We are finally back home and I had a really long sleep, trying to catch all those hours that I missed these nights.
Looking back at this trip, it was a wonderful and memorable experience with Hubby, with lots of smiles and great times spent together.
To summarise the trip, this is what we did for the 9 days.
Day 1 - 11 Nov
Reached the airport in the late afternoon, and was welcomed by Hwang Gyu, who drove a good 2 hours to the airport.
He brought us into Seoul, near the Hongdae and Eewa Women's University area, so that we could preview our next two days better
Got caught in a "everyday" bad jam for 2 & 1/2 hours, and we kept dozing off in the car on the way back. HG lives in Yong-in, which is a town south of Seoul.
HG made us dinner immediately, a sumptuous meal with kimchi mushroom soup, side dishes, pancake and rice. We chatted for a while and went to sleep in his Master bedroom.
Day 2 - 12 Nov
After breakfast, we took a bus (much faster than taking a car!) into Seoul to Egg Hostel where we will stay for the next 2 nights.
Seoul was cold! We went to Gyeongbokgung, the largest palace built during the Joseon Dynasty. Gyeongbok means greatly blessed by Heaven.
There was a parade going on in the courtyard and we saw officials donned in historic costumes. They were awfully serious even when everyone was trying to pose and take photographs with them.
The palace was quite large and beautifully decorated by numerous trees that boasted colourful autumn leaves. I was awed by the beauty of the trees more than the palace itself.
We left Gyeongbokgung and walked to Insadong to have Lunch. Passed by a Buddhist temple, which was adorned by pots of chrysanthemums. There is an annual chrysanthemum festival in S Korea during the month of October. Luckily the chrysanthemums had not withered when we saw them. They were quite pretty indeed.
Lunch was in Insadong, in a restaurant that specialises in Bibimbap. I was skeptical at first, as I am never a 'rice' person, but I got to say it tastes good!
This was the start of our 'love affair' with Bibimbap.
Walked around Insadong and saw many shops selling largely cultural goods. There was a building in the middle that sold mainly knick knacks, jewellery, clothings for the young adults or teenagers. Its a Rather touristy place.
Got a bit tired and settled for coffee in that building. Lovely place. It provided rather good coffee with books and papers to doodle on for the customers. And we wanted to order the waffle cos it looked sooo good! But it was over SGD Ten dollars so we decided not to. Luckily we didn't. Saw a girl ordered it and it was MASSIVE.
Nightfall came early, and we took a stroll along Cheonggyecheon, which is a stream built in downtown Seoul as part of an urban renewal project. We saw huge lanterns which featured the traditional Korean and their everyday lives from young to an old age. It's quite beautiful, and worth a visit if you have time.
Day 3 - 13 November
We slept quite a lot the previous night and decided to visit Changdeokgung, which was recommend by a Korean uncle working in GDG.
It's indeed beautiful! There were more autumn trees that GDG and there was a little park within the palace itself, that was built for the queens for recreation. I this Changdeokgung, there was also the Secret garden, but we decided to forgo that.
Lunch was at Sanchon, Insadong, and we paid SGD33 to experience their temple food. There were 20 dishes in total, but the best part of it was actually the brewed wine, which cost 15,000 won if you wanted more. It was a pleasant experience, and the environment was calming. We sat on traditional heated wooden floors and the restaurant had soothing Buddhist music.
Dinner starts at 430pm and you would have to pay SGD56 instead. We left quickly at 425pm. Haha!
Found a building that featured one whole level of music shops, that sell mainly strings, saxophones, guitars, pianos, keyboards, speakers and recording equipment.
Slept early that night as we had to go to Gimpo airport early the next morning.
Day 4- 14 November
After settling the car rental, we drove to Mulmaegol for lunch. This was a highly recommended place in Hungry cow, but I must say it was a huge disappointment. We ordered their two main dishes, which was Lotus leaf wrapped rice, and this sesame rice Cake soup, that reminded me of our local Mee Hoon Kuey. We finished less than half of it (the portions were quite big) and drove along the coast.
Jeju is so beautiful! The sea, the laidback feel scenery was a refreshing change from Busy bustling Seoul. We found a little seaside cafe which surprisingly had fantastic coffee, and a little interesting display of sand play, for the customers to doodle! The hubby drew two cute pictures, Hee. The only customer there was a small sweet family, who offered us some jeju mandarin oranges before they left.
We visited Hallim Park, which had numerous features in it, like chrysanthemums display, a reptile park, bird park which had beautiful white peacocks and curious ostriches, a mandarin orange orchard, a cactus corner, a stone museum, a folk village and two lava caves.
