Korea - Day 8 (Gwangjang Market - Cheonggyecheon Stream - Dongdaemun Market - Seoul City Wall Trail - Ihwa Mural Village - Naksan Park - Insadong - Unhyeongung Palace - Jogyesa Temple - Myeongdong)

It's a gloomy Saturday morning and temperature is around 6℃. Our plan for today is to visit Gwangjang Market, Dongdaemun Market, Seoul City Wall Trail, Insadong, Unhyeongung Palace and Jogyesa Temple. Our first stop of the day is Gwangjang Market. It's a traditional street market in Jongno-gu, Seoul. We took bus no. 262 from Myeongdong to Gwangjang Market (Bus fare - ₩ 1,200 per person). The market is packed with tourists and majority of the stalls are selling the same fried mung bean pancake.

We ended up at this Mother and Daughter Gimbap stall. I order fried mung bean pancake and Banquet noodles. Pancake is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It's a classic Korean savory pancake. However, the portion is a bit too big for us and we don't find it superb. Hence, we couldn't finish the whole pancake. Banquet noodles on the other hand is nice. It's a simple warm noodle dish made with wheat flour noodles in a light broth topped with seaweeds, fish cakes and spring onions. I like the soft texture of the noodles.

Total bill - ₩ 10,000

Public bus no. 262

Gwangjang Market

Gwangjang Market

Gwangjang Market

Mother and daughter gimbap

Fried mung bean pancake

Restaurant ambience

Side dishes

Side dishes

Mung bean pancake - ₩ 5,000

Banquet noodles - ₩ 5,000

Gwangjang Market

Address:

Gwangjang Market

88 Changgyeonggung-ro,

Jongno 1(il).2(i).3(sam).4(sa),

Jongno-gu, Seoul

After our brunch, we walked to Dongdaemun Market. Along the way, we passed by Cheonggyecheon Stream. There's a proper walkway for you to stroll along the stream. It's indeed a very relaxing winter walk. When we reach Dongdaemun Market, the area looks a bit dead as majority of the shops are closed. Only few shops selling cloths, hats and garments.

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Dongdaemun Fashion Wholesale Market

Dongdaemun Shopping Complex

Dongdaemun Market

Dongdaemun Market

Dongdaemun Market

Dongdaemun Market

Dongdaemun

Address:

Dongdaemun Market

253, Jangchungdan-ro,

Jung-gu, Seoul

Seoul City Wall Museum is just 7 minutes walking distance (450m) from Dongdaemun Shopping Complex. It's a small museum and admission is free. Staff is very helpful and gave us a short briefing before we enter the exhibition hall. There's 3 levels:

a) Level 1 - Permanent exhibition hall 1

b) Level 2 - Special exhibition hall, Seoul city wall archives and learning room

c) Level 3 - Permanent exhibition hall 2 and 3

Heunginjimun

Dongdaemun City Wall Park

Seoul City Wall Trail

Seoul City Wall Trail

Seoul City Wall

Seoul City Wall Trail

Seoul City Wall Museum

Seoul City Wall Museum

Seoul City Wall

Seoul City Wall Museum

Seoul City Wall Trail

Houses along Seoul City Wall Trail

View from Seoul City Wall Trail

View from Seoul City Wall Trail

Vintage shop along Seoul City Wall Trail

Address:

Seoul City Wall Trail

283 Yulgok-ro,

Jongno-gu, Seoul

There's 6 Seoul City Wall Trails - Baegak section, Naksan section, Heunginjimun section, Namsan, Sungnyemun section and Inwangsan section. We took the Naksan section trail and the main attraction that we see is the Seoul City Wall Museum and Ihwa Mural Village. However, we only get to see a few murals.

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Ihwa Mural Village

Address:

Ihwa Mural Village

49 Naksan 4-gil,

Jongno-gu, Seoul,

South Korea

We only explore part of Naksan Park as it's a huge park and we're too tired to walk anymore. The park is very quiet and we only saw one couple having their lunch break at the park.

Naksan Park

Address:

Naksan Park

41 Naksan-gil, Jongno-gu,

Seoul, South Korea

While heading down from Naksan Park, we stumbled upon this churros shop named Park Churros. Initially I was a bit hesitant to enter the shop because so far I haven't found any churros that taste better than Chocolateria San Churro. Anyway, I decided to give it a try and I'm glad that I did. I just love the combination of churros with ice cream. There's 4 types of churros - cinnamon, bean, sugar powder and choco powder. I order the choco powder churros set comes with a heart chu and ice cream. Our churros are coated with chocolate powder. It's light, tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. I love the ice cream too. It's creamy and rich. We order a glass of apple mango juice and it looks more like ice blended. Overall we love this shop.

