Day 4 : Time for the snow!

As the title suggests, it was time to head to the snow! We booked via 'Sally's Tour' which was advertised on the main Korean tourism website for the 2 night package at YongPyong Ski Resort. The resort will be used for the next Winter Olympics games in 2018, so we wanted to see how it was like. The company sent us a rough itinerary of our activities weeks beforehand, and images of where to meet them once we arrive at the resort, so everything was well prepared. We were picked up by their driver early in the morning and driven to the front of Jamsil Lotte Mall which was a common pick up and drop off stop for tour buses. The tour bus itself was a separate company (Daewon Travel Co), so it picks up people who've joined through a tourist company or paid for the service themselves. 

The bus left at 9am and arrived at the resort around 11.30am.

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We were dropped off at YongPyeong Tower, where inside were restaurants, a food mart, resort rooms, and various other entertainment facilities. Mostly importantly though, we would be crossing through this building to the ski area for the next 2 days.

The worker from Sally's Tour waited for us at the tower to drive us in his van to our villa a few minutes away from the resort. Well I say few minutes because the car was speeding like a bullet train across town and the driver's foot was having tremendous fun with the acceleration pedal...although he did assure us that he has years of experience driving around here.
Once we arrived at the villa, named the Wildflower, we marvelled at the cute housing amongst the semi snow-covered hill country. Despite the number of stairs that we had to climb with our heavy luggage, the interior was stunning to come across.

 

The wall paintings and decorations were all decorated by the owner, who lives with her husband in the same building. There were lots of miming and usage of smartphone apps that helped us communicate with each other, but the owner was a very sweet and nice lady. She made sure that we were comfortable with our quarters, gave us instant noodles each for breakfast, and even let us try on her handmade hanbok which used to belong to her daughter for photos! The wooden floors were constantly heated too.

 For the first day at YongPyeong skiing wasn't covered, so I had plenty of time to take photos and admire the scenery outside the villa.

Now on the topic of food. Before I mention what we had for dinner, I was introduced to this extraordinary, addictive banana milk that is very popular amongst the locals. It comes with other flavours like strawberry and melon, but banana is above all the must try when you come to Korea. It's very easy to find, just enter any convenience store and they should have it in their beverage fridge. Cost wise I think it was around or under $1

Because the villa was situated away from town, the owner's husband offered to drive us down and drop us off for dinner. The restaurant was for table top bbq, which is ever so popular in Korea. In one half of the restaurant was like a supermarket area where you pick the type of meat and vegies you like and pay at the counter. Then you bring the products over and cook it on the bbq. 

Since it was our first time, we chose a stack of shabu shabu beef but later realised what a bitch it was to peel off and cook.What we should've gotten was the nice thick beef stakes that most people seemed to have bought, although they do cost more. We also got mushrooms and onions, and a couple of beef sausages (which were my favourite of the night). We could also freely refill the chilly sauce, lettuce leaves, peppers and most of the side dishes along the way.

Day 3 : N Seoul Tower and N Hanok Village

Once again an empty platform!


Well not for long. Today we slept in a bit since there wasn't not much point waking up early before the shops do. However the first destination for the day was the Namsangol Hanok Village in Jung-gu. It is one of the most popular tourist places to stop by in Seoul. Surrounded by tall business buildings, this village was once a summer village in the Joseon era and preserved till this day. We stopped by Paris Baguette, a bread chain like Bread Top, just outside the village for brunch. They have reasonably nice breads and cheap coffee, although perhaps more on the sweet side for their mochas.

Entry into the Hanok Village is free, and closes only on Tuesdays.

If you take your time, it takes about an hour to explore the village. In the distance is the N Seoul Tower, which lies behind Namsan Park. It is possible to walk over...as you will later find out.

We went in December so the conditions of winter was still quite ripe. There were little snow around, but the lake had already turned to ice.

 The interior of most of the buildings were also put on display. Their furniture were mostly mahogany, but when they add a splash of colour with things like bed sheets or cushions, it also adds a certain charm in the room.

