Day 27: Cafe Culture in Korea

The days this week are getting exciting!!! :) Many cafe visits, and meetups with friends, and just chatting and talking. I wish I can return back to those days.

So we have started getting sick of food in SKKU. So... HyoEun decided to bring us outside school for lunch. We have 1.5 hours lunch break which was pretty sufficient for a good lunch. Since I ended the class and was chatting with Carlos, I decided to invite him along and he didn't mind that he would be the only guy... so yeah, everyone got to know new friends again! That's the perks of travelling. (:

So we got up to one of the highest point of SKKU, and this was the view that was right in front of us. Beautiful :) Well, at least so until we see Gamcheon Cultural Village in Busan. I will be talking about that towards the end of my trip. That's a really lovely place and I'm so going to re-visit it again! :D

So, we took this elevator down and tada~ we are out of SKKU campus. I'm amazed! Never knew that there was a hidden neighbourhood with rows and rows of restaurants and cafes right behind the school. So we decided to settle down in this Korean restaurant, and I had one of the best al-bab I have ever eaten. It is so amazing~~~~! And this for just 5,000KRW or less (cannot exactly remember)

So, after school, Jihye, Minkyeong, Okta and I met up. We have to~~!!! Our presentation was this Thursday and Day 27 was already Monday and we have nothing done yet. We were determined to finish it that day. So, I really wanted to experience the cafe culture in Seoul and especially the famous Samcheongdong cafe street. Jihye said that Samcheongdong was pretty near SKKU and we had a straight bus (No. 2 I remembered!!!) there. We got up to the highest point of SKKU after climbing numerous stairs and taking lifts and wandering around (the SKKU girls are not too sure too heheh) and we finally reached the bus terminal right on top of SKKU. Can you believe it?!?!?!? This school has a bus terminal just above it goshhh. So we hoped on the bus. I loved taking buses because it made me feel Korean. Most tourists won't know how to take a bus, neither do I if the girls weren't there. XP

Okay I took this picture off the VisitSeoul website. I have a bad habit of not taking enough pictures, because I didn't want to look like a tourist holding on to cameras. And especially so if I hang out with Koreans, because they are there often and don't snap as many pictures like I do. So upon alighting, I realised to my surprise this was the exact same place I was at when I had a solo trip to Gyeongbukgung on Day 18. I always end up at that place without knowing I am indeed there, and forever thinking that I did not manage to reach there. Amazing how I did it.

So, you can google around for Samcheongdong and you will see a thousand beautiful cafes and pictures there. We settled at this cafe called Cafe Breezin and shortly after, started to work on our project for real. We were pretty engrossed and I heard this foreigner beside us asking his Korean friend whether school is still on. It was July and I guess he was surprised why students are studying then. Not sure about Okta, but I was pretty happy to be seen as a Korean in the eyes of other foreigners.

We had a late dinner at Saga Ramen again! The SKKU girls highly recommend this place and Okta and I told them we have been there before. Nonetheless we are happy to be back because it is possibly the best ramen in Seoul hahah. We took a cab back to SKKU as we were all starving (almost 9pm) but take note that you should never board the black cab, because it is more expensive.

Day 28 - I will meet with my Singaporean friend! So excited to post about it :)

Day 26: KBS, Express Bus Terminal Shopping

It was a bright Sunday morning. Okay correction, I saw that the floor seems a little wet, and I remembered it was raining. So it was a gloomy Sunday morning instead. The girls and I decided we have to head to KBS today, and hopefully SBS too.

I love Running Man, I love korean dramas if I do have the time to watch them (my latest was The Heirs, I know I'm super outdated) But of course I do know KBS, SBS, and MBC. Except that I probably don't know which drama is produced by which company, except that Running Man produces SBS. So anyway, we decided to go down to KBS. 

