Korea Trip Day 6: Bukchon Hanok Village, Myeongdong Cathedral, Korea House, Hongdae
30 December 2015 (Wednesday)
On this day, we had to move out from our apartment to the next homestay because it was booked by other tourists. Therefore, we had a light schedule around the city. After having a simple breakfast in our apartment we departed to our destination, Bukchon Hanok Village (북촌한옥마을). It is located in the same area as Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace, so it's recommended to visit these 3 places at one go. This is a place at Seoul where hundreds of traditional houses are located. We dropped by the tourist information center on the way and grabbed a map of the area.
Directions: Take a subway to Anguk Station (Line 3), proceed to exit 2 and walk straight for about 300m.
Bukchon Traditional Crafts Center-
Another house with art pieces-
Bought this really cute collectible from that place for ₩1500.
After that, we headed back to Myeongdong. The initial plan was to have a photo session in hanbok (the Korean traditional clothing) for free at the Seoul Global Culture and Tourism Center. I didn't bother to look at the map for the directions after getting the information from a few websites. And it was a terrible decision. We couldn't find the place as we headed South but it's actually at the North and wasted around an hour sigh.
Directions: From Myeongdong Stationn (Line 4), proceed to exit 8, turn left when you see the first junction and walk for about 150m. It is located at the 5th floor of a white building called M Plaza.
When we finally reached that place, the photograph sessions were fully booked and we had to wait for the next slot which was at 4pm. We couldn't stay around the area for that long and therefore we left the place. Should've went there early in the morning to pre-book a session :( They don't accept advance bookings and reservations have to be made on that day itself.
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Since we have a little bit time left before checking out, we walked over to one of the popular tourist spots in Myeongdong, the Myeongdong Cathedral (명동성당).
Directions: Myeong-dong Station (Seoul Subway Line 4), Exit 8. Turn left and walk along Myeongdong 10(sip)-gil St. for about 300m and turn right at the intersection. Turn right and walk along Myeongdong-gil St. for 100m to the Catholic Center. The cathedral is on the right.
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Korean street food #6: Croissant Bunggeoppang
This is a variation of the classic bunggeoppang (goldfish bread) and I personally prefer this much more!! The croissant pastry dough with the sugar flakes on it tastes really good and you won't feel really 'zai' (in cantonese) after eating it but will crave for more! We ordered the one with green tea ice cream + red bean filling and the combination was just, perfect. ;_;
A few stores away, there's this hipster rose ice cream shop. Since we were already holding a snack in hand, we didn't try this one :( There are vanilla, strawberry, green tea and chocolate flavours and I think you can pick at most 3 flavours for your rose.
When it was near our check out time, we headed back to Chungmuro and went over to this Korea House (한국의집).
Directions: Turn right when you come out from exit 3 of Chungmuro Station (Line 3 or 4), walk further up and turn left. It is located behind the petrol station.
Basically that place serves traditional Korean dishes based on the royal cuisine, and they were having VIPs at that time so we couldn't go in and visit the rooms. We wandered outside for abit, grabbed some kimbap on the way back, said goodbye to the comfy apartment and went over to our hostel in Hongdae- iHouse ChinChin. The taxi driver couldn't find the place even when the address was given to him. (second time in Korea urgh) He dropped us in the neighbourhood but we didn't know how to get to the place plus we don't have access to the internet. Thankfully we met a young lady and also an ahjussi. Both of them were really friendly and helpful and we managed to get to the place.
The common area downstairs-
Lounge upstairs-
The room-
After resting for abit, we headed to Hongdae. The down side of the hostel's location is that it is a 15 minute's walk away from Hongdae and the metro station.
The weather got bad and it started raining when we got to Hongdae. We didn't bring our umbrellas out and after walking for some time deciding where to eat, we ended up at this pub (didn't know it was a pub when we first entered the place) and had fried chicken for our late lunch/ early dinner idek.
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| Spicy Seafood Soup for ₩17000 |
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| Deep fried chicken for ₩17000 |
The chicken was delicious, but the seafood soup was too spicy. (Korean's spiciness is no joke I tell you)
The rain got better and we went shopping around Hongdae. The streets are filled with youngsters as Hongik University is in this area. Spent quite some time at the H&M over there because their items on sales are ridiculously cheap!!
Korean Street Food #7: 계란빵 (Gyeran-bbang) = egg bread
It is a nice snack to have in the winter because it is steamed and served hot. It costs ₩1000 for one and an additional ₩500 for the one with cheese.
Headed back to the hostel when we were tired of walking (but had to walk another 20 minutes), streamed Infinite on KBS Gayo Daechukje live on the huge ass tv, and went to bed. That's all for day 6!
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