Korea - Day 2 (Myeongdong - Seoul City Hall - Gwanghwamun Square - Gyeongbokgung Palace - National Folk Museum of Korea - Bukchon Hanok Village

Myeongdong Kyoja is just 2 minutes walking distance (130m) from Nine Tree Hotel Myeongdong. Since Google map doesn't work well for navigating Korean routes when you are walking, we downloaded Kakaomap to get around Seoul. It's a Sunday and there's already a queue in front of Myeongdong Kyoja right before lunch time. A long queue outside usually means good food inside and yes! We are willing to wait for good food. We queue under the cold temperature of 3℃ and we're lucky as we end up waiting just 10 minutes. The restaurant is small and cramp. Basically we have to queue by standing on the stairs with people going in and out of the restaurant.

There's only four items on the menu - chopped noodles, dumplings, spicy noodles and porridge. We ordered:

a) chopped noodles - a Korean traditional noodle dish with thick and plain chicken broth boiled down for hours
b) dumplings - steamed dumplings made from minced Korean pork and stuffed with Chinese leeks, fresh vegetables and homemade sesame oil
c) spicy noodles - noodles mixed with aromatic blend of their own freshly made sesame oil and spicy pepper paste, topped with refreshing slices of cucumber

Since my partner is a meat eater, he loves their dumpling. Whereas for me, I like the chopped noodles. Noodle's texture is soft and slippery smooth that blended very well with the tasty broth. Spicy noodles on the other hand is a type of cold noodle served in a cold bowl. The waitress will offer to cut your noodles once it's served. It's a unique dish and has a strong nutty aroma. One of the most appealing things about eating in Korea is the unlimited free refill on the side dishes - kimchi. It's slightly spicy and I love it.

Total bill - ₩ 31,000

Myeongdong Kyoja

Kimchi

Dumpling - ₩ 11,000

Spicy noodles - ₩ 10,000

Chopped noodles - ₩ 10,000

Address:

Myeongdong Kyoja

29, Myeongdong 10-gil,

Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Cold weather is another excellent reason to walk and we decided to walk to Seoul City Hall, 16 minutes walking distance (1km) from Myeongdong Kyoja. Seoul Plaza located in front of the City Hall has transformed into an outdoor skating rink, one of the popular attraction in the city during winter. We're lucky to see it because the skating rink is only available for 54 days from December to February and 12th February is the last day!

Euljiro

Seoul City Hall

Address:

Seoul City Hall

110, Sejong-daero,

Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Gwanghwamun Square is a public square with Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bugaksan Mountain in the background. It's approximately 14 minutes walking distance (870m) from Seoul City Hall. In its center stands the statues of Admiral Yi Sun Shin and King Sejong. It's a famous landmark in Seoul and beautiful part of Seoul.

Gwanghwamun Square

Admiral Yi Sun Shin

Sejong Center for the Performing Arts

Gwanghwamun Square

Statue of King Sejong

Address:

Gwanghwamun Square

172, Sejong-daero,

Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Gwanghwamun is the main and largest gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace. We managed to see the gate guard duty performance at 1pm and changing of the Palace guard ceremony at 2pm. It's a huge palace and you need at least half a day to explore the palace. Admission costs ₩ 3,000 for adults and if you show up in traditional costume, admission is free. National Folk Museum of Korea is located inside Gyeongbokgung Palace and admission is free.

Opening hours:
a) March to May, September to October - 9am to 6pm (last admission 5pm)
b) June to August - 9am to 6.30pm (last admission 5.30pm)
c) November to February - 9am to 5pm (last admission 4pm)
Closed on Tuesdays

Admission fee (Non-Korean visitors):
a) Adult - ₩ 3,000 (Group of ten or more - ₩ 2,400)
b) Senior (over 65) and children (under 6) - free
c) Juniors (aged 7 to 18) - ₩ 1,500

Changing of the Palace Guard Ceremony (square inside Gwanghwamun Gate): 10am and 2pm
Gate guard duty performance (outside of Gwanghwamun Gate): 11am and 1pm

Gwanghwamun gate

Entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace

Changing of the Palace guard ceremony

Admission ticket for adult - ₩ 3,000 per person

Geunjeongmun gate

Geunjeongjeon Hall

Throne hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace

Geunjeongjeon Hall (back view)

Sajeongjeon Hall (main council hall of Joseon's rulers)

Sajeongjeon Hall

Jaseondang Hall (residence of the crown prince and crown princess)

Spotted a girl posing behind the hall

Gangnyeongjeon Hall

Gangnyeongjeon Hall (king's living quarters and a private area in which the king slept and conducted his daily life)

Gyeonghoeru Pavilion

Park inside Gyeongbokgung Palace

Snow

Life jacket

Hyangwonjeong Pavilion

Tourists wearing hanbok

Jibokjae (Hall of collecting jade) and vicinity

Geoncheonggung

Gyeongbokgung Palace

National Folk Museum of Korea

National Folk Museum of Korea (winter outfits for men, women and children)

National Folk Museum of Korea

National Folk Museum of Korea (chuseok charye - memorial service for one's ancestors)

National Folk Museum of Korea

Ochon House

Traditional Culture Center

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Memorial building and gate for the filial piety

National Folk Museum of Korea

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Address:

Gyeongbokgung Palace

161, Sajik-ro,

Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

My friend recommended me to try Osulloc Tea House, one of the popular dessert shop in Seoul. Initially I was a bit reluctant because I'm not a big fan of green tea. In the end, I gave it a try and glad I did. We walked 20 minutes (1.3km) from Gyeongbokgung Palace. We had a hard time looking for the place because it's located on the upper building and it's entered through the stairs.

