*SouthKorea2K16* 161207: Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁)

We had a lazy morning and slept in for a while on our 5th day in Korea. I woke up with sore calves after all the intense hiking at Hallasan. Nonetheless, we prepared and headed to Anguk station for a well known korean tofu restaurant to get some brunch!

The restaurant is named Jaedong Soondubu and it can be reached by exiting at Anguk station exit 2! The signage of the restaurant is the yellow square on top, don't enter the wrong restaurant! The restaurant was rather empty when we entered. We reached the restaurant around 11am, so you might want to come around this timing too because the crowd builds up quite fast when it reaches lunch timing! There are also traditional floor seatings available in the restaurant if you want to eat like a local!

The banchan/side dishes were served almost instantly. It consists of seaweed, egg rolls, 2 types of kimchi and tiny candied anchovies. Knowing that we are not locals, the lady boss signaled to us that we can help ourselves to the free flow of banchans! The egg rolls were the best!!!

Haemul Soondubu!

Chodang Soondubu!

Nokdujeon aka Mung bean pancake!

We ordered quite a feast at the restaurant because we felt that tofu would not be too filling for our tummies. Boy we were so wrong. Moving on, we ordered Haemul Soondubu (Seafood Tofu Stew), Chodang Soondubu (Plain tofu) and Nokdujeon (Mung bean pancake)! We ordered the Haemul Soondubu and Nokdujeon first. We realised that their signature is Chodang Soondubu and we ordered that afterwards, not knowing what it is.

We were quite excited when the Haemul Soondubu was served because it was served in a stonepot, which kept the dish piping hot until we finished the whole meal! We were quite stunned when the Chodang Soondubu was served because it was not what we expected it to be. I think the Chodang Soondubu is just plain tofu without any other ingredients, but it was served with a spicy sauce. So in order to enjoy it, you have to take some of the tofu with the spicy sauce and eat it with some of your rice. Tofu lovers would definitely love this dish!

We headed to Gwanghwamun Station Exit 2 after our tofu brunch to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace! The palace was a 5-10 mins walk from the station.

King Sejong! He was the one who created Hangul!

Gwanghwamun Gate!

There are several types of ceremonies for visitors to enjoy and to experience Korean culture. Do note that there will be no performance on Tuesdays! All information grabbed from here!

- Changing of the Royal Guard Ceremony: 10:00, 14:00 

- Gwanghwamun Gate Guard on Duty Ceremony: 11:00, 13:00 

- Royal Guard Costume Experience: Before and after the Changing of the Royal Guard Ceremony 

- Gatekeeper Military Training: 9:30, 13:30 (running time 15 min.) 

The palace was filled with historical buildings, giving visitors an intense feel of the Korean culture. There is also a cafe situated inside here selling snacks and souvenirs. We chilled at the cafe for quite some time before exploring the other parts of the palace!

National Folk Museum!

There were too many visitors around here and hence it was quite hard to get a decent picture of the National Folk Museum. We made our way to Hongdae after that for some street food!

Fried chicken with spicy sauce and cheese!

Skewered chicken! Not really nice tho~

Cheese tarts!!

We went back to our Airbnb after that for a rest and went to Myeongdong for dinner later that day!

Myeongdong, like other locations, has lots of street food and one that has caught my attention is this lobster tail. Cooked right on the grill and served with melted cheese and corn. Being a big seafood lover, I decided to try it. I asked the owner how much was it and he said 15,000won (~S$18). I wished he was joking at that time. Sigh. I tried it nonetheless, and the taste was just sub par. I will not recommend it if you want to try it as I felt it was a waste of money. We made our way to James Cheese Back Ribs for dinner! 

To me and my friends, we felt that this dish was rather underwhelming. The ribs were nice, but the cheese had no flavour to it. They could have added other types of cheese in it to improve the flavour! We went to Yoogane after that to have more Soju and Dakgalbi to end our day! Wished we had more time to find better Dakgalbi in Seoul though!

*SouthKorea2K16* 161203: Singapore ↠ South Korea

Pikachu at Changi Airport Terminal 1 Departure Hall

I met up with Vance at Changi Airport to board our flight together to Incheon. We took Airasia which transited at KLIA2, where we met up with Shu. Do take note that if you're taking AirAsia, extra payment is needed for baggage check-in and food on board. Therefore, do consider the extra costs and compare it with the normal airlines (SIA, Korean Air etc) to find out which airline suits you the most!

