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Monday, June 18, 2018

Travel Log - South Korea Day 6

Click here to read from the 1st post of this travel log! πŸ˜„

Day 6: A Cultural Day
12 June 2018, Tuesday

For a first time in Korea... Palace visits are literally mandatory (though that is probably just me πŸ˜…πŸ˜‚)
There are five palaces in Seoul but we decided to just pick one of them to go to (since... parents) and that is none other than the UNESCO recognised, Changdeokgung Palace. 

While making our way to Changdeokgung Palace...
Something to do with Hyundai... I think. LOL

Changdeokgung Palace
Map (Nearest Metro: Anguk Station, Exit 3) 




Within the compounds of Changdeokgung Palace, there are two other sections which requires an additional admission fee. One of it is the Secret Garden which only operates on guided tours (meaning, advance planning if you want to include this in your palace visit schedule) - the price to get a ticket for the Secret Garden (5,000₩/adult) is actually a tad pricier than the general admission fee (3,000₩/adult).

There was also an inner palace that required an admission fee of 1,000₩/adult to enter.













Bukchon Hanok Village
Map (Nearest Metro: Anguk Station, Exit 1 or 2)

After our self-guided palace tour that took slightly over an hour, we took a lunch break at An Guk Jung... at a food alley within Bukchon Hanok Village area near the metro's exit 2. 





While lunching, we met a group of young Singaporeans in their twenties that was seated next to us... It was really cute/funny because my mum was returning a smile to them and I was like "o.o" before they started conversing with us. I guess, Singaporeans does have a unique identity while overseas, it's just so easy to spot a fellow countryman abroad. πŸ˜…

After lunch, the dad parked himself at a cafe while the rest of us tried to find the picturesque spots of the village that was highlighted on their tourist map.


No, this wasn't one of the spots listed, but we made a wrong turn and landed ourselves at Baek In-Je House Museum! 😎 This is probably one of the only kind of museums that interests me.




Look at these details



After the visit to the Baek In-Je's House Museum, the mum decided that she had to find hanboks for her grandchildren with my sis, while I continued in our original quest of finding the scenery spots of the traditional village.





Sadly... I was following people and instead of getting to the scenic spots, I found myself at the shopping street that was way out of the scenic zone. LOL. #thingsnevergoasplanned


Having gone the wrong route and was close to my arranged meeting time with the sister & mum (my dad & I are the only two with the wifi router), I decided to head back to the station. I actually got a little disorientated/lost trying to find the right way out of the shopping street and back to the station (I am pretty bad at reading maps), but thankfully I made it and ended up contacting the sister through traditional SMS so all was good.

I can't remember if we went back to the hotel to rest after an entire day out on a self-guided cultural tour but we headed to Lotte Department Store for dinner~

@ StarAvenue, this picture was for my ex-colleague, she loves Jimin
Jong Suk oppa~ πŸ˜‚
Japanese cuisine for a change!

Next post: Travel Log - South Korea Day 7 (Shopping Day II)
Previous post: Travel Log - South Korea Day 5 (Shopping Time)

Travel Log - South Korea Day 5

Click here to read from the 1st post of this travel log! πŸ˜„

Day 5: Shopping Time
11 June 2018, Monday

The 1st half of the trip was all about sightseeing and we had to keep our luggage light as we were moving from one place to another. Since we finally got to our last hotel for the trip, we could finally start shopping! πŸ™Œ

Times Square Mall
Map (Nearest Metro: Yeongdeungpo Station, walk through underground shopping area) 

Being unfamiliar with the area, we took a wrong turn (again πŸ˜…) and ended up taking a really long route to the mall. 
[I got to know of this big shopping mall through meejmuse (p.s. I love her YouTube channel πŸ’–) from her mention of it in one of her videos, so I thought, since I was already in Korea, it'll be nice to visit]

While making our way to the mall...



First stop, lunch!

It was really yummy...πŸ˜‹


Lunch was awesome, it was definitely one of the better set meals throughout the trip... :)
I didn't take much pictures for the rest of our time at the mall as I was busy hunting for CDs at the bookstore while my mum & sis were buying clothes/shoes for the kiddos and then got stuck at eMart (a.k.a supermarket) buying stuff that were heavy and hence, we ended up going back to the hotel after that. πŸ˜…

Cheonggyecheon Stream in daylight on the way back to the hotel
The parents decided to take a break while my sis & I continued our shopping at Hongdae. 

Saw this on the way... πŸ˜”

Dinner at the food alley near AFirst Hotel... BBQ!

This was actually a BBQ restaurant that the hotel receptionist recommended (when we asked for her suggestions on the places we could eat at nearby). The chef that was helping us with the cooking of the meat actually did a quick fire show, LOL, but I was a little too near the fire so I didn't want to risk starting an explosion with my phone out near the stove. πŸ˜…





A good way to end the night after a great BBQ dinner? Makgeolli~! 



Next post: Travel Log - South Korea Day 6 (A Cultural Day)
Previous post: Travel Log - South Korea Day 4 (Busan back to Seoul)

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Travel Log - South Korea Day 4

Click here to read from the 1st post of this travel log! πŸ˜„

Day 4: Busan back to Seoul
10 June 2018, Sunday

We scheduled our train back to Seoul in the evening as we thought it was a good idea to spend some time by ourselves exploring a little more in Busan.

Breakfast was provided with the hotel

Mandatory Hotel Shot
After breakfast, we decided to explore the street behind the hotel which we got lost in the previous day as it is essentially a shopping street. 



My sister's favourite store where she spent at least half an hour in there

While walking along the street, we spotted this escalator entrance & we decided to head up and see whats there...

We didn't have any attractions planned for the day so the discovery of Yongdusan Park was quite a surprise for us.










 The dad parked himself at Paris Baguette while we shopped & toured Yongdusan Park.

A short break from all the walking...
Made our way to Busan's KTX station shortly after (early as usual, since we made sure that we would never have to rush for anything since we were with the parents).

Dinner at KTX station!

Busan's KTX station
Nostalgia for the sis & BUBBLE GUM that's banned in Singapore
AFirst Myeongdong Hotel
Map (Metro: Euljiro 1-ga exit 2 or Jonggak exit 5)


The cross junction at Euljiro 1-ga was quite confusing and we had to ask for directions to get to the hotel. Despite that, we still took a wrong turn and ended up taking a longer route to the hotel.

Being bummed out at that (cause I was quite sure there was an easier route), I decided to head out to recce the two stations on both ends of the hotel after the check in was done.


Cheonggyecheon Stream at night (with stores lined up on each side of the stream on weekends)


Next post: Travel Log - South Korea Day 5 (Shopping Day)
Previous post: Travel Log - South Korea Day 3 (Train to Busan & Night Scenic Tour with Klook)