Korea '10/11: Day 6-7

Day 6: Namsan Park, Teddy Bear Museum, N Tower, Namsangol Hanok Village and Myeong-dong

On the same day, I realized that N Tower is just next to Myeong-dong. We walked from Myeong-dong Guest House to Namsan cable car station. The slopes were slippery due to the snow. Along the way, there are plenty of restaurants selling dongkatsu. We took dongkatsu at one of the restaurants as our breakfast and it was not bad.

We continued with our journey to Namsan cable car station after our breakfast. It was just a short way from the restaurant. One way is 6,000 won and the return fare is 7,500 won. The scenery at Namsan Park and the N Tower was very beautiful. There are a lot of decorations there due to Christmas and New Year. I was very excited when I saw two huge polar bears with Santa hats in front of N Tower. They were cute but not nice to hug.

There is a Teddy Bear Museum in N Tower so we bought the observatory package consisting of the admission to Teddy Bear Museum and the N Tower observatory at 12,000 won. If purchase separately, it will be 8,000 won each.


Teddy Bear Museum was amazing and the bears in costumes were extremely cute. If you are a fan of a 2005 Korean drama called Gung or Princess Hours, you will be thrilled to see the teddy bears in the museum. The museum is separated into two sessions and be sure that you visited both. View at the observatory was not spectacular. At least I was not impressed.


Namsan Park is also reachable by bus. From the N Tower, turn right and walk all the way down till you see some buses. We took bus no. 2 to the Korean traditional village at 800 won.

We had lunch in one of the restaurants beside the bus stop near the Korean traditional village (Namsangol Hanok Village) and it was the worst Korean meal I ever had. It was tasteless and Korean dishes are not meant to be like that. Strictly not recommended!

Admission to the Korean traditional village is free. On New Year’s day, there was a ice sculptures exhibition. It is rabbit year and there were some rabbit sculptures. In the village, there are free games and Koreans dressing up in traditional costumes. It is an interesting place to visit for those who have not seen Korean traditional houses before.

Our last destination on New Year’s day was Myeong-dong. Myeong-dong is a huge shopping area with lots of shops, restaurants and people. Here, you can find a lot of street performers. We had dinner at a hidden restaurant near Uniqlo in Myeong-dong. This shop is recommended by Dr Andrew for its bibimbap. It costed 9,000 won each. We ordered a Korean style steamboat for 35,000 won (2 pax worth of portion). The side dishes consisted of seafood such as mini crabs. Although expensive, it was very delicious and we enjoyed it.

After dinner, we went for a major shopping and bought lots of cosmetic and souvenirs. There are many local brands for cosmetic here and they have a wide range of products, from lipstick to cleaner. Masks can be easily bought at around 1,000 won. I bought an eye shadow (two colours) for about RM10 and a lip gloss at around RM12. I bought a purple down jacket from Uniqlo for 79,900 won (around RM240) and like it very much.

P/s: Please note that in some tourism brochures, you can find some discount vouchers. For the Facebook, we manage to get a 5% off for purchase of 50,000 won and above. My bro got a 10% off as he purchased more than 100,000 won. Free colourful calendars were available as it was around New Year!

We had some soju and aloe vera after the long day. It was not that bad.


Day 7: Nami Island Lotte Mart

How to go to Nami Island?
Take a subway to Cheongyangni. From there, take a bus or train to Gapyong. The journey by train or bus (1330-3) from Cheongyangni is about 1.5 hour. At Cheongyangni bus station, there is a display for the waiting time. To take a train, go to a building with Lotte Mart near Cheongyangni bus station. Once reaching Gapyong, take a taxi to Nami Island jetty. The taxi costs around 4,000 won. Admission to Nami Island including the return ferry is 8,000 won.

Nami Island is a small and relaxing island. It was one of the filming locations of Winter Sonata and became famous after that. Along the walkways, you can see lots of tall, slim and straight trees. In the island, there are no electric poles. You can also find lots of fire place around. Food there is not very expensive as well. We ordered a bibimbap at 6,000 won each. (Okay, I know we have taken lots of bibimbap for the whole journey).

Bibimbap ingredients

Korean Pancake

The decorations around the island were special. Overall, I had this country side feel. I still remember that evil white rabbit with wet paint, causing my gloves, camera, glasses and new down jacket to be coated with some paint!

Due to the traffic jam, we got back to Cheongyangni really late. It is recommended to the train instead. We had dinner at a food court near Lotte Mart and went for a quick shopping after that. This food mart consists of 3 levels! We bought some food at the first level and ran all with our might back to the hostel.

Cheongyangni Nightview

P/s: The food in Korea is comparatively not so expensive. They have more variety for biscuits and tea.

Throughout the whole journey, I would say that we were considerably lucky. We do not have to wait too long for buses and just-in-time for most of them. I dropped a lot of things due to the bulky and multi layer clothing. You tend to drop or loose something, which is quite frustrating.
See FB for more pics.

