It's a cold Tuesday morning and temperature is around 0℃. Nothing beats a hot bowl of pork bone soup (gamja-tang) on a cold winter day. We tried to look for this Wongdang Gamja-tang restaurant at Myeongdong but the photo from Google doesn't match with the restaurant sign board design (the sign board is all written in Korean language). Besides that, we couldn't find this restaurant in Kakaomap. After using google translate on the restaurant sign board, I found out that the restaurant name is Boseung Hoegwan. Since there's no other restaurant nearby, we decided to give it a try. This restaurant is just 5 minutes walking distance (360m) from Nine Tree Hotel Myeongdong.
Each table has a digital menu. We order One Man special (bones) comes with a bowl of pork bone soup, rice, a plate of Korean sausages, boiled pork neck slices and boiled pig stomach. Both of us love the pork bone soup. The dish is slightly spicy, has a unique and distinctive flavour. However, I don't really enjoy the pork neck as it has a strong meaty flavour. It tastes better with the dipping sauce as the sauce will help to reduce the strong meaty flavour. For the first time I tried the pig's large intestine stuffed with vermicelli noodles, pork blood and glutinous rice. Some people love it, while others like me find it a bit disgusting. The pig intestines are chewy while the glass noodles are soft. Among the 3 types of Korean sausage I prefer the purple sausage which I believe is the blood sausage.
Total bill - ₩ 15,000
Boseung Hoegwan
Digital menu
Side dishes
Side dishes
Side dishes
Korean sausage, boiled pork neck slices and boiled pig stomach
One man special (bones) - ₩ 15,000
Boseung Hoegwan
13 Myeongdong 9-gil,
Myeongdong 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu,
Seoul, South Korea
After brunch we walked to Deoksugung Palace, 20 minutes walking distance (1.2km) from Boseung Hoegwan. On the way to the palace we passed by Myeongdong Underground Shopping Center. Deoksugung is the smallest palace of the five palaces and it's famous for its stone-wall road. We managed to see the changing of the royal guard ceremony at 2pm. The ceremony takes place three times a day in front of Daehanmun, the main gate of Deoksugung Palace at 11am, 2pm and 3.30pm (except on Mondays).
Opening hours:
Deoksugung Palace - 9am to 9pm (last admission 8pm)
Jungmyeongjeon Hall - 9.30am to 5.30pm (last admission 5pm)
Gojonguigil Pathway
a) November to February - 9.30am to 5.30pm (last admission 5pm)
a) March to October - 9.30am to 6pm (last admission 5.30pm)
Closed on Mondays
Admission fee:
a) Adult (age 19 to 64) - ₩ 1,000 (Group of ten or more - ₩ 800)
b) Student (aged 7 to 18) - ₩ 500 (Group of ten or more - ₩ 800)
c) Senior (over 65) and children (under 6) - free
Myeongdong Underground Shopping Center
Myeongdong Underground Shopping Center
Myeongdong Underground Shopping Center
City slogan - I.Seoul.U
Daehanmun Gate
Ticket counter
Admission ticket for adult - ₩ 1,000 per person
Overview of Deoksugung Palace
Gwangmyeongmun Gate
Hamnyeongjeon Hall
Hamnyeongjeon Hall (king's bedroom of a palace and also the place where Emperor Gojong died)
Deoksugung Palace
Deoksugung Palace Pond
Jeonggwanheon Hall
Jeonggwanheon Hall
Deokhongjeon Hall
Junghwajeon Hall
Deoksugung Palace
Junghwamun Gate
Junghwajeon Hall
Junghwajeon Hall
Deoksugung Palace
Seokjojeon Hall
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Deoksugung
Junghwamun Gate
Deoksugung Palace
Deoksugung Palace
Changing of the Palace Guard Ceremony
Changing of the Palace Guard Ceremony
Address:
Deoksugung Palace
99, Sejongdae-ro,
Jung-gu, Seoul
We spotted a long queue at this Deoksugung Liege Waffle located right in front of Deoksugung Palace. I decided to give it a try and bought a dark chocolate almonds waffle. It's chewy and thicker than a regular waffles. The waffle is coated with dark chocolate and topped with almond crunch.
Deoksugung Liege Waffle
Dark chocolate almonds - ₩ 7,200
Address:
Deoksugung Liege Waffle
5, Deoksugung-gil, Taepyeongno 2(i)-ga,
Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
We walked along the Deoksugung Doldam-gil also known as the stone-wall road. It's a perfect place to stroll and there's colouful knitted clothes on the trees. By far, this is my favourite place in Seoul.
Deoksugung Doldam-gil
Deoksugung Doldam-gil
Deoksugung Doldam-gil
Deoksugung Doldam-gil
Trees along Deoksugung Doldam-gil wearing knitted clothes
Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) is just 5 minutes walking distance (340m) from Deoksugung Doldam-gil. SeMA is a three story building with six exhibition hall. It's a modern art museum and admission is free. It's a quick visit for us before we head to our next stop, Seoul Museum of History.
Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA)
Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA)
Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA)
Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA)
Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA)
Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA)
Address:
Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA)
61 Deoksugung-gil,
Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
We walked all the way from SeMA to Seoul Museum of History. It took 16 minutes to walk at a moderate pace. We walked past Jeongdong Jeil Church and Gyeonghuigung Park. We took less than 30 minutes to explore the museum and admission is free.
Jeongdong Jeil Church
Trees wearing knitted clothes
Gyeonghuigung Park
Stone figures of the Joseon royal family (Unhyeon Palace)
Seoul Museum of History
Seoul Museum of History
Seoul Museum of History
Seoul Museum of History
Seoul Museum of History
Seoul Museum of History
Boat with yellow linen sails
Address:
Seoul Museum of History
55 Saemunan-ro,
Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
We walked to the nearest bus station and took bus no. 702A to Namdaemun market. (Bus fare - ₩ 1,200 per person). It's a large traditional market in Seoul selling almost everything including clothing, souvenirs and food. Both of us bought a pair of skiing gloves (₩ 14,000 per pair). We tried to negotiate for lower price and the best price she can offer us was ₩ 27,000 for two pairs of gloves. We are quite happy with our purchase because our existing gloves are not waterproof.
I was looking for the knife cut noodles shop and while peeking through a small window of a stall, suddenly an ajumma dragged me into their small stall and asked me to sit down. It's only then I realized that shop is actually selling knife cut noodles. She couldn't speak English and basically I just point to her the photo of a knife cut noodles displayed at their stall. She nodded and started serving us the side dishes. Our knife cut noodles comes together with a small serving of cold noodles as well. I love both the knife cut noodles and cold noodles. The broth is very flavourful and comforting. However, my partner wasn't really happy with the food because there's no meat. The knife cut noodles comes with toasted seaweed, spinach, spring onion and fish maw.
Namdaemun-ro Underground Shopping Center
Namdaemun-ro Underground Shopping Center
Namdaemun Food Street
Namdaemun Market
Namdaemun Market
Namdaemun Market (We bought our skiing gloves from this stall)
Gloves bought from Namdaemun Market - ₩ 14,000
Gloves bought from Namdaemun Market
Gloves bought from Namdaemun Market - ₩ 14,000
Gloves bought from Namdaemun Market
Namdaemun Food Street
Side dishes
Side dishes - cold noodles
Knife-cut Noodle Soup - ₩ 8,000
Address:
Namdaemun Market
21, Namdaemunsijang 4-gil,
Jung-gu, Seoul
Namsan Seoul Tower is located on Namsan Mountain. Instead of climbing all the way up to the base of the tower we decided to take a bus. So we took bus no. 104 from Namdaemun Market (Bus fare - ₩ 1,200 per person), stopped at 1 station and then switch to bus no. 1 to Namsan Seoul Tower. It's a beautiful tower and the fences are all covered with padlocks as a symbol of their love. You can either bring your own padlocks or you can purchase it at the vending machine. It's Valentine's day and we saw a lot of lovey dovey couple there. Namsan Seoul Tower a popular dating place for couples.
View from Namsan Mountain
View from Namsan Mountain
Love locks
Namsan OLED Tunnel
Namsan OLED Tunnel
Namsan Seoul Tower
Love locks vending machine - ₩ 14,500 for each love locks
Namsan Octagonal Pavilion
Namsan Seoul Tower
Night view from Namsan Mountain
Love locks
Address:
Namsan Seoul Tower
105, Namsangongwon-gil,
Yongsan-gu, Seoul
We took bus no.1 (Bus fare - ₩ 1,100 per person) from Namsan Seoul Tower back to City Hall Station. Wearing a face mask is mandatory on public transportation. We saw a few foreigners who didn't put on their face mask. The bus driver actually got up from his seat, walked towards the back of the bus and requested the foreigners to put on their face mask. This marks how strict Korea on face mask implementation.
Fried chicken is a popular food in Korea and your visit to Korea is never complete without trying their fried chicken. We had BHC at Myeongdong and the restaurant was full of people even though it's after dinner time. We ordered half fried chicken and half sauce chicken. Fried chicken is tender, juicy and crunchy. Whereas for the sauce chicken is sticky, crunchy, sweet and tasty. Both of us actually finish the whole plate of chicken! It's addictive and I just love the sauce chicken. They serve cold picked radish and it pairs great with the Korean fried chicken. The radish are crunchy with a perfect balance of sweet, sour and salty.
Total bill - ₩ 20,000
BHC
Restaurant ambience
Pickled radish
Cold water
Original and sauce half-half chicken - ₩ 20,000
Address:
BHC
21, Myeongdong 7-gil,
Jung-gu, Seoul
After our late dinner we walked to Myeongdong Station Exit 1 to check out the pick up point for tomorrow's journey to Alpensia Ski Resort. If you have a sweet tooth, no meal is complete without dessert. So I dropped by E-Mart24 to grab an ice cream. Instead of strawberry I went with peach ice cream. It has a mild peach flavour but overall I still prefer yesterday's strawberry ice cream from GS25 convenience store.
Note: ₩ 1,000 = RM 3.40
E-Mart24
Flat peach ice cream - ₩ 1,800
Address:
E-Mart24
Namsan-dong 3(sam)-ga,
Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
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