Insa-dong

For those who like to experience traditional culture of Korea, you may visit Insa-dong where you can find art piece, art galleries, traditional tea house, restaurant etc.
How to get there:
Alight at Anguk Station Line 3 (Exit 6). Try to walk towards the Juno police station, you will see a information centre near the entrance of Insadong street.
At first we thought it is a street performance but then later we felt that it is like a activities to create some awareness(not too sure what is it) among the crowd.There are few alleys which are on the left of the Insadong streets. You can find traditional tea houses and restaurants. We went into one restaurant call Jirisan which is famous for providing dishes which taste like home cooking. The restaurant do not sell one set of such meal, minimun order is 2 sets.

Though we do not appreciate some of the dishes but the ambience is cosy and comfortable. All seats are on the floor and there are partitions between few tables so that there are some privacy and whole dining area don't look so open.

Streets between Ewha Womens Univ & Sinchon

If you like unique things and prefer to be different, you may consider the Fashion streets between Ewha Women University Subway to Sincho Subway station. This street is very popular with the youth.
How to get there?
Alight at Ewha Women University Station Line 2
Small shops selling sweet and nice accessories, pouches, bags etc.

There are shops and small stalls along the road. Beware of cars as they will sometimes drive very near to you and it can be quite dangerous.

Dongdaemun Market

Another place for people who loves to buy clothes, you many want to try Dongdamun as they are many and good varieties of fashion clothing. They offer mid range price merchandise...price could be ranged from Sin$39 and above...usually around sin$50 for blouse. Those who have join guided tour will find this familiar as it is always part of their itineries. However, I find that the discount given are usually not much and I still feel that it is more expensive as compared to Singapore for same type of blouse found in here.
How to get there:
Alight at Dongdaemun Station Line 5 (Exit 7)

Myeong Dong

If you continue walking towards North direction from Shinsegae departmental store, you will see Bank of Korea, walk underpass to cross over to Myeong Dong. Myeong Dong is like our Orchard road. There are many shops, nice restaurants and road side vendors. In Korea, you have no problem finding Faceshop, Missha in Myeong Dong and price is approx 30% lower than what is selling in Singapore. Myeong Dong reminds me of 'Xi men Ding 西门町" in Taipei, Taiwan. I have the similar feeling when I stepped into Myeong Dong.
Another alternative way to reach Myeng Dong is :
Alight at Myeong Dong Station Line 5 (Exit 7)

Roadside vendor selling delicious BBQ dried squid (Note: You must not leave the squid overnight as they will turn as like hard "stones" the next day)

Shinsegae Departmental Store

At the end of North-East direction of Namdaemun, you can walk towards Shinsegae departmental stores. It is is a high class shopping malls. All items are expensive. But if you want to have bread for breakfast, you can go to basement of Sinsegae where they sell nice bread. In Korea, it is difficult to see any bakery shop. It seems it is not popular in Korea to have bread in morning.

Namdaemun Market

As I do not take any liquor drinks, I did not visit any pubs in Korea. The main activities are visiting place of interest, shopping and eating. There are quite a no. of interesting shopping places which you can consider.
Firstly, the COEX which I have mentioned earlier. The mall is similar to Suntec city where there are many shops as well as resturants. Prices are usually more expensive than Singapore.

Our favourite shopping venue is Namdaemun. We like the place because we can bargain more than any other places. If you are looking for Korean souveniers, you can find same items but cheaper price at Namdaemun as compared to other places. The place is quite similar to Chinatown but you can see all sorts of shops selling ginseng, souveniers, clothing and even poulty along the road. It is like a wet market cum shops. But the shop owners are very friendly especially aunty owners. For young lady tourist, try to call them "On ni" (meaning sister) and young male tourist, call them "nuna", it will make them happy :). But of course if you are about the same age as them, please don't call them as they may not be happy.
How to get to Namdaemun?
Alight at Hoehyeong Station Line 4 (Exit 5 or 7)
Namdaemun market
Namdaemun market
There is this famous Namdaemun gate nearby. However, it was torched and now the gate is 'covered' up.
Namdaemun Gate
Namdaemun Gate covered up after being torched

Bongeunsa Temple

Since you are at COEX mall, you may want to visit the Bongeunsa template which is located just behind the COEX. After visiting the Kimchi Museum, walk toward ASEM tower direction within COEX. There is a exit nearly, just exit from there and you should be able to see the temple which is not far on your left. Admission is free.

