think i left my heart and seoul (hohoho i tried) back there TT_TT
it took me almost 45mins to fall asleep last night. yes that is a very long time for someone like me who knocks out straightaway the minute my head touches the pillow.
ended up sleeping at 4 and waking up at noon the next day.
anyway i'm beginning to document my trip here!!!!
for those of you who don't know, i travelled to seoul, south korea, for 17 days (actually 16 to be more exact) with vanessa!
yes we spent our whole 2 weeks in seoul and seoul alone.
many people have commented "wow that's too long" and "oh you'll be quite bored" and no they are wrong.
there is so much to do and see in seoul alone and honestly i didn't even think 17 days was enough.
ok maybe because van and i are both not morning people hence our mornings are usually wasted away.
but seriously we didn't even finish our itinerary that we set out :-(
anyway
here's days 1-5 in korea :-)
i'll dissect the trip into 3 parts and follow up with tips/tricks/points to take note of when you are travelling to seoul!!!
10 May. Day 0 - From Changi to Incheon
we took a direct overnight flight by asiana airlines to incheon on sunday.
the plane ride was quite pleasant and didn't feel too nauseous - and that means yay i'm finally growing up and out of being airborne-sick woohoo!
had bibimbap for supper on the plane hehe what a sneak preview to korea lol.
barely caught any sleep on the plane 'cos it was pretty uncomfortable but thank god for the facilities!!!
relived some childhood days of playing pacman and watched begin again (halfway) (be proud of the anti-movie girl please, i tried)
11 May. Day 1 - Gyeongbokgung, National Folk Museum, Samcheong-dong
touched down in incheon at about 6.30am (seoul time) and we had paris baguette for breakfast!
van had a coffee bun while i had a sweet potato pie.
tbh i didn't really like it because it was too sweet for my liking. probably because i was sick and my throat was dry enough from the 6h long plane ride.
but paris baguette in korea is a staple - it's everywhere and it's cheaper than it is in singapore.
i paid about S$2 for my breakfast.
after filling our tummies and running some errands we took the airport express train direct from incheon airport to seoul station.
took us 45 minutes and costs less than S$10 - there's a discount when you flash your boarding pass so remember to show it!
we rented our apartment from airbnb and it was nestled in a quaint little neighbourhood called yongsan-gu near seoul station, about a 3-minute walk away.
it's quite a peaceful place with a couple of convenience stores around.
after dragging our luggage up the stairs (we stayed on the 3rd floor) and dumping them in our apartment, we headed out to complete our adventures for the day!
visited gyeongbokgung that afternoon despite our lethargic selves that survived mainly on adrenaline.
the admission ticket covers both the palace itself as well as the museum!
the palace grounds were crowded with flocks of tourists armed with cameras who were busy snapping away.
it was probably a monday and my lack of sleep that got me quite peeved at the large crowd.
it's a beautiful place with much to see, but we didn't want to follow an english-guided tour and roamed around by ourselves.
the palace grounds are huge and i'm not kidding.
i think you kinda just walk where you want to and get lost into the woods.
maybe if we'd follow a tour it would've been more educational and valuable for us but nah, jostling with all the tourists who make big fuss about taking selfies by the front of the palace for countless times....
no way.after gyeongbokgung we went to the national folk museum of korea (not to be confused with national museum of korea) that was adjacent to the palace grounds.
there was much to see and learn inside and i like how the place was really informative and the displays were all worthy of their place.
from the teaching of hangeul to the traditional way of life, everything's displayed neatly with the necessary english translations.
we walked over to samcheong-dong to grab dinner as we started to get hungry.
initially we mistook the place for bukchon hanok village but no we were wrong lol.
samcheong-dong is really a street littered with lines of pretty cafes and cute boutiques you can't help but spam photos there.
we settled for miss lee's cafe that served mainly dosiraks (traditional lunchboxes), tteokbokki and bingsoo!
damn good omg i love the tteokbokki here.
i think it's probably the nicest one i had on this trip.
the bingsoo was really satisfying too bc there was a generous supply of fruits, nuts and cornflakes!
mmmm so so good.
post-dinner we found ourselves buying cheap socks and exploring the clothes that they had to offer.
not a place to do hardcore shopping but samcheong-dong is the perfect respite from reality.
had to suffer the distraught of heavy rain that night and carrying an umbrella around wasn't the most convenient thing to do on a monday night hmmph.
