Hanging out in Hongdae

Nov 23, 2015

Day 2

Hongdae easily became one of my favorite spots in Seoul. It's a nice place to walk around and shop and eat. There were a lot of cute restos and cafes I wanted to visit, and shops that sell cute clothes and shoes and accessories and makeup! Lots and lots of makeup. Like..you wouldn't believe how many makeup brands and cosmetic products they have. But hey, that's Korea for you. Some people come to Korea specifically for these products.

Anyway, before entering the Trick Eye Museum, we wandered around and saw some interesting graffiti.

We grabbed a late lunch/early dinner at Noona Holdak. We ordered chicken and spicy squid heads and paired it with soda. The food was soooooo good we can't help but order beer as well. And then I understood the chicken and beer combination that the Koreans love so much. I loved it, too!

It was getting late, but this place was just starting to get busy. We saw a couple of street performers in almost every corner and people were really watching/listening to them. It made me want to sit down on the curb and just watch and listen and enjoy and just chill, basically. It's the kind of place I'd love to go to after a long day at work and just relax. That was the kind of vibe I got when I was there and if that's your thing, I'm sure you'd love it too.

We walked around some more. We saw what we think was some sort of a red light district. Sort of because when you think of a red light district, you imagine the streets to be bustling with life and party and what-nots with a lot of people trying to get you to enter their establishments. It wasn't like that at all, but we still got a feeling it was a red light disctrict. Maybe we were wrong, or maybe not, but that's what we thought it was, is what I'm saying. Anyway, there were also a couple of alleys with lots of small restaurants that were literally packed with customers who all seemed to be having the time of their lives. These restos seemed..alive. With life. If you know what I mean. Anyway, it just looked so lively and fun from someone (me) in the midst of the busy alley trying to get past the throng of people standing/lining outside these restaurants. Now if you try and read that all again, it seems like the red light district I was talking about, but it wasn't. This I'm sure of. Hahaha!

Trick Eye Museum, Seoul

Nov 23, 2015
Day 2

First whole day in Seoul was spent in Hongdae. This was easily one of my favorite parts of the city where we can go and wander around. Lots of stores and restaurants here. To start our day, we stopped by Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to get our coffee and matcha fix. 

Not far from here was the trick eye museum. This wasn't in our original itinerary, but I won 2 tickets for it from Air Asia's facebook contest. Awesome, right? The tickets covered admission fees for all 3 museums - trick eye, love and ice museums - worth 23,000 KRW per person, so it was a good deal. Thank you, Air Asia! ;-)

We definitely enjoyed our time here. It was a shame we had to take turns to take photos of each other and no one to take a photo of us together; but we were still able to have fun and act silly like a bunch of kids again.

When you enter the building, the love museum is on the same level as the street. We had our coupons exchanged to tickets, and we went one floor down (or was it two floors? I forgot.)  to go to the trick eye museum, ice museum and carnival street. There was a like an indoor square/plaza with fountain decors at the center. There were tables and chairs where people can rest and eat, as well as food stalls and a souvenir shop.

We first entered the carnival area. There were about 10 stalls with different games. We tried several games and won a  small cute charm. :)

Afterwards, we entered the trick eye museum. It was fun posing and pretending to be eaten by a shark, kidnapped by a dinosaur and grow an afro to name a few. I don't think we were able to see everything because my companion had to pee and the museum only allow guests to enter once. Still, it was nice. I won't suggest this to solo travelers, though. This won't be as fun without someone to get wacky with and take your photos, unless you have a tripod and a timer/remote shutter in your camera. Although I'm not sure if tripods were allowed inside the museum. Here are some snaps.

Namsangol Hanok Village

Nov 22, 2015
Day 1

After settling down and getting some rest in the guesthouse, we went out to walk around and look for a place to eat. As we decided on a restaurant that offers bulgogi, I saw this in my peripheral.

We realized that this is the Namsangol Hanok Village. Admission is free so we decided to eat later and explore this place first.