There were quite a few spots in KBS that was open to public. This is cool! The news broadcasting area. If you sit on the news broadcaster's chairs, you can see this screen opposite which is where they look at as they are reading the news. Some other places include the animation dubbing section, whereby you can try recording your voice for a small section. Hahah Cheryl and I had fun dubbing our voices onto the cartoon characters! And yes one of the radio space has glass windows, so you can watch and hear your favourite Korean DJs in action, if you know any of them.

There wasn't that much choices near KBS area, so we decided to settle for Jjimdak, since most of us haven't tried it before, and in addition, it was pouring and the idea of Jjimdak sounds good. Jjimdak - jjim meaning steamed, and dak means chicken. So basically it is a steamed chicken dish, with soy sauce all over. Do note that Jjimdak is usually spicy, though you can specify the level of spiciness you want. We said we wanted the lowest, but it was still spicy after a few mouthfuls. Oh, but it was delicious though!!! 

We rushed to SBS upon hearing that Inkigayo half year special is going to be held that single day we were intending to go there! Although it is highly unlikely we could get a seat. I haven't been to any of the music shows - Inkigayo, M countdown, Music Core, Show Champion before, but if you are interested in heading there, google it and I'm sure there are other blogs about it.

Anyway we reached to find that SBS was like a ghost town. There was practically no one there. No surprise that there weren't many fans because it was already 2pm or so, but the fact that no one even bothered to stop by and take a look kind of shocked us. I was really upset though, because I heard that SHINee and CNBlue will be back for the Inkigayo half year special. SHINee was in Japan for their Japan concert tours the entire period I was there. CNBlue was also doing their promotion in Japan in June, and it was rare that both of them are gathered together but this merciless gate separated me from them. T.T We left after half an hour because there wasn't even any security for us to enquire with.

In an attempt to lift up our moods, we decided to go shoppinggggg~!!! Retail therapy is also the best right? So, we headed to this place called Express Bus Terminal Underground Shopping Mall, also known as Goto Mall. This is the place I highly highly recommend if you want to get your cheap buys (at least 70% of the shops here are relatively cheap) The rows of shops are never ending!!!!!!!!!!!!! When you exit from Express Bus Terminal subway station, you will find yourself in the middle of two such long rows. Either direction (left or right) you cannot see the end of the shopping mall!!!! We attempted to do a quick scan-through of the shops (and not stopping at 80% of the shops) but that alone took us 2 hours. So this is definitely a place where you can easily spend half a day at, if you want to comb the entire area for cheap bargains. And may I add, the clothes here are slightly less repetitive than Edae area, which is also cheap but every other shop is selling the same thing.

I highly recommend Express Bus Terminal Underground shopping. Well, not to say you should neglect Myeongdong or Edae or Dongdaemun if you like. To me, Myeongdong always feels so lively (at night at least) because it is an open-air area. So does Edae, and maybe Dongdaemun. They all have different kinds of atmospheres, but if you have limited time, I would suggest Myeongdong/Edae with Express Bus Terminal. This place is totally a shopping heaven~~!!!!!!!! :) Can't wait to get back there!

Day 25: Nami Island

I have almost been to every other tourist attraction in Seoul, and quite a few popular ones in Jeju, Busan and Gyeonggi-do. I also went to Gyeongju, Yeosu and Gangwon-do. Despite so many places I have gone to, I felt that I could never see enough of Korea. But to me, Nami Island disappoints. It was highly raved, but I honestly do not like it there, at least definitely not in summer time. Allow me to slowly explain before you judge (esp for those who love that place).

Okay firstly, we have to know how to get to Nami Island right. Okay to be honest, I did a lot of research myself and a few trial and errors on the way. So I am going to tell you that you need to get off at Gapyeong subway station. This is on the Jungang line which is an extended line on the subway system, so do get an updated subway map of Seoul. 

Wangsimni station --> Mangu station --> (Kyungchun line NOT Jungang line) Gapyeong station. 