 

Like I mentioned before, we attempted to walk to N Seoul Tower from the Hanok Village. Namsan Park was nice to stroll through, at that time it seemed like we entered an area existing in between spring, autumn and winter since the trees still bloomed leaves at different stages. 

At the back of the park was a road, and from memory we found a bridge nearby that led us up and across to another road closer to the Tower.

Across the bridge there were immediately signs pointing to Seoul Tower. We were halfway there! Well no I lie, probably a quarter...

We went through the tunnel...

...up the first incline of the mountain...

 ...continuing up the mountain...

..and as we climbed, the view of the city became smaller and further away..

...the hiking continued...

...And we finally made it to the base of the cable car! (never thought it was possible to be drenched with sweat at this time of the year)

 We bought round trip tickets costing 8500W

Because we went during a public holiday, the line to the cable car lasted for about 20 minutes. It seems like a popular destination for locals to go to on Christmas day.

We only got to the base of N Seoul Tower, taking the lift up costs separately. Still though, there were plenty of things to see, and you can still admire the view of Seoul from this level.

Many, many couple locks are attached all around the railings facing the scenery.

Coming to N Seoul Tower seems to be a very social thing to do for Koreans. Around me I saw families, friends and couples taking photos and enjoying the city's scenery on a clear sunny winter's day.

It was late afternoon when we left the tower, and decided to go to Gwangjang Market for the local food and products. Sadly though it was closed when we arrived, but whilst we were planning to walk over to Dongdaemun, we found another small market on the same street where locals flooded to sit down and eat street food. So all hope was not lost!

 

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There was plenty of pig intestines on display, but I was too chicken to try haha. Although I had other street food on my mind...

Each food stand pretty much sold the same product, so finding a place to seat was our first priority. We chose a handful of my favourite Tteokbokki (rice cakes in sweet, hot sauce), gimbap (seaweed rolls similar to sushi), a bowl of hot soup noodles and japchae (stir-fried 'glass' noodles). Each dish cost around 3000W each. Despite the crowded environment and people brushing your back as they walk past, it was a good experience for typical Korean street snacks. Worth the try! =)

After filling our stomachs with delicious Korean snacks, we headed down to Dongdaemun to explore the number of shopping centers. When night fell, the streets were lit up and decorated with colorful Christmas decorations. Also around this time, activity levels increase by 10 fold as people get off work or students finish classes to go out with friends and family. As long as shops are opened, the activity never dies.

 

 For our Christmas meal, we went to a restaurant nearby where we had kimchi soup, bulgolgi soup and bimbimbap. Add the rice and side dishes and bam it looks like a feast! We also ordered a bottle of Soju to see what all the hype is about, but it just tasted foul to us so our fascination ended fast. It did warm and perk me up a lot...maybe that's why locals love it.

We also walked by a fruit store where my friend suggested trying Korean grapes. It was totally unlike any other grape I've tasted! It was like eating candy - sweet and chewy. The only downside were the seeds, but I just can't stop eating them! Ahh what's with the strawberries and grapes in Korea? They're so sweet and perfect! <3

Day 2 : Trip around Seoul

Behold the sight from our apartment in our first morning in Seoul. Even when the lights went out last night, we could still hear the sounds of vehicles passing by with lights from buildings streaming through the curtains. I guess the city never really sleeps.

This morning the plan was to retrieve our tickets to Nami Island (which is happening in a few days) at Insadong and the Korail tickets at Seoul Station. The best and most convenient way to get around Seoul is taking the MTR. Tickets can be bought from ticket machines like ones below, or if you have a T money card they can easily be recharged or bought from the blue machines.

The trains come very often here, perhaps every 5 minutes but no more than 10. Before it comes, a short musical fanfare from the speakers will blast through which never fails to delight me. A bit of warning though, the doors don't bounce back if you get between them so jump onto the train as quick as you can before they close! Inside the trains we saw some aunties wheeling around their cart of goods like gloves and beanies, announcing their bargains to the passengers. 

