South Korea 2013 Day 1 & 2

DAY 1: 13 JUNE 2013

We finally arrived at Incheon International Airport after a six hour flight.

This is our family's second visit to South Korea, with the first in 2010.

Singapore Airlines was having promotional fares to Seoul, at S$788 for a return

ticket and so, we decided to go for a free-and-easy trip in summer.

Before taking the subway, we first bought a T-money card from a 7-11 store.

Each T-money card has a deposit of 2,500 won and a starting single ride fare is 1,050 won.

After purchasing our T-money card, with a value of 10,000 won credited in,

we proceeded to take the airport commuter line to Seoul station.

The train ride is approximately fifty-three minutes, and it costs 3,950 won.

There are a total of ten stops for this commuter line, passing by the Han

River along the way.

For those who don't mind paying more, you can take the airport express straight to

Seoul station for just 8,000 won (a special fare for 2013).

Upon arriving Seoul station, we took the orange cab to our accomodation,

IBVille Guesthouse in Myeongdong.

The cab fare was 4,500 won which is cheap compared to a cab fare in Singapore.

Do note that the taxi boots in Seoul are smaller, and so try not to bring big

luggages or take the jumbo taxi for more luggage space instead.

Our room is very basic, which I am totally fine with it since I have been

staying in hostels and airbnbs for the past year.

Basic amenities such as television, refrigerator, hairdryer and towels are provided,

which is definitely better than staying in a hostel.

After checking in, we decided to explore Myeongdong for the night!

Our guesthouse is just a six minutes walk away from Myeongdong shopping streets.

The first thing we saw upon exiting the underpass was snack carts!

Our family loves Korean food, especially the Korean snacks such as ddukbokki,

beef patty and kimchi!

Korean fishcake on a stick

Korean snack pushcart

Myeongdong is perfect for cosmetic shopping.

There are at least ten different cosmetic brand stores for you to choose from

and they usually give you a free gift such as a facial mask sheet when you enter.

My mum and I usually use The Faceshop's mask sheets and raspberry eye patches.

We immediately went into Faceshop when we spotted on, and bought

ninety mask sheets, for our own uses and as gifts.

I think we spent about 150,000 won at The Faceshop alone, oops.

I bought a Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream for myself at 15,800 won,

since my Odbo BB Cream has expired.

After all the walking, we were feeling a little hungry and we decided to get dinner.

Before the trip, I downloaded the 'tripadvisor Seoul guide' into my iPhone and

saved several famous eateries for us to try out.

We decided to try out Myeongdong Kyoja, a restaurant that only has

four items on its menu, each at 8,000 won.

Knowing my dad, he became grumpy the moment he found out about the price,

which was over his 'budget' (he thinks he could find S$5 meals here).

Totally dampened my mood as I had to sit opposite him.

Nevertheless, the food came and we were satisfied with the noodles!

The broth was really tasty and the noodles had a nice texture.

Since each portion was really big, we ordered three portions, with one portion

for my mum and I to share.

And so, the total bill was only 24,000 won for dinner that night.

Noodles with chopped meat at Myeongdong Kyoja

Other than cosmetics, we did not get anything else since I wanted to shop

at Ewha Women's University first before buying anything overpriced in Myeongdong.

Night view of Myeongdong shopping streets

As we were all exhausted from the flight, we headed back to our guesthouse,

making a trip to the convenience store along the way just to get my favourite pea soybean milk!

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DAY 2: 14 JUNE 2013

Our first stop of the day is Gyeongbukgong Palace.
From Gyeongbuk station (Seoul subway line 3), we took exit 5 which led us to
the side entrance of the palace.
By the time we arrived, the 10am changing guards parade has already ended,
as we saw the guards leaving the palace premises.
We got our tickets for 3,000 won each and proceeded to join a free guided tour
in Mandarin for an hour.
Although I did not understand what the guide was saying most of the time, some of the
facts she mentioned got through and they were indeed rather interesting,especially
the part about the seasonal architecture modifications.

Entrance to Gyeongbukgong Palace

 

The palace houses the National Folk Museum of Korea, which offers free

admission to those holding an admission ticket to the palace.

There were three galleries when I visited, with one being the chronological life

events of a Korean in the past.

I personally liked the Korean mask exhibit a lot!

After visiting the Folk Museum, we then hurried back to the entrance of the palace

for the changing guards parade at 1pm.

Changing Guards Parade

 

The parade lasted about ten minutes, and right after the exiting of guards,

visitors may take photos with the guards outside the entrance of the palace!

After taking photos with the palace guards, we left to get lunch;

Korean ginseng chicken to be specific.

This particular restaurant, Tosokchon, was recommended by my mum's

friend who stayed in Korea for a six months exchange programme.

We had a hard time finding the restaurant even with the tripadvisor GPS.

After close to fifteen minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the place and a long

line was formed outside the entrance.

Thankfully the place is really big and so, the line moved really fast and we were

in the restaurant within ten minutes.

The only thing to note is that most of the seats available are the traditional mat dining,

which was a problem for my parents since they are at the age where

folding their legs is almost an impossible task.

Tosokchon Restaurant

Korean ginseng chicken with glutinous rice 

They have three types of ginseng chicken available: white, extra wild ginseng and black.

We ordered three portions of white ginseng chicken at 15,000 won each.

The portion is really huge in my opinion, and it will be good to share a portion with

someone else if you have a small appetite.

 The broth is so tasty and the chicken is really tender!

After lunch, we headed to our next stop, Bukchon Hanok Village.
The nearest station to the village is Anguk station.
From exit 2, we walked about 500m before reaching the hanok village premises.
We approached a tourist information volunteer and she gave us a map and a
brief introduction on the main sights in the village.

The main highlight of this village is the traditional houses.
The number spots indicated on the map are basically the best spots to view the village.

View of the traditional Korean roofs

Traditional houses along the street

  

Cute wooden dolls

Bukchon hanok village is such a nice serene estate, and I will visit this place
again if I were to return to Seoul!
After spending close to an hour, we made our way to Insa-dong, which is easily
accessed from Anguk station, exit 5.
Like what many people reviewed on tripadvisor, Insa-dong is indeed a touristy area.
There are a total of sixteen streets to explore in Insa-dong.
We stuck to the main street, which is mainly filled with souvenir and traditional mask shops.

Korean traditional masks

Shin Ramen socks

Tornado potatos

Quirky pancake snack shop

We popped by a dessert shop called Bizeun for some patbingso, also

known as Singapore's ice kachang!

The patbingso we ordered was their bestseller, and it had a scoop of vanilla ice cream, 

mochi and sunflower seeds!

It was a really hot day and this definitely cooled us down.

We did not have any plans after Insa-dong.

We decided to return to our guesthouse for a quick shower before going out for dinner.

This time round, we settled for dinner at a restaurant near our guesthouse.

As I was full from all the korean snacks, I shared a bibimbap with my mum,

which costs 6,000 won.

It was definitely the nicest bibimbap I have eaten in Korea.

That was the reason why we patronised the restaurant again two nights later.

After dinner, we explored Myeongdong once more since it was just a stone throw

away, and this time we did more cosmetic shopping! (:

That sums up our fruitful day in Seoul!