12 May. Day 2 - Namdaemun Market, Namsan Tower
namdaemun is a very noticeable touristy place because of the countless rows of flags they put up.
so fret not about not being able to find the place.
ate the black rice hotteok and mmmm it was freaking good.
it was soft and chewy with a warm, sweet black liquid oozing out of the centre of the pancake.
reasonably priced at 1,000W!
i swear pancake is the best though they're really expensive most of the time...
I LOVE PAJEON. C'MON JOIN ME IN THIS FANCLUB.
namdaemun is a place for you to buy a lot of household items like pots and pans and containers.
it's a pretty ahjumma-like place but there are always good steals around!
we bought cute panda sweaters that served us really well when we went up to namsan straight after.
van and i were pretty impressed by the place (mostly bc of the food) that we decided we had to come back again - only to find more cheap treasure!!
well, that's a story to be told another day.
after namdaemun we hesitated going to namsan because of the bad weather.
it was drizzling and the rain started pouring down in no time.
but nevertheless we decided to stick to our itinerary and head up to namsan!
because we went there on foot and the wind was howling crazily, i had to put up some really fierce battles with my brolly that kept flipping inside out -_-
sadly i don't have a photo for this though.
it was painful, but hilarious at the same time.
we decided to save on the cable car costs and hike up to the top of the tower by ourselves.
it wasn't entirely a bad decision though!
the good thing: that was the only day that rained throughout our entire stay there. so i think it was good that we made the hike up with such cooling weather so we couldn't really feel ourselves sweating. can't imagine myself walking up under the scorching sun burning my face up into a ball of weather-beaten fatigue aka cui-ness.
the bad thing: this also meant that we were freezing cold. thank god for the lame sweaters we bought at namdaemun. i was wearing 3 layers on top but i was still freezing... i actually wore shorts that day too lol what in the world right. but luckily my legs weren't the least cold.
hiking up did promise us good scenery though.
we stopped by certain photo points and whipped out the selfie rod hoho.
i was kinda exhausted after the 1.5hr hike.
it would definitely be shorter if you didn't stop by too long to take photos though!
when we finally reached the top my nose gave way.
i wasn't fully recovered so my nose felt like it was going to die..... but i revived it with a nice hot cup of citron tea that i bought as a reward for completing the hike woohoo!
the best part of namsan was probably getting to eat the potato stick that exo tried when they came to namsan too.
lol i tried.
but he's too cute still.
okay and securing our locks in the freezing cold was really fun too hehe.
van left a yellow lock that said "freedom trip with Jamie!!!!" (aww yay) while i left an old almost-rusty lock that wrote "be happy, stay healthy, find love" hahahaha.
did i mention we had some really expensive chicken and beer for dinner?
i think we paid about S$20 for this T_T
but ah well it was good still.
look at our qt matching sweaters we bought at namdaemun ahahahahaha,
can't even believe how retarded we looked wearing a mismatched cap underneath the hood too.
we must have looked like poor blokes.
it was getting late so we figured it was kinda dangerous to walk back down.
so we invested in a single-way ticket via the cable car which was obviously not value-for-money compared to the 2-way trip.
but oh well, safety first.
that night my fangirl feels got the better of me and i seized the opportunity of a near-empty subway station to take a picture with kyungsoo.............. on a poster.
