Oliverham

Friends call me Olham. In Korean, ham is a casual way of saying “big brother.”

For more than ten years I commuted on Seoul’s Airport Railroad, holding the strap and thinking about the fact that this train goes all the way to the airport. That’s where the travel dreaming started, and for a long time my Korean blog was named after that strap.

I lived alone in Gongdeok for three years. Four lines cross there, so Hongdae, Yeouido, Yongsan, Gwanghwamun, Jamsil and Itaewon were all easy. That’s when I started seeing Seoul one neighborhood at a time.

Fifteen years in this city, more than ten of them working here. Now I’m walking it again the way you would if you were about to host someone. I notice which places will still be here in ten years and which won’t, and where a street is quietly changing. My background is in finance and commercial real estate, so the story behind the storefront tends to slip into the writing.

This isn’t only about restaurants. Places to eat, places to drink, places to stay a while, streets to walk. Seoul first, with occasional trips to Tokyo and the Korean countryside.

Where’s Oliverham?

That’s what my friends text me. This site is the answer.

How the English posts work

Korean posts are essays. English posts are guides: the same facts, cut down to what a visitor needs. If you read Korean, the original is linked at the bottom of each English guide.

Elsewhere

• Naver Blog (Korean) — where the Korean originals go first