seoul
To me, traveling and food go hand in hand. There is no way i'd travel and not enjoy local cuisine. No. Way.
Skipping out on food is like a travel sin in my opinion. I mean, its food! How could one miss out on food? Right?
Food in Korea is definitely one of those you don't want to be skipping out on. I've never classified myself to be a Korean food lover. Heck, before I went to korea, I never touched the kimchi side dish that came with korean food. That's because I have never tried KOREAN FOOD IN KOREA. I've previously mentioned my favourite food place in Jeju - seriously it's THE BEST, and SO AFFORDABLE. But, if you're not heading to Jeju, Seoul has just as impressive and affordable food options!
I would say my favourite food dish in Seoul has to be its KOREAN BBQ. I cannot even begin to emphasize how much I love barbecue, and korean bbq, where the staff cooks the food for you, takes barbecuing to a whole new level!
Here's a collation of the top 5 favourite food items I tried in Korea
1 | Mugyodong Bugeokukjib
A humble fish base soup store, that serves 1 thing for dinner. There is no ordering needed, just enter, sit down and food would be served. It was THE BEST dinner I had in Seoul.
2 | Yoogane Dakgalbi
Spicy chicken and cabbage dish. I don't really know what it is or how it's made, all i know is, it was TASTY and i'm craving it just thinking about it!Plus, it's located in Hongdae which means it's either the perfect mid day pit stop, or the right way to fuel your body for a full day of shopping!
3 | Maple Tree House Korean BBQ
Awesome service, although a tad bit pricier. I'd say the BBQ in Jeju is better, but the variety in Seoul is way more impressive.Check out the video below for the best way to eat a cabbage wrap!
4 | Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup
Located at the heart of seoul, this place serves a huge bowl of chicken soup, with sticky rice inside. A delicious meal to end a day!
5 | STREET FOOD IN DONGDAE MUN MARKET
I do not need to further emphasize the importance of trying street food in Korea. It is some of the best out there. For more street food shots, check out this video below. It's a full compilation of my food adventures in Seoul, Korea! :)Top 5 Food in Seoul, South Korea
4 October 2016 Seoul, South Korea
One of the more popular places to visit and shop in Seoul is Dong dae mun. However, apart from the lovely shopping malls, one other MAJOR reason to visit Dong dae mun is the Dongdaemun Design Plaza otherwise known as DDP, in South Korea.
The DDP has some of the most unique architecture among all the buildings in Seoul. The way the metal grid walls of the plaza curve to form that organic structure, perfectly counter balances all the boxy office and commercial buildings in its vicinity.
The DDP isn't only famous for being a museum, but it's architecture has successfully attracted bloggers and a multitude of tourist heading just to photograph by the building. I saw a male model/blogger just casually posing where the wall curves in, so as to capture that indentation as his backdrop.
After he left, I attempted to get a cool shot in the area. But queue the multitude of tourist walking past, and then my expected failure at a glam-metal-grid-futuristic-background-fashion-blogger-shot.
Not only is the external structure of the DDP futuristic, the interior was just as impressive. It had pristine white walls and a huge angular central staircase connecting all the exhibition levels. The staircase bends and cuts in an irregular pattern and appears somewhat like and rotating hexagon from the top. Even this made for the perfect photo opportunity.
Needless to say, I went a little crazy, snapping away at every turn of the staircase.
In all honesty, I don't actually remember myself seeing any exhibitions. I probably passed by 1 or 2 free ones, but did not pay extra to see any others.
As someone who really appreciates the structure and architecture of buildings as well as their interior layout, visiting exhibitions were least of my concerns.
After climbing up the beautiful staircase and passing through corridors of curving white walls, you'd find yourself at the rooftop of the DDP.
One would think you'd be done being impressed, but the roof top view from the DDP is seriously one of the best.
I would also like to point out that the roof of this building is curved and leads you down to from the highest floor to the ground floor of the plaza. Is that not cool?!
Living in Singapore, these types of buildings shouldn't wow me as much. After all, the Art, Design and Media building in my school has slight similarities in terms of architecture to the DDP, but somehow, I WAS IMPRESSED.
