Two Weeks Vacation in South Korea - Part X
Part IX: Two Weeks Vacation in South Korea - Part IX
Part X: Two Weeks Vacation in South Korea - Part X
Part XI: Two Weeks VAcation in South Korea - Part XI
Itinerary to South Korea
Day 9: Seoul
Gimpo International Airport
From Loveland, we drove back to KT Kumho to return our car and took a shuttle back to Jeju International Airport. 4 days 3 nights in Jeju Island was short. I wished I could stay longer since we missed a lot of things to do such as Hanyeo show, Hallasan mountain, etc. We took air busan from Jeju Airport to Gimpo Airport. We arrived at 2PM.
Park Hyatt Seoul
From Gimpo International Airport, we took KAL limousine bus 6704 toward Park Hyatt Seoul near Samsoeng Station. It cost 7,500 won/person and took around 70-90 minutes to get there. The bus stop exactly in front of the hotel. We stayed here for two night. I chose this hotel since it was closed to the COEX and Lotte World.
Lotte World
We took a rest until the dinner time. We ate noodle ramyun again and went to Lotte World. We took a subway to get there.
Direction: Take Green Line #2 from Samsoeng Station to Lotte World
From Lotte World, we went back to hotel and slept.
Day 10: Seoul
We woke up and had a breakfast at the restaurant located at 2nd Floor of Park Hyatt Seoul. For today destination, I was thinking to tackle attractions around Gwanghwamun. We were taking a metro to Gyeongbokgung station.
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| Metro Underground at Gyeongbokgung Station |
Gyeongbokgung Palace
First, we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. There are five palaces in the area. Gyeongbokgung Palace is the largest and most beautiful among all palaces. This palace was built in Joseon Dynasty.
Direction:
1. Take Line 2 (Green) from Samsoeng Station to Seoul Nat'l University of Education (4 stops)
2. Transfer to Line 3 (Orange) from Seoul Nat'l University of Education to Gyeongbokgung (13 stops)
Alternative Direction:
1. Take Line 2 (Green) from Samsoeng Station to Euljiro-3-ga (17 stops)
2. Transfer to Line 3 (Orange) from Euljiro-3-ga to Gyeongbokgung (3 stops)
Fee: Free or 3,000 won/person to enter the palace (inside the red line shown in the picture below)
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| Gyeonghoeru Pavilion |
In this location, there are three performance of changing of Royal Guard. Please note that Gyeongbokgung Palace closed on Tuesday and therefore, no performance will occur on Tuesday. The performances schedule occurs all year long from January 1 to December 31.
*** Sumunjang (Royal Guard) Changing Ceremony ***
10:00, 13:00, 15:00 / three times a day / 20 minutes per ceremony
*** Gwanghwamun Gate Guard-on-Duty Performance ***
11:00, 14:00, 16:00 / three times a day / 10 minutes per ceremony
*** Sumungun(Gatekeeper) Military Training (outside Hyeopsaengmun Gate) ***9:35, 12:35 / 15 minutes per ceremony
Gwanghwamun Square
We watched the Sumunjang Changing Ceremony at 1 PM. After the ceremony, we walked to Gwanghwamun Square to take picture with the gate, King Sejong statue, and General Yi Sun-Shin statue. When we were here on that day, there were a lot of policemen and police's buses in preventing the strike of Sewol Ferry Incident.
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| Gwanghwamun Gate |
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| Sumunjang Changing Ceremony |
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| King Sejong Statue |
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| Sejong Center |
General Yi Sun-Shin Statue
Tosokchon
From Gwanghwamun Square, we went to eat at Tosokchon restaurant. The building of Tosokchon restaurant is in Hanok themed. They are very famous with samgyetang as their signature dish. Samgyetang is a chicken ginseng soup made with glutinous rice, gingko nuts, ginseng, garlic, jujube, chicken (black or white), and 30 different types of medicinal herbs and grains. This restaurant is very popular and there was always a line-up during the lunch and dinner hours. Therefore, we went there around 2:30 PM past the lunch time when there was not so many people queuing to eat there. I would rate this restaurant 4.5/5.
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| Long queue during lunch or dinner time |
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| Waiting to get called for our table |
Dad ordered the black chicken samgyetang while three of us oredered the regular one. One thing to remember when ordering the samgyetang was that they would give you a small cup of liquor that supposedly to be poured inside the samgyetang. When we ate there, we actually drank the liquor. When we were done eating, we went to Bukchon Hanok Village by taking a cab.
Bukchon Hanok Village
To get to Bukchon Hanok Village from Tosokchon, we could walk but my mom preferred to take a cab. Bukchon Hanok Village consists of hundreds of 'Hanok' - traditional house in South Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. When we got there, the cab just drop us at Bukchon-ro. It was a large area and we had no idea which one to go. We went to a coffee shop, sat there, and I browsed the internet. One thing I remembered about the Bukchon Hanok Village was Sanggojae - 'Personal Taste', a popular TV drama by Lee Min Ho. His house at the drama was located at one of the hanoks in Bukchon Hanok Village.
Address: #43, Bukchon-ro 11 ga-gil, Jongno-gu
Direction:
1. Exit 2 at Anguk Station
2. Walked or take bus #11 and stop at 'Bukchon-ro 11-gil' or Donmi Pharmacy (Located on the left side)
3. Walked thru 'Bukchon-ro 11-gil' all the way then turned left to 'Buckchon-ro 11 ga-gil' (second road). The first road is part of "Buckchon-ro 11-gil". The first road is actually better to take pictures than the second one.
After we found the location, we walked there. We walked up thru the first road 'Bukchon-ro 11-gil' and walked down thru the second road 'Bukchon-ro 11 ga-gil'
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I was thinking to visit the National Folk Museum of Korea, Cheonggyecheon stream, Cheonwadae, Gangnam-gu, etc when we came back from Gangwon-do since we still have two days at Seoul. Remember to visit as much as you can when there is a chance rather than waiting at the end. I did not have that opportunity anymore because the last two days in Seoul, my mom's friend came and ended up taking us somewhere else and shopping. Therefore, the places that I had not visited need to be on my bucket lists on future visit.From Bukchon Hanok Village, we took a cab to go back to our hotel and rest. At night, we went to COEX Mall and eat pork cutlet.
COEX Mall
We walked from the hotel to the COEX Mall thru Samsoeng station. In this mall, I found two stores that I liked: 8 seconds and Ziozia. At first, we only walked thru and saw an advertisement board of Kim Soo Hyun. We just wanna took a picture with it. However, we read if we bring a picture of us with the ads board to Ziozia, they will give us a gift without purchase. I had never heard about ZioZia before. Glad that I found this ads, I loved the clothing in this store. COEX Mall is the largest underground shopping center in Asia. It is located in the basement of the Korea World Trade Center.
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| Credit @ visitkorea.co.kr |
First, we went to ZioZia to get the free gift but ended up stay for a while. I bought couple of T-shirts, shirts, and shorts. The free gifts was perfume and socks. This store only sold men's wear. There were lots of other stores but we were tired because it was so big.
We ate pork cutlet at Domodachi restaurant. I would rate the food 4.5/5. We loved the pork, chicken, or fish cutlet. Everything was good. After that we went back to the hotel.
Continue Part XI: Two Weeks VAcation in South Korea - Part XI
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