Wifi Router from Changi Recommendations! 

Also, we have rented the wifi router (or wifi egg as some of you might call it) for unlimited wifi and it only costs SGD$5 per day. I personally think everyone should get it because of the unlimited wifi and it supplies fast wifi almost all the time, you only need to charge the power every night because of its good battery life. You need to pay an extra $10 for the insurance of the wifi router in case of any mishaps happens.

Super fluffy clouds!

Flying to Korea this time has been a dread for me because I realised that I have no access to my Spotify music while in the air. And because we took a budget airline, there was absolutely no entertainment for me to pass through the 6-7 hours journey to Korea. So I basically survived the long flight by sleeping all the time and looking out the window for nice clouds and sunlight. And yes, I got a window seat!

TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have finally touched down in INCHEON AIRPORT!!! Encountered some problems while collecting my luggage. Nonetheless, we made it through and WELCOME TO SOUTH KOREA! So here's a tip, get a luggage which is not black in colour, or a luggage cover(?) so that you can identify your luggage easily and get out of the airport ASAP to start your holiday!

Our first stop of the day was Hongik University (Hongdae) because we could only check into our Airbnb at Hapjeong after 3pm. Hongdae is literally one of our favourite spots in Seoul because of the abundance of local foods and how convenient it is to travel to other places in Seoul as it is an intersection of different subway lines. Both Shu and Vance found a spot to deposit their luggages at the subway station except me. I had to drag my luggage around until my Airbnb check in time.

Emoboy93 (._. )

We went to our must-go restaurant every time we visit Korea, Saemaeul Siktang. They sell the greatest, in my opinion, marbled beef and their signature dish. "7 minute Kimchi stew".

Vance when he looked normal. He had an allergy reaction after the meal when he ate a perilla leaf. 

Marbled beef with 7 minute kimchi stew!

BEST MARBLED BEEF EVERRRRRR

The kimchi stew is a MUST ORDER whenever you visit this restaurant! The kimchi stew is prepared in 7 minutes, as the name suggests, and there is a special way to devour this beast. Refer to video below!

If i was on a death row, this would be my last meal.

We went to Gelati Gelati to have some gelato for dessert afterwards because what's better than eating something cold on a cold winter morning right? :D

Chocolate with Royal Tea gelato!

Photobomb because im da bomb. 

We walked around Hongdae to look for a pharmacy for Vance's allergy pills. We headed to the subway station to collect their luggages and to Hapjeong for our Airbnb check in! Hapjeong was just one station away from Hongdae, so it was not much of a hassle.

Met up with the owner of our Airbnb apartment and he brought us to our apartment. We did not choose to stay in a hotel because we allocated more budget for food and entertainment. Besides, it is only a place for resting. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Our apartment was on the 34th floor which gave us a wonderful view of the area outside of our window and also the Han river!

We rested for a while in our apartment and left for Myeongdong to have some Sinseon Ox Bone Stew for dinner.

Swollen faced Vance with me enjoying the oh-so-good barley tea

Milky garlic Ox Bone Stew! 

BIG Mandus!

We walked around Myeongdong for a while before making our way to Namsan Tower (Seoul Tower). The Christmas lights in Myeongdong were so pretty!

Few moments later, we have reached the cable car station which leads us to Namsan Tower!

We paid about S$10 for a two-way cable car trip. The queue for the cable car was rather long, but it moved kind of fast and there was a shop selling snacks and souvenirs too. We waited for around half an hour and we boarded the cable car! It was rather squeezy tho. 

The cable car trip took about 5-10mins and the view of the city was amazing! 

The Namsan Tower is not only a famous tourist spot, but also a popular dating spot where couples come to put their "Padlocks of Love" alongside the railings of the tower base to signify the importance of their love. We went up to the observatory after that which gave us a 360 degree panoramic view of Seoul. Night view never fails but phone camera does. None of my pictures were nice, but the experience was good! Here's a picture of the night view from our apartment to end this post of our Day 1 in South Korea!