So I quit my job (FINALLY ✌) and we have been looking forward to this trip for a long time! Fetched LC from his workplace and went straight to the airport for check-in and dinner.
We booked a midnight flight with Vietnam Airlines, which was super cheap, at only $481. Even Scoot charges about $650 for round trip (1 stop), and SQ $850 onwards. The flight was inclusive of 30kg check-in luggage and 2 meals (there was a 2-hr layover at Ho Chi Minh) which were so tasty! The airline's safety rating is pretty good, and not to mention, the flight attendants are really pretty ^^ Sounds good yeah?
The plane from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh did not have an entertainment system, so fortunately it was a short flight. Basically they started serving drinks and food about half an hour after taking off, and then by the time we finished eating it was more than halfway there :P
We forgot to bring USD to spend at the Ho Chi Minh airport, but realised that many restaurants accepted other currencies in cash based on the latest exchange rates on that day. We also found the perfect spot to spend your time when you're at the airport!
There's a lounge near Gate 6-9, where you can rest comfortably for just US$5 per hour! It is inclusive of pillow, blanket, wifi, and a free drink (either mineral water or pepsi). Just look at those seats, they're so comfy! There were a few uncles sleeping soundly when we'd arrived :P
The next flight was much longer, and we flew on Boeing 777, a much bigger plane with entertainment system. We didn't bother to check if they had nice movies though. I think I kind of slept through the whole flight, except when they served supper ☺
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| The beef is tastier than fish! |
14th May 2016
The Incheon airport had really long queues at the customs. We decided to take the airport limousine to The Plaza Hotel at City Hall, which was the nearest stop to our hotel. Each ticket costs ₩16,000, which seemed really expensive because there's a direct train from Incheon to City Hall and it could be cheaper (only slightly actually). But once you get onto the limousine, you won't regret spending the money because the seats are so huge and comfy! You can even lie down and sleep :D
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| http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23964519-post180.html |
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| Lobby! There's a cafe on the left :) |
We couldn't check-in early as they were fully booked, so we could only store our luggage there and come back at 2pm.
We headed to Deoksugung first to catch the change of guards at 11am. The palace was was only 10-min walk or less from our hotel. Got a breakfast at the Dunkin' Donuts right beside the palace, and waited for the ceremony to begin. [On a side note, Korea is really strange because you could find Dunkin' Donuts just almost on every street and they're so popular with the locals, while you would only see a few empty outlets of Krispy Kreme scattered in different districts, even when Krispy Kreme is priced much much lower (I think it's about half of Singapore's price) and tastes so much better?! Honestly don't get it.]
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| My favourite capture of the day :P |
I was so shocked at the size of Seoul... We could see Gyeongbokgung from Deoksugung, even though they are supposed to be 4 train stations apart?!
We decided to walk to Namdaemun Market to find food for lunch!
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| Sungnyemun Gate |
The Namdaemun Market looked quite small from the outside, but once you're in, you would realise it's quite impossible to cover every alley in the market. Don't get lost inside! :P
I think the market is more catered to local ajummas? There are a lot of household goods over there. The clothes also look like they're for older people lol. There were a lot of street food though, it was a pity we were too full to try any. There was a stall at gate 8 (if I'm not wrong) selling vegetable pancake for just ₩1,000, and it attracted a really long queue!
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| Silk worm pupae (Beondegi) - something that will never enter my mouth > < |
There were a lot of fresh fruits! I bought a box of strawberries :D Such a big box for just ₩4,000.
LC was craving for the Ginseng Chicken Soup (Samgyetang), so we headed for the Korea Samgyetang near City Hall station. The restaurant is really big, with 4 storeys, so we didn't have to wait to get a seat.
They served the side dishes and iced water as soon as we sat down, and this is why I really love Korean restaurants :)
The soup (₩15,000) was piping hot when served. I was a bit surprised that there was an entire chicken in it. It was supposed to be a light lunch for us LOL.
