5th Korea trip stories part 3

Hi everyone. So, my school got me totally off guard about how busy it was! We literally got 2 assignments per week and I had no time for my blog even in the weekends when I planned to write because I had my school assignments to do. These couple months have been sooooo busy I can't even.. but now finally, my first period is over and I have space to breathe because we always have this "free" week between periods (well, we have kinda intensive course week between but if you don't have any course for that week then you have a free week). But yeah, without any further ado let's jump into my 5th korea trip stories~

Day 4

Ewha

It was raining from the early morning when we headed out. Me and Sirja went to eat breakfast first and then we met up with our friend Su and her friend. We went to Ewha where we met up with my korean friend Yeji who took us around Ewha because she studied there (almost graduated then) and Su and her friend did their exchange in Ewha. It was funny situation when we were waiting Yeji in front of one of subway exits because we got asked from Ewha tourist guides about three times if we need help :,D I guess it was because we were just standing there and the guides thought propably thought those tourists are so lost xD In Ewha, there are these guides walking around that you can recognize from their red vest, really useful to go and ask help from them if you're lost or you're looking for something specific, they speak really good english!

Anyway, I was so happy to see Yeji after a year and we had alot to catch up while she was showing us the area. It was raining but it didn't really bother us, it was nice walking around with a local who knew the best places around~

At one point we got very hungry and Yeji took us to this western kind of restaurant serving pasta. The restaurant was next to Lotte El Cube on right side and I'm not sure about the floor but I think it was 6th? Anyway, I really recommend the place, it was so good! It was a little bit more expensive than your local korean restaurant but worth it. I took the bread pasta which is pasta inside bread crust, really good! I think it's speciality of Korea if I'm not wrong.

After eating ourselves full we walked around Ewha a bit more and decided to get some coffee/tea. Yeji recommended really good place near the restaurant, it was kind of secluded looking alley where was only this one cafe. Yeji told us the owner was a barista that had studied different coffees around the world so you could taste a lot of different coffees there. I was supposed to get coffee but I was really intrigued by a honey milk tea so I decided to get that and it was soooo good! If you ever go to Korea, try their milk teas, they taste sweet but not too sweet, perfect balance between tea flavor and milk. Anyway, we just hung out and talked a long time before Yeji had to go because she had some school stuff to do. We said our goodbyes to Yeji and parted with Su's friend also because she had some things to do.

The War Memorial of Korea, Yongsan

We decided to head to The War memorial of Korea because it was still raining and the War memorial was mostly an inside museum even though they had monuments and stuff outside also. It was a little confusing to get there from Ewha but we made it! Museum was really close to Samgakji subway's exit 12.

I haven't actually visited there ever so it was new to me as well. When we first laid our eyes upon the area we were amazed. There were couple huge monuments and the museum building itself was huge. We walked around outside as long as we could (it was frickin cold because of the rain) and then headed out to museum building.

The photo above is from monument called 'brothers in arms' I think, the story is apparently famous in Korea, how two brothers who fought in different sides met in the battle field.

The museum building itself

When we got in we were kind of confused because there were like three floors and lobby was huge. We started just walking towards first exhibit when one guy from the staff stopped us and told us to wait a minute. He then called another guy, a guide who spoke english and asked if we want to have a tour with him. We were debating a little while about it but decided just tour around at our own pace because in my experience, guided tours could last quite long. So we thanked them for thinking us and went to the first exhibit by ourselves. The museum is free, by the way.

There is stuff like outfits and vehicles around every exhibit and they also have lots of video screens and they even have three to four 4D shows which are free and subtitled in english! Info about stories and things are also in english! I highly recommend to visit this museum as it brings out the past and understanding of what has made the country of Korea what it currently is.

The hallway was full of those black memorial tablets where every fallen soldier's name was written

After spending like two hours in the museum, we decided to leave because we started to get hungry. But before leaving we browsed through outdoor area where war vehicles and planes were displayed. Because whole day was so rainy we decided to just stay in Sinchon area for the evening and plan Day 5 instead of leaving to explore somewhere else.

 Day 5

Namsan hanok village and Seoul N tower

First thing in the morning we decided to make our way to Paris Baguette for breakfast. Paris Baguette is my absolute favorite cafe chain in Korea, they make delicious salty and sweet snacks and pastries! Their coffee on the other hand is so-so but I can manage with that.

