Seoul, South Korea, February 2013

Can't believe this is my first travel blog after travelling for 10 years, this trip was actually back in Feb this year and finally I decided to do something about it!

I went to Seoul with my sister and my friend Jian in Feb this year after Chinese New Year, the weather was too cold for me and my sister, but it was just fine for Jian who comes from the North of China, I had to say I did not enjoy the weather at all especially at night it was freezing cold! 

We stayed 4 nights at Hotel Aventree Jongno which costed us KRW 348,000 for a triple room, a 4 star hotel with spacious room and just next to Insadong, it was a very good deal that I found from booking.com.





First night dinner at Insadong.

We arrived Seoul early in the morning, after leaving the luggage at the front desk we headed to Insadong.  It was a nice area to shop for Korean art, tea, souvenirs and cosmetic products etc, Many of the shops and restaurants hired Mandarin speaking staff to cater for the huge influx of Chinese tourists, therefore we had no problem in communication at all, even if you do not speak Mandarin, they could understand English as well.

After dinner we headed to Dongdaemun for more shopping, Dongdaemun is the home to many fashion wholesalers, there are many shopping malls open for business until early in the morning, definitely a shopping paradise!




The next morning went to the Korean folk village which is not in the city centre, there were several cheaper ways to get there but to save the trouble we took a taxi, the journey was more than an hour.

We spent a few hours in the folk village, it was an interesting place, there were many traditional houses to provide visitors an understanding of Korean culture and ancient housing style. 

 




     





The lively Myeong-dong.

After lunch at the folk village we took the free shuttle bus to Suwon Station and took metro back to Myeong-dong which is one of the main shopping district and tourism districts. I discovered Myeong-dong kyoja which was recommended by the book, we then had our afternoon snack over there, the dumplings were not bad, I was impressed by their efficient service too. After that of course more shopping for cosmetic items. While shopping I came across another restaurant that was recommended by the book, we then had our Korean BBQ dinner over there, it was a popular restaurant especially among tourists, food was good and price was reasonable, the funny thing was the owner gave us each of a picture of a Korean star of our choice, guess who I picked, Psy!

Dumplings at Myeong-dong Kyoja and Korean BBQ.

 









On day 3 we started the day with visiting the very old Jogyesa Buddhist Temple which was near to our hotel, there were some big Gautama Buddha statues inside the temple, worshippers were praying, it was peaceful and solemn.

We visited the Changdeokgung Palace next, it is one of the 5 main palaces in Seoul and a UNESCO world heritage site. The admission fee was only KRW5000 including the secret garden and there were complementary tours in a few languages, can't remember why didn't we join the Mandarin tour, we probably missed it and had to join the English tour. Anyway we did enjoy the tour and the palace was indeed very beautiful!

After the palace we had lunch at a Japaneses restaurant nearby,and then we walked to Samcheong-dong area where there were Korean traditional houses, nice cafes and shops.

 

In the evening we went to Namdaemun market which is the largest traditional market in Korea, our mission there was to buy food stuff especially seaweed.   We went in a seaweed shops where the Chinese speaking staff introduced different types of seaweed to us, we not only had seaweed tasting and they also served us my favourite Korean drink - citron tea, we ended up buying 2 big bags of seaweeds, Korean ginseng and citron tea. We had our dinner at the Namdaemum market at a little eatery, nice and cheap food!

On day 4, we went back to Insadong to a traditional tea house, we loved the place, the decor, the tea and the dessert.  We did more shopping and had lunch in a vegetarian restaurant in Insadong that was also recommended by the book.  I am not really keen on vegetarian food but my friend Jian wanted to try.  The restaurant's decor was so good, the food presentation was good but there was NO MEAT!   

Having tea and dessert at traditional tea house in Insadong.

Sanchon, a vegetarian restaurant in Insadong.

  

In the afternoon we went to Gangnam area, Garosu-gil in Sinsa-dong was a nice area with many nice cafes, restaurants and shops.  At night my Korean friend Ellen took us to a restaurant closed to Gangnam Station to have Korean BBQ pork, the food was very delicious.  That marked the end of our trip and we left the next day early morning.

 

 

It was a good trip, it would be even better if the weather was a little bit warmer.  I do not think I will go back to Seoul though, probably go to Busan in my next trip to South Korea.