Korea Trip Day 4 [ 한국여행 - 넷째날 ]

Met up With Irene and Yong today and they brought us to Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ] for lunch.

Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ], a place where the traditional and modern meet. In Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ], it is very common to see restaurants of traditional design and next to these traditional building, cafes or shops of the modern design can be seen.

Restaurants with 'old' houses as the background

Traditional and modern meets

Directions to Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ] :

Anguk Station [ 안국역 ] , Line 3 [ 3 호선 ] , Exit 1 [ 1번 출구 ]

Irene and Yong brought us to this eatery which is famous for Sujebi [ 수제비 ]. Sujebi [ 수제비 ] which is also commonly known as hand-torn noodles soup. Irene told us that Koreans will commonly consume Sujebi [ 수제비 ]on rainy days. 

Sujebi [ 수제비 ] is a traditional Korean soup considering dough flake torn by hand, with various vegetable. The taste of Sujebi [ 수제비 ] is very similar to Kalguksu [ 칼국수 ], except that Kalguksu [ 칼국수 ] is made with noodles instead.

The soup of Sujebi [ 수제비 ] is usually made with dried anchovies, shellfish and these ingredients are simmered for hours. Various vegetable such as potato, onions and zucchini are added to the soup.

The shop that is famous for Sujebi [ 수제비 ]

We ordered potato pancake [ 감자전 ] and Sujebi [ 수제비 ]. The dishes were served quickly which I guess that the eatery hope that we can quickly finished our meal so that more people can entered the eatery as there was a long queue outside despite it is already way pass lunchtime. 

Potato pancake [ 감자전 ]

Sujebi [ 수제비 ] being served in a pot

Sujebi [ 수제비 ]

Directions to the eatery :

Anguk Station [ 안국역 ] , Line 3 [ 3 호선 ] , Exit 1 [ 1번 출구 ]

Walk straight down the main street of Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ], and the eatery is located somewhere in the middle of the main street, on the left.

Just outside the eatery

We saw a rainbow the moment we stepped out of the eatery and we were told by Irene and Yong that we were really lucky as rainbow is not common in Seoul. We continued our exploration of Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ] after lunch. 

Real human as mannequin 

Beautiful art piece on the wall

We continue walking into an alley in Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ] and there were more shops selling stuff as compared to the main street of Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ]. I found that there were more restaurants and cafes on the main street. 

A shop selling ddeokbokki [ 떡볶이 ]

We continued to walk and after about 15min, we arrived at Insadong [ 인사동 ]. Did not know that Insadong [ 인사동 ] is so near to Samcheongdong [ 삼청동 ] and we can actually walk.

We walk around Insadong [ 인사동 ] for awhile before deciding to drop by Korean dessert cafe for dessert. 

I ordered the strawberry Snow Flake Sherbet [ 생딸기설빙 ] although the cafe is well known for their Injeolmi Snow Flake Sherbet   (인절미설빙 ]. 

Strawberry Snow Flake Sherbet [ 생딸기설빙 ]

All the sherbet will come with a Injeolmi [ 인절미 ] on the top. Injeolmi [ 인절미 ] is a type of rice cake coated with sweet bean powder with red bean filling. Condensed milk is also provided and you are supposed to pour the condensed milk on your dessert. 

The shaved ice melted the moment you eat it. The shaved ice taste different from the normal shaved ice of Patbingsu [ 팥빙수 ] and I learned that the shaved ice used in Korean Dessert Cafe are made from frozen milk, thus giving the dessert a sweeter and yummy taste. 

Do not have the address of the cafe but this cafe can be easily found in Seoul, so do drop by the cafe for dessert when you happened to see it. 

Before returning back to our apartment, Yong brought us to a bookstore nearby his place upon our request. Nurfa and I were like looking for a bookstore as we wanted to get some books but we don't seemed to see any bookstores at all and we were kinda of wondering do Korean read? 

Managed to get some books for language learning and also realized that there are a lot of books for learning of English and also preparation of TOEFL. The bookstore was a interesting place to visit as I was like browsing through the books for learning English and also Chinese language. 

Say bye to Yong and we made our way home with the heavy load from the books that we bought. The books were much more cheaper than Singapore so I ended up buying more than what I expected. 

Dropped by a pizza eatery located near our apartment, for our dinner. Pizza in Korea is really cheap with lots of variety of choices. Ordered a hawaii pizza of about 16-inch and it cost only 7000won ( About SGD8.50 ).

Counter of the eatery

Wall inside the eatery 

The hawaii pizza we ordered

The pizza was really special as I can tasted corns and sweet potato used and thus making the pizza taste sweeter. And surprisingly, the sweet potato actually goes well with the cheese and pineapple. The boss is also generous with the amount of cheese used. 

How I wish we can find pizza with such prices in Singapore. :(

Korea Trip Day 3 [ 한국여행 - 셋째날 ]

Made a day trip down to Guri [ 구리 ] today to meet up with Anes and Gyeong Min.

How to go to Guri [ 구리 ]:
Take the subway to Sangbong Station [ 상봉역 ], Line 7 [ 7호선 ], and transfer to Jungang Line [ 중앙선 ] and take the subway to Guri Station [ 구리역 ].

Met up with Anes and Gyeong Min and they brought us to look for places to have our lunch.

One of the alley 

A food alley which is famous for selling Sundae[ 순대 ]

We decided to have Andong Jjimdak [ 안동 찜닭 ]. The name of the dish literally means steamed chicken of Andong. Andong Jjimdak [ 안동 찜닭 ] is said to ordinate from Andong [ 안동 ] and is made with chicken with various vegetable such as potato, carrot, onion. These ingredients are marinated in ganjang [ 감장 ] ( Korean soy sauce ) based sauced. The dish is then steamed or boiled over high heat. 

