South Korea Trip: Korean Street Foods

During the first three days of our trip in Seoul, we've already tried some of the street food. However, during my stays in Korea, I ate only twice a day, and I didn't felt hungry at all. Maybe because the city attracts me more than its food.

Street food can easily be found in shopping center like Myeong-dong and Insa-dong. The first street beverage that we tried was pomegranate juice, with price 5,000 won. Yes, it was that pricey, unfortunately we forget to take a photo with it before we drank it all up.

The next street food that we tried was fish cake. We bought it in Insa-dong. The seller had plenty kinds of fish cake. We tried the spicy fish cake. The seller remind us that it will be very spicy, but maybe because we usually eat chilly sauce in Indonesia, so the spiciness is still in our range.

the fishcake seller

with spicy fishcake

The next food is Macaroon Ice Cream. The first thought when I saw the stall was "I have to buy this one!". There are many flavors for the ice cream, and you can choose the macaroon that you want to complete the ice cream. We choose cheesecake for the ice cream and vanilla for the macaroon. The cheesecake ice cream was delicious, but the macaroon was too sweet for me.

the macaroon ice cream

it's tasty

The third food was Bungeoppang, it looks exactly like Taiyaki in Japan, a fish shaped bread with filling. Bungeoppang that I tried was using red beans as its fillings. For me, Bungeoppang taste more crispy and the shape is smaller compared to Chocolate Taiyaki that I tried in Japan.

my waarm and tasty bungeoppang

Another food that we tried was fruity ice cream. We bought it inside Dongdaemun Design Plaza. The taste is so so for me, not as amazing as it's looks. But who don't love eating ice cream in cold weather?

ice cream seller inside Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Kiwi ice cream

The rest is not Korean related food & beverage, but they're also my favorite. Since I usually need coffee to start up my day, so these two tasty Starbucks were really helpful in waking my eyes up.

Caramel Latte

white coffee

Last but not least is another amazing Kinder's product. Kinder's never stop blow me up with its products, and this one not only tasty but also healthy because it has cereals in it :D

Kinder Chocolate with Cereals

And now if I feel hungry again after writing my own review....


XOXO,
The Tourist

South Korea Trip: Kimchi Festival at Gwanghwamun Square and Lantern show at Cheonggyecheon Stream

After filling our stomach with warm samgyetang, we walked to Gwanghwamun Square. At first we only want to see King Sejong the Great statue, but luckily at Gwanghwamun Square there was Seoul Kimchi Festival. We took a chance to visit the Festival. There were plenty accessories stalls and food stalls along the Gwanghwamun Square. There were also plenty people queuing to get free kimchi. Since we've already full, so we just passed by the queue. My favorite spot in the festival was the kimchi-making stall. The ladies who made the kimchi wore traditional korean costume, so it feels like women from the past making kimchi :)

Seoul Kimchi Festival!

many people come here

the ladies preparing kimchi

I also found Kimchi bus in there. They said the Kimchi bus already traveled to many countries to introduced Kimchi. Amazing isn't it?

the kimchi bus

Inside Kimchi festival, we could found King Sejong the Great statue. and not far from the festival, we also meet with Admiral Yi Sunshin statue.

King Sejong the Great statue

Admiral Yi Sunshin statue

Nearby Admiral Yi Sunshin statue, there were some tents and fulfilled with pictures and someone prayed in from of the pictures. After paying attention to the pictures, I realized the tents was dedicated to memorized the victims of MV Sewol that sink during its trip to Jeju. Since the victims are students who're going for field trip, so most of the photos are happy face of the high school students. Just seeing this scene really made us sad and teary. 

he's praying for the MV Sewol victims

pictures of the victims :(

Then we continue our trip to Cheonggyecheon steram through Insa-dong. Insa-dong was quite crowded that night, just like Myeong-dong. Though I like Myeong-dong better, but if you want to find souvenirs to be brought home, I suggest you to visit Insa-dong since it has more souvenirs shops.

Insa-dong

Then we arrived at Cheinggyecheon stream. We thought the lantern festival has already over, so we just expect a less crowded walk along the stream. But fortunately the lantern festival not over yet, so we can enjoy the beauty of the lanterns while we walk along the stream. To be honest, during festival like this, the walk along the stream were so packed and crowded. If you bring friend, make sure you hold them tight so you won't get separated. 

the lantern festival at Cheonggyecheon Stream

After get out from the stream, I saw a traditional swing machine, just like a night market in Indonesia. amazed!

this thing also there in Seoul? :O

Before closing our journey that day, we went to Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP). This place is new and famous because of its shape and especially after it appears in a famous Korean drama "My Love from Another Star".

in front of Dongdaemun Design Plaza. It looks like a space ship :)

The best thing was, it was the time for thousands (or millions maybe?) of rose lamps festival on the top of DDP. We felt so blessed to be able to see many festivals that day. Happy!