The soup came with a mini cup of ginseng wine that I sipped and it tasted like those 白酒 in China. Pour the wine into the soup to give it more flavour. Basically, I liked the soup but it would probably taste too bland as you eat a few more mouths. Luckily the restaurant provided salt and pepper, so add them into the soup to your liking.
When you cut the chicken open, you would find a lot of glutinous rice inside! Really soft and yummy.
I tried my best to finish up the soup and most of the chicken, but had quite a bit of glutinous rice left.
After lunch, we finally checked in and had a good nap before leaving for dinner at 7pm hahaha. There was such a long list of food to try in Korea that it was always difficult to decide what to eat. Since our hotel was near Myeongdong, we walked there first to take a look at street food in the night market!
We tried grilled squid, grilled cheese (₩3,000), torched scallop (₩8,000), tteokbokki / rice cake (₩3,000), egg bread (₩2,000), etc.
I'm not a fan of rice cake, but trust me, you have to try it at least once in Korea because it's SO GOOD. The sauce is so yumz and it's quite spicy!
LC's favourite was the grilled cheese. The scallop was good too! Egg bread seemed nothing special initially but somehow it just got better and better. Do choose your egg bread wisely though as some eggs might be overcooked and it wouldn't taste as good.
Satisfied with our dinner, we strolled along the streets of Myeongdong for some shopping.
Most of the cosmetic shops on different streets are the same, like Laneige, Holika Holika, Nature Republic, The Face Shop, etc. But they could have different promotions, so you might want to look around first before making any purchases. I thought the prices were not exactly super low compared to Singapore, so I didn't buy much. They did give a lot of free samples though. If you're thick skinned enough, you could just walk into every shop and get free masks/samples at their doorstep :P
We ended off the day with this super long ice cream that only costs ₩2,000!
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15th May 2016
It was going to rain in the afternoon so we didn't plan much for the day. We skipped breakfast at the hotel and headed straight for Insadong for lunch. We entered from the Anguk Station side, but you could also alight at Jonggak Station (no transfers needed if you stay near City Hall).
Miss Lee Cafe is right at the entrance of Insadong, on your right, if you would like to try.
We got a map at the tourist information counter, and asked the guy for food places. We went to 14-gil to eat traditional Korea cuisines!
So we chose a restaurant that had prices on their menus hahaha.
Their deco was so cool and vintage! They had set menus ranging from ₩16,000 to ₩65,000. We asked the waiter for recommendation and he said he recommends the ₩65,000 one due to the variety LOL. Should have expected that. We decided to try the Serchon Set Menu, as you can see below.
There were SO MANY dishes!!!
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| Every dish was so exquisite! |
The meat was perfect!! The fats didn't taste oily, but instead was a bit chewy yet tender and sat perfectly with the lean layers. The kimchi that came with it was really good too - reminded me of 萝卜干 in Sichuan haha.
I was already full by the time we finished all these. Then came the last part of our meal - 6 side dishes, tofu soup, fish, and a huge pot of rice which they later made into Nurungji.
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| They were a lot bigger than they look |
It started raining halfway through, and we had to run to the nearby ticketing office for shelter. Soon after we finished watching the change of guards, we left and headed back to hotel. We didn't have an umbrella so we could only rely on our hoodies! It took us pretty long to walk home lol. We just went to whatever underground passageway we came across along the way.
We stumbled upon this museum! Hahaha. Super unexpected. Korea really has a second city underground. Well prepared for war? They even have gas masks and food rations in/near the train stations.
By the time we reached our hotel, my jeans were half wet and we were freezing! I started feeling giddy so I slept away the afternoon again. (¬‿¬)
We had dinner downstairs as it was still downpouring at 7+pm. Had a hard time placing the order as the menu was in Korean and the staff couldn't speak any English/Chinese LOL. We got a soup loaded with ingredients akin to fish cakes. The soup tasted heavenly, maybe because of the weather!
