Finally... Falling in Love with Seoul
Day One - Myeong-dong
After our friends left Jeju for home, Brandon and I flew from Jeju to Seoul. We didn't have many plans laid out but we were ready to finally see the big city after living in South Korea for the past six months! Our plane landed in Seoul around 1130 am and we couldn't check into our Airbnb until 3 pm so we had a bit of an awkward time where we walked around a bit but mostly sat and waited because we were lugging around 2 backpacks absolutely stuffed to the brim and very heavy. During this time we took our first subway which was intimidating at first but actually pretty easy in the end and a huge time saver throughout the duration of our trip. After seeing the Seoul subway system, it is clear why so many people use it as a part of their everyday routine and we are jealous not only living in a small town here but also back in America! As soon as we got off the subway we headed to a highly recommended restaurant that was nearby, Myeongdong Kyoja. Myeong-dong Kyoja is very well known for its Kalguksu which is handmade Korean noodle soup prepared with hand cut noodles. The soup was absolutely phenomenal and definitely one of the yummiest Korean foods I think I've had since we've been here. The broth was so yummy, the noodles extra tender, really yummy. It is also a Michelin rated restaurant which has always been a dream of Brandon’s! Once we were full of noodles and we had finally dropped our stuff off at the Airbnb we started a deeper exploration of Myeongdong.
Myeongdong is known as a great place to get street food classics and do lots of shopping for cheap. We wanted to try all of the street foods and try we did! I think after it was all said and done we tried a heavenly souffle pancake covered in strawberries and freshly whipped cream, a Nutella banana pancake stuffed with corn flakes (a really fun addition), a spicy kebab for Brandon, and we even brought a package of handmade Dragon candy cookies to take home and try later.
Amidst our walk around we got a glimpse at the well known Myeong-dong Cathedral. It is a designated historical sight due to its important role in Christianity for being the first Gothic style building built in South Korea. I found myself a few new headbands and we spent some time shopping for some new clothes for Brandon. He's taken an extra interest in clothes after seeing how stylishly the men in South Korea dress so it was fun to find a few things that look really nice on him. We ended our night by doing some relaxing tea tree oil face masks together that we picked up while wandering around Artbox. Side note, I will truly miss Artbox when we go home. I could spend hours admiring the beautiful stationary and little trinkets. Brandon says it over and over, “Nobody beats Korea for ‘cutesy’ things. They definitely have a monopoly on cute ideas”.
Day Two - Gyeongbok Palace, Insadong, Itaewon
We started day two visiting the Gyeongbokgung Palace and the National Museum of South Korea. Because we were so lucky with warm weather in Jeju we were very unlucky with freezing cold temperatures during the second half of our trip in Seoul. It was very cold, dark, and dreary this morning but we walked all around the huge palace and read a lot about the history of the palace. Once we finally made it all around the vast structure we headed indoors to see the museum. This was much warmer and enjoyable. I especially enjoyed that they had STAMP BOOKS. Turns out I'm a real sucker for a good stamp book so that made the museum even more exciting. Reading about the history of the Joseon and Korean dynasties was honestly shocking. It was amazing to see how many records were so immaculately kept, how much they've lost due to the Korean War and attacks from the Japanese, and other aspects of day to day life that once used to be so different. One thing I found particularly interesting was seeing the embroidery patterns for the dresses and costumes of every soldier. They had circular wooden stamps that they dipped in ink to press the patterns. All very immaculate and beautiful designs filled with cranes, flowers, dragons, etc. I can't even imagine how somebody could follow such a meticulous pattern by hand and I'm sure many people worked on those patches all day everyday probably for their entire life. Oh how modern machinery has helped us to forget how difficult life could be without all of our advancements in technology!
After the palace and museum we headed to Insadong. Insadong is popular for traditional souvenirs. We shared Soondubu Jjigae (soft tofu stew) and Pajeon (scallion pancakes) for lunch. After lunch we walked around a bit and found a few cool things but it was honestly so cold we were constantly looking for anywhere to go inside and take a short reprieve from the biting cold. After some exploring we started looking for a coffee shop which was honestly hard to find as they just weren't very popular in this neighborhood. We finally found a sign for one after going through so many back streets looking and we were really excited. As we started walking around looking for it we discovered it was at the top of a really cute complex that was filled with handmade art shops. I really enjoyed looking at all of the unique prints and crafts and used extreme self control to only buy things at one cat store that I just couldn't help. When we finally made it to the top I was both shocked and delighted to find it was a ‘Ddong’ or poop cafe! You see many blogs recommending you visit a poop themed Cafe while in Seoul but we were lucky enough to have just stumbled across it when it was so cold outside. Everything inside the cafe is poop themed starting with the toilet shaped coffee cups, hand-sewn pillows shaped like poo piles, and little squat toilets on the ground filled with poop emoji rubber toys. SO FUN! I absolutely loved this experience and would definitely recommend anybody visiting Seoul to put this at the top of your list.
