Seoul Day 2: Hongdae, Insadong & Around

After our packed first day in Seoul, we still woke up by around 5:30am on the second day, which was a Sunday (thanks jetlag!). Paul grabbed some coffee from the GS25 convenience store across the street from our hotel, then we leisurely got ready for the day.

It was quite chilly in the morning, and we took a short walk along Cheongyecheon stream, which included an egret sighting. We visited Chongyecheon back in 2011; it's a great urban space where the city government demolished an unsightly elevated highway to uncover an old stream. The city was quiet this early on a weekend morning, and we enjoyed a walk past city hall and along the wall of Doeksugung palace. We stopped at the cute Jeongwangsu coffee shop and had a delightful "matcha spanner." We learned that a spanner is a popular Korean drink based on the Vienna Einspänner, and essentially just means it comes with a layer of whipped cream.

Cheongyecheon stream early in the morning.

Paul walking across the stream.

Seoul city hall has some wild architecture.

Chicago style pizza in Seoul!

Walking along the palace walls.

A yummy pastry and matcha drinks for breakfast.

Our next stop was the Seoul Museum of History. On the way there we walked through the Donuimun Museum Village for a few minutes. It's an outdoor series of buildings that preserves the look of Seoul in the 1950s and 60s. It was an interesting place to spend a few minutes wandering.

The Seoul Museum of History was a nice stop, with good exhibits on the history of the city, and a really cool massive diorama of the city with a light show.

We happened to walk by the Canadian embassy.

A building in the Donuimon Museum Village.

Uh, what?

The city diorama.

Replica of a 1980s Seoul apartment.

Before and after photos showing development in the city.

After the museum, we wanted to get some dalkgalbi for lunch in Hongdae. Hongdae is a "cool people" neighborhood near Hongik University. This is a very popular nightlife district which also features a long semi-pedestrianized shopping street. To get from the city center to Hongdae, we hopped on a bus, which ran like a BRT and was super easy. We wandered around and did some shopping (including "Muzik Tiger," a great pop-up store) before getting lunch.

Getting around Seoul is in general is super easy using public transit and walking, but unfortunately, as of Spring 2024, Google and the Korean government are in a dispute about where and how travel data is stored on servers, rendering Google Maps basically useless. This means you have to use Korean-produced mapping and travel apps for navigation. Naver was the app recommended to us, and was pretty easy to use overall. Just something to keep in mind until the dispute is resolved!

When we visited back in 2011, we went to a nearby neighborhood (Sinchon) for dalkgalbi and pretty much have loved it since then. Dalkgalbi is basically chicken with gochujang (pepper paste) with cabbage and rice cakes (tteok) that you usually cook for yourself on a large grill. This is one of the few Korean foods that we can't find in Atlanta, so this meal had been talked about and planned weeks in advance! This trip we went to Shin Migyeong, which was tasty but came to our table already cooked. Fortunately we still got to heat it and let all the flavors combine at our table.

Hongdae bear, why you gotta be so fly?! Also...why are you coming out of the sewer!?

Hongdae shopping street.

Cute Shop!

David digging into the dalkgalbi. We think this is a must-eat dish when in Korea.

After lunch we walked around in Hongdae more, popping into shops and doing some people watching. One thing we noticed this trip in Korea, that we didn't ten years ago, was the proliferation of shops where (mostly) girls enter to take photos. It seemed like the shops offered props, good lighting, backdrops, etc. There were legitimately dozens of these places in the ~ 1 km walk we did along Hongdae Shopping Street. After noticing them here, we started noticing them all over Seoul. I guess they're just a fun thing you can do and reminded us a bit of the photo both type kiosks we saw in Tokyo back in 2011 as well.

Eventually, we reached the end of the shopping street at AK Plaza. This was a very narrow department store/mall with each floor themed to a different genre of shop. We noticed some Final Fantasy/Anime content outside, so we figured we'd pop in and look around. At the top floor was a Square-Enix Cafe (which we were planning on visiting in Tokyo in 2 weeks) and a ton of gamer, anime, trinket and clothing shops throughout. This shopping center was extremely packed and very lively with people eating at food stalls and popping in and out of the shops.

