The drive back to Seoul is a long 180km, driving on the highway is fast and comfortable but when we reached in Seoul, the jam, the traffic light every 500m was very irritating.
After returning the car and parked our luggage in our hotel, we move to 인사동 仁寺洞 Insadong for lunch.
Random restaurant where we had bulgogi and soondubu jjigae.
Humongous dumpling spotted
Women frying traditional snacks on the street
Tucked in a quiet corner, 인사동뽕다방 Ppong Da Bang Traditional Tea House doesn't come cheap but this place is famous for their 50s, 60s classroom interior deco. Special leh.
Their 50s, 60s interior deco appealed more to the more matured crowds.
Their hand drawn menu
In summer, eat 팥빙수 patbingsu.
Free traditional snack
북촌한옥마을 北村韓屋
"Bukchon Hanok Village is a Korean traditional village with a long history located between Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeok Palace and Jongmyo Royal Shrine. The traditional village is composed of lots of alleys, hanok and is preserved to show a 600-year-old urban environment. Now it is used as a traditional culture center and hanok restaurant, allowing visitors to experience the atmosphere of the Joseon Dynasty."
Tip: Go early or on weekdays, weekend is really crowded. Some of these private 韓屋 are open for visitors at a price (aroound 10SGD per pax).
Missed Communication with the husband, he brought me to the wrong palace. LOL. Anyway we went to 창경궁 Changgyeonggung Palace.
"Located in the heart of Seoul, Changgyeonggung Palace was first built by the 4th ruler of the Joseon Dynasty, King Sejong (r.1418-1450), for his retiring father, King Taejong. It later became a park with a zoo and a botanical garden during Japanese colonial rule."
For the last night, we stayed in Morning Sky Residence in Dongdaemun. It is near Seoul Folk Flea Market, you can see old people selling secondhand items outside the service apartment.
BHC chicken in Dongdaemun
Chimaek time!
Jipangyi, ice cream in stick shaped corn snack, 3000won.
On the last day in Korea, we went to eMart nearby our service apartment to do some extra shopping.This is my 50cent (SGD) breakfast, one stick of fishcake odeng.
Mission accomplished, even managed to get extra discount as i bulk purchase 홍삼 红参 from eMart and it is way way cheaper than on flight shopping. After tax rebate, paid approx 108SGD for each 120ml bottle of 6 years red ginseng extract, super worth it.
Brief info: Ginseng will absorb all the nutrition from the soil and peak its nutritional value at year 6, after year 6 the plant will grow old and return those nutritional value back to the soil, so for these 6 years ginseng we called them red ginseng or hongsam. This is why the price for red ginseng extract varies a lot from ginseng extract. I recommend red ginseng and i recommend extract than slice or pill.
노량진수산시장 Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market.
Opened in 1972, Noryangjin is Korea largest seafood market.
I never seen such big lobsters before, really huge!
I came here for this, King crab! We have limited money left so we picked the dead one instead of live crab. This market is 24/7, the turnover is super high, freshness is still guaranteed. It cost us only 50SGD for the 3kg king crab and 15SGD for the cooking + 7SGD for two seat rental in the restaurant on the second floor.
Korea sea urchin doesnt taste good, lucky this is only 10SGD.
Our 3kg crab took 45min to steam, super hungry and long wait and this restaurant don't serve side dishes.
They also don't service, we had a hard time de-shelling the crab but it is worth it, super delicious. After 45 minutes of steaming, there is no more crab roe left, just jus. If you want to have crab roe, go for snow crab, if you like to have chunky meat go for king crab.
Noryangjin is a must visit every time you come Seoul!
