Our trip to Seoul has been planned rather impromptu-ly, just wanted a short getaway/grad trip after the semester ends and before I officially start work, whilst R starts his internship. So it was just about one week in Seoul. Our flight was on 30 Apr's night, and reached there early on 1 May. Because our flight reached Seoul really early, we took our time to buy the wifi egg at the airport, we rented the one from SK Telecom and it was really our life saviour for the whole trip (because we were so unprepared for this trip and almost everything was barely researched). Had breakfast at the airport Macs, HAHA, because we couldn't find better options and wanted to try it out. It tastes very similar to Singapore's! Then we took the airport express towards Seoul.
Stopped by Seoul station and went to Lotte Mart, we waited at the gates before it opened. Bought some strawberries that looks amazing, soju and makgeoli, and headed to our hotel, which was located near HoeHyeon station - just a subway stop away from Seoul Station. Checked in, rested for a bit, and then we headed to Gwangjang Market for lunch!
Gwangjang Market
Bustling crowd!
Here's some of the foodie we bought to eat at the market: toppokki, some vegetable pancake, fishcake soup, and mini kimbap!
N Seoul Tower
Walked some amazing distance on our very first day, just to get to the cable car station that could get us up to N Seoul Tower. Partly because we were unfamiliar with the terrain, we ended up taking a super long route, when the cable car station is in fact super near to our hotel *face palm*
The cable car queue was really long too, we had to queue for slightly more than 1 hour before we could finally get up a cable car.
But I must say we both totally enjoyed the vibe up at N Seoul Tower when we've finally reached. Also finally managed to place our love lock up there (the lock was bought since our Europe trip in…2013?)
We were so tired from the walking on our first day, so we had dinner at the eatery right outside our hotel! And I ordered naeng myeon - my favorite thing to order this entire trip! Ate it at least four times in our one week in Seoul. But this happens to be the only photo I have of naengmyeon because they are usually just gobbled down immediately :P I really can't describe my love for naengmyeon accurately with words
Namdaemun Market
Namdaemun market on Day 2 morning! Namdaemun market is located near our hotel, the subway station is HoeHyeon as well. So it was really convenient for us to get here to explore a little! I felt that the things sold here are more catered to the older people, like ahjuma pajamas and sorts. Though there's also those children clothing malls that we didn't explore at all. Oh there was this fruit stall at Namdaemun market that we have bought twice from!
Myeong Dong
Then, we headed to Myeong Dong, which was also of walkable distance from our hotel, it's one subway stop away from Hoe Hyeon! TONS of cosmetics shops around here.
Had our lunch at the famous gyoza shop. The noodles were superb, very smooth! But the portions were extremely large, we overate severely and I was struggling to finish my huge bowl of noodles + all the dumplings we ordered!
Dong Dae Mun
Went to Dong Dae Mun to take a look, but there was nothing much going on in the day time so we gave it another chance and went during the night on some other day. But it was still quite a disappointing experience because there really wasn't much things that caught my eyes!
Went back to the hotel and fooled around with our mask for that night! :p
Gyeong Bok Gong
Day 3 was our palace visit - to Gyeong Bok Gong - but it was drizzling! So we did not manage to catch any guard changing parade, or maybe we got the timings wrong :/ Nevertheless, the palace was huge and so we didn't manage to go through all of the different palaces. But we did chance upon the folk museum part of the palace and it was nice being able to learn more about the korean culture there :)
Tosokchon Samyetung
Headed to eat Samyetung (Ginseng Chicken) which was nearby GBK palace! And the queue was really long when we got there, but thankfully the queue moves pretty fast.
We ordered one normal chicken, and one black chicken! Was really filling because of the glutinous rice that was inside.
Insadong
Took a bus down to Insadong thereafter! It's like an artsy-fartsy place, selling many handmade and delicate items
Chilled at O'Sulloc for an afternoon green tea break!
