Take-away Breakfast
- Take away Sandwiches, coffee, cookies bf to rush for the Gyeongbokgung Palace Royal Guard Changing Ceremony (10am)
- Guided Tour Earliest time slot. Eng @ 11am, Chi @ 10.30am (Opens 9am-5.30pm)
- More details www.royalpalace.go.kr
The guided tours were too packed so we walked around ourselves and eavesdropped on other tour guides instead. ha!
Summer @ Gyeongbokgung Palace
Random pics around the palace.
Moodswing kind of Weather. It was hot @ 33-34 degrees.. a sudden 20mins downpour and the sky cleared up again.
Our pretty polka umbrellas bought at Insadong came in handy. Ha!
Haechi
An ancient Korean symbol, the Haechi is a guardian of justice, a mythical beast that can discern good and evil. Part lion, part dragon. Haechi sculptures were used in architecture during the early Joseon dynasty, as their image was trusted to be able to protect Hanyang (now Seoul) from natural disasters and to give law and order among the populace. Seoul city has officially used Haechi (origin of Haetae) as the symbol of Seoul since 2009.
In English, it is called "the Unicorn-lion"or "an omniscient mythical beast."
Haechi were placed before palaces and homes to protect them from misfortune, such as fires.
http://english.seoul.go.kr & Wikipedia
Lunch @ Tosokchon
2 blocks away from the palace, if you stop in Gyeongbokgung station,
take the exit number 1, 2 and 3, walk down to the street, when you see the G25,
the convenience store, then you should see tosokchon billboard with chinese
word.
- In my Must-eat list for the trip - Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup (samgyetang).
- Went at lunch hour around 1pm.
- Lotsa locals & tourists. Long Q but moved fast.
- Can see us in 1st pic? Haha..I doubt so...we were so far back.
- Ordered 4 pots. 3 normal & 1 black chicken. (3 with additional Ginseng)
- Nice insamju (ginseng infused wine)
- Total meal cost about 90,000 won for a hearty meal for all of us.
Waiting for our food patiently.
Our food is here!!!
The Samgyetang came in a white and creamy broth. The chicken is fresh and soft, stuffed with ginseng, jujubes, pine nuts, ginkgo, chestnuts, garlic, and sticky rice. The soup was sweet and piping hot.
We all enjoyed it, just that as Cantonese (except dear), we are used to good soups and richer taste. It would be perfect if we have soya sauce to add taste to the chicken.
Mel-Ee enjoyed the opportunity to use the chopsticks and put the ginseng into the soups.
Everybody had a good lunch. We guzzled down our scrumptious meal except for my dad enjoyed himself slowly to the last bit of soup.
Tar Dah! No more! ;)
Would definitely be back in my next Korea trip!
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Random pics again. It is very big within the restaurant. Many small rooms like these.
The kids called it PooPoo biscuit.
Spiral Ice-cream pic from flavorboulevard.com
Fried rough dough pics from ilubgrub.com & justinhjacobs.com
Poop Biscuit @ Insadong
On the way back to hotel for a nap, we tried the Poop biscuit @ Insadong & it became Miu-Ee's fav food item for the trip!
On the way back to hotel for a nap, we tried the Poop biscuit @ Insadong & it became Miu-Ee's fav food item for the trip!
The kids called it PooPoo biscuit.
- It's a pancake, crispy on the outside & soft within, filled with nice not too sweet red bean paste with crunchy walnuts. 1,000won/pc.
- Note the Poop hat on the seller. Miu will luv to have one. Ha!
- The stall sells chilled roasted barley tea (Korean common drink) too . It's nice & refreshing, esp for hot days like when we were there. Taste like barley + water chestnut with some rice type thingy inside.
- There is a Poop Themed Restaurant at the roof top of Ssamziegil too.
Street Food @ Insadong
Fried rough dough pics from ilubgrub.com & justinhjacobs.com
- While the kids just woke up from their nap and getting ready for our next venue for the day in my parents' room.....I went down quickly to Insadong again to quick grab the Poop Biscuits for Miu and Street Food for Dear & my parents.
