WANDERLUST ; SOUTH KOREA

Day 1 | 1st June

Singapore > Seoul > Jeju

Touched down at Incheon airport at 8am before boarding our transit flight to Jeju at 1130am. It was in the late afternoon by the time we checked in and settled down. Had some black pork bbq (which Jeju is famous for) and damn, it was good. We also walked around DongMun market and explored the neighbourhood.

I love how their coffees are non-spill. They have this aluminium foil layer underneath the plastic cover to prevent spillage. Also, their coffees from convenience stores are super cheap! Like less than $2?

This is actually a wall painting!

SIQI RECOMMENDS:

???

I have no idea what this store is called but it sells a lot of street snacks at DongMun Market and apparently Running Man members visited it before. But honestly, SO GOOD. SO GOOD. Just find the busiest stall with screenshots of Running Man pasted over the panes and you've found yourself a gem. We stumbled upon this stall randomly at an odd hour so we managed to get a table but right before we left, it became full house and there were people waiting for seats. Daebak.

Some primary school

This was the place where we had our bbq. We went here because our hostel had a 10% discount but apparently the shop right next to ours is the more popular option with media clippings and consistent customer crowd.

Day 2 | 2nd June

O’Sulloc Cafe > Innisfree Jeju > Glass castle > Seongsan Ilchulbong Sunrise Peak  > Kim Young Maze Park 

So for our 2nd day in Jeju, we booked a one-day taxi tour via our hostel. Our first stop was O'Sulloc Cafe / Innisfree (they are at the same location). The scenery was just so beautiful but we had to rush because there were too many places we wanted to visit within a day. If you have the time, i recommend to stroll around the area because it really is picturesque! Imagine all the green tea fields behind you... You can literally shoot a mv there! 

If you are a tea lover, you probably would want to spend most of the time at O'Sulloc Cafe smelling and buying tea packets. They smell so heavenly, i wish i could buy all of them back. They also sell other organic merchandise such as slimming tea and facial care products. Also, please try their matcha chiffon cake! If you are not travelling to Jeju, Hongdae has an O'Sulloc Cafe too so you can try and buy their products even in Seoul :)

As for Innisfree, well there's nothing much to buy. The selection at Jeju is limited and they dont offer as many promotions as in Seoul so save your moolah (and luggage space)!

Look at the fields behind!! So pretty!

We went to the Glass Castle next which i think was a waste of time. Honestly, it is really pretty and you can take many photos with the ornaments but i have no appreciation for such stuff. We went on a weekday so it was pretty much empty and we conquered the place in 1 hour. Weekends though, according to the auntie, are crowded. I still do not see the appeal in it. The only happy thing i got out from the place is the above photo cause it looks pretty and just nice the fountain spurted water and so it adds to the feel of the photo haha.

In Jeju, you HAVE TO eat seafood. Just look at the huge pot in the photo. We ordered for 2 to share (my other friends can't eat spicy so they ordered individually) and that entire pot came out. I almost thought we ordered wrongly but that is indeed their smallest size (yes SMALLEST) and it was filled with goodies like abalone, clams, oysters, and what not! The mackerel tasted good as well! For all these it only cost about $20-$25 SGD per person??

Sadly, i cannot recommend this restaurant to you as i don't know what it is! The taxi lady just drove us there for lunch. All i know is that it has media clippings in the shop and it is located near Seongsan Ilchulbong Sunrise Peak, which was our next destination.

Don't let this photo fool you. This place is brimming with tourists!

We planned to go Seongsan Ilchulbong Sunrise Peak because we wanted to see the flower field which we saw on Instagram. Unfortunately, the season for flowers is over and worse, we couldn't watch the diving show because the wind and current was too strong to dive that day. I had a throbbing head just from being exposed to the harsh wind. You look at all of our hair!

After that we moved on to our final location of the day which is the famous Kim Young Maze Park. Along the way, the taxi lady stopped by the beach for us to take photos. If i had the time, i would love to linger more in this area. One of my favourite things to do while on holiday is to go beach-watching. There are literally SO MANY cafes plastered along the Jeju beach so you can just enter into any of it, grab a coffee and enjoy the ocean view. Some cafes even had sun beds so you can just lay down and chill with the majestic scenery in front of you. Even if you do not patronize the cafes, there are also chairs laid out for tourists to take photos (although the chairs has the cafe's names written on it as a form of advertisement haha). How cool!

Look and imagine how beautiful it really is in real life!!!

Wind is so strong, centre parting is unavoidable.

SIQI RECOMMENDS:
Maze Park

Conquered the maze park within 20 mins although it felt like an hour??? Up till now i have no idea how we walked out of that maze. It was so confusing and the map did not help at all. But i enjoyed walking around and trying to find a way out. An interesting experience.

