My travelogue entry on the Seoul trip is massively overdue.
So without further ado, here we go!
It was a double-date trip – me and A, and my New Face bud Liying and her beau Kim.
It’s the first time we are travelling with Liying and Kim and we were so excited!
Especially when Kim is Korean and we know it’s going to be a kickass trip with Kim bringing us around. Heh!
We flew Korean Airlines and touched down in Seoul at night.
It wasn’t hard for us to get tickets into town on the “airport limousine bus” at the airport.
(I realise they like to call all their vehicles limousine. :p)
Kim’s parent were really sweet to pick us up at the bus stop near their place
(no more lugging around of luggages!)
We were welcomed by a whole table of authentic Korean home cooked fare which made us feel really at home!
And I have to say Kim’s parents are the sweetest people ever!
Super loving too!
We were there in January 2015 so the weather was still pretty chilly.
I’ve experienced winter but have not seen falling snow in my life, so this trip was really exciting for me
because I can possibly see falling snow!
The next day, we took the train out to town, to Gangnam!
Despite not being able to speak a single word of Korean, it was still pretty easy to get around.
And I’d have to say the “Subway Korea” app really helped a lot because it can advise on the shortest route,
the estimate price of the trip and also how much time the trip would take.
I’d recommend you guys to get the app if you’re travelling to Korea on your own. π
This is how the Korean subway map looks like in their stations,
so better equip yourselves with the app if you cannot read Korean! Heh!
We were dressed up like huge buns. It was colder than what we imagined in our heads!
Gangnam is a pretty cool place, lined with lots of shopping, beauty stores and aesthetic clinics.
It is also here where we observed a lot of (as Kim calls it) “the Gangnam face” –
the perfectly engineered face with pretty man-made features. :p
Anyways, man-made or not, there are a lot of well-dressed eye candies around here!
The sun is out but we are still cold!
Coincidentally, Sinsin and LTK were also in Seoul so we arranged to meet up for some shopping and for food!
Lunch was freaking awesome and the Korean food in Korea is really totally different from what we’ve had in Singapore.
The quality of the food here really puts the Korean cuisine in Singapore to shame. π‘
I am not a big Korean cuisine fan, but the food we’ve had on the trip is really pretty darn awesome!
For shopping, we started with the popular underground shopping “street”!
Kim calls is a Bus Terminal and it’s walking distance from Gangnam Station.
And for your convenience, it is called κ°λ¨ κ³ μν°λ―Έλ μ§νκ°κ° in Korean.
I almost died at the Shopping Arcade because THERE ARE SO MANY SHOPS and they all SELL THINGS I LOVE!
You can get something pretty and “Korean Superstar-ish” at prices as low as 10USD.
And trust me, the things you find here don’t LOOK 10USD at all!
Loving it!
And typically of me, I did not take any photos of the shopping arcade,
but feel free to Google and find out more information if you’re heading there. π
We had dinner, drinks and snacks at Kim’s place after the massive walking around. Heh!
It’s really cute how Kim and his family likes to just chill and sit around and chat over snacks and beer after dinner. π
– – –
We sashayed to GyeongBokGung Palace the following day.
And it was a day full of disaster; we were supposed to meet Sinsin and LTk at the palace directly,
and after a confusing conversation over Whatsapp the night before,
WE STILL ENDED UP AT DIFFERENT PALACES!
D I S A S T E R .
Actually to be honest, thinking back, I still cannot remember for sure whether the palace
I went to was GyeongBokGung or ChangDeokGung.
Hurhur! π‘
We were pretty lucky to catch the changing of guards when we were there. π
Love the weather when it’s sunny and chilly!
The lake is almost frozen over!
We met up with Sinsin after the palace visit and visited Insa-dong where there are just LOADS of things to eat!
They have lots of traditional Korean snacks and souvenirs here too. π
Man selling “poo”.
Damn cute.
We pretty much exercised our mouths and ate our day away.
Dinner was with Kim’s parents at a nice restaurant at Gwa Cheon area.
This pasta under a pizza is SO cool and delicious!
Wish they have this in Singapore! (Or maybe we could try having it at our cafe!) :p
– – –
PS. I heard someone calling me Harry Potter while I was out shopping that day.
We visited Seoul Tower too.
I was pretty embarrassed about this – we were supposed to walk up the hill up to the tower.
But when we arrived at the foot of the hill, I chickened out.
According to Kim and Liying, it was a nice and leisurely walk.
They had trekked up the hill a couple of times before.
Ahem. Sorry ah. Peggy just ain’t made for walking uphill. :p
It’s over at Seoul Tower where we added our locks to the “love bridge” that’s featured in many Korean dramas.
Pardon our Japan Home locks ah. So not cool. :p
This is how A looks like after being made to take photos with me.
4 photos back to back.
“Why need to take so many photos of the same thing?!”
LOL.
We headed over to Myeong Dong – which later became my favourite place in Seoul!
This place is just full of life!
LOADS AND LOADS of beauty stores, interesting cafes, everything beauty-related that you need,
you can find it here!
At night, it also transforms into a really cool road-side shopping street
with a lot of stalls selling accessories, clothes and Korean street food!
We were recommended to this doggie cafe by Sinsin and this place is really cute!
I’ve been to a lot of cat cafes but it’s my first time at a dog cafe!
The atmosphere of a dog cafe is so different from cat cafes; the latter is usually calming and quiet to be in,
but dog cafes are so hyped up and exciting to be in because the dogs have SO MUCH energy!
We were given pink blankets to put on our laps and wait for the dogs to pick us!
Hahahahaha.
AND WE WERE ALL CHOSEN!
Look I even have two dogs on my lap.
HAHAHAHA!
That pug is TOO CUTE!!!
As we left the cafe and roamed the streets of Myeong Dong, *random* we saw the cat cafe and the dog cafe
mascots chatting over street snacks. :p
– – –
Kim’s Mom was really nice to drive us over to visit Nami Island too!
We had lunch before taking the ferry into the main island. π
ε₯½ε€δΊΊοΌδΊΊε₯½ε€οΌδΊΊε€ ε₯½οΌ
MA CHIAM MTV~
Gotta love good cameras.
– – –
A and I spent 2 nights in an AirBnb apartment we rented in Myeong Dong too,
because we wanted to be nearer to town and spend some alone moments. *shy*
Hahaha.
We also took ourselves walking around town and visited the Ewha Women University area and Hong Dae area.
Love those places!
Look what I found!
It’s Peggy time, daily! Uh huh! :p
Visited the aquarium at this HUGE shopping mall called Coex, you can easily get there by subway!
β€
Thank you Kim’s family for being so nice to us during our trip there!
π
We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!
And before I go, I want to show you…
A’s silliest looking airplane pillow!
HAHAHAHAHA!
PS. No falling snow on this trip. π¦
Hello! How many days u spent in seoul for the winter? And also early or late jan? Cos I’m planning a winter trip to seoul in jan 2017, hoping to see falling snow too. Hahaha.. been reading thru ur post hoping that u say u saw snow! But to my dismay, u didn’t manage to in the end ):
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Hello Kelly,
I was there for 5-6 days but yeah unfortunately we didn’t get to see snow even though the temperatures were sub-zero! I guess it really takes a bit of luck! Hope you’ll get to catch it when you’re there!!
Peggy
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Hello, thanks for your nice post! it will be reference for me to next year! but may i know when is the exact date you were in seoul?
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Hey Karina, thank you and I’m glad it’s of great help to you. I really cannot remember the exact dates though, so sorry about that!
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Hi! May I know which is the accomodation you have stayed throughout your trip? Thanks so much π
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