The rose lamps festival on the top of DDP. We love it!

XOXO,

The Tourist

South Korea Trip: Tosokchon, The Famous Samgyetang near Gyeongbokgung Palace

After visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace, we started to feel hungry. We have planned to visit a famous Samgyetang seller near the palace. The restaurant name is Tosokchon, it is very famous for its samgyetang. My office mate who ever visit seoul also recommended this restaurant.

The location is not far from Gyeongbokgung. It is located in a small alley, but since this one is famous, people already know its location and already queued outside the restaurant. The queue is not long, I guess because the restaurant is big so they have plenty seats.

we had to queue to get into Tosokchon

we ordered Chicken Stew with Ginseng. We thought it is only consist of chicken, but amazingly it also has rice and herbs inside the chicken! it taste great and ginseng really useful in keeping our body warm.

the famous and tasty Samgyetang

they also gave us free fermented ginseng, or is this soju?

The great thing is, even though this restaurant famous, its price are affordable. Really recommend everybody to come and try its samgyetang :)

the price list

When we come out from the restaurant, the queue already disappeared, maybe it's only happened during lunch time.

in front of Tosokchon

XOXO,
The Tourist

South Korea Trip: Bukchon Hanok Village and Gyeongbokgung Palace

On the third day in Seoul, we planned to go to the north of Seoul to feel the traditional feeling of South Korea. We visited Bukchon Hanok Village and Gyeongbokgung Palace since both location are close to each other and can be reach by feet.

Bukchon Hanok Village is Korean traditional village. Bukchon means Nothern village while Hanok is the name of the traditional houses in there. Many houses in Bukchon have become cultural centers, but some of are still residence. Since many tourists visits this place, there are some board that reminds the tourist to not make loud sound especially at night because the residences in there may be disturbed by that sound.

we stopped at Anguk station, took exit 3, and start walking from there. Since Bukchon Hanok Village is a touristy place, so we could see many tourist, both local and foreign tourist walked to the village. My first thought when arrived at the Bukchon Hanok Village was "it's simply a residence". What we're trying to find was a spot that often appear in the internet when we googled "Bukchon Hanok Village". And when we found it, we directly took out the tripod and set timer, haha....

My favorit spot when visiting Bukchon was the place where we could see the Gyeongbokgung Palace from far away and the mountain in its background. I just love to see such landscape. 

With Gyeongbokgung and the mountain

And when we're going to leave the Bukchon, we found some funny painting at the walls. So we took a chance to grab picture with it.

pictures on the wall

the kissing scene

which one is real?

The distance from Bukchon Hanok Village to Gyeongbokgung is not far, and especially the view on the street is beautiful too, so you'll enjoy your walk.

with autumn leaves everywhere

finally we arrived at Gyeongbokgung palace. The guards in front of the palace as so tall and so stiff. I almost thought they were mannequin. 

Gyeongbokgung Palace's guardian

in front the palace

We were so lucky that not long after our arrival, it was the time for the guard changing ceremony. All tourists are directed to the audience place so they can enjoy and not disturb the ceremony at the same time.

changing guard ceremony

The ticket to enter Gyeongbokgung Palace is 3,000 won. Behind the ticket, you can learn the history of the palace. We could also find the map of the palace in the entrance.

Gyeongbokgung Palace entrance ticket

an informative ticket with the palace history behind it

location map

Two famous place inside Gyeoungbokgung that we visited was Gyeonghoe-ru Pavilion and Hyangwon-jeong. Gyeonghoe-ru Pavilion of National Treasure is where the king threw feast for foreign envoys or host court official. While Hyangwon-jeong is a palace back garden with a bridge to reach the artificial islet. The name itself means Pavilion of Far-Reaching Fragrance (details info can be found in here).

Gyeonghoe-ru Pavilion

Hyangwon-jeong

There are plenty of plants and trees inside Gyeongbokgung Palace, but my favorit is this mandarin orange tree. It was my first time seeing this tree, so it amazed me to see how cute the tree was.

the fruitful mandarin orange tree

XOXO,

The Tourist