Seoul
Highlight
- Stocked up on some last minute food and Slokky insisted on having his last bibimbap before boarding the plane.
- Good seats, no drama
- Allie slept well, and plane was on time
- Watched Easy A, Going the Distance, Eat Prey Love
Food
- cake and rice bread
- bibimbap
- kimbap and sushi
- Lufthansa dinner:
- bibimbap
- meat salad
- pork and rice
- fruit
- instant noodles
- Lufthansa dinner:
- rice and noodles
- rice drink
- kim chee
- black forest cake
- cream cheese bun
Seoul
Highlight
- Woke up very late …. First stop, Seokchon-dong Early Baekje Stone Tombs. Interesting to see the structure of it.
- Definitely lunch time when we made it to Noryangin Fisheries Wholesale Market.
- Very similar to the Tokyo one. Upstairs hawkers tout at restaurants. We did a quick loop, where Allie got lots of attention.
- Decided to eat at downstairs restaurant where no one was touting, it had loads of people and was very hectic. We had so much food and it was only 38.000 won
- Off to the financial district, Yeouido, but it was Saturday and dead.
- Visited an old style department store that was even more dead.
- Quickly left to go to Insa-dong, where it was very happening. Rice cake shops, cosmetics, loads of street food, souvenir shops and tea houses
- Took ages to find the ginseng place, luckily Allie was sleeping and it was very delicious and so worth it when we finally found it after half hour of searching.
Food
- gluttonous rice bread: pumpkin, black sesame, normal, walnut
- Fish market:
- sashimi, skate
- skate bone stew
- rice, kimchi
- Korean quince tea
- Mugwart tea
- hotteok
- Tosokchon:
- chicken ginseng soup (samgyetang)
- fried chicken (tongdak)
Seoul
Highlight
- Allie’s first birthday! We took it very easy today.
- Started off at Lotte Mart to do our usual stock up. We couldn’t buy too much though due to the liquid restrictions.
- Shopped Lotte Department as well. Allie was very popular as always
- Spent the rest of the day at the splendid and well designed National Museum of Korea
- Joined the highlight tour and saw all the masterpieces including impressive Buddha and caledon vase
- Managed to see most of Archaeological Gallery and quickly skimmed the Fine Arts Gallery I & II
- Didn’t visit too much in terms of food, just ate at the museum food court.
- Off to the Hyundai Department Store to get Allie’s cake (which comes with candles, knife and matches) and more cheap food sell off
- Very busy – Friday night? It was very cold so we decided not to brave the outside world and ate at the department store’s 10F restaurant instead.
- Celebrated Allie’s b’day with cake in the hotel room
Food
- rice filled with beef, spam, tuna and seaweed
- seafood kimchi soup with pickles, spinach and potatoes
- bean paste soup
- coffee bread
- cream cheese bread
- coffee filled with red bean bread
- Korean beef BBQ with kimchi
- sweet potato mousse cake
Seoul
Highlight
- Changdeokgun Palace – very cold, but pretty place. Nice guide on the tour. Highlight was the special blue tiles on one of the building.
- Lunch – followed the Hyundai workers down some alley to have seafood hot pot. We only got octopus though because we didn’t know how to order.
- Jongmyo Shrine – very different to the palaces, thank goodness. Impressive resting places, but small.
- Took ages to find the Namsangol Hanok Village but it was a bit touristy and fake. You get the idea though.
- Headed back early to try to find the royal cuisine restaurant. It was pretty empty. They had good English. The food was beautifully presented, but not that tasty.
Food
- sweet bread filled with red bean, coconut custard, sesame, sweet potato
- octopus stew
- rice, kim chee, bean sprout, vegetable
- spring onion pancake (pajeon)
- hotteok
- fish shaped pastry with red bean and peanuts (bungeobbang)
- San Table d'Hote:
- Seasonal Porridge and water Kimchi
- Mung Bean Noodles with Cucumber, Beef, Mushroom and Sprinkled Seaweed served with Mixed Salad of Bean sprouts, spinach and slices of Persimmons
- Platter of Nine delicacies
- Seasonal stuffed Dish
- Royal Hot Pot
- Seasonal assorted Pan-Fried Dish
- steamed Pork Fillet with marinated Cabbage and Radish
- Julienne Radishes, Shrimps, Top Shells with Yongsusan Special Sauce
- Deep Fried Prawn and Korean Ginseng
- Grilled Skewered Seafood or meat Dish
- Braised Short Ribs with Assorted Vegetables
- Steamed Rice
- Soup
- Hot Noodles
- Cookies
- Rice Nakes
- Traditional Soft Drink
Seoul
Highlight
- Saw the long and elaborate changing of the guards at Deoksugung Palace. Got loads of photos and even got to wear Korean national costumes.