Wangsimni has quite a few lines connecting it, so do your own research on how to get to Wangsimni! And the reason why you have to change at Mangu subway station is that Jungang line was intended to arrive at Jungang as its last stop (Pretty obvious right) but they extended another line and Gapyeong subway station is on the extended line so you have to change if not you will end up at Jungang subway station. So upon reaching Gapyeong subway station, you can take a taxi to Nami Island ferry pot, the fare should be 3,000KRW (3USD) or so. The entire journey takes around 2 hours. I started from Hyehwa subway station, so if you are further (e.g. Sinchon area), it might be another 15-20mins more.

We had to go for lunch first 'cause we were starving!!! Oh if you do not already know, you can eat and drink on Korean subways (You definitely can't in Singapore) so you can always grab some pastry along the way. But do be conscious and respectful too, don't even attempt to eat things like ddeokbukki because the smell is so strong - unless you want to get death stares from other commuters. I realise most people carry drinks, but rarely do people eat food. But I guess bread and biscuits are fine.

So, if I may suggest, head straight to Nami Island for lunch. The restaurants at Nami Island ferry port all sell one thing - dakgalbi (stir fried chicken). I am not sure why this is the case, but anyway we just headed into one 'cause we are not too sure if there are any restaurants in Nami Island but now that I know there are, please head inside for more varieties! And of course because the dakgalbi I ate there isn't nice. T.T

Look at how happy I was waiting for my food to be cooked. To realise afterwards that Yoogane really serves the best dakgalbi I have ever tried. Not only that, it is much cheaper and the staff really attends to you, unlike the staff in this restaurant. But anyway, yes you can get these aprons if you are afraid of food stains or smell lingering (though I think it doesn't help to reduce the smell).

So basically there are two ways to get to Nami Island. The ferry ride of course (8,000KRW for foreigners, inclusive of ferry ride + entrance tickets). For the more adventurous ones, you can do the zipline down to Nami Island. :) I really wanted to, except that it costs a freaking 38,000KRW. Too expensive for me!!!

So, after a 15 minutes ferry ride, we reached Nami Island. You know you are here if you see this stone that says "Na Mi Som" in Korean. Okay you know you are there when the ferry stops and everyone gets off too.

 

So I took pictures with some tall trees, thinking why these trees aren't so straight as I expected. Turns out I was at the wrong area. This isn't the trees Nami Island is famous for.

 Now, these are the trees! Does it even make any difference?

Now, let me say why I don't find Nami Island fascinating. To be honest, the pictures don't look as good. And even the best picture I could find in summer looks like this. A big patch of trees.

But I was expecting something like this... Guess I came at the wrong season.

Or best, something like this. Look at the fluffy white snow and trees!

So... I am from Singapore. And Singapore has so many trees. We are surrounded by trees everywhere I go. If not for the nicer yellow or white trees, tell me why else should I come here?!?!?! To travel 2 hours, pay $10 to view trees that were everywhere in my country, is really quite ridiculous to me. And of course, I was no Winter Sonata fan, so it didn't matter to me to find that stone statue of the female and male lead. I still cannot believe it, I came here to see trees!!!

And if I may add, July is the worst time to come from. The constant monsoon rain made exploring this place harder, since there was soil and mud and puddles of water all over the place. Trust me, it doesn't look half as glam as the pictures. And the worst thing ever is to wear slippers in times like this. I didn't want to get my shoes dirty so I thought slippers are a good choice, but turned out that slippers will keep flicking the mud and soil onto the back of your knees. It is really irritating, I feel so dirty I just wanna go home and bathe.

I found some comfort though, to see a piece of Singapore in Nami Island. :) Although I didn't remember the Merlion to look like this hahah. It could have looked better.

But anyway, I would never choose to come back to Nami Island during summer times where the trees are oh-so-green. But if you happen to head there, you might want to head down to Chuncheon subway station to have some dakgalbi (Chuncheon is famous for that) or the rail bike that Running Man went to (cannot remember the subway station though but Google is always your best friend!)

