Travel Diary: Korea Winter Wonderland 2016 (Part 3)

Hi all! I’m terribly sorry for the delay for this series. It took a lots of time to recover my raw videos for this series. I know its Spring already in Korea, but this part, particularly can be done in any season. We took a lots of picture and go to places outside Seoul and experience Korean traditionally and modernly (?) This part might be the highlight of my trip! So, if you are interested, keep on reading and don’t forget to watch the video!

P.S: All information about the trip will be provided below the post.

Day Five

Cute wall made from tiles with Korean arts near the subway exit

I went to Insadong for the first time on my fifth day. I was meant to go to Anguk Station, but I just found out that it is the way to go to Insadong area. The first thing we do was eating at Miss Lee Cafe. Their specialization is old-style menu, such as lunch-box, ddeokbokki, snacks, and even they displayed old-style games. The way to eat the lunchbox is very unique. It was supposed to be shaken. The idea came from long time ago, students brought their lunchbox from home to school. Their mom usually put it on a lunch box which include rice, sausages, kimchi, and dried seaweed. On the way to school, usually the lunchbox was shaken. So, when it was lunch time, the lunchbox are not pretty anymore. Then to make it looks tasty, they shake it and make it like a bibimbap. 

We ordered the package for two which include 2 lunchbox, 1 ddeokbokki, and 1 snacks. Also, we ordered sweet potato latte, drink that the couple really like. It was my first time to try it and it was nice! I didn’t like matcha latte or taro latte, but this one was nice. I recommend you to try sweet potato latte. 

Food we ordered

This cafe is unique with thousands of memos hanging around the cafe. Goguma couple aka Yonghwa and Seohyun couple from WGM, went to this cafe slash restaurant. We found it cute on that TV show and it turned out that the food are also very delicious.

Miss Lee Cafe with it's memos hanging around

Goguma Couple @ Miss Lee Cafe (cr: as seen)

After the our brunch, we went to explore the Invading area. It is only few walks away from Miss Lee Cafe. It was a brand new neighborhood for me. Insa-dong is an area that is known for its traditional Korean vibes. They wrote english words in hangeul, for example Starbucks, Innisfree, Nature Republic, etc. We make a stop at Ssamziegil. I don’t know how to call this place, maybe I can call it as a shopping center which sells cute stuffs and foods. We walk through all the floors in Ssamziegil and took a lot of photos. Also, we tried poop-shaped pancake with chocolate rice cake inside. The shape makes it funny and made us want to try it.

The shape is so cute and delicious when it's hot

Then we went back home to prepare for my family dinner. We went to Riverside Hotel in Gangnam and have a buffet there. Not all of my family was there, but it was one of a lovely dinner I had while in Korea. Actually, we didn’t have much time to catch up, so one dinner is such an important time for all of us. Thank you aunt, for the treat!

Snippets of my Korean family

Day Six

Meet the traditional and modern Seoul from this spot!

We went to Gyeongbuk Palace, which located in the heart of Seoul. From this point, you can see the modern and traditional Seoul at the same time. It was always fascinating to visit Gyeongbuk Palace. This time, my visit to this famous palace was a bit different. We are renting Hanbok (Korean traditional cloth) to get free entry and to recreate the traditional vibes. My friend was in love with the drama “Scarlet Heart”, while I’m in love with the drama “Love in the Moonlight” (aka Moonlight Drawn by the Clouds). Both dramas’ setting was set in older dynasty, so the casts wore Hanbok and film in traditional setting. The weather was quite nice that day. It doesn’t really cold so we can wear Hanbok without our coat.

We took a lots of photo, but we hardly have a picture of both of us. We also made a mistake by taking our coats, but not wearing it, so when we took pictures it took a lot of effort in one hand because of our heavy coats. The renting cost for the Hanbok is different depends on the design and style and time. For royal Hanbok, it cost around 30,000-40,000 won. The one I wore is around 20,000 won. Actually, there are a lot of places renting Hanbok nowadays. Even you can find it on Instagram. There are some places that rent for around 10,000 won around Insadong. But, you have to walk a little bit from Insadong to Gyeongbuk Palace. Since, we have another schedule in the evening, we don’t rent around Insadong, but near the Gyeongbuk Palace instead. We also rent for 2 hours only, so we spent time only at the palace.