Total bill - ₩ 12,000

The Park Churros

Restaurant ambience

Restaurant ambience

Churros set menu: ice cream and churros (choco powder) - ₩ 6,500

Apple mango juice - ₩ 5,500

Address:

Park Churros

129-323 Dongsung-dong,

Jongno-gu, Seoul,

South Korea

We took bus no. 109 to Insadong Street (Bus fare - ₩ 1,200 per person) and walked to Imun Seolnongtang. This shop is famous for their ox bone soup but too bad it's close from 3pm to 4.30pm. So we choose the second option which is Gaeseong Mandu Koong. This restaurant is famous for their dumplings. There's pork and kimchi dumplings.

However, each person must order a main dish. Their dumpling soup comes with six big dumplings. We have no other choice but to order a bowl of pork dumplings and flat rice cake soup. Mixed dumpling soup is not available on that day hence we didn't get to try the kimchi dumplings. Twelve dumplings are just too much for the both of us. In fact we're struggling to finish six dumplings and flat rice cake soup. Pork dumpling is filled with minced pork and vegetables. The good thing is that there's no fats or tendons inside the minced pork.

This is the first time I had flat rice cake soup or also known as Tteokguk in Korean. It's a traditional must eat New Year dish. Rice cake is chewy and broth is mild in taste. Overall my partner still prefer the dumplings from Myeongdong Kyoja. Besides that, their kimchi is a bit too sour for my liking.

Total bill - ₩ 26,000

Arko Art Center

Bus stop

Imun Seolnongtang

Insadong

Gaeseong Mandu Koong

Ahjummas wrapping dumplings

Restaurant ambience

Utensils

Side dishes

Side dishes

Side dishes

Gaeseong pork dumpling (6pcs) soup - ₩ 13,000

Flat rice cake soup - ₩ 13,000

Address:

Gaeseong Mandu Koong

11-3 Insadong 10-gil,

Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul,

South Korea

We're so full and it's time to burn some fats. Insadong Street is a very lively street and it's just 2 minutes walking distance (200m) from Gaeseong Mandu Koong. There's shops selling crafts, arts, souvenirs and many more. Ssamzigil is a four storey open space complex specializing in crafts. Basically it's a hangout place for youngsters and couples.

Insadong

Ssamzigil

Ssamzigil

Address:

Ssamzigil

44, Insadong-gil,

Jongno-gu, Seoul,

South Korea

We're just in time to visit Unhyeongung Palace, the smallest palace in Seoul. Last admission is 30 minutes before closing and it's free. We reached there 5 minutes before 5.30pm and we took less than 20 minutes to explore the small palace. 

Unhyeongung Palace

Unhyeongung Palace

Unhyeongung Palace

Unhyeongung Palace

Unhyeongung Palace

Unhyeongung Palace

Unhyeongung Palace

Unhyeongung Palace

Address:

Unhyeongung Palace

464 Samil-daero,

Jongno-gu, Seoul,

South Korea

Jogyesa Temple is just 12 minutes walking distance (800m) from Unhyeongung Palace. It's a Buddhist temple and when we reach there around 6pm, we saw a few monks holding rituals and started hitting the big gong and bell.

Culture center

Jogyesa Temple

Jogyesa Temple

Jogyesa Temple

Jogyesa Temple

Tianjin Buddha

Address:

55 Ujeongguk-ro,

Jongno-gu, Seoul,

South Korea

We took bus no. 162 back to Aloft Seoul Myeongdong (Bus fare - ₩ 1,200 per person). We're still too full from our earlier meal at Gaeseong Mandu Koong and decided to have late dinner around 8.30pm. Jjimdak is a popular Korean braised chicken originated from the city of Andong. You can choose your spicy level from mild to very spicy. We walked to Andong Jjimdak approximately 8 minutes walking distance (550m) from Aloft Seoul Myeongdong. 

There's 3 types of jjmdak:

a) boneless jjimdak (boneless deep stir chicken cooked with special medium sweet soy sauce)

b) haemul jjimdak (deep stir chicken with seafood and special medium sweet soy sauce)

c) jjimdak (deep stir chicken with fresh herbal vegetables) 

We order half mild spicy jjimdak (for 1 ~ 2 person) and a bowl of rice. Jjimdak comes with half chicken, mushrooms, potatoes, carrots and starch noodles. Potatoes are very soft and flavourful. The noodles have a chewy texture and it's slightly slippery. Chicken is tender and juicy. Overall it's good. However, I don't really enjoy their side dishes as the kimchi is spicy and pickled white radish taste a bit strange to me.

Bus 162 back to Myeongdong

Andong Jjimdak

Restaurant ambience

Side dishes

Side dishes

Cold water

Jjimdak half (for 1 ~ 2 person) - ₩ 22,000

Rice - ₩ 1,000

After our late night dinner, I had my dessert at McD. I bought a cup of Strawberry Oreo Mc Flurry. While my partner finally bought the BBQ lamb stick from a food stall at Myeongdong that he's been eyeing for days. It has a strong gamey taste but lamb is tender and juicy. My partner loves it.

Note: ₩ 1,000 =  RM 3.40

Strawberry Oreo McFlurry - ₩ 3,000

BBQ lamb stick stall

BBQ lamb stick coated with chili powder - ₩ 8,000

BBQ lamb stick