Back from Seoul(Day 1) - Insadong vicinity

We just returned from an interesting trip to Seoul, South Korea and had a good time eating, shopping and visiting places, including getting caught up in South Korea's World Cup fever.Here are some highlights of our trip during the 11 days we were there.


(Above) Riding in the Limousine Bus which cost 18000W for 2 on the way to Insadong where our serviced apartment is located.


(Above) After putting down our luggage as it was not time for check n yet, we headed down thrugh Insadong in search of lunch and found many eateries in the side alleys. Hoever those in the Insadong vicinity are of higher priced establisments. If you want more localized small time but equally good eateries, head out from insadong area.


(Above and below)Saw many eateries and lunctime crowds heading into this side alley called Hwasin-gil and we just followed them in and found some good local eateries. The road sign is just some distance in front of the Jonggok Subway Station entrance.



(Above) Eugin posing in front of the eatery we decided on - known for their blood intestine sausages and blood intestine soup. You can know how famous the eatery is by checking the lunchtime crowd in the eatery and the no of claim to fame as evident by television station posters showing celebrities and show hosts who have visited and ate at the eatery.

Good thing about Korean eateries is that they have many pictures of their famed dishes displayed outside the eatery so if you have a language problem, just bring the waiter / owner out and point to the picture or like me, i use my iphone to capture shots of the dishes and showed them to the waiter inside. Another option is to try speaking in Mandarin as that is probably the next most common foreign language familiar to the koreans.


(Above)Inside the eatery


(Above and Below) Our first local meal - just looks inviting



(Above)A local delicacy - Sausage roll filled with ox blood bits,glass noodle strands and encased in ox intestine skin.


(Above) We were simply addicted to their ox blood intestine soup. One thing good is how piping hot and fresh the soup always comes to us- you can see the froth of the heated soup welcoming you.


(Above) Certain soups like the ox blood intestine soup come with rice in them for a full meal.

After the satisfying meal, we explored the local shopping areas like the Jonggok underground shopping(below). In our opinion, we found the items not exactly cheap and there are wider variety, higher quality items and better prices and designs that can be found at Myeongdong(with bargaining)or in Singapore.






(Above) We spied a little octopus, our first one in Seoul at one of the eatery at Hwasing-gil.


(Above)where we were. The good thing about being free and easy is that we can just wander wherever we want beyond the touristy areas and that's how after lunch, we came to be exploring the area of Chong Gye 2(i)Ga, vicinity outside of Insadong.


(Above) This looks like a freshwater stream but.......


(Above) ..but it is not, instead it's innovative use of the city's canals to make them pedestrian friendly and a green nature belt within the city. Singapore could learn something from here. there is cyclist track too for cyclists to commute on their own lane, away from the hustle and bustle of traffic.


(Above) We enjoyed s solo rendition by a violinist busker along the way. The cool weather about 25C makes this possible to just stand there and be mesmerised by the music.


(Above)Along the way, we saw some humourous signs where translations from Korean to English has resulted in something that brought a smile to us.




(Above)Beautiful ice cream cakes from baskins robbins that we came upon. Don't they look sweet and pretty?



To be continued......