#goodjobwelldone
13 May. Day 3 - Children's Grand Park, Hongdae
set out to the faraway children's grand park near konkuk university the next day and it was probably one of the most fun days!
because admission is free and the park has a zoo and botanical gardens.
unlike singapore wth where you have to pay for every single landmark you want to visit lol.
so much for not spending money that though.
immediately bought a dippin dots ice cream (!!!!!) which was my childhood favourite that costs almost $4 T_T
i got the cotton candy flavour while van got the rainbow one. (try the former instead pls hahaha)
i couldn't stop taking photos of all the flowers around because sg's weather really doesn't favour the growth of these pretty lil things.
stopped by the arisu water museum (it's like singapore's newater) for kids which had a lot of little kiddy displays to fiddle around with and learn about purification process and all.
but i swear the space is so underutilised it's quite sad because the museum wasn't really bustling with activity like how you'd expect it to do.
quite a small but fun place for the little tots.
the toilet's really tiny too hahaha if any of you saw my snapchat about being a peeping tom LOL
there was also this outdoor stage that had a series of percussion instruments like the xylophone and random drums but yeah i spent a good 15mins there playing peter pan and be your everything heh.
while van chilled on the swing.
chanced upon the mock-up tunnel and took some photos too~
^ lol at my fat protruding belly plz
ew fats i need skinnymint but i'm broke :-(
there was even an amusement park in this hugeass place omg!!!!!!
van wanted to ride these but we couldn't find the ticketing booth and as usual i was being a scaredy cat despite this being a kids' attraction LOL.
i can't take this kind of thrill in my life i'm sorry hahaha it just scares the wits out of me.
settled for popeye's 'cos we were darn hungry and after that we headed off to the zoo.
there were so many animals in the enclosures omg i swear there were at least 50+ different types?!
but i had more fun taking photos with the fake animals instead HAHAHA
(damn times like this i wish i owned a dayre so i could insert the super duper cute emoticons they had instead of repetitively using lols and hahahahs -_-)
i couldn't even open my eyes when imitating the tiger because the sun was TOO HOT.
then you have me acting all retarded with the korean folklore corner because the characters are really damn cute heh.
i think i wasn't even supposed to sit on the platform with the grandma but who cares, rebel.
by the time we finished roaming the botanical garden, the safety experience centre that we had initially planned for was already closed.
so we decided to move on to hongdae since they were kinda on the same line.
i was so tired from all the walking i slept on the train like a log.
the streets of hongdae turned out to be what i pictured, a lot of hustle and bustle brimming with youth and a vibrant nightlife.
hongdae is full of korean bbq and A LOT of food stalls.
it's also kinda like a shopping paradise for clothes and other little souvenirs like socks, caps, phone covers, kpop stuff.
basically hongdae is your one-stop place for almost everything you need.
settled on a quick kebab for dinner because the rest of the shops didn't look too tourist-friendly lol.
or maybe we were just too shy to ask.
tried churro 101 and it was damn good but it was so expensive :-(
almost $4 for a single stick of churros??? nah. but still worth the try.
14 May. Day 4 - Bukchon Hanok Village, Tosokchon, Ewha Women's University
started my day with a little carton of cereal milk that i decided to try.
AND WOW IT TURNED OUT TO BE THE BEST THING I EVER DRANK.
there's no hard bits of cereal inside, but you could taste the cereals that were incorporated into the milk mmmm so so good.
today was bukchon hanok village day after mistaking samcheong-dong for it hahaha.
now this is then the real deal.
we settled for a nice-looking store that specialised in naeng ramyeon (cold ramen noodles) and omfg it was damn good!!!!!!!!!!
maybe because we were really hungry but i think the naeng ramyeon here is really worth the try.
tbh i got kinda scared eating korean cold noodles because it always kinda feels like rubber and me having weak teeth, it becomes really hard to chew off and i end up swallowing the noodles feeling like i'm going to choke and die.
ok that was a really long sentence.
but that aside, this naengmyeon was probably the best one i had on this trip - maybe because their noodles were kinda springier and felt easier to chew???
idk.
and i also liked the separate lunchbox with little ingredients that came along with it haha.
bukchon hanok village is a really gorgeous place, so i'll just let the pictures do the talking.
the houses are really one-of-a-kind and i'm glad they preserved this place and even permitted tourists to come and visit.
there are quite a number of museums that allow you to try on the hanboks (traditional korean costume), do some hands-on craftwork and even taste tea.
but they all have an admission fee so yeah we didn't really try 'em. (sorry we're 2 broke girls on a tight budget lul)
it must be a nuisance to live IN a tourist attraction because we sometimes really make a lot of noise haha.
so thanks to all the kind ahjusshis and ahjummas and whoever stays there for bearing with the tourists 365/24/7 HAHAH.
