We don’t want to end up sweating at any point, so we remove layers as needed.

Some of the Russians that came to live in Belgrade recently have said we regularly have 4 seasons in 1 day.

Korea, and specifically Seoul, demands thick barriers against the cold - long puffy jackets are very popular. Has to be windproof!

They even have puffy winter slipper models (sandals) for quick-medium walks outside during winter. Some of them even wear crocs outside in the winter.

Fun fact - Koreans will do anything to avoid lacing their shoes. Footwear has to be either slip-on capable or gtfo. Even when you see them wear boots with laces, they might be fake laces and are actually equipped with a zipper on the side.

I thought they have a phobia of shoe laces, but it’s a phobia of inconveniences. An inconvenience to a Korean is like a demon to be avoided or permanently and systematically dealt with.

All apartments have floor heating - in fact Koreans practically invented floor heating and exported the idea abroad. The traditional floor heating system is called “Ondol”

This is also why it’s so comfortable sleeping on the floor for them. For me it even got too hot at times and I had to reduce it because all the heat gets trapped beneath the blanket, but the rest of the room can get quite cold at the same time.

Probably the most annoying thing about this kind of winter is that my hand gets frozen if I try to take more than 5 photos outside, and God forbit I try to capture a video.