Samcheongdong
Headed to Sam Cheong Dong! Something went wrong with my iPhone's camera at this point and I was really disappointed that I can't snap enough pictures of this place! There wasn't really anything much to do, but the whole atmosphere of the street was pretty laid back.
Pomato
That night we went back near our hotel to eat, turns out to be a 24/7 eatery and we have eaten a lot here also! Like buying ramen with toppokki for supper, buying kimbap. And check out this glorious looking cheese kimchi fried rice that R ordered, SUPER GOOD! I ordered a sweet beef soup that was really satisfying too. ^^
Yeoido Park
Went cycling on Day 4 morning! Wanted to see if we've got any chance at catching cherry blossoms, but the season had really ended and no cherry blossoms in sight. Despite that, we had an enjoyable time renting bicycles and cycling around! :)
It was a university hopping day! Went to Ewha after the morning cycling, the food here are priced much cheaper than other parts of Seoul, such as Myeongdong area.
This egg muffin cake costs 1000krw here, and 2000krw at Myeongdong!
Hongdae
& then to Hongdae area! In my opinion, there were a greater mix of shops at Hongdae area and I quite liked to walk down the streets of Hongdae.
Dinner was super delicious BBQ :') Perfect for the cold night.
Also bought back Kyochon fried chicken for supper!! We polished off the whole box, that had 24 pieces of chicken wings hehehe. :9
Nami Island
Starting Day 5 at a micro-nation. Travelled out to Nami Island!
Was surprised to see our Singapore flag and Merlion over at Nami Island. Strange sense of familiarity hahaha!
Petite France
We took the shuttle bus from Nami Island to Petite France. The shuttle bus took really long and we had to queue early to ensure that we get a space on the bus! Fortunately for all 3 times we managed to get seats on the shuttle bus :) Phew
Yoogane Chicken @ Myeong Dong
We only managed to reach back Seoul really late, at around 8 plus due to the long train rides. Dashed into Yoogane for Galbi chicken dinner, and yes so delicious! And much more affordable that the Yoogane in Singapore :B hehehe.
More strawberries for supper! :')
Express Bus Terminal
Started Day 6 with shopping at Express Bus Terminal! There were really quite an large amount of stores in that underground tunnel, however I only managed to make one purchase after all the time spent there hahaha! :p No picture of the shops, and only a photo of our lunch at one of the shops in the Express Bus Terminal! Both my tofu stew and R's stir pork rice was delicious and comforting food ^^
Garousil-Gil
Attempted to walk to Garousil area after lunch, but gave up quite soon (luckily) and took a bus over there! There were many boutique stalls and more upscale shops, so shopping was out for us. Spent some time relaxing at second floored cafe instead :)
Then we chanced upon the Line store!
Rodeo Street
Walked towards the Rodeo Street area! & because we were in the Gangnam area that was famous for plastic surgery, R kept looking out for people who might have just done plastic surgery - like wrapped up like a mummy :B But nope, we didn't manage to spot any at all.
There was really nothing much at Rodeo Street though, hahahaha was a pity because we walked quite a fair bit of distance there. Oops..
Noryangjin Market
Then, we headed to Noryangjin for seafood dinner! Watched about this place on the TV shows quite a lot. We bought our seafood from one of these stalls, and had them cooked at a restaurant located at the back of the market.
RAW OCTOPUS. An interesting sensation and experience eating it. It tastes good!
But this dinner came out to be the most expensive meal we ever had in Seoul, nearing 100SGD in total for the prawns, octopus, and fish :O
Dongdaemun
After the dinner, we went back to DDM to see if it gets any more lively at night - it was around 8pm when we went! And some of the malls JUST opened. I really didn't enjoy shopping over at DDM so we went back pretty soon after that!
Gwangjang Market
On our second last day at Seoul, we went back to Gwangjang market because we loved the food there! Met this lovely and cute ahjuma who taught us how to eat the kimbap with toppokki HEHE and this combi of kimbap + toppokki + fishcake soup costs 5000krw! It's perfect because it lets us try everything in smaller portions.