After eating not-so-healthy breakfast (but filling) we went to Namsan area where we wanted to check out Namsangol hanok village first. Sirja had been there before, I hadn't so it was nice experience to see another different hanok village. As I have explained before, hanok village is a traditional korean village built like 'the old days'. But I don't actually recommend to visit Namsan hanok village if you don't have that much time in Korea since there are other more bigger and amazing hanok villages around Seoul. But if you're in the area then why not~

We walked around for awhile and then decided to go to Namsan tower, more known as Seoul N tower. It isn't far from Chungmuro station where from you can also access to Namsan hanok village (it's actually right next to subway station). There's this cable car going up and down the hill or then you can choose stairs if you're in good shape. But you need to climb up a bit first before you get to that cable car. If you're too lazy to go all the way up to cable car by walking, there's also a small elevetor going up to that cable car. But anyway, Korea is full of hills so be prepared to climb alot.

Cable car is quite expensive compared to prices in Korea usually but I guess it's because of all tourists. Roundtrip is 8500won (about 6e) and one way is 6000won (about 4,50e). We wanted to take it only to up and then walk down to save money and have a little bit of exercise :P
You should know that the cable car doesn't actually go aaaalll the way up, you will have to walk about 60 meters of stairs up still. But when you're up, view is amazing and beautiful. Truly worth it!

This was my 5th time in Korea but I hadn't actually ever visited the tower itself which is funny. I only went up to the top I think two times but never really got into that Seoul N Tower. But now I really wanted to visit the tower even though all of my friends who visited there said it's nothing special. Yup, I thought that too, it's just a beautiful view from there but you can also get beautiful view without paying anything from the experience. Because it costs 10000won (about 7,50e) which is pretty expensive from same kind of view you get for free.

We bought tickets to the tower from outside booth and then went in. There was an elevator that took us up and while going up there was this video show on the roof which was pretty cool. Although if I remember correct, in Japan in Tokyo tower they have the same kind of thing.
In the top I liked how they had different city names on the windows which showed how far is Seoul from them. We walked around just a bit and then decided to go back down because restaurants in there were so expensive and so were the souvenir shops.

We were getting hungry but checked out one deck before going down. At the feet of the tower is a love lock deck where couples can bring locks. It's a cool idea and the place looks worthy of instagram photos xD Next to deck, there's a resting pavilion area which is nice to spend time in if you for example have snacks with you (bring them before you come up!).
We were planning on going down and look for some restaurant but we were reeeeally hungry so we walked couple steps down to a level where there was two restaurants. We went to one offering different tonkasu's (pork cutlet) and we weren't disappointed. A beautiful view was just a plus, the food was delicious even though it was a little bit more expensive than normally tonkasu's would be.

After eating ourselves full, we started our exercise by going down. Oh boy, if you haven't done exercise for a while, don't do it.. I almost died xD my legs were soooo dead after we reached low ground level because first you have to come down the stairs which feel like they last forever and after it, is downhill.. so yeah, if you're crazy about sports or hiking then it's for you, else not xD

Myeongdong and Cheonggyecheon

After coming down, we went walking around in Myeongdong which is right next to Namsan hill. We were so tired though that we only walked about 20 minutes before we started looking a place to rest. By the way, one shop that I can recommend from Myeongdong is Stylenanda because it's just so unique, it sells cosmetics and clothes. The whole shop is built like a "hotel" and different floors have different hotel themes. Just a unique fun experience!

Anyway, after walking and walking we found this korean dessert cafe 'sulbing' which offers traditional korean dessert, bingsu. Which is shaved ice with other ingredients (like milk and some fruits). Reeeeally delicious! I recommend to try bingsu if you're in Korea. Sulbing also offers some other desserts and coffee~

Strawberry bingsu, one portion is enough for two people

We went back to our hostel to rest after walking whole day but then Su and her friend talked about going to Cheonggyecheon stream and we agreed. Yay more walking xD
First we went back to Myeongdong again, met with Su and her friend and decided to go eat chicken for dinner (korean chicken meals are heaven!) and then we walked around cheonggyecheon. Found a wishing well which was pretty cool!

I was personally so exhausted when we got to our hostel that I went straight to sleep. I don't recommend this kind of day without planning and if you don't like walking around alot. Well, in Korea you end up walking alot anyway but this kind of day takes reeeeally the energy out of you, especially if you haven't planned your day well. My day was fun but next time I would just propably take cable car in both ways lol.


Going to end this post here~ next up days 6 and 7.