By the way, beside taking photos and sightseeing the palace, you can watch the changing guard ceremony at the given time. If i’m not mistaken they do it every one hour or every 2 hour. I recommend you to visit this palace when you came to Korea. It can be visited by taking MRT to Gyeongbuk Station and you can explore both the palace and the traditional area nearby.

After visiting the palace, we went back home, because my friend have a doctor appointment. No, not for plastic surgery, but for laser her scar. Then after the appointment, my aunt make dinner for us and the main menu is samgyupsal aka pork belly.

Day Seven

I can’t believe my time is almost over in Korea. On this day, we went to Gapyeong, Gyeonggi-do. Our plan is to visit Pettite France. This place is known for a French village in Korea and it has shown up in few Korean variety shows and dramas. For example, You Who Came from the Stars, Oh My Geumbi, Running Man, and many more. We took the new MRT route to Gapyeong. All we need is to take the MRT to Gapyeong Station. But before that, we make a stop at Guri to have lunch there. We went to a Jjajangmyeon place in Guri that have been shown up in one episode of Running Man. I tried so hard to find the address of the restaurant. Thanks to Naver, I finally found it. 

It's located on the second floor

The reason why we go to this restaurant is because of its unique jjajangmyeon. When you watch the Running Man episode 249, Kim Juhyeon and Yoo Jaeseok team went here and have a jjajangmyeon with a dome cracker on top of it. As you can see in the episode or in my video, we need to crack the dome with a hammer and then eat it. The noodle it self is soft and the sauce is nice with a little hint of chili powder. Beside that we also ordered Tangsuyuk, which is a sweet-sour pork or beef. We cannot leave Korea without eating Jjajangmyeon once. Next time, we should try Jjajangmyeon delivery. 

Sweet-sour beef (Tangsuyuk)

The unique Jjajangmyeon

After lunch, we go straight to Gapyeong Station. It took around 1 hour 40 minutes to go there, because Gapyeong Station is located near the end of the line. After arriving ate the station, we need to take a tourist shuttle bus to the Petite France. Beside it is easier to do so, it also cheaper than you take a taxi. You can buy the ticket right beside the bus stop.

It took around 2 hours to go to Petite France, because we have to stop at few stops. When we arrived, we pay for the tickets. It cost around 6,000 won. Then we took a lots of photos and do sight seeing. We remembered few scenes from “You Who Came from the Star” and “Secret Garden”. I really liked both dramas.

Petite France at night

After finished sightseeing in Petite France, we went to Garden of Morning Calm. We took the shuttle bus again and it took around another 40 minutes. When we arrived, it only 1 hour left until our last shuttle bus stop working. We didn’t get to explore much of the garden and my friend also not feeling quite well. So we did a quick sightseeing and taking picture. The garden is very beautiful at winter night. They lit up the lights all over the garden. It fits perfectly for winter. By the way, Love in the Moonlight drama is shoot at this location. Well, I couldn’t really tell it because it’s dark already and the flower might has changed since the shoot. 

Garden of the Morning Calm

We were almost missed the bus, but fortunately we got another bus that stopped at another station. We got into the bus jammed with passengers. We were barely sit and we could eat our corn-dog that we bought before we went home.

It was a roller-coaster day, but I got to know new neighborhood and I learned to go anywhere in Seoul with public transport is pretty convenient. That was one of the reasons why I want to live in Korea.

BONUS PICTURE:

Best ending scene ever! (cr: Google Images)

So, That’s all for now. I’ll post up something new as soon as possible. Thank you so much for reading till this part! Love you guyss! Have a nice day!

Details:

Miss Lee Cafe (Insadong Branch)

Address: 144, Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu 2F, Seoul

Phone: +82 2-739-0939

Website: https://www.facebook.com/Missleecafe/

How to get there: Take MRT to Anguk Station, exit 6. Then you only need to go straight and see GS 25. The cafe is on the second floor, above the GS 25. 


Liha

Address: 875-3 Sutaek-dong Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Phone: +82 31-551-6533

How to get there: Take MRT to Guri Station, then take a bus that go to Jajang Park.

 
Petite France

Address: 1063, Hoban-ro, Cheongpyeong-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do

Phone: +82-31-584-8200

Website: www.pfcamp.com

How to get there: Take MRT to Gapyeong Station, then take the shuttle tourist bus. 


Garden of the Morning Calm

Address: 432, Sumogwon-ro, Sang-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do

Phone: +82-1544-6703

Website: morningcalm.co.kr

How to get there: Take MRT to Gapyeong Station, then take the shuttle tourist bus.