In Korea, there are a lot of things that you can do, especially in Seoul. So, here is my next long post about Seoul again…

When you are in Korea, most of the tourists will visit the palaces as these places were heavily featured in the Korean dramas. One of the most famous palaces that we have visited was Gyeongbukgong. Beware that this place has a lot of tourists irregardless whether is it a weekday or weekend and a lot of Chinese tourists will jam at the entrance area. So, I would suggest to proceed to quieter areas for phototaking and selfies in order to avoid ‘photobomb’. There will be guided tours at certain timings so make sure to do the research as we kind of miss the timing when we visited there and so, we just explore the place by ourselves.

We also get to see the famous “Blue House’ from far, where the president works daily. It is a heavily secured place, and hence we can only see and take pictures from far. If you are lucky enough, you can even get to see the changing of guards outside of Gyeongbukgong.

After almost 2 hours of walking and phototaking, we went to a famous Korean Ginseng Chicken restaurant, Tosokchon which is located near Gyeongbukgong Station, Exit 2, for lunch. The queue tends to get longer during the lunch time. So, it is better to go early. If I remember correctly, one ginseng chicken set costs about 10,000 won and it includes the side dishes and one shot glass of ginseng wine.

After a good lunch, we took the train and alighted at Anguk Station. From Exit 2, continued walking straight, you will reach the Bukchon Village. If you asked for directions at Bukchon Guesthouse, they might provide you with a map and provide suggestions on how to explore this village.

Bukchon Village is a quiet neighbourhood, with streets that look like Haji Lane in Singapore with cafes and clothes shops, and surrounded with Korean traditional houses.It is a great place to take a stroll after lunch.

After some sightseeing, it was time for some shopping. We took the train and alighted at Ehwa Womans University Station. The university is another great place to visit. It has a bit of European style just by looking at the building and how the landscape was designed. The street next to the university is packed with stores that sell beauty products, shoes, clothes and bags. Here, you can get your laneige products, le bunny bleu’s shoes and clothes that priced at 10,000won per piece. It is a popular place for students and tourists to shop and update their wardrobes.

Another place that I would recommend for shopping is Gangnam Underground Shopping Arcade. To go there, take train and alight at Express Bus Terminal Station. From the station, take Exit 8 and you will find this corridor with a lot of shops that sells clothes, cosmetics, furniture, bedsheets etc… The clothes here are very pretty and trendy, and you can get the clothes for around 10,000won per piece. I would not recommend shoes from here as it was costly.

Along the street next to Ewha, there are a lot of food carts where you can get to try different flavors of kimbap, soondae and spicy rice cake and the prices are reasonable. If you would like to experience eating street food in a market, I would recommend Gwangjang Market. To get to Gwangjang Market, you can take train to Jongno 5-ga (Exit 8) or Euljiro 4-ga (Exit4). This is the famous market featured on Running Man. The recommended food to try are: Kimbap, Kimchi Pancake, Bibimbap, Cold noodles with dumplings, Mung Bean Pancake. The stall owners are very generous in the food servings and normally we order one serving for two person to share. The market also sells textile products, red ginseng products, seaweed etc. The pricing were actually cheaper compared to other places. Next to Gwangjang Market is the Cheongyecheon stream where you can take a stroll after a meal.

So, this is all for today…

Will blog a bit more about Seoul the next time. Annyeong~~~

.