After our morning in insadong we headed home for a rest before an afternoon trip to Itaewon. Itaewon is located near a military base and is known as Seoul’s International District which means it is known as a very foreigner friendly area filled with western food and a good nightlife. The cold from the morning had only gotten worse as the sun went down and many places we had looked at possibly going to seemed to be closed. Visiting during Corona times is honestly so sad as many places were closed either temporarily or maybe even long term and it was not nearly as busy or hopping as we'd expected after hearing it is the place to be in Seoul. We struggled along in the cold until we finally found a place that was open and seemed to have yummy looking pizza. I feel like we hit the jackpot here! We ordered a Margherita pizza and watched the cook hand stretch the pizza dough right across the room from us. I think it was one of the yummiest and freshest pizzas I've ever had. It broke our hearts to see such a delicious restaurant be completely empty other than us when you'd expect a lot of people so we hung around for a while and ordered a second pizza and a few flavored drinks. Brandon says the 2nd pepperoni pizza we picked was the best pizza he's ever had in his life! Craft Hans for the win!
Day Three - Hongdae
On Seoul day 3 we visited Hongdae! Hongdae is another very popular district well-known for its quirky cafes and street shopping vendors. The weather was still freezing and this morning we woke up to snow. Brandon had his heart set on a popular bagel place, Mother in Law Bagels, so we trekked from the subway in the snow to find it. Luckily it was open and it was definitely delicious but the shop had no sitting room so we had to stuff our faces outside on a street corner, crouched under a sign trying to hide from the snow. A situation that wouldn't have been too bad if only it wasn't snowing, if it wasn't a Corona year and we had our masks on, or if it wasn't so flipping cold! The bagels were amazing though and once we were finished we took a taxi across town to see another themed Cafe. Another highly recommended sight to visit in Seoul; 943 Cafe is a Harry Potter themed Cafe! We were lucky to be one of only 2 couples there in the morning so we got to admire and explore the 4 themed floors freely. We both ordered a butter beer but mine was 'sweet' and Brandon's was 'original'. After ordering drinks we climbed the stairs and sat in the cafe level that was decorated in Harry Potter style with ornate chairs and bookshelves full of books. When we were finished with our drinks we peeked at the third floor which was decorated like a grand dining hall, and went up to the fourth floor where they had Harry Potter robes and scarfs for you to try on and take pictures with. This was awesome! It was so fun to see how they had transformed the space to feel very Harry Pottery without doing anything that was very specific but such a cool experience!
After the Harry Potter Cafe we did some shopping to let our stomachs settle before heading to another themed Cafe (a truly awesome day filled with Cafe hopping, I know right!). I found a sweatshirt and instantly fell in love! On the back it displays a truly memorable line; "I munched my way through a huge bowl of cereal". If you've ever seen me eat cereal… You know a sentence about me has never been truer. It was also great to have another long layer to put on as, in case you hadn't caught on yet, it was REALLY cold outside. If you're my mom you probably won't like this and can just skip to the next paragraph. The next activity in Hongdae was just dumb good luck. Ever since arriving in Korea I've wanted to find a place to pierce my ears after hearing another friend talk about how cheap it is to do it here. After finding my new sweatshirt we stumbled across a tiny shop that specializes in piercing. We put on our brave pants, stepped inside and found out it would only be 16,000 won (like $14). How can you turn that price down?! We were honestly in and out in under 5 minutes and I'm officially a cool kid now!
Our next theme Cafe is…. Thanks Nature Cafe. This is another highly recommended cafe as it is home to two sheep! For the price of only two drinks you can visit the furry friends Hakuna & Matata. I will say, however, that this was not my favorite Cafe. The drinks were pretty cheap compared to some theme cafes but the sheep were hiding away when we got there and didn't seem super interested in coming out to visit or allow us to squeeze close for a picture. It was still cool to see a sheep pin across from the cafe you were visiting but I would have skipped it and gone back to the Harry Potter Cafe for round two if I were to plan the trip again.
Because we had an earlier lunch we were hungry for dinner around 4 pm. We walked around as much as we could in the malls to stay warm but finally had to find something to eat. It was a little early and some things didn't look very opened yet so we thought we'd 'settle' for a fried chicken place. We were both super pleased with our food though and I take back what I said about settling. We ordered a variety plate that came with a drink and 3 flavored chickens all of which were incredibly tender and delicious. We had aspirations of going ice skating in Hongdae but as soon as we stepped out of the restaurant we decided it was much too cold for outdoor ice skating and settled on a 32 cm ice cream cone instead. Yes, people probably thought we were crazy but for only $1.75, HOW CAN YOU SAY NO WHEN WE'VE COME ALL THIS WAY? We bared the weird looks and huddled in the corner of the subway to finish this bad boy before we headed home to watch a movie and have a relaxing night in warmth. Wednesday turned out to be the coldest day of our trip yet. It was a high of -5 degrees celsius but it 'felt like' -11 at multiple points in the day and had an average humidity of like 70%. The humidity in the winter is brutal.
