5th Korea trip stories part 7 *final*

Hi everyone! Finally last part of my Korea trip stories -series is here! To be honest I'm really busy with school, I have 4 courses and lots of things to do but I took a break to write this post~
I have been a bit stressed lately since I changed my plans for studying and I'm trying to graduate a bit earlier than planned. But things are getting more clearer in next couple weeks so all is good and without further ado let's jump into Korea trip stories~

Day 11

Insadong

First in the morning we grabbed breakfast from cafe near our hostel and then we were ready for a new day :D Me and Sirja decided to visit Insadong in the morning because we wanted to hunt some souvenirs. Insadong is basically a street for tourists because there are so many shops that sell every kind of items related to korea like for example souvenirs, potteries, art etc.
 What we didn't know is that the day was some kind of national day so as soon as we got into subway we met lots of koreans with korean flags and different kind of accessories with korean flags. Luckily, it wasn't that crowded in Insadong but lots of people were wearing hanboks!

Anyway, we walked through Insadong and I visited one shop which sold a lot of bags, I bought one for my mom (she asked me to bring her a nice bag) and bought one for myself also. After walking around for like an hour we decided to head back to Sinchon to drop our stuff and eat lunch.

We found this great restaurant that was located in basement level opposite of cube mall complex in main street. I got a spicy noodle soup while Sirja got bibimpab.

Apgujeong

 

Later on that day we took a subway to Apgujeong where we met with Laura. I wanted to see the famous K-Star road which I hadn't visited before but felt like everyone else had (even though I had visited Korea so many times). You can access there by taking subway to Apgujeong rodeo station, exit 2. It's basically located in the main street of Apgujeong. It's funny because around it the area is very luxurious and full of luxury brand stores.
We had to walk for 10-minutes before we got into start of the k-star road. At the start of it was a small store selling mini figurines of the k-star road figures but they didn't have any group figurines left that I would have liked to buy. So after a quick look of the store we continued our way to k-star road.

We browsed through the area, it's famous also because many big entertainment agencies like SM, JYP and Cube are located in there. We actually went past SM (which was under construction) and JYP and saw Cube from further away. There was a lot of fans in front of JYP with cameras, I guess some of the artist were inside or coming soon to the agency since the group of fans was quite big. The area itself is surprisingly narrow so there wasn't that much space in that road so we decided not to stay in there even though there were couple cafes and we were craving coffee.

At one point it started raining and we walked a while in the rain before spotting a cafe where we went to warm up and eat delicious honey bread dessert.

If you visit korea, try their honey bread toast, it's sooo good (the calories are worth it lol)

Next we braved the rain and walked through the streets when suddenly we remembered that Moomin cafe is quite close to our location. So we headed up to Moomin cafe :D It's funny that in these couple years Moomin craze has fallen also to South-Korea. When I visited Korea in 2012 and 2013 nobody knew about Moomins and now about everybody knows them. Moomin cafe in apgujeong is quite easy to find, it's near the main street and near Uniqlo.

The first floor is Moomin store where you can buy different kind of Moomin stuff, lots of it is made in korea and looks like a "copy" of moomins but there are also stuff from Muurla and Finlayson (although those are reeeeeally expensive compared to Finland's prices). Top floor is Moomin cafe, you should come there in the morning since in the evening they hardly have any pastries and stuff left. Basement floor is kind of playground, you can take photos with sceneries from Moomin tv series. It was quite fun actually, playing there :D

We spend like an hour in there before going out and wondering what to do next. We decided to go to Dongdaemun, you can access there through Dongdaemun History & Culture park subway station, exit 1. There we first just wandered through Design plaza but it was starting to rain really hard so we went inside Doota mall. We were starting to get hungry so we went to the food court in there. It was really full but we were so hungry that we just hunted free tables for ourselves and ordered food. We ate really good pasta and were really full after that. And it looked like a gourmet meal but cost about 12000won so about 10€ so it was actually really affordable!

After eating we said goodbye to Laura and headed to Sinchon to get a goodnight sleep after a long day. We had only couple days left and we were starting to feel sad that days went past so fast.