Maybe it was the curvature of the surface, the way the light will undulate when it hits the building, or maybe it was the contrast between the DDP and its surroundings.
Regardless, i'd recommend anyone who is visiting Seoul to head over to the DDP and check it out.
Even if you're not an architecture junkie. Just head up to the roof top for a sick view!
Metal Grids at the DDP - South Korea
20 September 2016 281 Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
One of the popular couple hang out spots in Seoul is the Cheonggyecheon. A stream or river that flows through a huge part of Seoul.
To be honest, regardless of the size of the river, it would probably be really popular among couples. I mean, who wouldn't want to go on a date by a river, watch the street lights flicker, the water fountains dance and just let the night pass by, right?
What's romantic atmosphere of the Cheonggye stream is further enhanced with lights behind the main fountain, reflecting through the ripples of the water, and a rainbow light display under the main bridge. As you can tell from the photos, despite it being dark outside, there were still people chilling by the river.
There were families with their kids, friends with some bottles of beer, it was such a lovely chilled out environment.
Strolling along the river makes for a great night time activity in Seoul (if you're, like me, not that into the whole clubbing scene).
With such a pretty view at night, you'd think thats when people would flock to the river. Turns out, it's just as photogenic in the day!
Lined with tons of greenery (it was summer time!), the beautiful tall buildings as it's background, and a long park along the both banks.
This river is the perfect place for family picnics or an afternoon stroll. I'd bet people walk along the river during lunch or work breaks as well.
In addition to the view, walking along the river bank in the day gives you the opportunity to admire the artistic depiction of one of the historical journeys taken by one of the kings in the Joseon monarch. The series of illustration chronologically highlights the journey taken by the king to visit his father's grave.
If you're going to be in Seoul, I would highly recommend visiting the Cheonggyecheon both in the night and day to get the full experience this lovely stream has to offer!
Plus, it's free and super accessible, after stuffing yourself with Korean food, a leisure stroll is the least you could do :)
For more of seoul, watch my travel videos here!
The Prettiest River in Seoul
17 September 2016 Cheonggyecheon, Jongno 5(o).6(yuk)ga-dong, Seoul
The Gyeongbokgung Palace is probably the MOST famous palace in Seoul. It is located in the northern part of Seoul against the beautiful mountains, flanked by a crazy road junction and a ton of talk modern buildings.
This is one massive reason why I love Seoul. You have the city, the modern architecture and the old traditional palaces and buildings all in one place, yet the landscape looks right. Everything looks so seamlessly well blended together.
What I Wore
Top - Taobao || Skirt - Forever 21 | Shoes - Nike | Sunglasses - Accessorize
I'm all for visiting castles and palaces are pretty much common whenever I travel. From the Palace of Versailles, to the fairytale like Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany or most recently, the Kumamoto Castle in Japan. I'd never pass on the chance to pretend Im living 150 years ago in a palace or a castle.
We visited the Gyeongbokgung on Culture Day - the last Wednesday of each month, and the entrance to the palace was FREE. All the more a reason to visit.
The palace reminded me so much of the palace in a Korean drama called Jewel in the Palace (Da Chang Jin / Dae Jang Geum). It was a drama that I watched when I was younger and it had a female protagonist (guess I was a fan of those since I was a kid) who was an orphan, worked as a kitchen cook in the palace, and went on to become the king's first female physician.
I vaguely recall the scenes of the palace grounds, the mini courtyards, the palace maids and cooks running around doing chores and hanging out. I guess that was where my desire to be a palace maid (I wouldn't survive being a kitchen cook, so palace maid it was) came about.
I'd say after having visited so many grand palaces, you can tell from seeing the Gyeongbokgung that it doesn't compare. I'm guessing people living in the Joseon dynasty and the reigning family who used to live in the palace weren't as wealthy. You don't see as many gold, the palace doesn't have all the crazy paintings. Thats one big difference between castles and palaces in Asia compared to those in Europe.
Palace Girl
2 September 2016 Gyeongbokgung, Sajik-dong, Seoul
9 days in Korea - 4 in Jeju, 5 in Seoul.