Also tried this pumpkin porridge that I find is quite nice! R tried the red bean porridge and it was seriously filling.
Itaewon
Took a bus to Itaewon after lunch, and apparently we got to the wrong side of Itaewon. Google map fails at times because it does not take into account all the hills and slopes that Korea has, and assumes that we could cut through easily to the other side.
NOT EASY AT ALL. Hahaha, this photo was to commemorate the fact that we climbed up steep slopes and multiple small hilly area before we finally landed at the 'correct' Itaewon hahaha.
Some ice cream from Paris Baguette to cool off the heat, the green tea one is really good! I wish SG's Paris Baguette has this. Anyway there were a lot more foreigners than locals at Itaewon, and a surprising number of bins along the streets too! In other parts of Seoul, I feel that bins are rather uncommon and it's always puzzling to me how the locals dispose off their rubbish. There wasn't much to see at Itaewon, but we managed to get free gifts from the tourist information tents because we did a survey for them hahaha, small perks to make us happier!
Hongdae
Went back to Hongdae area again after Itaewon! And finally tried the bingsu in Korea, the ice is so so fine. *heart eyes* However, the main purpose of us returning to Hongdae was to eat the BBQ for dinner again. Seriously good stuff and cheap! ^^ Also ordered a naengmyeon to end the meal with for that day. Happy :) *thumbs up*
Myeong Dong
After dinner at Hongdae, we took train back to Myeong Dong before we finally ended the night! Managed to get some shopping done, surprisingly! And tried Japchae (which wasn't nice), guess the quality of the street food cart wasn't good enough.
We got greedy and bought Two two Fried chicken back to hotel for supper. HAHA, seems like we really ate quite a bit in Seoul. But we both didn't fancy two two chicken much - we tried their fried chicken, and garlic chicken. Kyochon chicken > Two two chicken, anytime!
Ended our last night in Korea with some mask session~ And we only slept for a few short hours that night because we planned to wake up early, and climb up the stairs to N Seoul Tower the next morning!
Stairs up towards N Seoul Tower
There were many steep flight of stairs!! As mentioned, we wanted to get up to the top to enjoy the view once again.
However, after climbing for around 20 minutes… we gave up HAHAHA *.* because it was too tiring for us and decided that there's a reason why they invented the cable cars.
This was the view we managed to catch, after climbing for around 20 minutes. Hahaha! LOL so we headed back down and went to myeong dong for breakfast.
Ate at Lotteria, and both the meal and their service was bad. They served us black coffee, and apparently they do not have sugar nor creamer/milk - is this really true? It was a disappointing breakfast for us :(
So we decided to get a sandwich from Issac, because the queue for it is always so long!
And indeed, it tastes simply delicious! Simple Ham, Cheese, Egg and toast - the correct way of serving breakfast! :p We walked back to Namdaemun market to get some strawberries to bring home!
Flight back home
I guess we sort of miscalculated the amount of time we needed to get to the airport, check in, and return our rented wifi egg. We still thought we would have time to shop around the airport and eat our lunch! After a series of incidents (like R 'losing' his airport express card, but in fact I kept it in my bag unknowingly HAHA, and long queues at check in), we were only left with about 30 minutes before our boarding time when we finally managed to check in our luggages. We rushed to the ground floor to return and pay for our wifi egg, and rushed into the immigration gates! Again, there was long queue at the check point areas. We only managed to pass the immigration area at our boarding time HAHAHA.
Thank goodness the boarding time got slightly delayed, so we had some time to do our tax refund at the machines! But there was still no time for us to have lunch. Thankfully, food was served pretty soon on our flight.
Off we go back to Singapore!
Some traditional candy we bought at Insadong - to help curb some hunger pangs on our flight before the meals were served!
With that, our Seoul trip 2015 ended :')
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