Korea 2012 : Seoul, the dynamic city (Part 4)

What's a visit to Korea without a proper Korean meal right?

If you ever visit a Korean restaurant that's not touristy, typically, you'll be served with side dishes or there will be a few common pots on the table for you to scoop our however much side dishes that you'd like to consume. In general, there will be kimchi for almost every meal from breakfast onwards as well as radish and some vege.

Of course, Korea is famous for its samgyetang and you must definitely give it a try. We had this at Namdaemun, a place that was recommended by our hostel owner given that we'll be heading off to all the tourist areas today. This is in one of the small alleys within the Namdaemun area.

The alleys are crowded with loads of small eateries, each of which can perhaps fill up to 20 people. The ahjummas will be preparing some of the food outside due to the lack of space. At some popular eateries, you could see the whole window panel is filled with celebrities' photos during their visits, or their appearance at some Korean variety game shows. Guests can be seen making a beeline to those eateries as well.

Namdaemun is the place to go if you're after souvenirs. This place is where you'll be able to find everything you plan to bring home, be it clothing, typical souvenir items like magnets or keychains, and many more.

As this is a popular tourist spot, you'll be sure to see these red shirt guides walking around, ever ready to help lost tourists to find their way to a specific shop or item that they're looking for. These guides are also well-versed in Chinese and English, so this will make the conversation much easier!

These are some of the typical Korean decorative souvenirs if you're the type who looks for such item as a momento.

Otherwise, there are also a good selection of magnets to remind you that you've once visited Seoul / Korea in general.

As there are many shop owners and vendors on the street, the eateries at the small alleys also make deliveries. You will be able to spot ahjumma sending out the food to her customers, balancing the dishes on her head.

Here are some of the shops that caught my interest. The one above is just a little corner that sells solely footwear for kids, from infant to children age 6.

Dogs aren't supposed to be left out in a fashionista world, like Seoul. There's a wide selection of clothing for your pets according to the seasons as well!

And if you're up for some street snack, head over to these street vendor and give them a try!

After Namdaemun, we took a bus to head to N Seoul Tower. This is the place in Asia to see the Locks of Love. There do not just have the on the railings that barricade the area but also in the shapes of conifer trees.

And the view of a densely populated Seoul from the top!

Here's a view of the tower itself. If you're visiting at night, be sure to catch the multi-coloured light show performance! (Update : According to the official website, the show has been temporarily suspended).

We were fortunate to visit on a weekend when there was a troop performance cultural dance and martial arts. 

After all the spectacular view, it's time to take a leisure stroll downhill again to the bus stop to head back to the city area.

As mentioned in my previous post, Korean gimbaps are not like the Japanese sushi roles which tend to be served neatly in tiny pieces on plates. I've been to a few where I point to the rolls like the ones above and either get it cut into pieces or just eat it off a roll like that.

And finally, here's another dish that left a deep impression in me, the andong jjimdak. We had this at Myeongdong after getting all our skincare items and boy, the spiciness and just the flavour itself is definitely a taste to remember.

This pretty much sums up my maiden trip to Korea. It'll be nice to be back again to visit the different places in this beautiful country.

Korea 2012 : Seoul, the dynamic city (Part 3)

During our Seoul trip, we also made a trip to Hongdae and Hongik University area. These 2 parts of Seoul are renowned for loads of cafe and shops for youngsters, given its proximity to the education centers.

The street just outside Ehwa University is filled with street food stalls and clothing shops. The prices are pretty reasonable too, if you're not intending to buy the same style in bulk from Dongdaemun. 

One of the street food that I've tried is this sweet and crispy pancake. The amusing part about it is how hygienic the seller is. He was very friendly but on top of that, despite manning the stall alone, he does not touch the money because he deals with food. Therefore, he puts a box at the front of the stall for the customers to put in the money after the get their pancake. That, is the epitome of trust in business, a rare sight indeed! 

After walking around the streets outside, we visited Ehwa University which is just down the road. 

Ehwa University is actually a private women's university founded by missionary. 

You could still find a chapel within the university compound. The university, despite being located in central Seoul, is still fairly big. There were quite a lot of greenery as well. 

From Ehwa University, we took a short to Hongik University area. Along the way, I spotted this residential area which promptly reminded me of Bangkok with all the messy cable.

Hongik University, which is at Mapo district, is also another private university. It is renowned for its Fine Arts and Architecture faculties. 

