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Day 1: Namsan
Our first meal upon reaching Incheon. Reached our accomodation later, roamed around a bit (we even randomly made friends with an Australian tourist hahaha) and headed up Namsan.
No prizes for guessing my Kpop idol hahahaha. (and NO, I did not scribble that.)
Met Gladine en route up Namsan, who explained that Korea has a very couple-oriented culture - couple tees, 100th-day anniversary, couple locks etc. The last I came up to Namsan was in very, very bad weather conditions (I even remembered my umbrella getting blown away by the wind), so it was pretty nice to be able to view the scenery and lockets properly this time without getting my hair in my face. :X
Oh and since we couldn't make it to Jeju, we visited the Teddy bear museum at Namsan:
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Day 2: GBG Palace / Bukchon Hanok Village / Samcheongdong / Insadong
Only managed to visit one of the big four palaces due to time constraints :( Heard Changdeokgung is the prettiest out of the four with its secret garden tour, but sadly had to skip it.
And en route to Bukchon!
Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew) - our staple for the entire trip. SO GOOD. I'm gonna try making this one of these days hahahaha.
Bukchon is like a huuggge maze, we practically circled this particular section 2-3 times before finding a restroom. But that aside, the houses were so pretty in a rustic way! We paid for a mini house tour and were quite amazed by the design and conservation of the place.
Samcheongdong/Insadong:
Ssamgiezil - a mall located in Samcheongdong with load of quirky arty-farty knick knacks on sale; somewhat like London's Camden Market I would say.
Ended up at O'sulloc for tea-time snacks, cos' all the other cafes were so adamant on us ordering a portion EACH. Apparently they don't have a culture of sharing food, so we couldn't just order 1-2 dishes for 4 people to share... which also meant that our cafe-hopping plans were foiled :( sighpie.
Oh yea, and O'sulloc is awesome for all green tea lovers - wide assortment of tea-related deserts and beverages. Not for me unfortunately, simply cannot stomach green tea :(
And later, we unknowingly stumbled across Kang Ho Dong's KBBQ shop in Myeongdong. Authentic KBBQ FTW!!! :D Mad loving all their banchan (side dishes) that comes with the barbeque set btw. yumz.
PLUS CHEESE RAMYUN FOR SUPPER. HOW CAN YOU SAY NO TO THAT?!?! :3
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Day 3: Ewha / Sinchon / Hongdae
A day of shopping at Ewha and visiting the famous Ewha Women University...
Some cute egg-bread thingy that Kiong got from one of the road-side stalls.
Met up with Gladine once again, and we headed to the Trick-Eye Museum at Hongdae !!
And we managed to find the Hello Kitty cafe at Hongdae that everyone has been talking about:
Nothing much really, just fancy decor and average snacks. Go if you're a HK fan hahaha.
Later, roaming around streets of Hongdae w Gladine:
THIS. is Hongdae's night culture for you. According to Gladine, there's like random pop-up concerts and performers ocassionally performing for the night crowd and the people in the audience are CRAZY HIGH THERE. Can't really see it in this photo, but I swear they were just jumping around and squeezing like mad. THERE WERE PEOPLE EVEN DOING BODY SURFING OMG. Why don't we have such a vibrant night culture in SG???
Chilling at Beans Bin for Kiong's Patbingsu hahaha. Searched high and low for the last 2 days before we ended up at this cafe.
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Day 4: Garosugil (Sinsa)
Decided to have Western food for a change, cos' Kaii was craving for it amidst all our Kimchi meals for the past 3 days hahahaha, and we ended up at Jet Balcony in the middle of Garosugil. Garosugil was pretty interesting and for those who are interested, it is supposedly famous for all the quaint designer shops and bohemian atmosphere. I reckon it would be a much prettier sight in autumn/fall with all the golden ginkgo trees lining the streets.
Went shopping at Gangnam later on, hence.... no photos for that. hahahahhaha.
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Day 5: Noryangjin Market
Did not know about this place the last time I was in Seoul, hence after reading so many reviews about it, I made it a point to include it in our itinerary.
LAND OF FRESH SEAFOOD MUAAAHH <3
Chose our fresh seafood, and brought it to the restaurants located upstairs for cooking:
THE FISH STEW SOUP WAS SOOOOOO GOOOOODDD. PLEASE DO ORDER SOUP BASE IF YOU'RE GETTING THEIR FISH. Luckily we decided to follow Kiong's advice to take the fish soup instead of steaming it. Simply cannot get enough of it !! (Getting hungrier as I type this out... zzz)
And finally managed to try a good Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup) for dinner at Myeongdong!
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Day 6: Jamsil / Gangnam / Myeongdong / DDM
Pretty much loitered around Jamsil and then off to the Express Bus Terminal where the mini platinum mall that everyone was raving about was located.
..... And we headed to Myeongdong for the free Hanbok fitting session hahahahahahahaha:
So... do I look like a convincing physician lady? (or so I gathered from the hanbok design nyahahah)
Must-haves for supper - missing this so much :(
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Day 7: LOTTE WORLD
Was supposed to go to Everland this time round, but IT HAD TO RAIN AGAIN. Damn the erratic weather. :< So unfortunately for us, we had to go Lotte instead, since majority of the rides were indoor.
DIPPING DOTS!!! So much better than USS's one I tried last saturday. blearrghh.
Anddd..... we might have gone slightly overboard at Lotte Mart hahahaha.
And attempting to make Soju Bombs back at our hotel. Pretty lethal I would think.
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And that pretty sums up the trip. Although there might have been hipcups here and there, but was still an awesome trip with the girls I grew up with. Our very first trip in like close to what, 12 years?! :> Thanks girlies, for making the trip possible. Especially Kaii, with her busy work schedule :)
Alright, time to sleep. READY FOR SOME KOREAN CUISINE NOMMING TMR NYAHAHAHA :D Nights all :>