Day 12

Myeongdong

 

Because it was our second last full day we decided to go to Myeongdong for the last time to do last minute shopping. We walked in Myeongdong about four hours and also went to eat at one place where they cook your food in front of you in a big pan. It was in one of the Myeongdong's side streets and we encountered aggressive restaurant workers and we just wanted to get out of that street. But then when we were almost off of the street we noticed this restaurant and it just looked interesting so we went in. They had very good food and it was very filling also.

Sinchon

We spent the day leisurely and in the evening we met with my friend Hyojoo in Sinchon who was in the same volunteer program as I was when I was doing my volunteer work period in 2012. We went to eat to one place offering samgyeopsal and some other great dishes. Had a really great dinner and Hyojoo offered to pay it for us, it was so nice of her. So when we went to a cafe after dinner coffees were on me. By the way in Korea, this kind of thing is common especially between friends that somebody is paying the whole thing one time and then next time the other is paying the whole thing. Koreans do not expect this from foreigners but I think it's nice cultural thing.

Day 13

Sports complex + Coex

 

Day 13 was a fail to be honest. We were going to Sports complex area because Infinite had a concert in there that day and Sirja is a huge Infinite fan. We didn't get tickets through online because it showed sold out but we were told by online ticketing agency interpark, that they may be selling them at the venue. So we went there and this was second frustrating and maddening thing that ever happened to me with concerts. So, we were lingering around ticketing booth (where people got their physical tickets after showing confirmation slip). I heard one korean fan who didn't have ticket asking from staff that if it was possible to still buy tickets. The staff member then answered that if you wait long enough you may get a chance to buy those tickets that are not picked up before concert so come back later. Almost immediately after this korean girl had asked the staff, came a foreigner who asked in english the exact same thing and I was shocked how drastically the replies were different from another. Because the staff member answered like "no, you can't buy tickets anymore". It wasn't even like "come back later and check" but like straight no... talk about discriminating. I was so angry and mad about that attitude that I wanted to leave. Sirja wanted to be around the area for longer and I was just pissed off. Sirja wanted to ask those illegal sellers that in what price would they sell tickets and I was saying to her that just ask them but she was like she doesn't have the courage.. but she still wanted to stay and linger around those sellers.. so I was getting more pissed off and just went to ask myself. When the price was too high to Sirja, I asked Sirja what kind of price she will pay and then I said the price offer to the seller I got cursed and the seller left us angrily. Imagine how I felt around this point. I was also hungry so I said without even considering Sirja anymore that I'm going to eat so Sirja just followed me. We went to Coex where we got our lunch.

Sirja still wanted to go back to venue area while I didn't want to but I didn't want to go our seperate ways in case we couldn't contact each other again for a long time. So I went but we were there for nothing and finally Sirja also gave up. I was seriously angry and pissed off at that point that we wasted our last day in korea to just hanging out in an area where we couldn't even do anything useful.

Ewha

 

We went to Ewha and messaged to Su if she was available to join us and pretty soon we met her at a cafe in Ewha. I was calming down a little bit but still annoyed. We just talked for a while and then decided to walk through Ewha's streets and do some shopping also. Little by little I got into a better mood and found some stuff I didn't found in Myeongdong or other places.

In the evening we went to eat to this good chicken place I have mentioned earlier in my previous Korean travel posts. There used to be Baskin and Robbins opposite of it but now it had disappeared, anyway this chicken restaurant was in the same place. They offer really good snacks and chicken meals, really recommending it still, it's on the basement level. After eating and browsing the streets a little more we said Su goodbyes and decided to go back to Sinchon since we still had to pack and wake up early.

Day 14

We headed back home. Woke up really early like 5am, went to subway and transferred in Hongdae to airport subway line. We were at the airport around 7 and they opened check-in pretty soon so we just dropped our stuff off and went through security check. All this went by really quickly actually and before we knew we were boarding to the plane. I had fun experience this time also even if the last day wasn't that good.


Next I will start posting about my Japan travels. Also can't wait to get back to Korea again next year~

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.