Day 3 | 3rd June

Seoul > Lotte Mart

SIQI RECOMMENDS:

Isaac Toast

Woke up in the morning to grab breakfast from Isaac Toast which serves the best bagels!!! It's laced with butter, sugar and bacon and it sends you straight up to heaven. You can find them in almost everywhere in Korea.

We did not do much for the day as we spend some time flying from Jeju back to Seoul and checking into our Airbnb. We did shop for snacks at Lotte Mart but who wanna see 4 girls being aunties? Gonna dump some random sightings and cafes that i like here instead.

Cafe opposite our apartment

SIQI RECOMMENDS:

Soupman

If you live in Hongdae, please try this home made soup cafe! Even their menu is so handmade lol. This shop is near Exit 3 and they serve soup in a cup, much like a coffee. I like their broccoli corn soup the best - yes, i love it so much that i convinced my friends to buy and try most of their flavours haha.

A dumping ground that suddenly peaks out from an alley in a place filled with developed and high rise buildings.

Koreans like to do their makeup anytime, anywhere.

They can park their cars on pavements!

Day 4 | 4th June

Lotte World

Ok, not much photos for this day because we spent most of our time queuing and playing rides. A little sad that there were so many people on the day we went. We had to wait for 90 mins for every ride??? So in the end we only played 6 rides the entire day. If you like thrilling rides, you'd enjoy:

Giant Loop, Comet Express, Pirate Ship, Gyro Swing, Gyro Drop and French Revolution.

Day 5 | 5th June

Myeongdong > Hongdae

Started the day with some porridge for breakfast at Myeongdong. HUGE disappointment though. We couldn't find the shop that we planned to visit - btw, please use google street view to find out exactly how to get to the places you wanna go before setting off because somehow the directions online are never right?? And even when we arrived at the exact address, the shop is nowhere in sight?? Figuring out your way in Korea is seriously even harder than the language barrier - so we entered into a random porridge restaurant thinking how bad can porridge get?

Very bad. I attribute part of the reason to the rice and method they used to cook. I love congee kind of porridge where the rice are so disintegrated they are almost like a thick soup. However, you can still bite the rice grains in the porridge in Korea (or at least in this shop)? And they are thin and long - unlike the plumper Thai rice i am used to. That aside, i felt that the porridge was too oily for my liking. The only thing that i can approve of is the presentation, You have to give it to them - it really looks amazing haha.

With our tummies filled, we went ahead to shop. Nothing much to mention. Just go crazy.

SIQI RECOMMENDS:

Manse Mandu

Cheap, good and filling - what more do you want! This was our lunch, located conveniently at MyeongDong as well so that we can rest and eat after a shopping spree. Don't let the humble appearance of the restaurant fool you! It's so popular that there was a queue snaking out from the door. We enjoyed their dumplings so much that we ordered another basket of it. Noodles were good too - just do not order their cold noodles (that white broth thingy in the photo). It is very geliat because of the soymilk sauce. Like no, just no.

SIQI RECOMMENDS:

Hongdae Stone BBQ

We went back to Hongdae for dinner and actually I have no idea what is the actual name of this shop but trust me - or trust HH's palette - this is damn gooood! It specializes in pork but you need to eat their beef. When cooked well, with the right timing, it literally oozes in your mouth! The hot, tantalizing meat together with the buttery juice is just - i cant even. And yes you read the name right. This restaurant stone grills your meat. Me and my friends loved it so much that we went back on a separate day and only specifically ordered their beef HIAK HIAK. 

Apparently it is so famous that when i google 'hongdae bbq restaurant' this is the first review to pop up??? Gonna put the link to the review here because it includes useful directions and a menu to refer to. The blog also recommended many other Korean restaurants to try and reading it makes me feel nostalgic and hungry T.T

Btw, this restaurant has many foreigners such as Hong Kongers, Singaporeans etc etc. So if you're picky about 'I need to eat in an authentic Korean restaurants that only locals go' maybe this wont be your cup of tea. BUT JUST TRY IT ANYWAY LA. ITS POPULAR FOR A REASON.

Also i made friends with the unni of the restaurant. She is so nice and she remembers me from the first time we visited (maybe because i almost left the restaurant after accidentally underpaying her severely haha). We took a photo together and she promised to give me a free cider the next time i come back :D

A random note: this is the place where i got 3 free huge Song Joong Ki posters HAHAHAHA. The uncle was like "Song Joong Ki 좋아?" and i just anyhow nodded my head suddenly i end up with the posters. It is rolled up and stored somewhere in my room because it is too embarrassing to be seen.