The back entrance view of COEX. Opposite the back entrance is the Bongeusa Temple. Just cross the road and you will reach the temple.

Buddha statue in Bongeunsa temple.

Kimchi Field Musuem

All tourist who had visited Korea must have tried Kimchi. Korean cannot go without Kimchi in their daily life and as such, knowing Kimchi is like knowing their culture. It would be a pity if you did not visit the Kimchi Field Musuem in Korea. Although the Musuem is not as big as I thought it is, you will be facinated by huge varieties of Kimchi Korea has and the types of Kimchi different provinces have.
How to go to Kimchi Field Musuem?
Alight at Samseong Station Line 2. The Musuem in at Basement level in COEX shopping mall. The mall is very big and there is difficulties finding the Musuem as it is hidden. Therefore, get a COEX Mall Guide map at Information counter. Based on the map, the musuem is between Canyong Walk and Tropic Walk. Take an elevator to basement and the Kimchi Field Musuem is near to shopping mall carpark level.


Here are some steps to make Kimchii:

The 1st shop of Coffee Prince

Talking about the K-drama, another place of interest which we visited was the 1st Shop of Coffee Prince. There are 2 such shops. One is the original shop and another is by MBC. Both are located within walking distance near the Hongik University.
The original location of the 1st shop of Coffee Prince shop
Based on the Tour2Korea website, we followed the directions given. Direction in their website are:
Take Subway Line 2 to Hongik University, and go out of Exit 4 a Turn right at Seven Springs corner and pass the intersection. At the 3-way intersection, turn left. Walk about 100 meters on the road above the playground and walk towards the road on the right side. Walk about 500 meters (until you find the coffee shop on the right
This is what we encountered during the venue seraching :
We were nearly lost as we actually encountered two 3-way intersections. In the end, we decided to take the intersection further down the road so that we were at the main road. As for playground mentioned, it could not be found. Before we reached the coffee shop, we have to passby a street which is slightly upslope with shops along it. It took us overall approx 20-25 mins to reach the destination.

The 1st shop of Coffee Prince by MBC is easier to find as compared to the former one. After visiting the original shop, we walked towards Hongik University. Once you see "Zillerhallk" KTV along the street, you just walked into the small alley beside it.
Alternatively, you can alight at Hongik University Station Line 2 (Exit 5). Walk towards the entrance of Hongik University to find the 1st shop of Coffee Prince by MBC first and then look for original shop.
The original 1st shop of Coffee Prince

We are the 1st few customer (together with 2 Japanese tourist) visting the shop on that day.

Hongik University
The 1st shop of Coffee Prince by MBC

Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO)

For Korea Drama lovers, you may wish to visit the KTO which is nearby Daehanmun. Just walk towards CityHall building, turn to your right side when you are near CityHall building and walk straight. You should see the KTO building within 10 mins.
You can find some famous Korean actor 'paper doll' which you can take photo with.
Admission is free.

Popular actors and actress as of Apr 07

Royal Guard Rotation Ceremony at Daehamun Gate

If you want another 'traditional official' guard changing ceremony, you should also not miss the Royal Guard Rotation Ceremony at Daehamun Gate, Deoksugung Palace. The guided tour did brought me to Daehamun Gate and Deoksugung but they did not arrange to meet the timing to see the Royal Guard Rotation Ceremony.
There are dedicated time to see the ceremony. The time are 11am, 2pm and 3.30pm.
No admission fee is needed as you just have to stand outside the Deahamun Gate. After the Ceremony, you can even have a photo taking session with the 'official guard'.
How to go to Daehamun Gate?
Take Line 1 to CityHall (Exit 1)

N Seoul Tower

Another place which enables you to have a paroramic view of Seoul is the N Seoul Tower. It is situated at Mt Namsan.
To get to Mt Namsan, alight at Myeong dong station (Line 4) and you will see a road between Prince and Oriental Hotel. Walk up the gradual slope for approx 20 mins and you will see the Cable car station at the foot of Mt Namsan.
An adult round trip cost 7,000 won as of Mar 08

At Mt Namsan, you will be able to enjoy fresh air as well as the cherryblossom.

You can watch Namsan Bongsudae Tourchlight Ceremony from 11.30am to 12.30pm. While watching the ceremony, we even have our delicious 'fresh tibits' which was the freshly grilled dried cuttlefish (2,000 per piece). Really yummy as till now I still thought of the cuttlefish :) However it can be quite heaty as my friend got sorethroat the next day after eating. So please drink more water after eating.