Day Four - Movies & McDonald's
Our original plan was to spend Sunday to Thursday in Seoul and then head to Sokcho in Gangwon which is our FINAL province to visit in the country. We looked at booking an Airbnb in Gangwon but everything was more expensive then we were paying for our current place in Seoul which we have loved AND the biggest issue is the bus from Gangwon to home was a complete disaster which would force us to leave at 8 am in the morning and wouldn't get us home until like 6 pm and it's only a 5 hour bus ride! That didn't sound like a very fun time so we decided to extend our trip in Seoul by one day, take a day train to Sokcho in the morning, hike Mt Seoraksan which is the biggest attraction we wanted to see in Gangwon province, and head back to Seoul at night so we could get a good night's rest and make it home to Yeonghae from Seoul all in one stretch.
Due to the change in plans we had very little planned or aspired for Thursday. We went searching for food in Myeong-dong because it is the closest spot to us and finally stumbled across a risk. An Indian and Nepali restaurant that sounded really yummy but it was on the fifth floor and once you climb stairs into a restaurant like that there is no. going. back. We decided to take the risk as it was the first promising thing we’d seen after a bit of searching and it was another below freezing day. Risk = Reward. This curry was so delicious and blew the curry we had in Jeju out of the park. It was a great start to a day that would soon lead us towards struggle after struggle.
One of Brandon’s deepest and strongest desires while visiting Seoul was to visit a Jimjilbang. For those unfamiliar, a jimjilbang is a traditional Korean spa or public bathhouse. They usually have gender segregated pools with varying hot, cold, and warm temperatures, steam rooms, places to relax and eat, and other amenities. I was very nervous about the entire experience and wasn’t too sure about it but I agreed to give it a try despite my personal feelings towards it. After our Indian lunch we headed 40 minutes across town on the subway to one of the highest rated ‘foreigner-friendly’ spas. Yep, you guessed it. They have been closed due to Corona virus restrictions since NOVEMBER. Brandon was so disappointed and I gracefully hid my glee at having dodged a bullet but I was still really sad that Brandon didn’t get to have the experience we had so bravely decided to commit to after lengthy and honestly strenuous research. With our plans foiled we quickly changed courses and headed to a mall across the street. We did a bit of browsing here before we realized there was a cinema on the top floor. We decided to check it out and ultimately decided to see the new Disney movie, Soul. It was a clear winner as it was in English, the next showing was in only 15 minutes, and it was a guaranteed 2 hours in a heated place. I honestly can’t even remember the last movie we went to pre-covid shutdown so we were really excited for the opportunity. All things considered this was still a good day overall but it is archetypal of our time living in South Korea. You go out hiking for something that looks really good and has a lot of positive reviews on Kakao maps, it's inevitably closed when you get there, and then you end up either eating at McDonald's out of frustration and defeat or you stumble on a golden gem like the poop cafe or Craft Han’s that you could have never in a million years found by looking for it on the map. On this day though, we settled with McDonald’s.
Day Five - Hiking at Mt Seoraksan
Mt Seoraksan National Park is located in Gangwon province, the last spot on our list! We left Seoul for Sokcho on Thursday morning and arrived around noon. We stopped for lunch along the way and then headed out to see what there was to see. Admission to the park was only $3-4 each and then we decided to take the Cable Cars for a viewpoint of Gwongeumseong Fortress. After the short climb for the incredible view we decided to attempt one more hike before heading back to Seoul. It was rated as intermediate for the first part and advanced for the last part because it included a lot of steep climbing. It was supposed to be 3.6 km each way but it was getting darker and colder fast so we agreed to put our best effort forward and just do as much of it as we could manage. I’m sure nobody is surprised that I was the weaker link but we climbed as far as we could before it started to get dark and decided to quit. We really did make it rather far and looking back I wish we had skipped the cable cars and just focused on hiking Ulsanbawi. Should have, could have, would have. What we did see of the hike was amazing. We found a beautiful lookout that made it feel like a good stopping point and if we ever find ourselves in the national park again we will return and CONQUER Ulsanbawi! Utterly exhausted and starving we decided to hold out for food in Sokcho and return to Craft Han’s for one more Margherita pizza! The buses leave for Seoul on the hour so around 4:30 we rushed our way down and out of the park to make sure we could make it on the bus back by 6 pm. The pizza was just as delicious for round two and we were both really pleased with what we were able to see with very limited foresight or planning. That completes ALL of the provinces in South Korea!
Day Six - Hallelujah, Claire's Finally Done Talking!
On Friday morning we packed our bags and prepared to head home. The bus back home left at 1 pm so we had a few hours to grab one more breakfast in town and to hit up all of the small markets and shops to pick out souvenirs for family and friends back home. I was so excited to get home to our sweet Nacho after being apart for 10 days and also excited to unpack our extremely heavy and overstuffed backpacks and duffel. This week really was a whirlwind but we are so grateful to our friends David and Hyelan who were able to take care of our kitty for us. We were able to save money and see more of the country by going directly from place to place rather than coming home and taking care of kitty and planning the next leg of our journey. Brandon and I both feel so accomplished and proud that we have been able to see so much of this beautiful country in a short time. Now that we are back home we are gearing up for the new school year to start next week and really missing all of the coffee and yummy foods.
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