Day 6 | 6th June

Gwangjang Market > Ewha University > Dongdaemun

We went Gwangjang Market on a public holiday and at first the streets and market looked so empty, we thought we picked a wrong day to visit. But we persevered walking in and a few moments later, the landscape totally changed. It was FLOODED with tourists. It's like you suddenly walked into another dimension?? But yes, this is the place to try traditional Korean food. Though i still stand firm that the DongMun Market/Running Man store sold better food, this is where i got to try my live octopus.

It really is not that terrifying at all. I mean other than watching its tentacles chopped off mercilessly and getting flashbacks of Titans, eating it felt like i was eating... squid. Pretty normal. It sometimes will suck the ceiling of your mouth but that was it. The suction power was not very strong and i definitely did not experience it sucking onto my throat although that would be an amazing experience too. I love the sauce and seaweed that they paired the octopus with as well. Superb.

Their campus is so pretty it really puts NTU to shame. And i love how just right outside their university is a street filled with shopping and eateries? You'd never run out of things to do after classes!

However, if you are a tourist like me, you'd probably not be very interested in the shopping at Ewha University because you can find the exact same stuff in Hongdae/ Myeongdong and they have larger stores as well. Clothes here are also slightly pricier. I'd say skip the shopping and focus on roaming the university grounds instead. Really beautiful and picturesque which also means lots of tourists too.

Presumably their hostel but looks like our HDB hahaha.

We headed to Dongdaemun that night and this is the heaven of all shopaholics. The malls operate from 10pm - 6am so you really can shop until siao. Unfortunately, i didnt hang around this area much because my friends were all too tired from the day :( But we did explore the area. It is super futuristic. Think Orchard ION x 1000000000. Especially the museum. I am sold.

A museum overlooking the shopping centres.

Expensive ice cream that looks out of the world but tastes ordinary.

Day 7 | 7th June

Illhwa Mural Village

Started the day off with some Jap food. This is located a few stalls down Hongdae Stone BBQ. It is extremely small, with a seating capacity of less than 10 people. Food is pretty cheap and delicious although nothing life changing. You order via machine and insert notes into it - somewhat like a vending machine. Quite interesting.

Headed to Illhwa Mural Village and this place is a killer. I literally mean it kills your energy. It is not conveniently situated next to the MRT so you'll have to walk a distance. Upon reaching the neighbourhood, there are so many slopes and stairs to climb in order to see the murals. We were so tired that we did not bother completing the tour. I even entered a cafe in order with the intention of resting my feet but ended up falling asleep hahaha.

Ryan Higa's BGA is coming to my mind...

So we caught a live shoot of some kdrama

Apparently we went in from the wrong direction and this uniform shop was one of the first thing we saw. There were many students/couples who actually rent the outfit to walk about and take photos. I have no idea what is the significance behind this phenomenon.





Illhwa is a pretty artistic area. Besides murals and graffiti, i met this artist whom drew a caricature for me (ok fine, i paid her haha).


Koreans love water painting. I have started to fall in love with it as well.

Man and dog overlooking the city

LOL, can totally tell from the lack of murals that we gave up on the journey halfway haha.

Day 8 | 8th June

Gangchon Rail Park > Petite France > Nami Island 

Woke up supppeeeer early in the morning to catch the ITX which is an express train in Korea. We went for the Gangchon Rail Park first which is something that was featured in Running Man as well. Basically you're on a rail track and you have to pedal your way through as a group while enjoying the scenary. Sounds difficult but actually the automatic system does most of the work LOL. 

Heads up that there are not many pictures from today.

A sudden burst of colour on my lips because i did not cap my lip tint properly and it had spillage and i was like "Must not waste this!!!" and smeared everything on my lips. Spot my orange-tinted fingers as well. On another note, isn't the dog cute? There are so many dogs in Korea hehe *o*

No photos from me from Petite France because my hp died and was in the middle of battery resurrection. Nice place to visit if you like to take photos but do note that there are many tourists.

We travelled to Nami Island next and that is literally all my photos from Nami Island. Don't ask why. But it is definitely another photogenic place with its looming trees and rivers and especially during the sunset timing. I witnessed a few bridal shoots there as well :) Do visit Nami Island if you have the change to. Btw did you know that they are considered a republic themselves??

Day 9 | 9th June

Hongdae

It was a pretty relaxing day so we just stuck around the neighbourhood that we lived in and shopped around Hongdae. It was so funny because we had specific shops we wanted to visit and everytime we wondered out loud "Eh, where is XXX ah", the store would magically appear in front of us a few mins later.

It really shows the power of Korea's cosmetic/shopping industry. It's like in every alley and street you go, you will definitely find another outlet from the same brand. Like whuuut??