Cannot wait to update about the future entries. The next week in Korea is going to be a lot much exciting (I feel). One of the best week I had in Korea. :)

Day 24: A mobile shop on campus, and the best ramen in Hyehwa.

One advantage I had while staying in a guesthouse rather than a school dormitory is that there is always breakfast provided. Well, it depends on how you see it actually. Because although breakfast is provided, it is the same breakfast - bread and jam/peanut butter. If you are not a picky eater, this will suffice.

But Lydia and I was bored of bread and jam one day, and we have been eyeing this breakfast from a store opposite Sungkyunkwan's school gate - Isaac Toast. Funny as it seems, we didn't want to eat bread at the guesthouse, and we are paying about 1,500KRW for bread outside. Hahah but believe me, Isaac Toast is so so good. I didn't know it's a pretty popular franchise store in Korea, but yes I realise you can find it in most places. Okay maybe not as common as Paris Baguette, or GS25, but I know there is definitely one outlet in Hyehwa, Myeongdong and Hongdae, which are pretty popular tourist attractions. So do check it out~~!

So for lunch, Okta, Jihye, Minkyeong and I met to eat (instead of the usual gang that we eat with) since we had to discuss our presentation/report that was due the following Thursday/Friday. As with all other meetups, we drift away from the topic, ate and chit chat about everything under the sun, and before we know it, time's up for the next lesson. However, I thoroughly enjoyed our chat. It felt good to be close or at least feel close to Koreans. And I'm super grateful to them for their good command of English. I am the one who is going there to study and travel, but they are the ones who are accommodating me due to my lack of ability in Korean. So anyway, we decided to meet next Monday again for the project.

After lessons, Okta wanted to get a new phone. And yes, amazingly, SKKU has a mobile shop right on campus. Fascinating isn't it? Or at least for a Singaporean. Their bookshops are amazing. They sell the prettiest jackets and T-shirts - why doesn't Singapore universities have that?!?!??!?!? But anyway, HyoEun went along as a translator and I tagged along for fun.

We had some major communication issues because Okta and I don’t speak Korean (well enough) and he doesn’t speak English well enough so thankfully we have HyoEun. Honestly glad to have met her, because she is ever so helpful and goes the way out to help Okta with her mobile phone stuff etc. And of course some issues of mine. And I think it's not just her, most Koreans are amazingly helpful, even though there are some communication barriers between us, but that didn't stop them from trying to help us. While waiting, I was browsing at some of the phone accessories, and saw this really cute Galaxy S2 home button sticker. The sales guy at the shop was so generous and he told me to take it if I like it. I totally went 진짜요??!?!??! (which translates to REALLY?!?!) So I only took this really cute one (pictures below), after which he took its matching boy sticker to paste onto his phone. Uh-oh, now we have couple stickers hahahhahahahah.

After settling all those phone issues, it was about 6pm. Okta and I decided to meet for dinner since we didn't have any dinner plans. But since it was still early, we decided to meet again at 7pm and go back to our guesthouse for a short rest. Bad choice!!! It was pouring so heavily I almost wanted to not leave my house. But then again, I succumb to hunger.

I wasn't familiar with the restaurants around Hyehwa, so Okta suggested this ramen shop that she heard was good. And imagine a rainy cold night... ramen would be the perfect comfort food to have~~~! We headed to this small restaurant tucked in a hidden corner. The place itself was small, I don't think it can accommodate more than 20 people. But this ramen was the best I have ever had in my life. Really~~~~ the soup base is so thick and good, words just cannot describe how good it is. Please do have a try if you are in Hyehwa area. The shop's name is Saga Ramen, and from their website, I see that they have an outlet in Garousil-gil and Hongdae as well, the two more popular areas. If you can understand Korean, here you go: http://sagaramen.co.kr/ 

I had this ramen twice in 4 days. That's how good it was! I'm thinking of heading back there if I can find time to do so during my next trip there.