There were 5 restored traditional Korean houses inside. Inside these houses, there were traditional furniture on display as well. I find the intricate designs so pretty and the colors were lovely. We saw old pieces of things they use in the old days. Awesome. There was also a pond and a pavilion inside the village. I believe there were activities being offered for free at certain times of the day wherein you can participate, but it was all closed when we visited. The N Seoul Tower can be viewed from here as well.

First time in South Korea. Traveling from Incheon International Airport to Seoul by Airport Limousine Bus.

Nov 22, 2015
Day 1

Annyeonghaseyo, South Korea! Another item crossed out in my bucket list. Teehee! Anyway, we left Manila a few minutes earlier than scheduled and arrived in Seoul around 11:00AM South Korea time. Going through immigration and getting my luggage was a breeze; it only took about 30mins! Coolness.

8 days in Seoul, South Korea. Itinerary, Estimated Budget and Tips

I was so excited for my Korea trip! However, I am more of a Japan kinda girl so I really don't have a lot of ideas where to go in Seoul, aside from the places I see often from friends who recently traveled there. Also, I had to take into consideration the season when I'm going to visit, which was late autumn of 2015. Of course, the first thing to look for are places where I can see lots of autumn maple leaves! I also want to experience the culture and get to know some history of this country, and the most important part is to taste as much Korean food as I can, including street food.

So before anything else, here's the itinerary for my South Korea trip.

8 DAY ITINERARY

Day 1

Arrival at Incheon

Check-in at Mago guesthouse

Namsangol Hanok Village

Day 2

Trickeye museum

Hongdae

Day 3

Changdeokgung Palace

Huwon (Secret Garden,also in Changdeokgung Palace)

Seoul Museum of Art

Day 4

Insadong

Jogyesa Buddhist Temple

2Cats Cafe

Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Dongdaemun Night Market

Day 5

Nami Island

Day 6

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Coex Mall

Myeongdong

Hello Kitty Cafe (also in Myeongdong)

Day 7

Studio Ghibli Collection store and Kakao Friends Cafe in Lotte Mall

Watched Crimson's Peak movie at Daehan Cinema

Day 8

Namsan Seoul Tower

Flight back to Manila

As for Nami Island, I suggest you start your day early so you can also visit Petit France which is just a few minutes away by bus from the port going to Nami Island, and other places as well.

Now, here's the original itinerary, hehe.

original itinerary for Seoul South Korea trip

It was a bit hard to wake up and get ready for the day. It may have something to do with the cold weather and probably due to staying up late watching Korean shows and movies which we absolutely did not understand, but still continue to watch. Lol.

I particularly want to hike Ulsanbawi which is a part of the Seoraksan National Park in Sokcho, but it was getting really cold and turning to winter as the day go by. Also, the day we planned to visit, it was drizzling and really cloudy and foggy. I guess I'll have to do it another time and another season, maybe late spring. Oh well. I plan to go back! Haha!

Anyway, crossing out Ulsanbawi in the itinerary which was supposed to be a daytrip left us with 1 day free thus the mall and movie date on day 7. It was also the time when we stayed in the guesthouse till around lunchtime because we can't take our eyes off the tv coz we were watching a Korean movie -take note, without a subtitle - and we wanted to know how it ended. Hahaha! I later googled it when I got back in the Philippines and found out that the movie title was Miss Granny, which I later downloaded from Dramania and I watched it again, this time with subtitles. The movie was really funny and very enjoyable and I loved it even more when I finally understood what they were saying. Lol. I digress. ANYWAY, this was perfectly fine with me because I really wanted to find the studio ghibli shop, which was in Lotte mall. Yay! Found my happy place! So yep..the rest of the day, we just walked around the mall and later decided to watch a movie at the cinema building just near the guesthouse we were staying at. We watched Crimson Peak which I thought was Alice: Through the Looking Glass because it was the same actress and I haven't seen any of its official trailer/poster yet. Lol. But I digress, yet again.