- Toured around the Palace, sorta interesting.
- Lunch at another sit on the floor restaurant, with steamed pork and lettuce leaves wrap
- Stopped off for weird but nice tasting, although expensive coffee to get away from the cold and to feed Allie
- Walked along Gwanghuamun Plaza to the palace compound, stopped at the museum about Korean alphabet on the way.
- Joined a guided tour, hard to understand the English explanation, but relatively informative. Grounds and setting very nice, but buildings pretty much the same.
- Brief stop at the National Folk Museum before it closed.
- Interesting market around Namdemun, everyone selling tourist fares and speaking to us in Mandarin.
- Lots of cool street food, but it was very cold
- Stopped off at Shinsegae department store with their very cool baby room, including individual cots, cream, nappy area and high chairs
- Picked up cheap department store basement food sell off.
- Walked around the busy and young Myeong-dong for more cool street food and loads of people and cosmetics shop
- Allie got lots of attention again.
Food
- Paris Baguette hot chicken croquette
- steamed pork wrap (bossam)
- hot bean paste soup
- rice and kim chee
- spinach
- Holly’s Coffee sweet potato macchiato
- chicken skewers (dakkochi)
- hot dumpling
- spam fish paste
- crab stick fish paste
- glass noodles
- fried dumpling
- Korean hot dog
Seoul
Highlight
- Got woken up even though I was dead tried from 8 hours of interrupted sleep over 2 days.
- Caught the subway – very large and efficient
- Walked the Cheonggyecheon Stream, some interesting features – wall murals, old photos.
- Cheonygue Plaza had all the Christmas lights and tree and a giant shell
- Wondered around Jongmyo Shrine area in Jongo 3 for food stores. We were disappointed that no stores seemed to be opened yet.
- Wondered down a small alleyway and went to a hand-cut noodle place where they only served one dish and we sat on the floor. Food was really really good.
- Tapgol Park had a shrine enclosed in glass – so we couldn’t actually see it because of the reflection.
- Continued walking the stream to the Wall of Hope. Lots of tiles.
- Finally reached Dongdaemun – East Gate. Looked at the leftover wall and a bit of old houses left.
- Wondered around the area, clothing and textile central. Got very cold, and ate street food on the way
- Visited Daiso and stocked up some more.
- Back to Jongo 3 for the street vendor, finally opened!
- Went back to the stream for the interesting light show.
Food
- kim chee rice triangle
- dried fish triangle
- red bean pastry
- hand cut noodles with fish soup and hot sauce (kalguksu)
- kim chee
- flat black sesame and brown sugar cake (hotteok)
- rice cake with hot sauce (tteokbokki)
- kim chee pancake
- sausage stew (sundae)
London -> Seoul
Highlight
- Flight was fine and on time.
- Allie got a big bassinet and was happy playing. The air hostesses loved her and I watched Despicable Me and Life as We Know It
- Seoul reminded me a lot of Japan.
- We didn’t venture too far once we got there, but wondered around near the hotel – Lotte department store, Lotte World (we didn’t go in because it costs money), the shopping centre
- Had fun taste testing and eating at the department stores
- Lots and lots of people commented on Allie
- Ate at a small bibimbap specialist store. We didn’t know what to do though, so we observed other people eating. You are supposed to pour water onto your stone pot and scrap at the rice. Still, it was yummy.
- Early night back to the hotel.
- Allie had a bad night and stayed awake for 2 hours.
Food
- Lufthansa dinner:
- green leaf salad
- pretzel
- chicken in hot sauce with carrot
- beef, peas and carrots
- kim chee
- fruit salad
- Lufthansa breakfast:
- sausage with sauce
- rice drink
- breakfast egg and spinach
- strawberry yoghurt
- fish paste skewers with soup (odeng)
- bibimbap stone pot (dolsot bibimbap)
- stone pot soup bibimbap
- kimchee
- pineapple cream bun