Hongik area is definitely much more lively than Ehwa University area. In addition to street food and shopping choices, this whole area is like a huge cluster of cafes with various themes. If you're there on a weekend, you'll be sure to have street performance such as Mr J magic show to entertain you! 

After walking about the university areas for a few hours, we decided to find a place to take shelter from the summer heat. We stumbled upon this vintage-themed cafe called Hoho Myoll. 

If you do a Google search online, you'll be sure to find quite a number of reviews by travelers who have been to this cafe. Since it was summer, we had a good bowl of patbingsu  and a really chocolatey cake. The cafe comes with free wifi as well. Trust me, the cafe owners put in a lot of effort in decorating this little store, and they even decorated the toilet with so many props!

With some time to spare before we join the students at a popular Korean BBQ joint, my friend brought us to a baseball batting center on the roof of a building at Hongik university area. It was my first experience having a go at baseball and boy, it wasn't easy at all!

We had a great time venturing around that evening, taking relaxing stroll and catching up over a bowl of thirst-quenching patbingsu with some light baseball exercise to follow. Good times indeed!

Korea 2012 : Seoul, the dynamic city (Part 2)

This Korean trip is very much different from a typical tour trip. We did the obligatory visits to some of the touristy areas but we also did some very different things.

One of them is to visit the Hangang river before going to Gangnam to see what the hype is all about. 

Since it was the Korean summer break, there were quite a number of student groups by the river. There was one student group which caught our attention as they were rehearsing on their traditional instruments. The teacher, upon seeing our intrigue faces, asked where we were from and encouraged the group to entertain us with an enthusiastic performance. 

After the rousing performance, we were off to rent these lovelies for a ride by the river. Trust me, in the sweltering heat of Korean summer, this may not be the best idea. But I'm on a holiday, so why not? 

Again, if you're a fan of Korean drama, you'd have seen those scenes where the lovers escape the paparazzi and started paddling in the river. There you go. If you want to re-enact one of these scenes, have a try at Hangang river! 

You would even catch a train passing by as you paddle around the river.

One of the things I noticed in Seoul is that they have these random stations for electric cars to recharge. However, I've not seen a lot of these cars on the road when I was there so I wondered if it was a pilot test. 

We visited the Bongeunsa Temple next. This is a Buddhist temple which is popular for people who are planning to stay at the monastery for 2 days.

In fact, they even tailored a group temple stay program for locals and foreigners alike to learn of things like tea ceremony, zen meditation and lantern making among others. 

This is view of the entrance. You could walk all the way into the temple complex and have a look at the worship area. 

At the point of my visit, there was a celebration coming up so there were many lanterns hung and preparations were underway to celebrate an important event. 

In the main hall, you'll see a good number of devotees meditating and worshiping together. 

Outside the temple complex, you'd see architecture as such which is similar to that of the palaces. In fact, this temple was a royal mausoleum in the past before being renamed to Bongeunsa.

Similar to many Asian cultures, there will always be a board for wishes. In Japan, they will purchase a plate to write their wish while here in Seoul, they write it on a piece of paper and tie it to the string. 

We also visited Myeondong for skincare shopping and to try various street food. Myeongdong is probably one of the hippest area in town but if there's one part of Seoul which doesn't feel like Korea, it will be Myeongdong. Almost every single skincare shops were manned by shop assistants who speak very fluent Chinese to cater for the influx of Chinese tourists. You can barely hear any Korean on the main street of Myeongdong if you're ever there shopping for your skincare goodies. 

If you're at Myeongdong and have no idea what to do because you're not into skincare, why not drop by the Seoul Global Cultural Center to have a hanbok experience for free? Let me warn you though, that there will be a long queue and you may get a later slot during the day if the slots are all filled up. So if you've time to spare, do head to the cultural center to find out more.

Korea 2012 : Seoul, the dynamic city (Part 1)

Anyeong-haseyo! My maiden trip to Seoul for a really short 5D6N trip, with 2D2N spent in Jeju-do. We didn't manage to cover as much as we would love to but we definitely saw some bits of Seoul from the perspective of a tourist, as well as a local (because I used to have a friend living in Seoul!).

We stayed at Bangrang Hostel during the 4 nights in Seoul.  This hostel is owned by a young man who used to be a backpacker himself until he settled down in his homeland, Korea. The owner speaks English and the unit is clean, The pantry is filled with bread and spread if you're ever hungry. What I like most about it is how friendly the owner is and ever helpful with suggestions on where to go.