We got an umbrella after dinner to explore Myeongdong again so that we didn't feel too guilty for wasting an entire afternoon :P It was a relief that most of the walking was underground and we arrived at Myeongdong in no time.
Many of the retail stores were closing as it was already 10pm. We stumbled upon the highly-raved O'sulloc Tea House, so how could I not try it right?
The prices in Korean cafes aren't exactly low. I got a set of Green Tea Latte and Roll, which cost about S$12. The Green Tea Latte was quite ordinary, similar to what you would get in Starbucks. They ran out of the usual Green Tea Roll so I ended up with the charcoal one instead. Not the most photogenic, nor did it taste fantastic. The cream was still frozen when it was served, so I had to wait quite a while before eating it.
16th May 2016
We planned to head to Insadong for lunch, but somehow walked the wrong way and ended up near Jonggak Station. There was a number of office buildings over there, so we followed the lunch crowd to find our lunch spot.
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| The 食客村. Apparently it's quite famous? |
We were not disappointed at all!!! We ordered chicken & pork for main dish, and there were so many side dishes. Each set was only about ₩8,000! I loved loved loved the bindaetteok, which, noob as I may be, was the first time I ate it. Never fancied pancakes, but it was so good!?
After lunch, we still went to Insadong for a short while since it was nearby. Went to visit the Ssamziegil, which reminded me of Chinatown Point. Basically you won't have to climb any stairs (although it was available at one corner) to reach the top of the building because it was in a spiral.
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| The inflatable signage was so cute. It was constantly waving its arms |
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| Poo Cafe |
Our next stop was the mandatory tourist attraction - Bukchon Hanok Village. We got a map from the information centre, which directed us to the 2 clusters of traditional houses that we'd see when we google the place.
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| So cute and sweet :P Helping me with my bag hahaha |
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| Pretty leaves :D |
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| This was my favourite picture of the day! The lights and shadows were so perfect. |
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| My hair was so tamed and straight in Korea :P |
Lc got a haircut along the way at a random shop. The lady was quite skilled and only charged ₩10,000 for cut, wash and blow.
We also tried on the Hanbok before leaving! It was ₩8,000 each for unlimited time with a free polaroid, but you could only stay within the compound and would probably get bored after half an hour.
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| Just for laughs. |
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| Mini Busan haha! |
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| The killer flight of stairs but it was all worth our effort! |
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| We were just in time for the sunset! |
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| We accidentally became models for a photographer so he volunteered to help us grab a photo with our lousy camera phone. Luckily it turned out pretty nice! |
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| The Fortress! |
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| See the leaf beside the lettuce? Looks like 桑叶, but turns out it's 芝麻叶. Didn't taste edible to me LOL. |
My legs were dying after 3 days of walking. We wanted to get a foot massage at Myeongdong but turns out their cheapest massage was like half machine half human? What??? Totally not worth the price. We decided to just save the money and head back to hotel to rest.
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17th May 2016
We woke up late again, and was planning to spend some time at Changdeokgung's Huwon (Secret Garden) for photos but unfortunately, you have to join a tour if you want to visit the Huwon, and the timings were quite limited, so we decided not to go in.
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| Stumbled upon the Daegaksa on the way |
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| Extremely pretty trees as usual :D |
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| A better mural than the ones at mural village lol |
The university was pretty, but not as big as I had imagined. The atmosphere was so different from NTU and NUS hahaha. Felt more relaxed in a sense? There was a small museum which you could visit for free.
Near the entrance sat a little cafe. We grabbed a drink inside cos the weather was so hot! The coffee was quite cool because they used frozen coffee cubes to replace ice cubes so that the drink never becomes bland after the ice melts :)
We took a brief walk around edae, but I thought the shopping choices were very limited. Basically all the shops sold the same stuff. Before we left, I had a small serving of the famous Herb Cup Chicken (허브컵치킨) for just ₩1,000! Yummy :D
Our last stop for the day was the N Seoul Tower! It was within walking distance (~30 min) from our hotel. There was a really long escalator (just beyond the stretch of flowers in the picture below) that would take you up to the cable car ticket office.