We checked in at Little France hotel that day and went out nearby to have dinner. Managed to google translate and asked the auntie for vegetarian Bibimbap. Cheap and satisfying.
Day 5 - 15 November
We wanted to climb Hallasan Mountain in the morning and woke up early for it.
The drive there was really beautiful. Trees along the road bent over with autumn leaves, wow!
When we reached Yeongsil trail entrance, we decided to forgo, as it was really too cold And we were grossly under- dressed. From Yeongsil, we could see Snowcapped Hallasan and it is so so so lovely!
Changed plans and went loving hut in Jeju city to have brunch. As lunch was not ready, we had their instant noodles which felt pretty shiok in that cold weather. But it was also the most expensive instant noodles we had. Two instant noodles, with two cups of citron tea cost 10,000 won, which converts to $11.50 SGD.
After brunch was Manjunggul, a lava cave that was 2km long that was an educational walk, haha. We re-learned abut stalactites and lava shelves and lots of terms that I forgot already.
Next, was U-do! We took a ferry to U-do and rented ATV to go around the island.wow! Lots of wonderful sea views and the sea was so clear and beautiful! I took the most pictures here. It was a short and fun ride on the ATV.
After taking the ferry back at 430pm, we were just in time to climb up Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak to catch the sunset. The climb was really intense man. I felt my legs were going to break anytime after finishing the climb. But I got to say,the scenery was really worth it.
Dinner was at the same place again, but this time we tried to order other dishes, like rice cakes and cold noodles. The ah ju mas were able to prepare for us, and this time, they were well prepared with an English Menu! Haha!
We decided to have coffee and found Vetro Coffee, which boasts the best coffee barista on Jeju Island. In fact, me and YZ thinks it's the best coffee we have ever drank. This guy even has his own coffee roaster in this little cozy cafe!
Day 6 - 16 November
We visited Jeongbang Falls that morning, which is the only waterfall in Asia that falls directly into the ocean. There were some unfriendly ah ju mas near the waterfall who sold fresh shells for the tourist to taste.
Next was Cheongjiyeon Waterfall. Quite beautiful, but made more touristy than Jeongbang. We also visited Odolgae, which was a cliff that was made famous when 大长今was filmed for one of the scenes.
We had to rush back to the airport that evening to return the car on time and catch the plane. Due to my carelessness, I had to go back to the car rental place to retrieve Hubby's gloves and sunglasses, and i made it back to the airport barely in time to catch the plane. Dinner was therefore donuts and bread. Sorry again to hubby!
Took the metro to Gangnam where HwangGyu was waiting, and we made it back to his place by bus.
By the time we reached HG's place, it was already close to midnight. Hubby was still hungry, so we had and some bread we brought from Gimpo Airport.
Day 7 - 17 November
It's shopping day!
HG left the house earlier and allowed us to sleep longer and use his spare keys to leave the house by ourselves.
We left around 1030am (pigs) for Nandaemun Market. The hubby bought his Herrington camera bag after much consideration, and I found a bookshop that sold lovely bookmarks and many beautiful stickers! Bought some back for Jiajing, Elaine, Ariel and myself.
We found a food stall tucked away in an alley and were able to communicate for vegetarian Bibimbap. We ordered a cold noodles and Bibimbap, and I got to say the hubby's Bibimbap was delicious! Although mine tasted good too, eating hot and spicy bibimbap is a much more warming food than cold noodles.
We left and walked to Myeongdong. We saw Namsan Tower on the way there, and snapped some photos. I guess we are just not fans of night views, since Singapore offers that every day!
Shopping and more shopping! We moved quickly, with a goal in mind, and bought my goods from Innisfree, the face shop and Laniege. We also found the shopping centre which featured their local designs at level 5 and I bought my lovely brown down and nice blouse there. The hubby also bought another bag there (after much contemplation again).
By the time we left for home, it was already ten and we still hadn't had dinner. So we went back and had bread and our last cup of instant noodles.
Day 8- 18 November
We had a longer rest this time and woke up close to 9am. HG woke up earlier to prepare Breakfast. It was a simple affair of Rice, Kelp soup, and fried kimchi With tofu. I didn't eat much as I'm really not into rice for breakfast.
Today's itinerary is to the Korean Folk Village, HG had never gone to this pace either and he suggested bringing us there.
I realised distance for Koreans is really not an issue. HG had mentioned to us earlier that this folk village is just opposite his house; in his context "very near". By the term 'opposite', me and YZ really look it literally as 'opposite'. We didn't think it would take a good 20 minutes drive away!
A few days earlier, HG was telling us that we could visit this certain place which was very near the metro. We just need to walk 40 minutes. *jaw drop*. Either HG is used to walking a lot, or we are just too pampered!
