I visited South Korea again.
This time, it was a relatively short trip (6 nights) compared to my visit last May (12 nights) and to be honest I didn’t do much but the ‘beauty’ of my trip was that I only stayed in Seoul.
Gone were the days where I city-hopped to chased sunrise/sunset across the coastal cities.
For this trip, all my accommodation was in Seoul and the focus was kind of catching up with friends and trying to figure out what’s the next big trend that I can write about.
1. I took Asiana Airlines (OZ754/OZ753)
It was my first time taking this airline (well, tickets were affordable at $567) and I thought that it would have been cool to take a Star Alliance flight but little did I know that.. it’s quite a disappointment from my expectations. I guess I have been too pampered in my travels this year (JAL, SIA, Cathay) and forgotten that not all full-service airlines have a proper in-flight entertainment system.
The departing flight delayed for more than an hour (we departed at almost 5am) but it was understandable as there had been a typhoon the past couple of days. Anyway, the departure flight’s in-flight entertainment was the old school system where you can’t select the movies/shows you want to watch whenever you want it. You surf through the channels and watch it and whatever timing it has elapsed until. You are not able to start/pause/stop. This was the super old school way.
What can be worse.. for our return flight back, there wasn’t even a TV at every seat. The only TV you could watch was the sharing one above.
On hindsight, no in-flight entertainment wasn’t that bad after all as I could sleep and catch up on my sleep.
2. Never trust the weather forecast too much
Prior to my trip (like one day before), the weather forecast predicted rain on 5 out of 7 days, of which some were heavy rain. As a result, I decided to Iug my rain boots (bought from my taiwan trip) to Korea as I did not want my shoes to get soaked. Also, I decided to leave my sunblock and sunglasses at home as I thought I wouldn’t have any chance to use it. Well.. not that I am complaining.. but for my actual trip, it only drizzled once on the evening of the first day, and on Monday – the only free day I had where I planned to visit the island Jebudo. Well, my visit to Jebudo has once again been pushed back to.. the next trip(s). It was on my list to visit places since 2012 and.. it is still on the list. If I didn’t recall wrongly, the temperature ranged from 18 to 28. It was hot in the day and cooling at night, but not to the extent that I need to wear a jacket.
3. Stayed in two locations – Above the Han River & Below the Han River
4. I repeated my no repeat food challenge again!
For my previous South Korea trip where I travelled to random cities, I challenged myself to not repeat the food I ate for 12 days as I wanted to prove the point that Korea has a wide variety of food! I created a #norepeatkoreanfoodchallenge hashtag on instagram. This time round, I was successful again!
Here are some interesting food that I’ve eaten which are worthed mentioning:
Raw Beef Sashimi @ Changshin Yukhoe 창신육회
Address: 198-2 종로 Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea 서울특별시 종로구 종로 198-2
Nearest Train Station: Jongno-5-ga, Exit 8
This restaurant was recommended by my korean friend! There’s quite a number of choices at the gwangjang market but I guess they should be pretty much the same.
I’ve eaten one or two slices of raw beef sashimi sushi before in Japanese restaurants but to eat beef sashimi as a main meal, it was a first time for me. To get the best of both worlds, we opted for the two-in-one raw beef and octopus set. When served, the Octopus tentacles will still be moving and there was one that stuck on to my metal chopsticks and I didn’t want to eat it, fearing that it will get stuck somewhere in my body. I waited for that piece to stop moving before putting it into my mouth.
Raw Crab Sashimi @ Jin Mi Sik Dang 진미식당 真味食堂
Address: 186-6 Mapo-daero, Gongdeok-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea 서울특별시 마포구 공덕동 마포대로 186-6
Nearest Train Station: Aeogae (Purple Line), Exit 4
This restaurant was once again recommended by my korean friend! She said it was famous as the current south korean president, Moon Jaein, had dined here before! Furthermore, there was a variety show which featured this place recently. Reservations were required and despite booking more than a week in advance, we were unable to get the 12pm slot on a Wednesday. She ended up booking the 2pm slot for us. You could only make reservations by phone and according to some blog/website I’ve read, the owner can understand chinese.
Random thought: do you find it difficult to make reservations in korea for places that only accept reservations via phone call? I’m toying with whether this can be a chargeable service for people without a korean friend/airbnb host/hotel concierge to assist you with the booking. I feel like this service would be super useful in Japan and Korea. If you think that this is a viable service and you are willing to pay a small token for the service, do leave a comment or email me if you’re shy!
As seen from the photo, it is a spicy dish so please be prepared. There’s only one menu option available: 35,000W each which will give you one raw crab, together with a table full of side dishes. There was this amazing seaweed (not the usual type) which I ate a lot of. Similar to the other korean restaurants, the side dishes were refillable.
Fret not, gloves are provided so you don’t really have to dirty your hands while eating! I’m really impressed that they are able to serve us crabs with a lot of egg roe (which is part of the highlight). I’m not sure if there’s any proper way to eat it but I mix the egg roe and crab flesh together with the rice, put it on the seaweed and eat it up like a mini kimbab.
I didn’t take much photos of this place because I was busy eating and catching up with my korean friend but I found another blog who has a more detailed experience and review: http://www.seoulfoodie.com/blog-1/jinmi-soy-sauce-raw-crab (From the blog post, it seems like they increased their price from 31,000W (in 2015) to 35,000 (in 2018)).
Cry Cheeseburger @ Samseong (Coex area) – Better than Shake Shack?
Address: 996-17 Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea 서울특별시 강남구 대치동 996-17
Nearest Train Station: Samseong, Exit 1 (Green Line)
Visiting Coex? You got to try this cheeseburger shop which is known to be the in-and-out burger of South Korea! I kind of gave up on Shake Shack after my average experience last year so discovering the awesome Cry Cheeseburger was a splendid surprise. This might just be on my to-go list in my future visits to Korea!
Well, for a start, the price is pretty affordable! The burger is 3,000W; double patty is 4,200W and the cheapest set is just 5,800W (for a drink, burger and fries). The milkshake was only 3,500W!
In comparison, a burger alone at shake shack will cost you 6,900W and their milkshake is 5,900W.
The patty may not look huge, but the serving was pretty decent and I shared the set (cheese fries and drink) with my friend. I love the fresh onions and cheddar cheese and the sauce combination.. It was such a satisfying meal.
Anyway, this brand is pretty popular and i’m sure it will get more and more popular in time to come so.. good luck queueing =p
5. I drank a lot of coffee and visited a lot of cafes
67soho @ Nonhyeon-dong
When we were in this cafe, I had a little lost-in-translation moment and I ended up getting the cold brew coffee when I wanted the milk tea after realizing that they didn’t sell cold brew latte. Anyway, it was a very pretty space which looked like a make-shift sidewalk transformation (not sure if it was a deliberate concept). Anyway, this district was a little hilly and slopey so be prepared to climb up/down if you’re coming here by public transport.
General Store @ Samseong (Coex)
Address: 945-25 Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea 서울특별시 강남구 대치동 945-25
Nearest Train Station: Samseong, Exit 4 (Green Line)
We visited this place after our lunch at Cry Cheeseburger. The coffee was great but there isn’t much sitting space in the cafe. If I didn’t recall wrongly, it was just 2 tables and a high chair area. The coffee in Korea hardly disappoints me.
Mint Heim @ Hongdae
6. I tried tarot cards reading at Hongdae