By the time we bought our tickets and took the cable car up, it was already dark! At the end of the cable car journey was an observatory. The panoramic view of the city coupled with the cool breeze was really amazing :)
The only down side was that the cable car would only bring you to the foot of the Tower. If you wish to go up all the way, another ticket is required! Seated at the top of the tower is a restaurant called N Grill. Definitely a romantic dinner option :P
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| As usual, locks everywhere! |
We bought a stick of fried potato before heading down because someone was hungry ;)
Lc was in the mood for Samgyetang again, but almost all the restaurants were closed by then :( We ended up in a random one that was still open not far from the N Seoul Tower. I had buckwheat vegetable dumplings which tasted funny.
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18th May 2016
We woke up earlier as we had to travel to Gangnam for our pre-wedding photoshoot dress fitting :D
It was a really disastrous morning because we failed to withdraw cash from various ATMs (incl Citibank, Stand Chart) with various cards we had brought with us. We were frantically running around the city for like 2-3 hrs. We needed quite a bit of cash to pay for the photoshoot. In the end, due to time constraints, we decided to get ourselves to Gangnam first before trying more.
It was really super lucky that on the way to our hotel, we came across a KEB branch and we finally succeeded!!!!
Our hotel was again a boutique hotel - Richwell Hotel - located on a side road. It was really awesome but we didn't have much time to enjoy it before leaving for the dress fitting! I managed to book the Deluxe Double room at only about $107 per night. The room was 38 m² with a huge bath!
Dress fitting: separate post
In the evening, we came back to the hotel and had BBQ for dinner nearby. Yay!
It was so juicy! Much better than the previous one we had.
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19th May 2016
Photoshoot: separate post
After the photoshoot, I finally got to eat the Ganjang Gejang I had been craving for since 3 months ago hahaha. The Ganjang Gejang Alley is located near the Sinsa Station. There were a number of
restaurants trying to pull tourists into their shops, but we couldn't tell which was better so we just tried our luck. It was quite pricey I would say, but once in a lifetime right? :P
Sooooo yumzzzzzz! It was quite salty and lots of pepper, but went really well with white rice.
After a super satisfying dinner, we walked around Gangnam and had a cup of Gong Cha which I thought was better than Singapore's.
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20th May 2016
After a tiring day, we slept till noon to recuperate :P We had the long awaited fried chicken right beside our hotel. We'd been eyeing it since we arrived 2 days ago.
It was SO GOOD. The chicken was so tender and juicyyy!
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| A mix of Spicy + Original Fried |
It was our last afternoon in Seoul, and I had to take the last chance to check out the Express Bus Terminal underground shopping centre. I was not disappointed at all! This is probably the best shopping place we'd come across during the trip. Cheap + good variety :D
We saw no end to the shopping lanes. 真的是目不暇给. It took me an hour to walk barely 200 metres? I was tempted to buy so many things there.
It was a pity that we were short of time, but I guessed it saved me some money :P We walked to the Banpo Hangang Park which was about 1km away from Express Bus Terminal. There were quite a bit of young people picnicking there. It had a nice view of the city centre and was really peaceful.
The sunset was amazing :)
We had our final dinner at Kyochon Chicken @ Gangnam Station (I know. We had fried chicken twice in a day :P). Kyochon is supposedly the BEST fried chicken in Seoul. I thought it was soso though. The spicy one was nice, but a bit too spicy for lc.
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21st May 2016
So sad it was time to go home again! But at least I'm still jobless so I can derp at home for a while hahaha.
Thanks to my darling lc for accompanying me on this trip <3
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