The opposite side of the AK Plaza was the start of the Gyeongui Line Forest Park. This park is a rail-trail, similar to the Beltline in Atlanta along an old abandoned rail line. It's basically a kinda small sidewalk beside a nice strip of grace/trees nestled in the neighborhood extending about 1 km from the end of the Hongdae Shopping Street. It goes through some really cute neighborhoods and, even with the weather not being the best, was very well utilized by people going from point A to B or walking their dogs. Overall a nice amenity for a city that is a bit light on parks.

David in front of a Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth ad.

Gyeongui Line Forest Park

They left a bit of the rail here and there for aesthetics.

At the end of the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, there's a cute little coffee shop that Paul read about before we started the day. The place is called Coffee Nap Roasters and is a really unique space with hilly brick floor (yes, a brick hill, check out the photos) and limited seating around the sides. You're able to sit on the slope if you'd like, but no one was while we were there. The drinks were really nice here, and overall Korea has a really good coffeeshop scene with good attention to detail, good variety in types of drinks (since David doesn't drink coffee) and really interesting interior design. Paul loved his coffee (#420), which was an iced coffee with flavored foam and David enjoyed his floral milk tea.

After sitting for a few mins, we walked around the neighborhood (Yeonnam) a bit before heading back towards the city center. There were lots of cute little pedestrian alleys. The area was nice and quiet and there were a several little restaurants and coffee shops. Honestly, we're not sure how so many coffee shops stay in business in Seoul. 

Coffee Nap Roasters' interesting layout.

Paul's flavored foam iced coffee.

Yeonnam Neighborhood is super cute and quiet.

Next we took another bus from Yeonnam to Insadong to visit Jogyesa temple. Jogyesa is a Buddhist temple near the center of Seoul that we visited back in 2011 and really enjoyed. Unfortunately, the weather turned pretty bad and cut our time wandering around Insadong short. Before it started raining too hard, we did manage to look at Jogyesa a bit, walk around some Insadong shopping areas (including a 4 story complex with a winding path through about 50 shops), and find our way to the Michelin bib gourmand Gaesong Mandu Koong for an impromtu late second lunch (or early dinner depending on your point of view). Gaesong specializes in dumpling and jeon (savory pancakes). We shared a small jeon and variety pack of six dumplings. This restaurant is pretty touristy, and probably not our favorite meal of the time in Seoul.

After eating we tried to wander around the Ikseon-dong area, which has lots of traditional/older Korean houses that were converted to nice bars, restaurants and shops but it was too crowded and it started to pour so we just made our way back to the hotel to rest for a while. The walk back to the hotel was about 20 minutes and we got very wet... 😞

Cool building we walked past.

Gate leading towards Jogyesa.

The weather took a turn for the worse...but still a cool tree!

Who doesn't love a good juxtaposition?

Jogyesa is a favorite location from our last trip to Seoul.

Walking through Insadong in the rain towards dumplings.

This was an awkwardly timed meal, but there's always room for some dumplings and a jeon.

Courtyard in Ikseon-dong area. There are lots of hanoks and renovated shops here. Wish we had more time to look around before the rain!

After resting for a while, and considering we had just eaten dumpling and jeon, we decided to skip a bigger meal and to hit up a cocktail bar instead. This trip, across 3 of the 4 cities (not Tokyo), we made a point to visit cocktail bars. Overall, these were good experiences but we found that the flavors were generally more subtle than the US and the drinks very light on alcohol. We had no trouble with 2 or 3 drinks at most places we visited, which, in America or Europe, would have left us more tipsy.

To kick it all off, we visited a speakeasy cocktail bar we saw on a youtube video near our hotel in Myeongdong named Sookhee. The interior and menu were really cool, but the place is hard to find. Basically, you have to walk into an alley, go up an elevator to the 4th floor (which seems empty when you arrive) and then hit a button to have a machine open a door for you. Just google around if you want more details on getting in.

