Gabriel’s Musings

The Heart of Seoul – Korea Day 1

I would never have thought of going to Seoul of it’s not for our dear friend, Yvonne, who got posted there 6 months for work. So Chee Lim, Bishan, Yee Weng and I decided to give her a 6-day visit while exploring the regions around. The trip was from 18-23 June, where our flight from Singapore was on 17 June night.

The return flight ticket was about SGD$600 with a transit at Ho Chi Minh City. It was about 2 hours transit at about 10pm when we reached HCMC. We took the ‘liberty’ to steal wireless from a nearby cafe to be used on our iPhones, and distribute money to everyone…

We reached Korea (Incheon) Airport at about 7am local time. We took the airport bus which costs us 15000won (approx SGD18) and 90 min of travelling time to Yvonne’s place at Dongdaemun region. It was the best bus ride ever. We didn’t had proper sleep during the flight and the bus is so comfortable. We slept peacefully all the way there….

We stayed at a place called Co’op Residence for convenience since this is where Yvonne is staying. It became our base of operations.

After a quick wash up and checking-in, we headed out for lunch! Had a simple meal of Ramen, Kim Bab, Vegetable Pau

and some fish cake noodle which is possibly the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. The fish-cake noodle is goo-ey and I don’t know what is that

We also made our day-plans there cause we left the day-itinerary in the hotel.

As it was a Friday, Yvonne had to go off to work after lunch. We then explored the area by ourselves. Looking at the sights and sounds of Seoul.

Our first stop was at Yeongbukgong Palace.

The palace is pretty ‘new’ and well kept. The tilings have very rich in colour, unlike those in Cambodia.

We observed the changing of guards, and took some pictures with them. It’s a strictly no-touching-of-guards policy

The palace is rather.. well, boring. I guess I don’t really know how to fully appreciate the good olden days where the people would adore their king, take palace exams so that they can work in the palace, and stuff like that. Fortunately, Chee Lim bought a 3000won audio-book that has a GPS capability where it will know where you are and then explain the area to you. Otherwise, it’s really plain palace-sightsee.

There is this view of the old-palace kind with the modern city backdrop in the background. Haha..

And of course, we took lots of pictures there;

Some sitting down

Some scenic

And mostly portraits

After exploring the palace, we went to Insadong, one of the local markets there.

It’s a very up-class market place… With lots of stand-stalls along the streets and it has a lot of interesting narrow alleys.

After Insadong, we went to Namsangol Hanok VIllage. It’s a village of traditional houses in the Namsan Valley.

We tried on traditional Korean costumes there though. It costs 3000won per person to try out.

Apart from the village, it also has nice greenery around.

At the end of is a big arena, probably for some bull fighting or something

When it’s about evening, we headed to Namdaemun Market, a lower class market. But I prefer that market though.. Lots of cheap stuff.. Cheap food!

Sigh.. I so wanted to eat that pork throttle.. It’s only 3000 won.. But it was near dinner time and I was told that there is BBQ buffet..

Which brings us to Bulgogi Brothers @ Myeong Dong.

It’s a slightly upper class BBQ dinner… Was misled that there was buffet…

I love their selection of side dishes.. It’s very interesting and you can have unlimited refills, free of charge… Oh, the mash potato here is superb!! Kept eating it…

Then, the main BBQ dish… Yum Yum..

After dinner, we took a walk around the Myeong Dong area which is famous for shopping.. We then headed to the Cheongyecheon stream

It’s a very large longkang man-made stream.

A lot of couples pak-tor here.. Very romantic place..

And alas, it started to rain and we rushed back to the hotel and call it a night…

The first day was rather hectic and tiring.. But we give ourselves ample of sleep before we begin with Day 2 – Nami Island!