Before the hectic school term starts, the daily 5.30am alarms return. I thought before the post for this trip is being added onto the backlog again like the many others. Here, on the eve of new year's eve, I shall try to document down the lovely memories before they started to fade off over the years.
Five months later...... That's how busy life have been! Finally, the first post is up!
Annyeong, beautiful Seoul! We decided to go S(e)oul searching for our year end trip. As it was our first visit, we decided to just explore just Seoul.
We booked our flight as early as the first quarter of the year, fares were a lot cheaper. Before our trip, I had seen some friends who had travelled to Seoul before us and they alerted of the sudden cold snap, as low as 3 degree celcius. It was our first travelling in a cold season, to be honest, it was a love-hate relationship.
Anyway, this trip was simply to eat, shop, sight-see and repeat. It was super cold indeed when we touched down around 9.30pm at Incheon International Airport. Hoodies up, gloves up and I lost one side of mine, boo!
We stayed at Travelodge Myeongdong Euljiro and booked two of Friends and Family Triple. A very basic room just to have a shelter for rest for the few nights as I foresee that we would not be back till night. From my point of view, no point getting a too expensive room. Nothing much to shout about for the facilities but I must say the location was very convenient to go around! I will go by the district we explored in this post, Myeongdong.
We could even walk to Gwangjang Market (광장시장속박물관) and it was lovely to spot a stream suddenly in the busy city and I thought how relaxing it was to be able to stroll along.
This was where you could find the famous Netflix Knife-cut noodle lady. Her stall was prominent as there would likely be surrounded by a crowd or a long queue waiting to try her kalguksu.
We did not want to wait and headed to the stall opposite instead. The stall was selling kalguksu and huge, juicy mandu! We were literally there for three mornings before trying out different food to start our days.
Even the seats were attached to a heater to warm us up while we had our meal.
We saw a few stalls selling similar food, just go for the one that attracts you the most.
And from our hotel, it was just a mere 5 mins walk to Myeongdong Night Market and shopping district. Along our way, we would pass by this beautiful Myeongdong Cathedral. I am not a catholic but I was attracted to the architecture of the church and decided to take a mini tour around the vicinity. There were pretty lots to do if you do a google on it and a rich history behind it.
It had a different charm by night, especially when all lights were lited.
Just a simply and cozy cafe, enjoy a cup of good quality coffee, grab a piece of paper, doodle away and just relax and soak in those peaceful vibes. You can also go get a sniffle at the coffee beans displayed on the table and buy some back for yourself or your loved ones.
Coffee Libre
74 Myeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Opposite Myeongdong Cathedral, you would be able to spot this Butter shop. Love cute stuff that makes you happy, you have to go in.
If you are missing Isaac Toast, Korea's number one toast brand, we went to Myeongdong Cathedral Branch which offered only take-out only. We ordered and ate the toast by the side and off we went to our next destination. Avoid breakfast and lunch rushes, go before the peak and you will be saved from long queues.
Isaac Toast
17-1, Myeongdong 10-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
Operating hours: 8am- 8pm
Nearest station: Myeong-dong Station subway line 4, take a 3 mins walk.
The Night Market only operates at night, so in the day, shopping will be in the buildings along the stretch. From the start to the end, cross the road, and you will see the major departmental stores like Lotte Young, Lotte Department Store, Lotte Duty Free Store to name a few, it was literally a shopping heaven.
Myeongdong Night Market was full of lively vibes in the night, with an endless stretch of food stalls. We were there almost every night! No doubts, food items were slightly more pricey as it was a tourist spot but I guaranteed you that you will enjoy savoring the local delights and treats as you walked down the street.
Vera loved the fresh fruit coated with sugar syrup. I had to close my eyes since we were on holidays and let her indulge in this sweet treat.
Tornado Potato was also one of our favorite with a few flavors to choose from. It's about $5 for a stick, quite expensive for maybe half the size of a potato. But we wouldn't mind spending to indulge while on holiday!
I have been trying to find the hotteok I love. Tried a few stalls and happened to chance upon one stall located along the same stretch as Myeong-dong Burning steak (if I did not remember wrongly) as the street adjacent to it had a stall selling too.
We tried most of the food along the food street and this is another one we loved, Myeong-dong Burning Steak!
We patronized this stall almost every night when we need to walk through the food street to get back to our hotel. Watch the chef in action here! This stall is right in front of Eider building (opposite Myeongdong Theatre)
As we were randomly exploring the streets, the beautiful rose-shaped gelato cones caught our attention.
Had to get one for a photo and it was surely refreshing! The cold weather did not stop us from enjoying the cold treat.
Communal dining is so common in Korea and the practice seemed to be all adults has to order a main dish and by right Vera too. You cannot be ordering only 2 main dishes when there are 4 pax. Myeongdong Kyoja has a rich 58 years of history and is famous for the kulguksu noodles and dumplings.
The kalguksu was ban-mian alike with an extremely soft and smooth texture. Look around your tables, the dumplings could be seen on all tables!
Do get your order ready as soon as you sit down, the matured staff was more impatient, the moment we sat down, we were expected to give our orders. We asked for a little more time to look through the menu, the second time the same staff returned and walked off showing her displeasure when we said that we were still deciding on our orders.
The amount of patrons who flocked there daily was pretty impressive. Delicious and generous portion at affordable price, it is no wonder that it could attract that massive number of people!
Myeongdong Kyoja
8 Myeongdong 10-gil, Jung-gu,
Seoul, South Korea
Wangbijip Myeongdong Main Store (王妃家 aka Imperial Princess House) was one of the highly recommended KBBQ in Myeongdong. I was googling about it and read it here and decided to go for it. It was hard, standing out in the cold to queue. When you are overseas and would do anything for nice food! Good quality meat and best of all, we did not walk out of the restaurant, smelling like a walking bbq skewer.
Wangbijib 왕비집 王妃家
2F 26 Myeongdong 8ga-gil,
63-6 Chungmuro-2ga, Jung-gu,
Seoul, South Korea
And of course besides eating night away, Myeongdong is a shopping district, with the major departmental stores nearby too. The vibes in the day is a total contrast to the night. The streets will be transformed into a bustling food street! Most of the street stalls accepts cash, I did not encounter any that offers card payment though.
I shall continue the rest in a few more posts. Hopefully, before I leave for my next trip. Thanks for reading, till then!