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Korea '10/11: Day 4-5

Day 4: Yongpyong Ski Resort

Breakfast is available in The House Hostel and I really love it. The cornflakes were a bit sweet but it was nice! Milk, bread, butter, strawberry jam and coffee are available as well. If I revisit Korea again, I would like to stay in Sokcho for a longer period. After breakfast, we departed to Yongpyong Ski Resort.

How to go to Yongpyong Ski Resort from Sokcho:
Sokcho to Gangneung – 1.5 hour, 7,100 won
Gangneung to Hoenggye – 20 minutes
From Hoenggye, take a taxi to Yongpyong Ski Resort – 10 minutes

This was the first time I went for a ski. It was the main agenda of this whole winter trip, because only during the winter you can ski. Despite hearing many unpleasant comments from those who have experience it, I decided to go for a try. There is a lot of ski resort in Gangwon-do. We went to Pyongyang Ski Resort where majority of the Winter Sonata scenes were taken. I am not a fan of Winter Sonata, simply choosing it for the facilities and price. But I glad I did.

In Yongpyong Ski Resort, you can get whatever you want from Dragon Plaza. From the Dragon Plaza, you can take a gondola up to the Dragon Peak for sightseeing. It was the highest and coldest place we have ever been. It was so cold that my glasses were blurred and I can hardly stay out there for more than 5 minutes. But the scenery on the way to the Dragon peak was extraordinary, like the fantasy land of Narnia (I am not a fan of Narnia but happen to like their scenes).

Before skiing, you need to rent 2 items – skiing attire and equipment. For the ski equipment, you will need to rent it together with the purchase of the admission ticket.

We did not take any meals in Yongpyong Ski Resort as it was extremely expensive and we do not have the time. I took 2 energy bars and rather amazed that I withstand the weather and go for skiing. Anyway, for those going for skiing in the future, other than the skiing jacket, please just wear one layer of clothes inside. As you ski, your body generates heat and you won’t feel that cold. It was around -8 Celsius when I ski and it was perfectly alright. I fell down a few times and hit the snow. Well, I felt okay and my butt was safe. Anyway, after 1 hour plus, I manage to walk with the ski! Mission accomplished!

From Hoenggye, you can take an intercity bus back to Dong Seoul Bus Terminal (3 hours, 13,800 won).

P/s: It is recommended to prepare some energy bars before skiing.

Day 5: Palace Tour and Dongdaemun Market

Palaces in Korea are almost the same. On New Year eve, we visited two palaces, namely Changdeokgung and Gyeongbokgung. They have many similarities in terms of architecture and design. In a sense, there are many resemblance of the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. With the snow, the scenery was very beautiful. The admission is 3,000 won per pax for each palace.

Changdeokgung is located near Insa-dong where you can find lots of antiques and artworks. There are many hanbok (Korean traditional clothes) shops over there. Around that area, there are some art galleries. We enjoyed ourselves at the pottery gallery while on the way to the Tteok Museum. Tteok Museum consists of 3 levels and the admission is 3,000 won per pax. There are sample displays of tteok, its importance and occasions. There are no free food tasting but you can try out some tteok at the Tteok Café which is located in the same building.
We had tea at the Tteok Café and lunch at a restaurant selling mainly pork leg. The pork leg is really soft and tender (shared by 5 pax). It cost 22,000 won for a medium size one and 25,000 won for a large one. We brought along strawberries from the minimart, and it’s huge, sweet and crunchy. Yummy!

We had the famous samgyetang (土俗村蔘雞湯) near Gyeongbokgung as our New Year Eve dinner and it was nice. The portion is huge and they stuff rice into the chicken. Each samgyetang costs 14,000 won. We ordered another BBQ chicken (the type of chicken which we normally have for chicken rice) and it was very dry, hard and tasteless. It is recommended to share when you order; else you will eat till you feel like vomiting.

We went to Dongdaemun for shopping after that. The hawker stalls selling chakchae (fried glass noodle) had closed but many shopping complex were still open. Many shopping complexes there opened till early morning and it is really worth going. They have the whole floor selling only handbags, accessories, clothes and so on. Bear in mind that they are not cheap but more on the design, quality and money for value. Please negotiate price before you buy as you can get a lower price.

P/s: In Dongdaemun, there is a very long street of hawker stalls and they are only available up till around 5.30pm. It will be easier to negotiate price with a male seller compared to a female seller.

Mr Park hold a party in the guest house for the New Year celebration and we are just in time. Great!

See FB for more photos. I will be updating on the rest of the trip shortly.