- My dad tried the Fried round dough with Sweet peanut filling (Like Ham Chim Bang in Singapore). Have other fillings like red bean, pizza cheese, veg too.
- Dear tried the longish one. He ate so fast, I din even get to see the filling. He said it's nice but we aren't able to find it back in our next 2 trips at Insadong.
- Many people were eating the spiral ice-cream and there were many stalls along Insadong street. My kids tried the night before. Verdict: Interesting looking but ice cream is tasteless & watery, thick cone waffle.
N Seoul Tower
N Seoul Tower was built in 1969 as Korea’s first
integrated transmission tower beaming television and radio broadcasts across
the capital. Since opening to the public in 1980, it has become a much-loved
Seoul landmark. The tower’s main attractions include multi-colored digital art
projected onto the tower at night, a digital observatory, a roof terrace, the
HanCook restaurant, the n.Grill restaurant, and the Haneul (Sky)
Restroom. N Seoul Tower’s mountain surroundings on Namsan (Mt.) have made it a
popular place to unwind for locals and tourists alike. More details @ http://english.visitkorea.or.kr
- There are several ways to go up to N Seoul Tower. Cable car/Bus/Trek.
- As my mum & dear have phobia for heights, we took the shuffle bus no. 2 from Chungmuro Station (Exit 2) to the Tower. Cable car is a popular choice among their locals & Tourists for the experience & scenery. My preferred way up is to trek if without the kids & hot weather. ;)
- After alighting, we had to walk up a steep slope to the top of the mountain.
My parents dragged the gals up while panting themselves. Dear pushed the pram. Me Camera woman.
The cuter version of Haechi Seoul.
Love locks were nearly everywhere at ground level of the Tower.
Toilet with a view.
- We went to the Observatory level and Sky Restroom.
- It was a bit foggy when we were there. My family seems not too impressed by the place and senery...so next time no more such tower attraction in our trips. =o1
- Our hotel bay window and scenery was good enough for them. =o)
Shopping & Dinner @ Myeongdong
How to Go to Myeongdong: Myeongdong Station (명동역) – Line 4, exit 6 or Euljiro 1-ga Station (을지로입구역) – Line 2, exit 6
Myeongdong (명동) – Pretty much the no.1 tourist attraction and shopping heaven in Seoul, esp for ladies. Korean make up stores (Faceshop, Etude House, Tony Moly, Missha, etc) are everywhere that you can find one almost every alternate store. Competition is so strong that every shop is giving out some kind of freebies (eg, mask) to entice you in or with each purchase.
It would be a great shopping place too with many brand names like Zara, H&M, Forever 21, Nike, Puma, etc and many other local boutiques around. There are some interesting street vendors selling accessories, wacky caps and socks too.
But again...with the kids and stroller along, it was hard to enter the shops to shop in peace. Furthermore, it was already around 8plus when we reached and were tired out by the earlier walks .
- Hungry and tired. We along walked only one of the streets and tried whichever street food that attracted us.
- The sausages with mustard sauce....5 pcs, all different flavours. Nice.
- Rice cake comes with or is in every dish here in Korea. Pancakes, soups, starter, dessert and even wrapped in hotdog.
- Sugar cane juice in the common drink packaging there is Seoul.
- Lemonade is common in Seoul too.
- When comes to drink choices...Korean seems to have the healthier preference. At stalls, you find little soft drinks being sold. Most are bottled non-carbonated drinks like corn/malt/rice tea (very little sugar type) or milk. At restaurants, looking around, the drinks are the ice water served or wine.
The only shop we entered was a Outlet liked shop which had a good range of Sport shoes and casual shoes.
The girls were entertained with Balloon Sculptures when Dear was busy trying his shoes.
Our Katsu Dinner
Randomly, we found a casual restaurant for dinner and had the best Katsu cutlets ever. They were big, thick and crispy and each set cost only 60,000-80,000won! We had their Katsu Curry, Pork Cutlet with Cheese, Fish Cutlet & Cold Buckwheat Noodle set and was it comes with a soy soup as starter which Miu luvs it too!
After the dinner, we tried our 1st taxi ride in Seoul and headed back to the Hotel.
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