In fact, we reached Seoul quite late in the evening. Since we do not have much time to waste, after catching up with my friend for a quick supper at a very traditional Korean home restaurant, we headed off to Dongdaemun. The t-money card was obtained from a convenience store and we just top up and we go. Dongdaemun is a really vibrant area and if you're up for late night shopping or to get stock for your e-business, this is the place to go.

Living up to its name as a city that never sleeps, you could find a lot of food stalls still open even at midnight to cater to the visitors at the shopping malls.

If you're not up for mall hopping, then perhaps you'll be interested to visit some of the street vendors all around Dongdaemun at night. They carry just as many varieties but the plus side is that you don't have to buy in bulk.

The next day, we took the train to Gyeongbukgong Station for a visit. At the subway tunnel, we saw this old man writing calligraphy. It really was an interesting site as there seem to be no barrier for him to set up a counter like that in the middle of a public area to pursue his interest. 

Of the 4 palaces in the city, we visited the largest one. Gyeongbukgong Palace  is also known as the Northern Palace because it is geographically located at the north-most part relative to the other 3 palaces. Similar to the Chinese history of such historical sites, the actual palace was burnt down during the Japanese invasion years. It was subsequently restored by one of the kings of Korea.

If you're into the changing of guards ceremony, you should visit the Changdeokgung Palace. However, if you would like to have a glimpse of those olden day officials, you could very well see these guards at Gyeongbukgong. Similar to the British guards, they're not easily distracted by the swarm of tourists taking photo of and with them. 

The interior of the palace ground is similar to that of the Chinese emperors of the past. The palace ground is vast and you could very well see that much maintenance effort were put in place to ensure that the palace remains in tip-top condition. 

You would also spot ancient tools like the one above which tells the time of the day. There is another tablet in the grounds of the palace which shows you the meaning of your zodiac. Lookout for them if you're heading there for a visit. 

The Gyeongbokgung Palace ticket provides complimentary entry to the National Palace Museum and the National Folk Museum, which are located at the southern and eastern side of the palace gates respectively. 

The pictures show some of the exhibits in the museum which depict the lifestyle in the ancient times. You would recall, if you're one who follows Korean drama, that these scenes were re-enacted in modern time dramas as well!

Given the popularity of the palace as a tourist attraction, a guard was also stationed there to divert traffic for tourists to cross the busy Seoul street safely and easily. 

Seoul is reputable for its cafe culture. We spotted many with very unique interior and exterior, alluding some really nice atmosphere within the cafe itself. 

Many of these cafes were run by youngsters and I was told by my friend that the turnover rate of the cafe culture in Seoul and many parts of Korea is exceptionally high. 

To be able to thrive and succeed in this competitive industry, the design of the cafe alone is not sufficient. There must also be good food and great service. Dodo cafe happens to be one of those which managed to find a balance between the food quality and the vintage-themed design. 

Having refueled our energy level, we continued walking along the street in search of Buchok Hanon. We stumbled across some of these wooden plates where people write their wish and hang on a tree, very much like the Japanese culture. 

Bukchon Hanok is actually approximately 30 minutes walk from Gyeongbukgong Palace. This place is in fact a residential area surrounded by the palaces. 

There are many signs put up around the village to remind tourists to be quiet and considerate for the people living there. Some of them have turned their houses into BnB and you could well find them on AirBNB if you're up to living in a traditional Korean home. The tourism board in Bukchon Hanok have also setup many camera taking spots, and you can go in search of these highlighted spots based on the map provided by the information center. 

After Bukchon Hanok, we visited another UNESCO World Heritage site. Jongmyo Shrine  is the primary worship place for the ancient kings of Joseon dynasty. If you're up for a guided tour, do take note that the English tour is every 2-hourly. We missed out on the tour and weren't going to wait for another 2 hours so we skitter off with another Korean guided tour group. Unfortunately, since we do not understand anything from the tour, we didn't have much to take away from this visit. 

Nevertheless, we stayed with the group to venture the shrine area together and came across a group of ahjummas pulling out weeds from the grounds of the main shrine. Considering the heat in summer, their dedication is really admirable. 

After a full day of walking, it's time to head off for some street food at Insadong. We were going to meet up with another friend nearby for a dinner catch-up so we just roam around without purchasing much. 

But don't they all look so tempting?!