Day 23: Dinner at Hyehwa

Before I start, I just want to say that I'm absolutely grateful for the support to this blog. It hasn't been much but this blog finally hit its 1,000 views a few days ago. I'm sure they are tons of travel blogs around and I know myself I don't provide the best pictures, or the best directions, but I am glad I am of as much help as possible to anyone who needs it. Once again, you can always leave me a comment or email me at atthatmoment23@hotmail.com if I did not cover anything that you might be interested to know.

So, at this point in time, I realised that I have never taken a proper photo of Hyehwa, the place I spent 29 days in. Hyehwa is a nice place, although I would say if you are a tourist, this place may not be as good as Myeongdong. But if you are a tourist who wishes to experience a local life, Hyehwa is the perfect place to go. This place has lots of cafes, lots of youths (because of the university students), lots of hidden restaurants that are so so good. And in general, just a nice place to chill. You can do your shopping, spend hours talking with a friend in a pretty (though rarely quaint) cafe, or catch a movie, or sing at a noraebang!

So, I took this photo while waiting for Cheryl and Winnie to join us for dinner. It's been a while since we have full attendance. And it's been a while since the rain is not pouring hahah. So while waiting for Cheryl and Winnie at the subway exit, I decided to snap a lovely view of Hyehwa, that brought me back fond memories looking at it now.

So dinner for that day was suggested by Lydia. She has eaten here before and the food is good and cheap, as proclaimed by her. I'm not too sure what dish this is called, but it's basically pork boiled in a broth or something. It was nice in the beginning, but we got sick of that pork taste after a while.

And this is my favourite time. Whether in Yoogane for dakgalbi, or this, I just love to mix the rice together with the seaweed, whatever remaining broth, some egg, and turn this into a super delicious fried rice. I can eat this always!!!

This is the name of the restaurant. To be honest, I only know it is very near the gate of Sungkyunkwan University, tucked in one small corner. But other than that, urm, sorry I can't help much. I can give you the name in English if it helps. It is pronounced as myeong-lyun-gol.

So it started pouring halfway into our meal, what is this nonsense monsoon rain seriously!! We decided to sit down at Baskin Robbins and have icecream still, because it's been halfway into our trip, and we haven't even eaten Baskin Robbins here.

July is a bad period to be travelling in Korea. Seriously, you get the monsoon rains pouring on you, umbrellas overturning/flying out of your hands. It's frustrating enough for me (who was just leading a normal local's life) but imagine how bad it is for tourists. Most of Seoul's attractions are open-air, like the streets of Insadong, Myeongdong, Bukchon Hanok Village, Namdaemun Market, and it doesn't help to have rain. It's irritating seriously. Furthermore, towards the end of July, monsoon season disappears. (Honestly, there was a few days of good weather.) But out come the heat! The heat there is unbearable. It is X1000 more scorching than Singapore's sun, maybe because they have clear blue skies that doesn't seem to have that much clouds to help block out the sunrays. No amount of sunscreen is enough for me. I get dark still. Pffffffffffff

So my most honest opinion: Avoid July and August (the heat comes to an all-time high, glad that I didn't need to experience that) if you want to travel in Korea.

Day 22: Bibimbap, Namsan Tower, BBQ meat buffet

The day started off with the teaching assistant (or class monitor whatever) telling us that lunch is provided today. Today is a Korean Festival Day (self-proclaimed), and bibimbap (비빔밥) is served to all students. Bibimbap, as you can see, consists of rice and vegetables (many kinds) and eggs. It also contains meat (usually chicken, beef or pork) but I believe for the sake of vegetarians and Muslim students, it was omitted. Bibimbap also comes with gochujang sauce (고추장) which is a red sauce that tastes sweet, which wasn't seen in this picture. So... this bibimbap doesn't taste very good. Furthermore, even for a near-herbivore person like me, THIS IS TOO MUCH VEGETABLES!!!