Oh, we bought this watermelon juice from Juicy which was super refreshing on such a hot day :D

Day 10 | 10th June

Everland

Yes, we visited another theme park during our stay in Korea. I love how Everland truly makes you feel like you got teleported to a fantasy world. Maybe because you have to travel so far to some ulu place, but definitely part of the magical experience. I love the service and how their staff are fancily dressed. The crowd and waiting time is significantly lesser as compared to Lotte World which makes the experience even better. I really cant choose between Everland and Lotte World because the former had such a other-worldly atmosphere you really think you are in some lala land but i think Lotte World has better variety of exciting rides. If you have the time and money, i'd say visit both!

T-Express at the background

Fave ride. We queued for this 5 times!

SIQI RECOMMENDS:

???

So we randomly stumbled upon this restaurant because it was the only shop still serving food at 930pm by the time we left Everland and travelled back to the city. We didnt expect much because we just wanna eat and head home asap but Good Lord, you HAVE TO try this!! The menu selection is quite limited - We ordered a beef and a pork hotplate but it was nothing short of amazing. All the dishes presented to us were extremely delicious and this is no easy feat because not every shop serves the sort of radish/kimchi/soup that is to our palette. Seriously every single side dish was two thumbs and toes up. Needless to say, so were their mains. I was chomping food down at an unbelievable rate that i bit my own tongue LOL.

Like really, if you only want to take away the top 3 food recommendations from this post, this is one place you should keep in mind, together with the Hongdae Stone BBQ and DongMun Market's (Running Man) street food stall. Directions to this shop are fairly simple. Walk out from Gangnam Station Exit 11 and go straight until you see CGV in one of the alleys at your right. Turn into the alley and walk up the slope until you pass the 1st right junction. Continue straight and keep your eyes peeled for the shop. You'll see it slightly before the 2nd right junction.

Day 11 | 11th June

Express bus terminal

Cheap shopping here. No photos because we were all busy looting stuff into our bags and pushing against the crowd haha.

Day 12 | 12th June

Gyeongbokgong > Bukchon

So this was the day where we rented and adorned Hanboks. We got ours from Oneday Hanbok which is only 2 stops away from Gyeongbokgong where the palace is. I honestly think it was such a good experience because you get to choose pretty traditional dresses to wear and take awesome photos. You'd definitely get stares from people but my motto whenever i am overseas is "I am a foreigner. I have no shame." HAHAHA. Also, entrance fee is waived if you visit the palace wearing a Hanbok!

Mini skirt - a modern take on Hanbok

Yup, what is a photoshoot without me being unglam

The palace is directly right behind King Sejong statue.

We headed to Bukchon next which is a neighbourhood filled and preserved with traditional Korean houses. Another lovely place to take photos with your Hanboks. 

omg this baby is too cute!!

We went to Happy Day Jijjimbang that night and i looooooove it. We were totally clueless on what to do and even though i knew we were supposed to strip all the way down, i still got a shock when i was walking through the rows of locker, trying to find mine and suddenly i got a glimpse of naked women LOL. Totally unprepared la. And obviously we were hesitant as well but heck it la, we knew what we signed up for and honestly after a while you just get used to it because it is totally normal for Koreans. The more awkward you are, the more outstanding you will be.

Just meditate on "I am a foreigner, I have no shame" and you'll do fine. 

I really think you should visit Jijjimbang with friends you're comfortable with. It's a brand new experience and its super fun to scrub each other's back and like play water with one another HAHAH. It felt like i got teleported to my younger days, before the concept of shame was taught to me. I enjoyed it and even made new friends while resting in the lounge area where after bathing, you can head there for sauna or watch tv or to eat or sleep. You'll also feel extremely refreshed after the jacuzzi and all. So yes, definitely slot this activity in if you can. 

Day 13 | 13th June

Isaedong 

Last day of shopping and i think this is an interesting place to visit to get unique souvenirs. I bought a lot of stuff from here too (mainly because i was trying to clear my cash) and carted back many unique buys that i didnt get to see at other places. I think this is the beauty of Insaedong because after staying in Korea for so long, you get tired of seeing the same things. It's like every other shop sells similar stuff and walk a few more steps you'll see the same brand but a different outlet. I guess on one hand its really convenient because its super easy to locate the shops and even if you forget to buy something from the shop, you can just continue walking down until you see the next one. But on the other hand... I need something fresh for my eyes man.

Eating poop

Ok, so that pretty much sums up my 2 weeks in Korea because we flew back the next day. Perhaps i really shouldn't have ate that poop bun. Now that i think of it, it was like a foreshadow to what i have to go through upon returning to Singapore. LOL.