Korea '10/11: Day 1-3

*Happy New Year everyone!*

On December 27 last year, I took a trip to Korea. It was my first trip returning to Korea after 5 years. It was winter and extremely cold. There were 5 of us for this trip. The weather during the day time is around -9 Celsius and can go up to around -14 Celsius at night. We were wearing at least 2 layers of clothes inside, with scarf, hand gloves, ear covers, face mask and hats. We even carry hot pads with us. The air was pretty dry and it was really cold when the wind blows. I can say that we were pretty good as none of us fall ill during the trip. Thumbs up everyone!

Day 1: Arrival
As we arrived at Incheon Airport, it was cold but bearable. We can see “smoke” as we were breathing. We took the Airport Limousine (6015) to Chungjeongno where Bangrang Hostel is. The fare is 10,000 won.

The dorm of 6 costs 16,100 won per pax per night. The rooms and the common area are separated while the toilet and bathroom is outside, which is rather inconvenient. In addition, the dorm of 6 is really narrow. We shared the room with a Hong Kongese named Lawrence.
* For the ease of calculation, 1000 won = RM3.

Note: T-Money is a Seoul transportation card and can be used for train and buses, including Airport Limousine. The card costs 3,000 won and can be bought from GS25 convenient stores or the T-Money machines in subway. With T-Money, you can get discount coupons for restaurants and places, and discounts for transportation. You can also use T-Money like a prepaid card at GS25 convenient stores.

Day 2: Lotte World, COEX Mall
Breakfast is available for free at the Bangrang Hostel (bread and strawberry jam). The homemade strawberry jam is extremely nice and has been my favourite.

Due to the heavy snow, we changed our plan from visiting Everland to Lotte World. Lotte World is conveniently located near the Jamsil Station. Lotte Mart is there as well. We had more breakfast from 7-11 as we reached Jamsil station. Everyone was excited about the food and drinks available at 7-11. The coffee in Korea has always been my favourite and it only cost around 1,000 won to 1,500 won. For Starbucks coffee, it is around 2,000 won.

Heavy snow

With the coupon from Visit Korea website, we got the day pass for 32,000 won per pax. Lotte World is normally very pack regardless of weekdays or weekends. Therefore, it is recommended to go there early.

Lotte World indoor theme park

Lotte World outdoor theme park

Lotte World mascots - Xmas version

COEX Mall is a relaxing mall with aquarium and exhibition halls. If you are going there for shopping, then it may not be a good place as things there are generally branded and expensive. Well, you can also see shops like The Face Shop and Skin Food around easily.

Shopping tips:
There are free vouchers for foreigner which can be found in brochures. When I went, for The Face Shop, if you buy 50,000 won and above worth of products, you will get 5% discount and a colourful calendar. If you buy 100,000 won and above worth of products, you will get 10% discount, colourful calendars and posters.

A classical korean meal

Day 3: Sokcho, Seoraksan
In order to go to Sokcho, we need to take an express bus from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, which is beside Gangbyeon Station (Seoul Subway Line No.2). Go to Exit 4 and walk straight. The building in front is the bus terminal. At the bus terminal, there are bus counters, restaurants and mini stalls. The bus fare to Sokcho is 16,100 won.

Sokcho is a small and relaxing city on the northeast side of Gangwon-do, 3 hours bus ride from Seoul, 10 minutes walk from Sokcho Intercity Bus Terminal. Almost everything there is considerably cheaper. We stayed in The House Hostel and the owner, Mr Yoo is really nice. He took the time to explain to us the attractions in Sokcho city and how to go around. In addition, the environment is cozy and the rooms are well furnished with TV, water dispenser, towels, hairdryer and comb. He even provided us with a new bottle of mineral water. It is the most money for value hostel I have ever come across.

The House Hostel

I think the only more crowded area in Sokcho will be Seoraksan, a mountain in the city, famous for its beauty and iconic scenery. The weather near Seoraksan was extremely cold. We took a city bus (no. 7 or 7-1, 1000 won) from hostel to Sokcho. Sokcho is the last stop and obviously you won’t miss it. Just as we stepped out of the bus, we felt a cold breeze running up our spines. Gosh, immediately we took out whatever we have to wrap up ourselves. You can either hike up to the mountain or take a cable car and walk for a bit.

Of course, we took the cable car. A while ago, I was a bit ambitious and thought of exploring some of the areas like the temple on Seoraksan. I changed my mind as I got up there. It was really cold! The scene on Seoraksan is very beautiful with the trees and stones covered by snow. However, it can be a bit challenging. You need to have a pair of strong legs to get up to the top.
We have samgyeoksal buffet at 7,000 won per pax based on Mr Yoo’s recommendation. There are a lot of selections for meat from pork, beef to seafood. However, there is not much pre-cooked food. The seaweed soup is really nice and can refill once you have finished. We ordered a soju at 3,000 won. Overall it is considered as cheap and with the cold weather, you will need a lot of meat.

See FB for more photos. I will be updating the rest of the trip shortly :)