Day 06

I'm finally feeling like myself again! Yay!! So as soon as I was able I headed out to explore downtown Seoul.

View of mountain from one of Seoul's main streets.

The first place I visited was called Itaewon. This area is famous for internationl shops and restaurants since a large numer of expats live in the area. There I saw a lot of antique shops, hip coffee houses, and really beautiful houses with elaborate gardens. This neighborhood was perched on a steep hill so it reminded me of San Francisco quite a bit.

Lots of antique shops!

My next stop was the Namsangol Village Houses, which is a series of traditional Korean houses located right in the middle of the city. It was a big but fairly simple coompound. Once you walk through the huge gates, you'll see a huge courtyard with two guys weaving traditional straw goods, and you just wander around different houses peeking into the ones that interest you. There were SO many students here though on their field trip, I felt like I was at a huge playground. 

Next I visited the famous Namsan Seoul Tower! It's interesting to me that every country or city has its own treasured tower or building of some sort. I did do something stupid though while I was here. After the tour bus dropped me off at the furthest point cars were allowed, I climbed up the steep hill to get to the tower. But when I got there I took the wrong cable car and went back down to where I came from, canceling all my hard work. -.- Ater what felt like eternity I was finally able to go up the tower, and the view was amazing. You could see just how big Seoul was and it's big! I only wish it was a clearer day but I managed to get some nice photos.

My last stop on the tour bus was Insadong, and I love this place! Imagine one big street with many art galleries and shops, WITH secret passageways stemming off of both sides filled with many interesting-looking restaurants and guest houses. I literally felt like I was walking around in a maze, but one that I really enjoyed getting lost in. The shops here featured a lot of handmade goods.

One of the many passageways in Insadong

One of the shopping centers at Insadong

After that it was off to dinner with my friend at Samcheongdong. Samcheongdong reminded me of a more upscale version of Itaewon (the place with many expats). Everything from the sidewalks (yes, actual sidewalks!) to the lampposts to the facade of the shops looked nicer. For dinner my friend brought me to a restaurant called House, which is literally what it is, you go into a house and they serve you Korean home cooking, which I thought was really cool and delicious. 

House

Between us we shared a leek and cuttlefish pancake, a Pollack (some type of fish apparently) and kimchi mandoo (Korean style dumplings), and a cold, spring type of noodle in a creamy bean soup, and of course lots of yummy banchans (side dishes!) After that we went to a cafe nearby and I got myself a Purple Sweet Potato latte! And that was especially interesting to me because I've had taro flavored drinks before, but never sweet potato and it tasted just like it! Definitely one of my highlights.

Our meal at House.

By now it was almost 10:30pm, and I was pretty darn tired from all the walking plus I was having major food coma, but I had told my friend I wanted to experience a jjimjilbang (or gingerbank as I call it), which is a type of Korean spa/sauna type of place that people can go to for relaxation and sleep overnight. By the time we both got there though, we were both so tired we only wanted to shower and sleep. We sat in one of the hot water pools for less than 5 minutes and went to sleep. The sleep however was terrible, because they didn't give us anything except a thin straw mat on the floor and a tiny pillow. So for 5 hours my friend and I just tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. I was SO tired though I actually managed to sleep 5 hours, but my poor friend on the other hand said she felt like she was being tortured the whole time. So at 5 am when I woke up from tossing and turning some more, my friend grabbed me and we fled the scene. We caught a cab and laughed all the way home at the misery we just put ourselves through. Maybe next time if we go on a less tired note, we would've had a better time. 

So that concludes day 5. Day 6 I toured the city some more with both friends. We went back to Insadong for lunch and went to visit one of the palaces nearby called Gyeongbokgung Palace. These palaces were HUGE, we weren't even able to get to all the buildings.

Image courtesy of hellotravel.com

After that we went and got some patbingso (Korean shaved-ice) to cool us down and omg this stuff is amaaaaaaazing. The ice was sooo fine and powdery, it tasted like fairy dust and made me feel 5. And I was told there are some even better ones out there. :O

And thats how we ended our sightseeing day. Afterwards we just went and did some cosmetic product shopping at Myeongdong, which this place was filled with. But man those sales people were pushy! One of them literally pushed us into the store. Interesting thing I noticed too, a lot of the sales people were able to speak Chinese, I guess that tells you how many Chinese tourists like to come to South Korea to shop!

