by Kibi 🐾
Kibi Explains
Korea questions from across SNS — answered by your Seoul local
Seoul This Week: Aug 31 – Sep 6 — September Arrives All At Once
Every Monday I pick what's actually worth your week in Seoul — one big event, three guides, and one place I'd send you to. This week: September lands all at once — an art fair, a biennale, and the loudest Saturday night of the year. 🎆
Seoul This Week: Aug 17–23 — The Last Loud Week of Summer
Every Monday I pick what's actually worth your week in Seoul — one big event, three guides, and one neighbourhood I'd send you to. This week: 150 independent shows in their final days, a holiday Monday, and the last of the summer nights. 🎭
Seoul This Week: Aug 10–16 — Pop Culture Long Weekend
Every Monday I pick what's actually worth your week in Seoul — one big event, three guides, and one neighbourhood I'd send you to. This week: cosplay, a national holiday, and a three-day weekend. 🎟️
Seoul This Week: Aug 3–9 — Last Call for Mud
Every Monday I pick what's actually worth your week in Seoul — one big event, three guides, and one neighbourhood I'd send you to. This week, the mud runs out. 🏖️
You ordered delivery… to a PARK??
Sitting on the grass, river in front of you, chicken and beer on a picnic mat — and it was all delivered 20 minutes ago. That's the Hangang experience that keeps showing up online every summer. 😄
Fried chicken + beer is a LIFESTYLE here??
In Korea, fried chicken isn't fast food. It's closer to a ritual. 😄 You order it after work, on weekends, while watching a game, when you're stressed, when you're celebrating. And it almost always comes with beer — hence 치맥 (chimaek): 치킨 + 맥주.
Wait… you get your OWN private room??
This is probably the most common "wait, WHAT?" moment for first-time visitors to Korea. 😄 You hear "noraebang" and picture a stage, a bar, strangers watching. The reality? A private room, a microphone, and zero judgment.
I paid $10 to sleep at a public bathhouse and it was the best decision
First-timers walk in confused, walk out converts 😄 The jjimjilbang is one of those things that sounds weird until you've done it — and then you can't believe everywhere else doesn't have one.
Korean convenience stores hit different
Every expat in Seoul has this moment 😄 You walk in to grab water. Forty minutes later you've had ramen, bought three snacks on a 1+1 deal, and somehow spent ₩15,000. Welcome to the Korean convenience store experience.
Wait… all those side dishes are FREE??
This surprises almost every first-timer 😄 You sit down, order one dish — and then the table just fills up. Nobody charged you for any of it. Yeah, that's banchan. Let me explain why this is totally normal here.