Korea - Day 4 (Myeongdong Underground Shopping Center - Deoksugung Palace - Deoksugung Doldam-gil - Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) - Seoul Museum of History - Namdaemun-ro Underground Shopping Center - Namdaemun Market - Namsan Seoul Tower)

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

Rice

Address:

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

Deoksugung Palace

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. 

Namsan Seoul Tower

View from Namsan Mountain

View from Namsan Mountain

Love locks

Namsan OLED Tunnel

Namsan OLED Tunnel

Namsan Seoul Tower

Namsan Seoul Tower

Love locks

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