I assumed you guys read the first post of Korea and are here for another one, so here goes!
16th Sept:
Last day in Jeju. Morning on set to O'Sulloc Tea Museum (famous for its homegrown green tea), had the green tea swiss roll and a cup of hot green tea latte in the pouring rain weather. Hot latte was good, needless to speak additional spice of green tea for huge fans like me. After which drove to return our rental car, took a shuttle bus to the airport, and boarded our plane to Seoul!
Lugging our luggage to locate our Hanok guesthouse. Hanok is a term to describe Korean Traditional Houses and yes we booked one for 2 nights because I'm always the type who likes to blend into different cultures and have a taste of what it's like if i were to be born another nationality. I mean, that's the fun thing about travelling overseas right - having an insight of the different cultures.
My Hanok stay was, i must say, a really splendid one. My sis even went to the airbnb website to leave down good comments for this place!!
Firstly, Vine Guesthouse is a true 100% Hanok house.
You'll know why when you see my pictures below!
I definitely love the tea-bag hard pillows, embroidered but soft blanket, ultra-thin but comfy mattress. And not to forget their hard wooden ground. If you're at my home for a day, chances are most of the time you'll see me lying on the ground. I think my body is born for this kind of surroundings, because i was commending on how my body feels so much better after a sleep but my mom and sis were saying it weren't that comfortable haha!
Secondly, the lady who runs the place is SUPER friendly and nice.
Not only does she always offer help when we need, she even cooks delicious breakfast for us, and is always keeping her apartment clean!
Thirdly, although you have to walk about 10 mins to GyeongBokGung station, but it was still a stone's throw away!
Super convenient and accessible to the city areas!!
Absolutely worth the money and virgin experience! :')
After settling the check-in matters, took the railway to DongDaeMun!!
^ OMG guys don't underestimate this pot of steamed white chicken.....
THIS WAS SOOOOO FUCKING GOOD. I had to admit this and my Jeju black pork meal are my favourites of all the meals i have in Korea, no joke.
Their soup is so unreasonably tasty that we drank everything and keep asking them to refill! It's just so absurd that this pot of jumbled up ingredients looks freaking simple to cook/ordinary but it's heavenly delicious, i can't even figure out the reason why...
So whoever that's going to visit Seoul, this is a must-go!!!! Besides, this is a hidden place in DongDaeMun that not alot of tourists knows, so if you tried it, you found a rare gem ;)
After making our tummies happy, it was time to shop!!!
My top 3 favourites for shopping in Korea was a little unlike what was recommended on the internet. Maybe because different people have different tastes of style, and maybe it was a different season so they weren't selling much clothes that i can wear in Singapore.
But nonetheless these 3 places - DongDaeMun, Garosu-gil, and MyeongDong are my favourites and i'll touch on why i love them throughout my Korea posts!
DongDaeMun is rather alike to Platinum Mall in Bangkok, or even Far East Plaza in Singapore. They sell clothes at affordable prices, and cheaper if you buy at wholesale or more quantities. There are alot of malls in DongDaeMun, if you have the time, feel free to explore all.
Our first stop was initially this wholesale market call Pyoung Hwa Clothing Market, that i know alot of Singapore blogshops came here to get their goods! But we didn't go in the end, because most of the shops there only open earliest at 9pm/10pm.
Oh i forgot to mention, DongDaeMun are for late night shoppers!!! Because ALL the malls and clothing markets there are open till late in the midnight (4am etc), so don't be afraid that you'll miss it before it closes!
^ I remember us going 3 malls, but i personally only like this particular mall call Hello APM! It was also where i got a skirt for only 15 SGD!
End of this day!
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17 Sept:
Heritage and cultural day! :')
After breakfast, we walked our way to GyeongBokGung Palace!
GyeongBokGung is the largest of all the other palaces and is the most popular among tourists! We paid 3,000 Won each (slightly more than SGD 3) and followed an english tour guide around.
It was pretty in there, and REALLY huge, like i don't even know how the majesty gets to another part of his palace in the past...
^ The sky looks like it's being photoshopped but NO! I realise there are barely any clouds in Seoul and their sky is ALWAYS crystal clear blue and like super picturesque!! The day was quite hot though with that unbearable sun, but luckily the cold breezy wind makes up to it!
^ I couldn't find the hut that lends tourists hanbok costumes to try on :'(
After the palace visit, we took the train to Sinchon station and walked around Insa-dong!
^ Had dumplings for lunch!!! Their normal dumplings tasted pretty ordinary to me, but their kimchi ones (on the top right) was quite good!
^ We had the J ice cream (how i call it HAHA) that i always see people trying in Korea!! The milk ice cream was alright, but the cone was disappointing. It tasted like the 1 dollar vanilla cone i can get in Singapore's Macdonald :(
Next up is Bukchon Village!
Bukchon Hanok Village have hundreds of traditional houses like the one i stayed at Vine Guesthouse, and there are still people staying there! Many korean drama scenes are also filmed at this famous village, and some houses even offer to rent hanbok costumes for you to try on! But a pity my mom ain't the type who will part with money for such things.....i really wanted to try because it might be a lifetime experience :(
PS: Hanbok costume means Korean Traditional Dress!
Afterwards we had PatBingsu dessert (red bean shaved ice), shopped around the vibrant streets near our guesthouse, had dinner, and ended our day!
^ Dinner was Tosokchon which was popular for its ginseng chicken soup!!
My sis said that everyone knows this place and will definitely give it a try. And even though the restaurant was really big, sometimes there would still be a queue outside although the queue clears up fast!
But i was honestly quite disappointed with the restaurant because i don't find the ginseng chicken soup any extraordinary or different from elsewhere... I still prefer the steamed chicken soup i had at DongDaeMun compared to this overrated one.
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I need to hurry and get prepared, almost late for a date!!
Next post will most likely be up by Sunday, but no promises haha!
See you in my next one :')
