Seoul - Day 1

Provista -- Insadong -- Gyeongbokgong Palace -- Myeondong

I actually arrived in Seoul at about 9pm the night before. We were split into 2 flights and mine was the earlier to arrive so the 3 of us walked around the hotel looking for food options. Finally, after meeting up with the other group of peeps, we headed to a local joint for dinner. There was no English menu, the owner could not understand a single word we said and the pictures on the laminated menu were ..... let's just say, fairly misleading. One of the dishes that we ordered, we thought it was a Korean popiah but it turned out to be this huge ass steaming pan of some animal intestines stuffed with more animal spare parts that was enough to feed half of Seoul.

After a good rest in our service apartment, we headed out the following morning towards Insadong for lunch at this small quaint shop that was full with a working crowd grabbing a quick bite. I had this spicy haddock soup that was TO DIE FOR. And their seafood pancake is the best that I have ever had. Perhaps the only item that was somewhat odd for me was the spicy cold raw crab side dish. The taste was pretty good except that I am not a fan of cold dishes and I did not like the slimy texture of the raw crab. Having a tummyache while travelling is never a good thing.

Haddock soup, just the right level of spiciness

Right after filling up, we just followed the crowd and headed towards Gyeongbokgung Palace which has very similar architecture to China. After all, they are neighbouring countries so it is not surprising that there is an influence in terms of culture, food and design. We were fortunate to be able to watch parts of a dress rehearsal for a performance slotted over the weekend. I love the bright colourful traditional costume worn by the women, it makes me feel happy.

I did not walk most parts of the building as I was happy chilling out underneath some shady trees and catching up on some girl talk with my colleague and agency friend. My Boss and his mom went on their merry way whilst my colleague's husband ditched us to check out electronics in another part of town.

The main hall of the palace

We walked back towards Insadong and stopped by this quaint looking cafe that is a perfect place to photograph cutesy ornaments for the cafe. It's almost like a schoolgirl's dating place with multi-coloured small wooden chairs and tables decorated with dolls, toys, teddy bears and pictures of cartoon characters from our childhood. There was even a Wishing Tree and I left a little souvenir of mine to indicate that I've been here. The drinks are actually quite pricey - almost RM21 for a cup of the tea and the snacks are nothing to shout about. 

Small furniture for small people?

What I did like is walking the streets of Insadong for it reminds me of the night markets in Taiwan. There is a mixture of modern boutiques and endless skincare outlets that blended in with roadside stalls selling all sorts of snacks, souvenirs, hair accessories and decorative items. At one point when I sat on a bench waiting for my colleague there was a Turkish ice cream man who performs a little magic trick with his ice cream that was quite ticklish to see as a bystander.  

Looks like a snack stall from Taiwan eh?

Next was Myeondong for dinner and more shopping. I think I have never bought so much skincare in my entire life. I had like 15 packs of face masks, a few bottles of nail polish, 2 sets each of toner and moisturiser for me and my mom plus a few other random items. By the time we were done, we were totally famished and just decided to head to the nearest restaurant which turned out to be a Western chicken diner. One of the more memorable dish was this sweet and sour fried chicken salad with vanilla ice cream as the salad dressing. Surprisingly it tasted quite good! We also had a good laugh when we found out that my colleague's husband did not have much luck with the electronics store for he was expecting a building selling mobile phones, tablets, music players and such but it was an ELECTRICAL outlet selling refrigerators, irons and washing machines!

The busy streets of Myeondong and bright neon lights everywhere

Other than skincare, shopping is nothing to shout about here. There was a mall nearby but the collection of clothes are quite dated. It reminds me of those 3-piece suits that my Mom used to buy 15 years ago. Perhaps this is the new trend in Seoul but I am not taking this trend back with me to KL. Nuh-uh. Plus the prices does not make it anymore enticing. Even my agency friend who is looking for kid's clothes was disappointed. So within 20-mins we were all standing outside and ready to go home.

My colleague was such a darling for helping me to wash some of my laundry together with hers. Ahhh, I love to be doted over! 


p.s. This trip was made in mid-May 2011

9/29/2011 10:20:00 PM | Labels: |

 

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