I digress. Anyway, the folk village was an interesting visit. We made it just in time to catch the first performance at 1030am, which was the traditional Korean Folk dance, where around 15 young men were dancing. Some had funny ribbons on their caps and were twirling them around in patterns. I honestly think they have really strong necks! Others were playing their Korean folk drums and one was blowing this rather noisy instrument that reminded me of the Chinese Suona.
Next up was an old man performing rope walking. He looked in his seventies, but his flexibility and strength was AMAZING! He did jumps on a single leg on the rope, switching legs in between leaps and bounds on that single rope. The poor old man, was however sneezing and sniffing in that cold weather that morning. I wonder how long he intends to continue this show for.
The next performance was really entertaining. We moved on to another open area, where the stench of the horses' manure was really strong. It was the horses riding performance. According to history, Koreans originated from the Mongolians, and horse-riding is supposed to be their forte.
The host was a funny young man, plump & amiable, and dressed in a colourful suit. He started dancing the Gangnam dance, much to the surprise and delight of the audience. Much to my amazement, many young children at the age of 3 up to 10 years old started coming in front and dancing professionally with the music too! The best dancer could win a prize from him! It was really entertaining to see the children lined up and dancing so well!
Then the horse riders came. There were several of them, perhaps ten in total, and all of them were really young! Most of them were teenagers, with the youngest looking to be around 12 years old. They ran with the horses, performed challenging stunts, leaped on and off the horses while the horses were still running in circles. For that age, they really amaze me with their strength and dexterity.
We walked around the village and this place is really quite large. YZ and HG tried their hands at archery, which needed extra cash for it, but the men had their fun. This place has its charm, and I was really excited to spot many familiar venues which I had seen in the historic Korean dramas. Yup, this place was where a few Korean dramas were shot, including one of my favourite, Queen Seon duk.
We spent a good 4 hours in the village and left around 230pm to have lunch. HG brought us to this vegetarian restaurant near his office, which had a vegetarian buffet! There was a spread of 20 over different dishes, with dishes like delicious chewy sweet potatoes noodles (chap Chey), kimchi, eggplants, sweet potatoes cubes with cashews, walnuts and dates, pumpkin gruel (I like!). We ate ravenously and had our fill. A fantastic experience as I got to try many traditional Korean food, in the vegetarian style thou.
HG wanted to bring us to Zoo coffee, which was opposite the restaurant and where he always patronised, but the hubby's hawk eye spotted a nearby coffee barista, "Industria coffee roasters". Yup, spelt without the letter "L". The coffee was good too. I ordered my caramel macchiato again and it was lovely to enjoy a hot cup of beautifully roasted coffee in that weather. The guys had their talk of their work, while I listened and played scrabble on my iPhone.
Sun was setting soon, so we left for E mart, which was like our local Carrefour and Giant, only bigger, and sold groceries to television sets to cosmetic brands names like Innisfree and Faceshop.
The mushroom section was my favourite! The mushrooms were so fresh and cheap, unlike what I always find in our local supermarkets,but oh well. Can't compare.
We bought loads of seaweed to bring back to Singapore, a Korean style cutlery set, a bottle of vinegar, and also some fresh mushrooms to cook for dinner.
The men settled the dinner, while I started to pack all the goods into the luggage. Dinner was HG's chap Chey (sweet potato noodles) and YZ's honey mushrooms. Simple and fulfilling. I ate much more than the guys and we had soju, which was quite a strong wine.
HG showed me his artworks and the photos of his family too. His family had gone to America for one year, so that his son and daughter could learn better English there. I could sense his loneliness and his pride for his kids. His eyes would lit up and he would have a beaming smile everytime he showed us his kids. Ah, the love of a father.
We slept for a short while and I woke up at 3am to prepare. HG fetched up a good 20 mins to a bus stop where we could catch a direct limousine bus to Incheon airport. We slept for a good one hour on the bus and it was good bye Korea already.
8 days went past really fast, and I got to say, this is a unforgettable trip. The hubby and I really had good times, and I am really thankful he has wonderful friends, even in other countries. Thank you so much to HwangGyu, a great host and friend, who refused to let us wash the dishes even after he prepared dinner, who drove us around, who accompanied us for those few days.
We were awed by beautiful sceneries, experienced the cold weather, saw so many post cosmetic surgery faces, got shoved and pushed by the local aunties and uncles, met kinder Koreans in Jeju and drank the best coffees we have tasted in our whole lives.
South Korea is really worth a visit, but a better time to visit would be September and October. November onwards could be a bit too cold for tropical countries dwellers like us to get used to, so note to self. The next visit to Korea would be in a different period.
