Rise and shine!! We were kind of chilled out during this trip. This morning, we got up (not very early) and slowly getting ready. After got dressed up, we gotto check e-mail and facebook...updated status. We were able to updated facebook every morning, evening and night that our friends in Thailand was wandering whether we actually went to Seoul. Well, they didn't know that we had desktop + internet in our room.
For today, we planned to go on Han river cruise. We didn't do it last time because it was so cold (-10 degree...not a wise idea at all), now we got a chance. We followed direction from a website to take subway line 2 and got off at Sincheon Station, exit 7. We stopped for something to eat and first bought coffee and bakery. But, before we started heading to the park we saw a very small restaurant, selling one of our favorite Korean food, Tteokbokki (a kind of rice cake in spicy sauce). We just couldn't resist it. So, that was basically our breakfast.
After the cruise, we went to Myeongdong (again) cuz we had an eating mission again. We skipped lunch (actually had the bakery, curry donut to be exact, in the cruise) and went for afternoon sweets at O'Sulloc Tea House. This shop specialized in green tea and desserts with green tea.
We waited for 15-20 mins maybe. Many items in the menu looked good but, I just had to have dessert with shaven ice. It took a bit of time to communicate with the waiter because it didn't exactly said shaven ice or with ice in the menu. They gave this item a different name, to make it more special maybe. Then, my friend picked green tea cream roll, just because it looked pretty.
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| Shaven ice with green tea syrup and red bean sherbet |
Perfect for that kind of weather. After that, we left tea house to face the weather and crowd. Myeongdong was very crowded, always crowded.
That afternoon, we just walked around Myeondong. I think we must have walked around there twice. It actually was a confusing place to shop but, we totally liked it. We walked and walked until our stomachs started to give us warning again. There was no searching and wandering, we already had a restaurant in mind. We saw this restaurant since last time and it was very interesting. So, this time we gotto check it out. On each table, was a hot plate which they used to cook meat or rice. We didn't know how to order it so, I think we made a little mistake about it. We ordered 2 orders of special chicken rice. What we got was, one huge plate of rice and a little chopped chicken and a some vegetable.
It might not look like a lot when it was on the pan but, once we started eating (straight from the pan), it was a lot!! It was really tasty and once the rice got a bit toasty, it was even better. I just only hope that we ordered some more Protein.
After dinner, we decided to switch place and we went to the area around Hongik University. We only heard that it was a hip place for university students to hang out. It was all fun! There were lots of restaurants, cute shops. Here are some pics...
We walked and walked until I could barely walk anymore. So, we headed back to our hotel but, not without getting lost (that seems to be our habit). We were so so tired that night that we had to dip our feet in hot jaguzzi (sounds nice).
Next morning, we went through the same routine of getting ready. However, while I was watching TV and waiting for my friend, I happened to switch to MTV and found 'BigBang in 24 Hour'!!!, a program from MTV Japan. Can't believe how lucky I was!! So, we got to watch BigBang on a big flat screen in Seoul. It was a great start for two BigBang Noona.
We ended up spending half that morning fulfilling our Korean dream hahahaha. By the time, the show was over, we were (or I was, to be exact) getting quite hungry. So we went to our usual haunt, the street behind shopping mall and back to kimchi gyoza shop. It's just so good that we had to have another round. This time we had kimchi gyoza and soup with dumpling. It was nice to sip tasty hot soup in the morning, morning in Seoul.
That day, we were going to dedicate it for shopping. So, we went to the last shopping mall on that block named 'Doota'. I would say that it was a bit upper-scale than the other building we went. It was more spacious and very nice trendy shops but, with a little higher price (most of the shop). However, I think it was still in a reasonable range. We spent a couple hours in there and when there came the time for us to move on, it rained! When we went in, the weather was nice. Maybe it was our destiny to give more money to Doota hehehe. To rest a bit and to wait for the rain to stop, we went up to a cafe, I believe, on the 3rd floor, 'Beans Bin Coffee'. Well, we couldn't just sit there right, we got to have something to occupy our mouth and increase our blood sugar. We ordered an organic blueberry waffle...just want to try a Korean waffle (basically, an excuse). I would say, not bad at all. The waffle was kind of crispy in the outside and soft on the inside. The cream on top was like a whip cream, top with fresh blueberry. They finished it with a lot of maple syrup. Sounds yummy?
Well, it was...a half size waffle just disappeared in no time. Even after we finished the waffle, the rain still hasn't stop. So, what other choice did we have but, browsing some more. Later in the afternoon, we just felt that we had to move on. So, we went to Myeongdong (again!) to pick up some stuff for friends. It was hot and humid plus Myeongdong was so crowded as always. We were so exhausted that we had to take taxi back...the first in that trip.