I ordered Green tea roll cake and Green tea O Fredo. Green tea roll cake has a fluffy and spongy texture that's not too sweet. Apart from that, I love the mascarpone cream that has a creamy and buttery flavour. Their iconic sweet green tea shake comes with green tea ice cream but it has a gritty texture. Overall, I can't really taste the bitterness of green tea and my partner loves this cafe.

Total bill - ₩ 13,500

Osulloc Tea House Bukchon

Green tea O Fredo - ₩ 7,500

Green tea roll cake - ₩ 6,000

Address:

Osulloc Tea House Bukchon

45, Bukchon-ro,

Gahoe-dong, Jongno-gu,

Seoul, South Korea

After our tea break we strolled around Bukchon Hanok Village, a Korean traditional village in Seoul. Tourists are advised to stay silent while walking through the village as it's an actual neighborhood with people's home.

Bukchon Hanok Village

Address:

Bukchon Hanok Village

37, Gyedong-gil,

Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

We took bus no. 272 from Bukchon Hanok Village to Tosokchon Samgyetang. (Bus fare - ₩ 1,200 per person). The best way of getting around in Seoul is by using their public transport. For us, bus is one of the best way to travel within the city as it's quicker and with Kakaomap it's so convenient. You can easily see when the bus is arriving from the App. Apart from that, almost every bus stop has a small screen that shows when the bus will arrive in real time. The most common bus you'll see in the city is blue bus. You can use your Korea Tour Card and you must tap your card when boarding and getting off the bus.

Tosokchon Samgyetang restaurant is quite empty when we reach there around 6.30pm. Their specialty menu is ginseng chicken soup known as samgyetang. There's 4 types of samgyetang - Tosokchon ginseng Korean black chicken soup with wild ginseng adventitious roots, Tosokchon ginseng Korean black chicken soup, Tosokchon ginseng chicken soup with wild ginseng adventitious roots and Tosokchon ginseng chicken soup.

We ordered the basic Tosokchon ginseng chicken soup. A small serving of ginseng liquor (insamju) will be given. You can drink the insamju before, during or after meal. The broth is creamy and rich but it has a very mild ginseng taste unless your pour the insamju into your ginseng chicken soup. Chicken is stuff with glutinous rice, nuts and ginseng. As for the side dishes, they served cabbage kimchi (Baechu-gimchi) and cube radish kimchi (Kkakdugi). The kimchi is good and not too spicy. Both imsanju and kimchi is available for sale. We ordered a bowl of rice as well because we didn't know the chicken is stuff with glutinous rice. Anyway, the rice is sticky and has a chewy texture.

Total bill - ₩ 20,000

Bus stop

Tosokchon Samgyetang

Cabbage kimchi (Baechu-gimchi) and cube radish kimchi (Kkakdugi)

White rice - ₩1,000

Tosokchon Ginseng Chicken Soup - ₩19,000

Address:

Tosokchon Samgyetang

5 Jahamun-ro 5-gil,

Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

After dinner we took bus no. 1711 from Tosokchon Samgyetang to Sulbing Cafe. (Bus fare - ₩ 1,200 per person). We stopped at City Hall Station and walked quite a distance before we reached Sulbing Cafe. We had fresh strawberry snowflakes topped with strawberries and a red bean mochi. The dessert comes with a small packet of condensed milk. Shaved ice is mildly flavoured and strawberries are coated with syrup. The strawberries are sweet on the outside but slightly sour on the inside.

Stonewall walkway in front of City Hall Station

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Art in Seoul

Sulbing Cafe, fresh strawberry snowflakes - ₩13,500

Restaurant ambience

Address:

Sulbing Cafe

27 Myeongdong 3-gil,

Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Sulbing Cafe is just 8 minutes walking distance (500m) from Nine Tree Hotel Myeongdong. While heading back to our hotel, we stopped by Myeongdong night market. I saw this butter garlic shrimp and decided to give it a try. Prawns are fresh but doesn't taste superb. In fact it's a bit pricey for me. Most stalls won't have any price tag.

There's many stalls selling fish cake with hot soup. I simply choose one stall and the fish cakes are actually on skewers in a hot broth. The stall owner gave us two skewers and pointed to me the self service area for broth. The broth is very flavourful but fish cake taste so-so to me.

We dropped by Korea Mart to grab some banana milk, chocolate cookies and hazelnut waffles. Korean banana milk is a popular Korean drink but somehow after drinking it I wonder why is it so famous?

Note: ₩ 1,000 = RM 3.40