During lunch, some of us discussed and talked about our plans for the evening. Jenny Winnie and Cheryl wanted to head to an underground shopping mall. Oktavia and HyoEun wanted to head to Namsangol Hanok Village + Namsan Tower. I was stuck because 1) I just wasn't into the mood for shopping that day. Actually it's not true because when that underground shopping mall is the best everrrrr. 2) I've been to Namsan Tower before and I just went to Namsangol Hanok Village last weekend!!!! In the end, I decided to join them for dinner and Namsan Tower because Namsan Tower really has one of the most amazing views and the atmosphere is just so cozy.

A picture of me and HyoEun - we found a pretty spot for photo taking!!!

So, dinner was pushed back because we were near the bus stop which fetches us up to Namsan Tower. So we decided to push dinner from 6.30pm to 8pm (after Namsan Tower visit). Well, turned out it was pushed till nearly 9pm by the time we reached.

HyoEun brought us to this meat buffet in Hyehwa, which costs about 9,000KRW (less than 10USD) per person and it is free-flow meat! Okay nothing awesome for me because like I said, I am a near-herbivore person. I was munching on sausages and kimchi the whole time hahaha but if you love meat, this is somewhere you totally should go! I know there are 8,000KRW meat buffet in sinchon too, which I haven't been before, but check it out!!!

Opps, the raw meat looks real gross though. But anyway, till then~!

Day 21: A random day

Sorry it's been some time since I last updated. I was busy celebrating Lunar New Year. For those who don't already know, Lunar New Year is celebrated not only by Chinese, but by many other nationalities and races as well. For instance, Thailand and Vietnam and South Korea also celebrates the Lunar New Year. Since I am talking about Korea in this blog, I shall mention a bit about it.

In Korea, our Lunar New Year is known as 설날 (seol-lal). To be honest, I am not too sure how it is celebrated in Korea since I wasn't in Korea before during that period. But I also understand that Koreans give out money as well to the kids. In Singapore, as long as you are not married, you will continue receiving hongbao (red coloured packets) money from our elders or cousins. If you are interested, feel free to read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_New_Year

So Day 21 was just another day at school, except that I had my presentation. Presentation went pretty well because Singapore students are really well trained in presentations seriously. And especially business students. I do at least 5 presentations every semester in university, so it was an easy task for us. But my group considered of people from other nationalities as well, but we get ahead pretty okay and they were all fine with their presentation skills, from what I remember.

After school, the girls wanted to go to Gwangjang Market, which is a traditional wet market. Because of the failed trip to Namdaemun two days ago, I really had no intention to go to another wet market. Rejected their offer which I totally should not!! I am totally regretting my decision because I really really wanted to sit at the stall and start munching on my Korean food - pajeon (pancake) and kimbab (seaweed rice roll). Below is a picture of Gwangjang Market from the tourism board and if I have a chance to go back to Korea, I would totally plan this into my itinerary.

So, since I wasn't heading to Gwangjang Market, I had to settle my own dinner. After settling my dinner at the guesthouse, it was only 7pm or so. I decided I should take a walk around my neighbourhood.

I live in Hyehwa, and Hyehwa is an university area, and also a rather cultural area. What I love about Hyehwa especially was that it was more laidback, more local (you don't hear or see too many tourists around), and definitely so with the abundance of cafes and restaurants there. One nice cafe which I really wanted to visit, but subsequently it was closed down for renovation already the next time I walked past it.

I think Hyehwa is a pretty good place for you to spend half a day at. You can go cafe hopping, and in between that, go take a look at the old campus of Sungkyunkwan University (MY SCHOOL!!!). Also, one place of interest is Naksan Park. They say, it's a place whereby you can get the entire view of Seoul. (Since Hyehwa is pretty in the centre of Seoul). And besides that, there are nice murals on the way up. So throw it into your itinerary too!! :)