South Korea Trip 2016 Part 1: Arrival, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Miss Lee Cafe Insadong, Bukchon Hanok Village
September 06, 2016
April 12, 2016 | Arrival in South Korea + Two Two Chicken
Our flight left Manila at 3:00PM and arrived in Incheon International Airport at around 8:05PM KST. Customs and baggage claim took us another hour then we had to claim our pocket Wi-Fi which was quite far from where we were since it was located in the departure area section of the airport. We also bought our T-money cards in the convenience store in the airport since we would be needing it for our bus ride to Myeongdong.
Here's a photo of my T-money card. I actually took the photo just now lol! Ain't the design cute? T-money x Line friends! And in my favorite color too!
Raj, my Korean language class classmate, was also in Korea when we went there and she met us in the airport. After getting the pocket Wi-Fi device and buying T-money cards, we then went to the bus waiting area. We opted for the bus (although pricier) that would take us directly to Myeongdong instead of the subway since it was already late and we didn't want to carry our luggages all over the city and subway stations lol. I think it was already 10PM when we boarded the bus.
Jodie, Me, Jj, Kwik and Raj waiting for our bus that would take us to the capital -- Seoul!
The duration of the bus ride was around an hour. Raj was staying in a different place so she got off the bus a few minutes before us. The bus stop in Myeongdong is just blocks away from our guest house so all we had to do was cross the street and walk towards our home for the next 7 days. It was an uphill battle going to the guest house but the weather was chilly so we didn't really get tired.
It was already 11PM when we settled into our hotel and we were all hungry! Our last meal prior our flight was our McDonald's lunch meal in NAIA. We did eat some take-out McDo burgers in the plane and Jj even bought overpriced chips (PhP60/pack whaddup!) but those obviously were not enough. Since Kwik was familiar with the place, she suggested to eat in the chicken place near our guest house. Of course we all agreed because who doesn't like Korean fried chicken?!?! With our famished selves, we walked to Two Two Chicken to finally grab some proper dinner meal!
WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER! Our order for our first official meal in South Korea. Seems a lot? Our original order was actually more than this one (with extra cups of rice!). We ordered the chili friend chicken and garlic fried chicken, btw!
We had to lessen our order because when we told the server our original order, he had this surprised (:o) look on his face and told us that their servings are pretty generous! Well, their servings were indeed a lot so yay for that! He probably got shocked because we were eating so much at such a late hour? It was way past dinnertime after all. Anyway, the food was tasty and very filling! I enjoyed munching on the savory chicken and eating it with rice was a great decision. The Chilsung cider (so Korean~) I had as my drink also complemented the meal. Gaaah, writing about this now and looking at our photos is making my mouth water.
A mandatory "we have arrived safely in Seoul and we are now eating our first official meal" group photo!
After dinner, we stopped by a convenience store to buy some Korean snacks. I'm not exactly sure what convenience store we went to because there were a lot of convenience stores within the area (another reason to stay in Namsan guest house!). GS25, Family Mart... name it!
Bought this famous banana milk we often see in Korean dramas~ It was delicious!!
After all those, we headed back to the guest house and rested. The next day would be our first official full day in the country and our itinerary was packed!
Day 1 (April 13, 2016) | Gyeongbokgung Palace, Miss Lee Cafe in Insadong, Bukchon Hanok Village
Gyeongbokgung Palace
Our first day was dedicated to typical tourist destinations: Gyeongbokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village and Namsan Tower.
We took the subway to Gyeongbokgung Station and arrived there at around 10:30AM. When we exited the station, we stopped by the National Palace Museum first before heading straight to the palace. The National Palace Museum of Korea showcases various relics from the Joseon Dynasty. Some of these artifacts are royal symbols, traditional Korean clothing, architectural layouts of the palaces and royal books/records.
Traditional clothing
Royal books/records
Architectural layout of the palace
It was nice going to the National Palace Museum first because we were able to visualize the life of the people in the Joseon Dynasty... before going to the actual royal palace. When it was almost 11AM already, we proceeded to the Gyeongbokgung Palace and we were lucky because we were able to catch the performance of the guards-on-duty at the Gwanghwamun Gate. This performance does not happen every hour so I suggest you visit this site if you want to see it. We actually didn't know the schedule beforehand and we were just in the right place, at the right time lol!
Our first photo in Gyeongbokgung Palace! Look at our excited faces! Behind us is the Gwanghwamun Gate.
Weird but I don't have any photos of the performance -_- I think it was because there were a lot of people in front of me so I wasn't able to get a good shot. What I did was take a photo of the surroundings outside Gwanghwamun Gate, though. Clean cities always amaze me!!
Right after the performance, people were lining up to have a photo-op with the royal guards. While people wamted to have solo photos with the guard, we just took this group photo, all thanks to Jj's Go-Pro!
We then bought our tickets to enter the Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was at 3,000 won per person. We didn't avail of the ticket that would allow entrance to the 3 other palaces and Jongmyo shrine because of time constraints. Since Gyeongbokgung Palace is considered as the grandest among all the palaces, we prioritized visiting this. I'll most likely visit the other palaces when I go to South Korea again!
