Adventures in Seoul
As I’m writing this, I realize how many things we ended up doing in Seoul. There were definitely days were I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep the whole day, but pushed on since we had limited time. I had written down on the itinerary a bunch of activities but we cut out a lot of them just so we wouldn’t feel too burnt out, and it was worth it.
May 16 started off with some lunch at Gohyang Lamb Skewers 고향양꼬치 in Seongsu-dong. The lamb skewers hit the spot and Joe was fascinated with the machine that turned them for us. The boss gave us dumplings as service (a term used to describe a complimentary item) and they were amazing.
The weather was sweltering that day, so after finishing we went to the Nudake Seongsu branch 누데이크. The bread sculptures were very interesting, but the creme brûlée dessert and the matcha latte were the highlights of the cafe.
We were in the area of my favorite park in Seoul and had to go. Seoul Forest 서울숲 is huge and has a convenience store, butterfly garden, botanical garden, and a deer park. It was fun just wandering around and seeing all the people hanging out or exercising. The heat was manageable since most of the park is shaded.
In the vicinity was a stationery shop that I’ve been dying to browse. Made By is filled with stickers, stationery, pens, mugs, etc. from different local artists. I found, and purchased, many things from the store.
It was getting later in the evening so we took a bus over to Yongsan-gu. This is the area that I lived in for a year. It was so nice being back and wandering the streets that I am so familiar with. There were already new things that had popped up including a huge apartment building behind my old apartment. Since I have now left my apartment, I can finally show you some photos of my apartment complex from this trip.
For dinner, I ate at a jjimdak restaurant 내가찜한닭. The noodles, dumplings, rice cake, sauce are heaven. Joe said it is probably one of his top meals in Korea. To wrap up eating, we had ggwabaegi donuts 말죽거리 꽈배기 for dessert. It was slightly crispy on the outside with the sugar and chewy on the inside; perfection. Sadly, the bar/cafe I wanted to take Joe to was closed that day, so we never ended up going. A thing for the next time I go back to Korea.
This was the perfect time to go up to the top of Namsan Tower 남산타워 to see Seoul at night. However, we arrived so late that they closed the viewing deck on the one side right when we got there. We still got a good view on the other side, but it was slightly disappointing to not see the main view.
The next day was set aside for a full day trip to Yeoju. I wanted to show Joe around the city and some of the places I normally frequented while I was there. The first stop we made was to get some lunch at Hyangwon 향원. It is the best Chinese food in Yeoju. It was lunch time for the construction workers, because all of them were there. The food was delicious as ever and Joe and I shared the jjajangmyeon, jjamppong, and shrimp fried rice.
After lunch we wandered around Hangeul Market and stopped into some of my favorite stationery stores. I bought a few things before visiting one of my favorite cafes in town. Bong Bong Coffee 봉봉커피 used to be near my apartment, but relocated in the year since I left. The owner remembered me and gave me some madelines. She said she was glad to see me and had been watching my YouTube videos. The beverages and food were yummy as usual. Joe commented that they were one of his top drinks in Korea.
To continue our cafe hopping we walked the few blocks over to Coffeestory 커피이야기. I ordered a watermelon juice and a croffle and then just chilled for a while. The cafe has two new cats and they were so cute just sunbathing in the back and wandering around the cafe.
I was lucky enough to meet up with two of my coworkers from one of my previous jobs. We ate at a small restaurant called Gamseong Table 감성삭탁. The food was tasty and there were many side dishes. To end the night, we had some drinks at another cafe that sat right next to the river called Bord de l’eau 보드로. There, we just sat and chatted and one of my coworkers helped Joe with his Korean reading skills.
The next morning, we took a bus to Gyeongbokgung Palace 경복궁. We wandered around the grounds and admired all the architecture. I kept getting asked to take people’s photos while there. There were many people and students dressed up in hanbok taking photos in the palace.
All that walking made me hungry so we ate at a place called Jaedong Soondubu 재동순두부. I discovered this place last year by accident and it has delicious tofu stew and seafood jeon. The side dishes are also super delicious.
There is a cafe in Hyehwa-dong that I really, really liked last time. I checked on Naver Maps and it said it was still running, but when I arrived the cafe was gone and in its place was another cafe called Artista 아티스타. The cafe concept was really interesting with little plants floating above a column, rotating busts, and a little river of water along the main walkway. The cakes were also shaped in famous busts. The drinks and cake were quite good. I was having bad cafe luck since I had planned to go to Suyu to go to one of Lily and my favorite cafes, but looked it up again and suddenly it said it was gone. So, not having the best luck with my favorite cafes being shut down.
That evening, I met up with Brixton in Suyu for dinner and a cafe. We went to one of my favorite restaurants, Ragongbang 라공방. It is a malatang restaurant where you can pick your ingredients and have them cook it for you. Joe’s order got messed up and the spice level on his was higher than what I ordered for him. He was sweating so much but still held out and ate everything. After, he said it felt like he was hallucinating from how spicy it was.
Brixton had found a new cafe, TTYL티틸, that he wanted to show me, and it didn’t disappoint. The decor was cute, they had MBTI cookies, there were cafe drinks and alcoholic drinks and the music was great.
May 19 was our last day in Seoul. Joe wanted to do some hiking, so I found one that is in Seoul and it was quite short and not too intense. Inwangsan has a great view of all of Seoul. Thankfully I had read some blogs that recommended starting at the Jahamun Gogae Bus Stop. If we had gone from the other side it would have been quite strenuous uphill hiking. For us, there was only a little bit of uphill hiking and we ended close to a trail that I was familiar with (across the street from Ansan Mountain).
We took the metro to Myeongdong and went to one of my all-time favorite chain restaurants, Dukki 두끼. They serve all-you-can-eat tteokbokki. It was my first time seeing it so crowded, but it was worth the wait. Joe told me that it was his top favorite meal.
The day ended with a fun reunion at Ttukseom Hangang Park 뚝섬한강공원. I met up with Brixton, Jiyoung, and Naeun. We ordered some chicken, cola and beer at the nearby chicken restaurant and then just chilled on our picnic blanket. I think Joe was a little confused since we ended up speaking a lot in Korean, but he still seemed to have some fun. It was so fun to be outside again watching the night lights and being around everyone else who was enjoying their evening.
What a great ending to my time in Seoul, but I will be back in the latter part of my trip. Now, I will be going to Yeosu and Gyeongju for about a week. I can’t wait for the adventures that I will have there!