Korea was insanely h o t. I spent 9 days in Korean summer heat and came back tanner than when I first went there (coming from Singapore you'd think i'd be used to the heat, alas, I got burned).
9 days of awesome food, 9 days of cultural, scenic and shopping experiences, 9 days of extreme fun & SO MUCH EXPLORING!
I spent 2 of these days shopping, and I am now broke due to the crazy amount of skincare products I bought. When the money ran out, and the trip came to an end, I made my way back to Singapore with such a heavy heart.
I have so much to share - pictures and a ton of videos, but here's starting with a fun light hearted post featuring 5 interesting things I discovered during my time in Korea. Some of this you might already know, some you might not.
1 || Girls don't show their shoulders
I know Korea is conservative, but I expected less conservativeness in Seoul, after all it is so cosmopolitan, and you know... look at what Kpop idols are wearing recently.Walking around in the day time I see guys in T shirt and jeans, none in singlets, and girls with a T-shirt under their vest tops. You do see a lot of girls in shorts though, which got me wondering if covering their shoulders was a way to prevent sunburns (I got burned on both shoulders lol!)Considering the crazy heat, I was surprised at their ability to dress in sweaters and jeans. I felt awkward wearing my spaghetti strap tops to be honest - despite still perspiring profusely even with that ventilation.
I guess koreans just have this crazy ability to withstand the summer heat!
2 || Free attractions are a plenty
I remember doing research and realising that a lot of the museums and attractions required some sort of admission fee. To my surprise, I think most of the places we visited in Seoul were free. Or rather, there was sufficient "free areas" to explore that we did not feel the need to pay extra to see more.Note: The last Wednesday of every month is designated as Culture Day and that means FREE entry to cultural placesBecause of Cultural Day, we got ourselves a free pass into the Gyeongbokgung Palace!
3 || Mandarin is like a 2nd language
Korea gets most of its tourism from Mainland Chinese and so almost all the shopkeepers and storeowners have the ability to speak fluent mandarin. The signs in shops, toilets, train stations and along the streets / markets too have Chinese characters written on them beside the Korean characters. It's pretty insane.One of the guides in Jeju could speak english, mandarin and Korean. He was guiding a tour in 3 different languages. Talk about multi-lingual.
Sadly, english isn't as widely spoken in Korea, despite being in the Capital, Seoul.
There is definitely a huge benefit if you understand chinese or can read chinese characters.
4 || Cicadas are EVERYWHERE
The sound of cicadas are pretty deafening. THEY ARE SO SO LOUD. For real. I've never heard such loud sounds coming from trees and plants, but in both Jeju and Seoul, the sound of cicadas were so distinct! And oddly they don't just sing at night, but in the day too!We don't get to see any of them cicadas, but you definitely hear them. All 100000000000000000000 of them. At least it sounded like there were that many.
5 || Korean Girls ACTUALLY have that fair porcelain complexion
You know they say only the Kpop idols and actresses look that good because of the work done to them. Or maybe the country just puts their best faces forward. I think it might be the latter. Anyway, in terms of certain facial features or the way people look generally - they don't look moderately similar to the idols, but if you think about it, 99% of the US does not look like Beyoncé neither do the english in the UK look like Cheryl Cole, so I think it's just the way entertainment works.Wait, I digressed. The point is, they really are super fair. And skin care is HUGE. I'd say 80% of the regular koreans I passed have really clear good skin. They are either naturally fair or they use a bunch of whitening products and BB Cushions that are 2 shades lighter to get that fair look.
I'm not much of a whitening products girl, but I definitely got sucked into their whole skincare situation.
Stay tuned for more posts on the places I visited in Korea (all the free things you can do), where to visit in Jeju and Seoul, the AWESOME FOOD, a few outfit posts, and also, how my bank account now hates me because of the multitude of skin care products I got!
To see more of my pictures during this trip, check out my Instagram!
Click Here for more 5 fun facts posts of other places I've visited around the world.
5 Fun Facts: Korea - Seoul & Jeju
2 August 2016 Seoul, South Korea
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