The restaurant that is well-known for Andong Jjimdak [ 안동 찜닭 ]

Andong Jjimdak [ 안동 찜닭 ]

The dish arrived with a strong soya sauce smell. I thought that the dish might taste salty since it is cooked in soya based sauce but to my surprise, the dish wasn't salty at all. 

Although the chicken were cut into big pieces, but they had already absorb the taste of the soya sauce into it and thus making the chicken tasted more delicious. The carrot and potato were really soft and they seemed to melt into your mouth. The glass noodles in the dish were really chewy. Mild taste of spiciness start to arise as you continue to eat the dish. There were a lot of dried chilli being used in the dish and guess that is the main caused of the mild taste of spicy.   

Would recommend you to try this dish as this dish is consider to be nutritious dish with the high protein content from the chicken and the various vitamins from the different vegetables. This dish is also a popular dish among students due to the portion served at a reasonable price ( Around 20 000won ). 

After the lunch, we had a walk around the neighbourhood of Guri [ 구리 ]. The city of Guri [ 구리 ] is different from Seoul [ 서울 ] as the buildings in Guri [ 구리 ] are more clustered together as compared to Seoul [ 서울 ] and you can easily see residence area in Guri [ 구리 ] with shops and shopping centers nearby the residence area. 

Canel with beautiful trees at the side

Kindergarten with the appearance of a castle

The park were really spacious and there are a few playing area in the park. There are a few playgrounds with different equipment and there is also an area for youngster to enjoy soccer. 

Soccer Area

Gyeong Min decided to bring us to her high school and I was really curious as I had seen a lot of scenes of schools in drama and was wondering if they were similar. 

On the way to the school

Soccer field in the school

The main lobby of the school

It's such a pity that most of the areas were locked up and we couldn't explored further. 

We decided to pay a visit to Gyeong Min's house and before going to her house, we dropped by the mart near her house to grab some snacks. 

The outside of the mart

Vegetables for making kimchi

We spent the afternoon at Gyeong Min's house and also had a better understanding of a typical house in Korea.

We decided to make our way to Dongdaemun Design Plaza to view the 21 000 Led lit roses on the rooftop before it ended tomorrow. 

The LED lit roses

A sea of lighted roses

Failed picture with the missing background of the roses

It was really crowded and more people were making their way up to the rooftop so we made ourselves disappeared from the rooftop before we got lost in the sea of people. 

We walked over to Dongdaemun and we went into 오쭈 for our dinner. 

Couldn't remember the directions as we were like going round and round before we decide the venue for dinner. 

Adress of 오쭈[ 동대문 - Dongdaemun ] :

Seoul [서울시 ] Jong-gu [ 중구 ] Eul-ji-ro 6 [ 을지로6가 ] 18-37 B1층[ Level B1 ]

We ordered octopus [ 쭈꾸미 ] , cheese [ 퐁듀 ] and grape flavored Makgeolli [ 포도 막걸리 ]. 

Octopus [ 쭈꾸미 ]

Cheese [ 퐁듀 ]

Anes and Gyeong Min taught us to dip the octopus into the cheese before eating it. I was thinking inside my heart:"Cheese? With spicy food. That's so weird. " But seeing Gyeong Min demonstrating the way of eating made me feel that I should just tried it too, and surprisingly, the spicy sauce from the octopus actually goes well with the cheese despite the cheese was really thick. The cheese served as an effect of smoothing tool to reduce the spiciness. 

Grape Flavored Makgeolli [ 포도 막걸리 ]

The makgeolli does not taste like any alcoholic drink at all. It actually tasted more like a fruit juice and I feel that it had the taste of honey dew despite it is grape flavored. 

This restaurant will be a new add on of my list to try again the next time I visit Korea. There are actually many outlets of 오쭈 in Seoul, so just dropped by into any outlets.

We went for a walk at the Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ] after the dinner and dropped by Gwangjang Market [ 광장시장 ] while we were strolling halfway through Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ]. 

Alley of Kwangjang Market [ 광장시장] 

Seafood stall

One of the stores selling Korean side dishes [ 반찬 ]

Nurfa wanted to get a hanbok [ 한복 ] and we managed to find a store selling custom made Hanbok [ 한복 ] at about 150 000won which is considered a reasonable price as most of the hanbok [ 한복 ] were at least 300 000won and above.  

The entrance of the shop

Do consider this shop if u want to get a set of Hanbok [ 한복 ]. The shop is located near to the entrance of the food alley. The shop owner is really nice to allow us to take lots of photos in the shop itself.

Continued our journey in Gwangjang Market [ 광장시장 ] and stopped by a store to try some street food. 

Odeng [ 오뎅 ]

Ddeokbokki [ 떡볶이 ]

Kimbap [ 김밥 ]

Directions to Gwangjang Market [ 광장시장 ] :

Take the subway to Jongno-5-ga Station [ 종로5가 역 ], Line 1[1호선 ], Exit 7 [ 7번 출구 ]

We made our way back to Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ] to complete the course of our exploration. Finally we reached the end of Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ] and waiting for us is the beautiful view and scenery.

Directions to Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ]:

Take the subway to City Hall Station [ 시청 역 ], Line 1[1호선 ]/Line 2 [ 2호선 ], Exit 4 [ 4번 출구 ]

It was really an nice meeting up with Anes and Gyeong Min. Really appreciate them for company us the whole day and with the cold wind blowing at the end of our trip. 

Last but not least, the 'special' photos of the day.

Theme : Darkness - Where's the humans