Seoul - 15 to 16, 18, 20 to 21 February 2016
Jeju - 17 February 2016
Busan - 19 February 2016
From the dates above, it is obvious that this was a rush trip. Putting two girls who haven't (or considered haven't) been to Korea, we were beyond excited to go as many places as we can. Google maps does not work well there, so please do your homework if there is anywhere you really want to go. This is a long post.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | |
| Morning | Gwangjang Market | -
Arrival at Jeju - O’sulloc Museum and Innisfree Jeju House |
- Arrival at Busan | ||||
| Lunch | Myeongdong Street Food | Random shop near Cheonjeyeon Falls (Seaweed soup) | Bonjuk at Ewha | - Jalgalchi Market | Ginseng Chicken Tosokchon Samgyetang | ||
| Afternoon | Myeongdong | -
Cheonjeyeon Falls - Mysterious Road |
Ewha Shopping Street | Spa Land | Myeongdong | -
Ewha - Flight out |
|
| Dinner | Random shops near the accoms (Jjigae and fried chicken) | Random shops near our accoms (Seafood stew) | Hwaro Hyang (Black Pork BBQ) | Loco Quan 401 (BBQ) | Twin Pork Soup | Army stew at Myeongdong | |
| Evening / Night | -
Arrival at Seoul - Siloam Fire Pot Sauna |
Namsan Tower | Flight back to Seoul | -
Hongdae - Thanks Nature Café |
Back to Seoul | ||
| Stay | Airbnb at Namyeong | Shinchon Ever8 Serviced Residence | |||||
Day 1 - Seoul
Namyeong > Siloam Fire Pot Sauna
We got stuck at the immigration for almost 2 hours and apparently, it was something uncommon as informed by an ajumma who became a US Citizen and had to sadly queue with us.
We bought SIM Card even though most of the website you search for will probably recommend the wifi egg. The trouble of having to ensure any device is charged is a pain for us. So we chose the easy way out. SIM Card can be bought from the convenience store, together with T-Money Card (like our EZ-Link Card).
Another point to note, your T-Card balance should be less than KRW20,000 in order to refund from any convenience store.
Siloam Fire Pot Sauna is a jjimjibang and the place you must go to get a Korean-ish experience. Be prepared to walk around in your birthday suit in the bath area and see more people (of your own gender of course) in theirs.
From Lotte Mart (hypermarket) at Seoul Station and you will probably come to a sight where tourists and packing their purchases in boxes. Well, restraint yourself, you will have your time there, continue walking straight (along the cashiers) and after Lotte Mart, you will see the escalator going down, exit the mall, turn right and cross the traffic light. There will be lots of signs leading to entrance and it was a slight upslope.
Just explore there and have fun! Everything is pretty self explanatory. Remember to complete your experience with a meal. If you are going during winter period, do remember to avoid having the cold noodles no matter how tempting it is after being "cooked" in the rooms for so long. It will still be cold outside.
Yup. We learned it the hard, or rather, cold way.
Day 2 - Seoul
Namyeong > Noryangjin Fish Market > Gwangjang Market > Dong Dae Mun > Myeongdong > Namsan Tower
Our plan was to have breakfast at Noryangjin Fish Market but unfortunately, no business was operating because of a protest.
All. Empty.....
So, we had our brunch at Gwangjang Market. There were a lot of local delights to try and one of them was the octopus legs. You can see the ahjumma trying to pry it away from the tank, meat pancake (the famous one should be mung bean, which we were uninterested in and most of the stalls didn't allow us to order just one to try), egg cake / bun / bread, mussels soup (we are a soup person) and rice cake that is available almost everywhere.
Since it was snowing on that day, we decided to walk off some calories to the Dong Dae Mun which is one station away. This place was known as the shopping paradise and I wish I can tell you more about the shopping here. We faced our second "crisis" of the day because the entire place was mostly closed on a Tuesday. Based on a non-Korean roadside seller, Most of the malls close on a certain day of the month. I couldn't find any relevant article about it even now, so... Just avoid a Tuesday?
So, sad about no shopping? Fret not! There is always Myeongdong to the rescue! There are so so so many articles on this place and I shall not harp on to it.
Expecting that it is a trip filled with eating, we decided to walk to the Namsan Cable Car from Myeongdong to get to Namsan Tower. From Exit 3 walk towards Pacific Hotel. Bear right and walk uphill for about 10-15 minutes until you see Namsan Cable Car. The hike (not even walk) was horrendous. We were so afraid we took the wrong route.
And we got awarded by this view. :)
Day 3 - Jeju
O’sulloc Museum and Innisfree Jeju House > Cheonjeyeon Falls > Mysterious Road > Black Pork BBQ Street
See here >> http://wanderlust-tales.blogspot.sg/2017/06/one-day-in-jeju.html
Day 4 - Seoul
Ewha > Thanks Nature Cafe > Loco Quan 401
We moved out of our very nice Airbnb (unfortunately it is delisted now, so I did not mention about it) to Shinchon Ever8 Serviced Residence located near Ewha. It was a very basic serviced apartment with good location. But the reduction in space from our previous accommodation was depressing.
At Ewha, it is another round of shopping! The shops were shouting KRW10,000 to us, hello?! I almost went crazy and had to go back to the accoms to put my shopping loot down. The location of this accoms is really jjang!
Headed over to Hongdae next and from the station, you can go directly to Butter that sells pretty, cheap and nonsensical stuff that you probably won't need but since you see it, you need it now. You have to pay for the plastic bag and get to wrap your purchase in bubble wraps outside the shop.
There were some tourist guide (people) standing around but they were not exactly helpful. Perhaps there were just too many shops in Hongdae.
We hung out at Thanks Nature Cafe, the one with real life sheep that smells pretty bad. And it was another round of BBQ served at Loco Quan 401 (by HaHa from Running Man!)
Day 5 - Busan
Jagalchi Market > Spa Land > Twin Pork Soup
See here >> http://wanderlust-tales.blogspot.sg/2017/06/one-day-in-busan-south-korea.html
Day 6 - Seoul
Ginseng Chicken Tosokchon Samgyetang > Insadong > Myeongdong > Lotte Mart
We decided to take it slow for the day. Brunch was at Ginseng Chicken Tosokchon Samgyetang. Yes, the famous one. And it was really good.
If it is your first time to South Korea, do try to spare some time at Insadong. It is great to just walk around and soak in the atmosphere.
We ended our last night in Seoul with more shopping at Myeongdong. We walked around and went to a random shop serving army stew because, why not right. More shopping at Lotte Mart (the one we saw on Day 1) and spent the rest of the night trying to pack our luggage with our shopping loots. Remember to get sufficient luggage weight excess for your flight back!
Day 7 - Seoul
Ewha
Since it was our last day, we just hung around Ewha, grab any last minute stuff, eat more korean food and took some photos at Ewha University!
If you would like more details for any specific place in the itinerary, do leave a comment. I am happy to help! Enjoy! :)
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