We arrived at Insadong via a stop at Jonggak station and a 10 minute walk which required a bit of Google Mapping and non-suspiciously tailing a group of young school kids. It was still early when we got there and the place was pretty empty as stores are just preparing to open. We later found out that stores in Korea open around 11am and close pretty late at night. 

 

 
The Nami Island office doesn't stand out so much, but luckily I caught my eye on the 'Gallery Sang' building where the office was supposed to be located. Inside was a touristy clothes and souvenirs store, but after asking one of the workers there, she pointed to a stair case that led up to the 3rd floor where the office was. Once inside they confirmed my booking (which was done back at home a week prior) and I paid 23 000W for the shuttle bus round trip and entrance fee. In exchange they gave me the receipt which I was supposed to show the bus driver on the day, and the map of the bus station. We chose the Jamsil stop since it will be closer to us at that time. We also grabbed an English copy of the brochure and map. Oh and the workers there can speak English so no language barrier problems =) [Link to info and how to book]

So after the morning search we finally decided to have breakfast in a small noodle restaurant in Insadong.

One of the things I love about coming to Asia is that food is dirt cheap! And amazing. For a chilly dry morning, I decided to choose a nice hot bowl of Buchon Noodles for 4500W.

 

Ah yes and there's always the bonus side dishes every meal comes with (in this case kimchi and pickles).

My friend chose a soup of wonton herself. The meal was a great way to boost our energy levels for our first full day in Seoul.

I came to Ssamzie-gil the last time I was in Korea, and it was a delight to see what changes they have made. This courtyard houses many arts and crafts stores, and you can spend hours casually going up each level and admiring some original works like paintings, toys, jewellery and bags.

 

At the rooftop I was happy to see some snow in the area. Decorating this area were hundreds of colorful cute tags written by couples much like the couple-locks on the Eiffel Tower. There was even a small alley filled with these tags, with written words and wishes of ever-lasting love and happiness.

But enough of the sappy love stuff. It was time to travel to Seoul Station to book our tickets to Busan and Jeonju and get the boring stuff out of the way. The process took us longer than we expected when we realized too late that we were lining up in the wrong line...So what we were actually supposed to do was to make our way further into the station towards the blue roof information center (right photo below) with our KTX coupons. They exchanged our coupons for the actual KR-Passes, which we then brought to the ticket counter to book our actual tickets and seats.

 

Ticket booth.

By the time we got our tickets it was already noon, so we headed to our third destination - Myeondong. There we only did one thing - shopping. From the Faceshop, Clio, Nature Republic and Etude, we ventured into each cosmetic store and came out with heavy bags of wonderful goods. Heavy, but wonderful goods =)  During our money spending experience, we stopped by a small cafe for a good coffee break. The interior was cozy with cute wooden square dolls in Christmas hats decorated around the store.

The coffee wasn't cheap though, the price from memory was around $US6-7. Personally I find that coffee in Korea is pretty weak, compared to what I used to have back at home in Australia. 

For dinner we stayed in Myeondong and had our first kimchi hot pot experience.

And what a brilliant choice it was! The soup contained ramen, beanshoots, Tteokbokki/rice cake (my fav!), fried fishcake and probably other bits and pieces. Ooh having that is a must in the winter!

 For some evening fun, we went over to the side of Cheonggyechon river where I was told that it has some very nice night lights and a mini waterfall. The downside was bringing my tripod along, and I do believe I was the only person with one amongst the crowd of people who flocked there that night.

 

A non-traditional red/blue ice Christmas tree. This made me crave for some ice shaving dessert...

 

The lantern like display above us was amazing. There was also some kind of wishing well in the middle of the river where people would try to flick their coins into.

Talking about non-traditional Christmas trees, here's one made of cabbages.

 Finally for tonight's dessert, we bought some very big and perfect looking strawberries. And boy were they sweet and juicy!

 

We also bought some string candy in Myeondong, with either peanut or chocolate filling. I preferred the strawberries though. Gosh think of the strawberry milkshakes you can make with those...*que drooling onto keyboard*