While here, we ordered a burrata with gochujang and perilla leaves as a snack and got a couple cocktails each. The interior design was really cool and the menu is on a scroll they roll out for you. Overall the place had a really nice atmosphere and was fairly crowded, but we only had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table.

The menu at Sookhee was on a scroll they rolled out for you. The drawings were really cute.

Super fancy, if not super alcoholic cocktail.

Probably the best drink we had, Korean pear and gin.

Burrata with gochujang on a bed of perilla leaves. Odd but good.

Interior design was a solid A. Looked a bit like a Korean Buddhist temple but with lots of mother-of-pearl pictures.

Heading back to the hotel through Myeong-dong in the rain.

That wrapped up the day in Seoul. We went to bed and crossed our fingers for less rainy weather the next day, which would be our final day in the city before flying to Singapore.

Asian City Megatour '24 Kickoff - Seoul

It's been over a decade since David's been to Asia, and even longer for Paul, so when we were planning a 2024 vacation the continent rose to the top of the list. We started planning a two week vacation, and settled in on Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. These are brand new cities for us, and David had never been to this region (Paul was in Cambodia and Vietnam way back in 2007). The main problem with traveling to Southeast Asia is it's incredibly far from Atlanta - about a 16 or so hour flight to either Japan or South Korea, a layover, and then a connecting 6 hour flight. So we decided to break it up a bit and spend a few days in Seoul and Tokyo rather than just connecting in the airport. With our Atlanta → Seoul → Singapore → Kuala Lumpur → Tokyo → Atlanta itinerary set, we hopped on our first flight and began our trip.

David's ready to go to Seoul with the express train mascots.

Our route for the trip. Lots and lots of time in airplanes.

Our Delta flight left at 11:30pm on a Thursday, and with the long flight time and time zones, we landed a bit before 5am on Saturday. We took the AREX express from the airport to Seoul Station, which took around 50 minutes. Unfortunately it was still dark so we couldn't see much. We transferred to the subway and made our way to the Lotte City Hotel in the Myeongdong neighborhood. Since we arrived around 7:10am, it was too early to check in, so we dropped off our bags. Despite being tired from travelling (and the 14 hour time change), we hit the ground running to maximize our time in Seoul. Well, after getting some coffee at the Angel-in-us cafe in our hotel. Korea has a fun coffee culture, in general. There are tons of awkwardly-named-in-English chain coffee spots across Seoul.

Since this first day was supposed to be the sunniest (although coldest) weather of our time in Seoul, we made our first stop the Namhansanseong fortress/palace, a UNESCO world heritage site on the southern outskirts of the city. Since Seoul has great transit, it was pretty easy to take the subway and then a connecting bus to reach the site. The bus was full of older people going to take a morning walk around the grounds. Namhansanseong was built as an emergency palace, and largely constructed and used during the 16th to 18th centuries. It's built on a mountainous site about 1,500 feet above sea level, so it was quite a bit colder than Seoul and there was a fair amount of snow around the site. This would be the only snow we'd see on the trip.

We started by walking around some of the walls and taking in the views. Although it was sunny, the air quality was not the best, so the views of central Seoul (about 15 miles away) were hazy but still beautiful. Seoul, in general, has very poor air quality. As the sun continued to rise the snow dripped from the trees. We stopped by Gugcheongsa (국청사) temple, a small and quiet temple inside the fortress grounds that looked charming in the snow. We wrapped up in the center of the site, visiting the palace itself, which had a small entrance fee. While the palace and gates were nice, the appeal of Namhansanseong is certainly the setting, the walls, and the views.

By now it was getting close to lunch time, so we left the palace and crossed the street to a row of restaurants and cafes. The area right around the entrance is set up pretty well for tourists, and parts are even quite cute. We ate at a place called Kimgane Bindaetteok (김가네빈대떡), which was like a cozy wooden cabin and a nice break from the chilly weather outside. A man from the table next to us saw us looking through the Korean-only menu and came over to help us order. Unlike the main tourists areas of Seoul, this whole area was all Koreans; we didn't see any other foreigners.

Seoul has an excellent and easy to use metro system. Getting around the city is a breeze!