That evening, we were so tired and our feet hurt so bad. We didn't want to go anywhere. However, that was our last night and we still had some mission (eating and shopping) to complete. So, with lots of will-power, we got up and left the hotel. We headed out to Hongik University area again...in the rain! We wanted to have a good BBQ dinner.
There are sooo many Korean BBQ restaurants in that area, that was so hard to choose. So, we just chose from the pictures in front of the restaurant and from the crowd. The one we chose was quite busy with a few people waiting for tables. We didn't have to wait long though, which was good. The only downside of this restaurant was that they only had pork...I want beeeef!! Never mind. We order their special pork set. When the waiter brought it, we both felt that the portion was quite small because our stomachs were so empty. Then, half way through the meal, we realized how lucky we didn't order more.
Actually my friends wanted to have hot soup but, I happened to see a pot of steam egg floating by. It looked very appetizing and so I decided to override my friend's choice...evil, I know. But, just look at it first. I have never seen steam egg this big! It looked more like an erupting volcano. It might not be soft and smooth like that of Japanese or what we made at home here but, it tasted great!
Here was our complete meal...with unlimited side dish.
We had quite a laugh when we were at this restaurant. I think most of the waiters were university students. A few of them were trying to practice their English. They were hilarious and adorable at the same time.
After this meal, we went in search of our 2nd mission that night which was to get some stuff for our friend. After we accomplished our task, we didn't walk around very long because we were already tired. And so, we went back to hotel and dipped our feet into Jacuzzi again.
The next morning was our last day. I think we have done a lot during these past few days but, I just felt that I need more time here. Well, we missed a day because of the storm. Ok, today's agenda was Samcheong-Dong. We went to this area last time but, didn't get to spend much time there, just walked around and left. So, this was a make up with more time.
Samcheong-Dong is a hilly area that fills with traditional houses, small restaurants, shops and galleries. To get there, take subway line 3 and got off at Anguk station exit 1. Walk toward Gwanghwamun Gate and turn right at the Dongsipjagak Intersection. Walk a bit further and we started to notice interesting looking galleries.
The restaurant was name 'Poong Cha Italian Restaurant' (kind of strange name for an Italian restaurant, don't you think. Don't know what it mean, though). The interior was decorate in a classic old mansion style (I think). When we went in, it was a bit dark...kind of created an atmosphere of old country home.
We were lucky to have a table next to window. It was actually a small private table...kind of a private room.
We basically had no idea about Italian food in Korea. So, we decided to share. Our order were fried Mozzarella cheese with salad and a pizza. We thought that ..oh, we are going to have light meal. But, our light meal plan was disappeared when we saw our appetizer. Oh ho!!! There were (if I remember correctly) 4 Mozzarella balls in that dish!! And each one of them was probably almost the size of tennis ball. They called this appetizer? This could easily be a main course. As for the taste, it was pretty good otherwise, we wouldn't be able to stuff all of them down. The breadcrumb batter was quite good and not greasy. When cutting it, the cheese just melted and oozed out. For the cheese lover and fried food lover like us, it was great! The dressing was made from balsamic vinegar so, it cut through the richness of the cheese. Had it with salad to balance out the calories...wishful thinking. Then, our main course arrived...pizza (I think we ordered the house special). It was a thin crust pizza with sausage, vegetable and olive. It was a very simple looking pizza. I think Westerners might be disappointed to see this.
The crust was very thin and crispy...I like this. Though, they were a bit conservative in putting topping on, I would say that it wasn't bad. It reminded me of a pizza I had when I was young. Not a lot of tomato sauce and not a lot of topping but, it was easy to eat. Well, we didn't finish it but not because of the taste...it just the Mozzarella balls took up most of the space in our stomachs already. Waste not Want not, we packed it...it might be useful later on (and it was...We had it for dinner at the airport).
We were wandering around Samcheong-Dong a little more and found many more cute shops.
After we thought we have seen everything (or most of it at least), we head back to Dongdaemun area for a last minute shopping. I wanted to go back to Doota mall to pick up some stuff that I couldn't decided last time. Unfortunately, it was closed...why why why!!! Now what? we didn't want to go back to other malls that we already went and we didn't want to go somewhere far because there was not a lot of time before we have to leave. After sometimes, we just thought 'whatever', we couldn't just sit there and wait for our time in Seoul to end. So, we crossed the street to a new mall opposite from Doota. But, it wasn't even completed and opened yet. Never mind, we just walked further, there has gotto be more... And we found it!! I didn't look at the name of the building. We only saw some shops inside and decided to explore. It was more like a wholesale place with lots of small shops crowd together. We did get a few stuff within a limited time we had. When there was almost time to catch a limousine bus, we left to do a little packing at hotel.
Somehow, we could never get enough of Seoul. This was the second time but, even before we left, we just felt that we had to come back again. So...Seoul, see you next time.......
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