Okay, that was a long post. Hope you guys enjoyed!

Day 03

Churros
Hongkik University
Grocery shopping
Cats
Airplane cold 

Hwa-jang-sil

Happy belated cinco de mayo everyone!

There is actually an odd fascination going on here in South Korea with churros. They have them in chip form, in their convenience stores, and they're sold on roadside food stalls. I wonder how that got started.

Anyhow my third day here was a relaxing one but I had to take it slow because I am feeling a bit under the weather. I think it's from the low humidity on the airplanes and the time difference. I woke up at 5am once again and cannot sleep.

During the day I walked around the neighborhood that I'm staying in and just pretended to be a local. I even went to the market to get food. The area that I'm staying in by the way is the Hongkik University area, and because it's one of South Korea's top art schools, this area is jam PACKED with artsy coffee shops, cafes, bars, restaurants and shops. It is the hip place to be. It is also where a few of those cat cafes and dog cafes are if you've heard of them.

So it makes sense when I was walking around I noticed a lot of young Korean college students, as well as foreign exchange students and tourists. Korean students here by the way are really well dressed and I know why! There are shops and stands EVERYWHERE here selling tons of cute clothes for very reasonable prices. I was really tempted but had to stop myself. Maybe on my last day here I'll pick up a few items.

See, no sidewalks,

While that was fun it was also a bit overwhelming for me. I walked around for about 1.5 hours and I was exhausted. After that I went back to my friend's place and made myself a little salad with the food I bought earlier on and took a nap.

If you're curious, the price of food here is pretty comparable to the U.S, but it does vary a lot too. For example, strawberries and lettuce were the same as U.S prices, but bananas for some reason were quite expensive. I think I bought 1.5 lbs for like $5 dollars? But things like water and eating out seems a little bit cheaper on average. 

                                       

Useful Korean phrase #2 is hwa-jang-sil, which means bathroom! I had to learn that after eating at a restaurant and couldn't find the bathroom in there. I am also passing off as a Korean person exceptionally well, almost too well, because when I buy things everyone greets me in Korean and then because I don't want to be rude I smile and nod. But they're probably thinking I am rude because I don't say anything back. Dilemma.

                                  

                                                             One of my housemates.

I have more pictures but this blogger app doesn't seem to want to cooperate. Will post next time then! 

Day 02 - Seoul, South Korea

Jet-lagged
Lunch by the Han River
Etiquette boxes
Cham-si-man-yo
Sea fish/sea urchin(?) bimpbimbob

So I finally got to ask my friend, D, here what that box I saw in the woman's bathroom stall was in the airport. It was a small white box labeled "Etiquette" with a button on it. I really wanted to press it but I was afraid someone would come running in with toilet paper. You know how sometimes in changing rooms when you go shopping they have buttons for you to press if you need assistance? Well turns out my imagination was running wild, and it's just a box that plays sounds so you can do your business discreetly. Funny how that works and how revealing it is about the Korean culture. I must press it on my way out.

After my arrival, D took me around her neighborhood in Incheon and to a park by the Han River for lunch. The first thing I noticed was how a lot of the smaller streets didn't have sidewalks or only on one side. Hmm I'll have to pay special attention when walking.

On that note too because there were a lot of people out, and walking into me I had to learn my first useful Korean phrase besides hello and thank you, and that is "chamsimanyo" which is excuse me. I'll be saying a lot of that.

Lastly we ended our night at my first Korean buffet and it was delicious. My favorite counter was the one where you can make your own bimpbimbop, which I've had before but never with sea urchin. Or at least that's what I think that yellow yolky stuff was. And also instead of an ice cream machine they have a patbingso (shaved ice) machine! So much funner and healthier than ice cream I think.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but I was too tired to take any and just wanted to enjoy the moment. Next time!