Colorful Day..!

Seoul Day-8

May 20, 2013

“Tomorrow might be a looong day”, was what exactly I thought since we were informed that we might do some hiking again today, except it was going to be a different location this time, Namsan Tower. As usual, we gathered at the “common room” before we left our hostel together.

"Kongguksu" - the green things was not only cucumbersbut also the noodles

Our first destination of the day Myeong-dong area. Since almost of us were hungry, we went to a famous restaurant, Myeongdong Gyoja, which was famous for their “kalguksu”. Since their “kalguksu” use chicken broth and has meat dumplings, both I and Elise ordered “kongguksu” instead. However, unlike the one that Elise had in Shinchon, this time it came with green noodles. Indeed as we were told, the dishes had strong garlicky flavor including its side dish, kimchi. Although it was open for less than half an hour, almost all the tables were already taken and I was glad we came in earlier or else we might not be able to get any seat.

Myeongdong Cathedral

While in Myeong-dong, we were also given some time to explore the place and went to Myeong-dong Cathedral. Before we visited the church as a group, I already visited the place with Nora and Jon during our free time as I remembered watching it in a Korean drama titled You’re Beautiful. It was built in the 1890s on a hill under a supervision of a priest. During that time, one could easily see Gyeongbok Palace from this hill but today, thanks to rapid development of buildings around Seoul, the view was completely blocked by tall buildings built in between these two magnificent structures.

Locks of love

From Myeong-dong, we walked through some small, winding alleys until we reached the base of Namsan. Although I wouldn’t really mind climbing the mountain, I was secretly thankful when another option was opened to us which was riding the cable car. It was only at this moment that we finally realised that apparently we lose one of our group member on our journey from Myeong-dong to Namsan. However, most of us believed that he would be fine and not long after that, Prof Ahn received a phone call from his as we were waiting for the cable car. When we finally reached, Namsan Tower, it was slightly disappointing as it was pretty foggy and thus we didn’t go up the tower as it would be a waste of money. Nevertheless, we got to see one the most favorite places for couples where they “locked” their love on the fences and throw the key away. There were thousands of padlocks came with different shapes and colors with names or promises written on it attached to the fence and trees around the tower.

Aren't these cute?? >_<"

While going up a mountain is usually more tiring than going down, going down definitely hurt my feet more than climbing up. We took more than half an hour to get to the bottom of the hill as we were walking along the road instead of going down by stairs. And by the time we reached it, I felt like I could walk no more and I just wanted to sit down. I wasn’t tired at all, it was just because my feet hurts. However, we managed to walked all the way to Shinsegae Mall and I was sort of recharged when we went to ground floor. It felt similar to shopping complexes in Malaysia and I was super happy when I found some buttermilk and coffee buns. I never realised that I missed PappaRoti’s buns so much. Besides, there was also egg tarts. Eating these food reminded me of home and it gave some sense of comfort to me. 

A glimpse of Namdaemun

Looks real, right? ;p

The final destination for today’s trip was Namdaemun. Apparently, it was located just next to Shinsegae Mall. There was a wide selection of merchandise being sold here such as T-shirts, pants, souvenirs, and many more. There were also some street food and restaurants along its alleys. While I was walking around, I was strongly tempted to buy cute little “hanboks” for my niece and nephew but my sense of rationality ruled it out as I perfectly aware that there will never be a suitable occasion for them to wear it anyway. In general, the goods that were being sold here were pretty cheap and one could try to bargain the price with the shopkeepers. However, I was not in the mood to buy anything and was glad that we would be riding a bus to home.

Cheonggyecheon

Bulgogi pizza surrounded by sticks
filled with cheese and sweet potatoes

Later in the evening, we went out to get dinner and initially bibimbap was chosen. But, as some of us wanted to eat pizza, we ended up going to a pizza hut instead. We ordered vegetarian pizza as I can't eat meat but Pizza Hut had a pretty interesting menu such as bulgogi pizza. I wished I could have tried that pizza too. After the meal, we were free to do anything and despite the fact that my feet was slightly hurting, I went passed Gyeongbok Palace entrance and went to Cheonggyecheon with Kali, Keli, Jon, and Nora in our mission of buying detergent. 9 out of 10 visitors of Cheonggyecheon were couples and I think, its going to be pretty sad and lonely if someone is walking down the stream alone. It was a lovely place and romantic atmosphere filled the air. There were even sets of rocks aligned across the river so that people could cross the stream from one side to the other. I was really tired when we got home and practically passed out the moment I lay on the bed.

Say cheeseeee....!!

The main entrance of Gyeongbok Palace