we actually sat by these flight of steps to take photos for at least 10 minutes and i think an ahjumma saw us - she kept giggling at us HAHAHA
we had a lot of difficulty taking because firstly, we weren't satisfied with the angles we took for each other like "nono i look fat take again" (ok that's just me la), and secondly the cars were driving past like nobody's business.
the ahjumma even parked herself opposite us to laugh at our very pathetic photo-taking session LOL.
glad we made her day though ;-)
after roaming the village for almost 2 hours, we made a detour to coffeesmith where they filmed it's okay that's love!!!! kwangsoo worked there in the drama so yayyyy!!!
but omg coffeesmith in korea is like singapore's coffee bean but a little more expensive sigh.
almost $6 for a really huge cup (yes that was sarcasm) of iced coffee hmm.
but yeah you pay for the quality you get.
their coffee is really rich and thick, and i could taste the quality chocolate they used for their mocha.
off we went for tosokchon straight after!!!!!!!!!!
we even cabbed there because we were so desperate and it was getting later and later for us to have lunch.
thank god for a nice cabby and a pleasant first cab experience :-)
he kept trying to communicate with us in the best of his english ability and we just smiled and nodded politely.
and he didn't cheat us of our money thankfully.
read so many stories about being cheated by cab drivers but so thankful we met a decent one :)
this is tosokchon on the inside, and it has a seating capacity of more than 400 people!
probably because they do it the traditional way of having meals seated on the floor.
when our samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) finally arrived, I WAS LIKE OMG THIS IS HUGE.
a whole chicken stuffed with rice and boiled in authentic ginseng goodness is really to-die-for.
the chickens used are young 40-day-old ones and hence the meat is really chewy and tender!!!
every bite of chicken only leaves you wanting more.
and as much as i hate ginseng, i brought myself to finish the 2 big strips of ginseng they served in the soup.
and to my surprise it was actually really good.
i didn't feel too bloated at the end of meal though i was really stuffed.
did i mention that tosokchon's kimchi was probably the best one i had this trip???
i can't help but drool as i speak of the amazing food here.....
you may think tosokchon is overrated due to highly raved reviews amongst tourists, but trust me, you must try this before you die.
it's that good.
after tosokchon we went to walk around tongin market, which was where i wanted to eat my dosirak (lunchbox).
but we didn't get a chance to return to this place to try it and we were too full from samgyetang anyway.
tongin market is famous for it's traditional korean lunchboxes, where you buy like ancient korean coins in strings of 10 for 5,000won (~ S$6+) and every coin entitles you to a certain side dish of your choice in the market.
the best part is there is a whole load of variety in the market for you to choose from, but only designated stores marked with the dosirak logo participate!
if i ever go back to seoul i must try the dosirak at tongin market.....
oh regrets :(
our next and last destination for the night was ewha's women university.
this place is famous for the cheapest clothes shopping you will ever find in seoul.
and no doubt that's true.
though korea is flooding with 5,000 and 10,000won racks all over the place, i think ewha is the place to be if you really are on a budget because there's really more of such racks here compared to places like hongdae and myeongdong.
ewha has a lot of facial products to buy to so fret not (actually the beauty shops are EVERYWHERE i'm not even kidding, wait till i get to blog about myeongdong and you'll get what i mean)
splurged at artbox bc it was the first store i saw and yup i really went crazy lol bought S$25 worth of stuff i think.
but seriously pls buy all you can at the artbox outlets there bc it is CRAZY EXPENSIVE in sg.
the notebooks here are really only S$1+ and there you have sg selling it for almost 4 to 5 times the price ugh.
this is ewha's university campus!!!!
look so gorgeous omg looks quite like a high-class.... hospital.
LOL
no but seriously the architecture here is so beautiful i wish i studied here...
after a night of breaking into the school campus legally and more shopping, we bought ourselves supper which was a nice little box of fried chicken, fried potato balls and tteokbokkis (rice cakes).
it was so damn good omg thumbs up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i love korean street food.
days 5-9 will be up next!!!!!! anticipate my post but please give me some time :-)
cya all again soon!