It took us 40 minutes to explore the whole palace, appreciating its majestic and beautiful facade. Despite the tour groups, the place was not that crowded as one would expect because the area is really H U G E. You would also see tourists dressed in hanbok (traditional Korean dress) to heighten the feeling of living in the Joseon Dynasty. Looking back now, we should've tried wearing a hanbok just for the experience. The designs were so pretty too! South Korea was definitely successful in restoring a landmark of their grand history.
Heungnyemun Gate, the entrance to the palace
The natural lighting and beautiful architecture also called for selca/photo shoot sessions. We used that photo on the right as background way too many times lol
Spring is here~ 봄봄봄
The throne room
Appreciate the nice doors!
From Gyeongbokgung Palace, our plan was to walk to Bukchon Hanok Village. We asked for directions on how to go there because we were getting lost inside the huge palace. I thought Bukchon Hanok Village is just a couple of steps away from Gyeongbokgung Palace but the village is actually near Anguk Station, which is a station away from Gyeongbokgung Station. We still opted to walk though, toward the direction of Anguk, since we would be having lunch in Insadong. The walk from the palace to Insadong was around 12mins.
Choosing to walk gave us lovely sights such as this one!
We also had the chance to take a photo outside the National Folk Museum of Korea~
Right after exiting the palace walls, we were greeted by this delicious-smelling food truck.
We all bought hotteok (호떡), which is a sweet pancake filled with cinnamon and sugar. It was so hot and yummy please! Perfect companion for the chilly weather.
Insadong
We walked around Insadong, looking for a place where we could have our lunch. After a couple of minutes, we saw Miss Lee Cafe hidden between the cute and quirky buildings dominating the neighborhood. My friends and I all agreed to eat here because of the scrumptious-looking dosirak (Korean lunch box) illustrated in the cafe's menu.
The interior of Miss Lee Cafe perfectly matches the personality of the neighborhood. It also reminds me of the date/couple places featured in Korean shows.
Speaking of Korean shows, when I entered the cafe and saw the menu, I felt like I've seen it before. I Iater realized that I did watch a food show on Channel M (now Channel tvN) about Korean cafes/restaurants for couples and this was one of the mentioned restaurants. I watched that last 2014 and I remember getting giddy over the cute concept of the cafe. Cute date restaurants aren't really common in the Philippines ok! #foreverromantic I'm still amazed because who knew I would be able to eat in the cafe I gushed over 2 years ago?!
The autographs of Korean celebrities who have visited the cafe are plastered all over the place. Spot SNSD's Yoona! We Got Married Couple CNBLUE's Yong Hwa and SNSD's Seohyun also filmed here for WGM. Cool!
우리가 먹고 싶어요~ We want to eat!
I also love the playlist of the cafe! While we were there, they played Suzy and Baekhyun's "Dream", TWICE's "Ohh Ahh 하게/Like Ooh-Ahh" and HIGH4 ft. IU's "Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms". The atmosphere was chill and calming, which made me appreciate the spring season more. Obviously, the music helped in setting the mood.
Here's the dosirak. rice + seaweed + kimchi + egg + luncheon meat (?!). It came with a soup! I also ordered a fresh citrus drink.
The novelty of this lunch box is you don't mix it using a spoon and fork. You have to put the lid on, shake it for a few seconds, and hope that your meal will be mixed accordingly.
Here's how your meal should look like after shaking the tin lunch box... except I didn't achieve this when I shaked mine LOL. When I opened the lunch box, all of its contents just moved to one side. I had to use my utensils to mix this meal... and so did my friends. Nobody succeeded in using the shaking method LOL!
Super spicy tteokbokki/spicy rice cakes (떡볶이) we couldn't finish. Even this was too spicy for my spicy-loving taste buds!
From Miss Lee Cafe, we walked to Bukchon Hanok Village. There are tour assistants in the area who you can ask for directions. They are fluent in English and they are dressed in matching shirts so spotting them is not a problem. Bukchon Hanok Village is near Insadong so we were able to locate it immediately.
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village, from its name, houses traditional Korean houses (hanok) from the Joseon dynasty. Some of these houses were transformed into restaurants, museums, souvenir shops and guest houses. As expected, the architecture left us awestruck, it was as if we were transported back in time. I couldn't imagine the effort it took in restoring/preserving these houses.
Going around the village is an uphill battle @-)
Here's a photo of us after reaching what we deemed as the highest part of the village. Look at the array of hanok behind us~
Us and our fascination with beautiful doors! We stopped all the walking just to get these photos taken.
Since Bukchon Hanok Village is a residential area, it's advised to try to keep quiet while exploring the area so as not to disturb the homeowners.
Going down already to return to the "present millenium" but we just had to take this photo with the tourists who were wearing hanbok!
From Bukchon Hanok Village, we walked to the subway station and rode the train bound for Myeongdong since we wanted to rest first before we continue the rest of the day's adventure.
Remaining parts of Day 1 and full story of Day 2 will be posted on my next blog entry. I didn't know the first part would be so long omg! I should've expected this when I was writing my Japan blog entries lol. I don't want to forget anything so I try to write every little thing that I want to share, may it be significant or not. This blog is my happy little home after all~
1 comments
but you didnt finish your Japan series! Love you!
ReplyDelete- your boyfriend