On the bus with people bundled up for a walk in the snow.

Walking up to one of the gates.

David in the morning cold.

There was a lot of snow in some areas.

Top of gate selfie!

Views toward Seoul, including the massive Lotte World Tower...which does not look like the eye of Sauron.

Icicles on the roof of a gate.

David on top of the gate!

The serene little temple courtyard.

Korean temples are often painted in brilliant colors.

Buddhas in the temple. 

The main gate of the palace compound.

One of the rooms in the palace.

Looking out over the grounds.

The restaurant we ate at was nice and cozy.

Hot soups on a cold day!

After lunch, we caught the bus back to the subway, and went to the Jamsil area, which has the Lotte World Tower we had seen from Namhansanseong. This 555m (1,821ft) tall skyscraper is currently the 6th tallest building on earth, and we were excited to go to the top and check out the views. We walked through the (very busy) mall at the base of the tower, which has a cute Studio Ghibli store, before taking the elevator up to the "Seoul Sky" observation deck. There was no security (just an unused metal detector) which was a nice change of pace from the US. The views from the top were expansive, although there was still quite a bit of haze. There was also a glass floor with views straight down to the ground.

David with Totoro!

Paul with Kaonashi from Spirited Away.

Looking up at the Lotte World Tower from the plaza.

Lotte World amusement park is right next door.

Looking out over the expanse of Seoul.

Don't look down...is not a message Paul ever received.

Coming down from the observation tower, we got rehydrated at a 7-11 in the mall (7-11s and similar small convenience stores are EVERYWHERE in Korea and Japan), then took the subway to the Gangnam neighborhood. Mostly we went here because Paul wanted to revisit Bongeunsa (a Buddhist temple across the street from super large malls and skyscrapers). This part of town was very busy on a Saturday afternoon.

From Bongeunsa we walked across the street to the Starfield/Coex mall to check out the Starfield "library" and the Gangnam Style hands statute. The library was packed and it was impossible to look around; there was a live performance occurring which didn't help the crowding. After wandering around a bit, we took the subway back to the hotel to check-in and chill for a few minutes before wandering off for dinner.

Lanterns at Bongeunsa.

Who doesn't love the juxtaposition of modern and ancient buildings?

Bongeunsa Buddha.

Korean Buddhist temples are always so colorful!

Starfield Library.

This is a perfectly cromulent number of people to be in a small space with.

oh...Konglish. Don't ever change.

Oppan Gangnam Style!

Like almost every other hotel we've ever stayed at in Korea, there was almost no control over the temperature of the room. Our room was quite warm, and we basically needed to keep the window open the entire time we were there, despite it being around freezing at night. We were on the 14th floor, with views of the surrounding skyscrapers and glimpses of the nearby cheonggyecheon stream and the mountains at the edge of the city. Overall the room was pretty nice, had a great shower, great location, and was a good value. We would definitely recommend the Lotte City Hotel.

After settling in for a bit, we walked to dinner up in Insadong - about 15 minutes, from our hotel. Insadong is a really nice souvenir/craft shopping area with lots of restaurants. It's pretty touristy, though. We ate at a Buddhist temple food restaurant called Sanchon. To be honest the flavors were really mild, but we guess that's to be expected of vegan temple food? It was still interesting to try a variety of different vegetables and banchan. Paul really liked the pickled celery leaves, as well as one made with soft tofu and seaweed. There was also a good house made pine tea with fruits. The interesting interior design of the restaurant was neat too, with art on the walls and lots of plants throughout.

View from our hotel room overlooking cheonggyecheon.

Cheonggyecheon stream, which we had visited back in 2011.

Insadong is lively at night, with a pedestrian main street.

Makgeolli - rice wine.

So much banchan. Honestly, this was probably the most vegetables we ate of the whole trip!

Cheonggyecheon stream at night.

After the 16 hour flight, a day lost to time zones, and 15 hours exploring Seoul, we were exhausted. We went back to the hotel and got ready for bed by 8:15pm. Two more days in Seoul to go, then on the Singapore!