Admiral Yi Sun-Sin

I have joined 2 times of guided tour and each time, with fail, our tour bus will pass by a statue located at the intersection of the Gwanghwamun. I was always curious with this statue and decided to have a closer look at the statue during my Free & Easy trip (in fact we extended our stay in Korea after the guided tour). The statue is within walking distance from Jonggak Station Line 5. Just walk towards the end of Cheonggyecheon stream and you should be able to see the magnificent statue standing at the junction in front of the Gwanghwamun. This statue is Admiral Yi Sun-Sin. He is one of the most respected Korean war hero who had won many legendary victories over invading Japan.

Cheonggyecheon

Another interesting landscape in Seoul is that you will see a stream named Cheonggyecheon running across the buzzling downtown. People can still relax and stroll along the river in the midst of the City.
I find that it is also a form of method to destress people and they do not have to travel out of the downtown just to get a chance to stroll along the stream.

Cheonggyecheon Stream which stretch from Dongdaemun Station to Jongno 3(sam) ga Station

The Cheoggyecheon stream between Jonggak Station and Intersection at Gwanghwamun

63 Building

View of 63 Building from Hangang River side

I get to know 63 Building through Korean drama "MyGirl". It is a must to try the lift to their Skydeck at 63th level so that you can appreciate the drama better.
In 63 Building, there are SkyDeck, SeaWorld and Imax theatre. We have tried all 3 but found that you can give a miss for the Imax theatre as there is indifferent from our Imax movie theatre.
Admission to SkyDeck at 63th level: 7,000won (price as of Apr 07)
All 3 tickets for SkyDeck, SeaWorld and Imax cost $21,000 won

How do we get to 63 Building?
To get to 63 Building, we walked from the Ferry Terminal and it took us approx 30mins to reach the Building.
There is also free feeder bus from the building to subway. You may ask assistance from the Information counter to direct you to the elevator which you need to go up to another level where the feeder bus pick-up point is. The bus arrives in every 1 hr interval and last bus leave at 10pm. The feeder bus will bring you to 2 nearby subways but we usually alight at 1st stop, along the roadside which is near to Daebang Station (Line 5). Just follow the people who alight the bus and they will bring you to the station which is located beneath one building with entrance to subway hidden between shops.

63 SkyDeck

SkyDeck level

SkyDeck Day view (the tallest 2 twin towers are LG Towers)
(SkyDeck Night view (N Seoul tower is right on the hill top)

63 SeaWorld

Hangang River

Hangang River

You should not miss this river as it is popular among the locals. Do remember to bring some food and drinks as it is quite fun to have a mini picnic along the river and at the same time enjoying the riverside view. During Spring, you can walk toward the National Assembly which is on the left of the river where there are many cherryblossom along the roadside. It is known as the Yunjungno Cherryblossom Street.
The National Assembly
Cherryblossom trees along streets towards National Assemnbly
How to get to Hangang River :
You can take subway, Line 5 to Yeouidonaru station (Exit 1). Although, you can also alight at Yeouido Station, it will take you approx 30 mins to walk from station to the riverside.
Ferry Ride
You may not want to miss the ferry ride which cost each of us 9,900won to cruise along the Hangang river. The ride is approx 1 hr hour and you will be amazed by the number of bridges along the Hankang river. Try to cruise around 5pm so that you can also enjoy the sunset view. You can even see the 63 Building along the river. For those who have watched the Korean drama "MyGirl", you will be very familiar with this building.
Bridges along the Hangang River
63 Building

Getting around in Korea

Travelling around in Korea is not difficult and transportation is not as expensive as compared to in Japan. I would like to recommend tourist to buy T-money card (similar to our Ezlink card). This card is easy available in any convenience stores, roadside stores and subway stations. As long as there is a T-money logo displayed outside the stores, you can purchase the card from them.

You may want to have a initial top up value of 5000 won when you purchase you card. You can subsequently top up at any subway station. 5000 won may be used for approx 3-4 rides depending on your journey. You can use T-money for bus ride. The minimum bus fare could starts from approx Sin$1.50. Usually we will top up 10,000 won which can last for approx 3 days.
The card will be expired within 30 days. Just recharged the card during your next visit to Korea and card will be activated again.

Travel by Train
The subway has 8 Lines and they are differentiated by different colours. Be prepared to walk many stairs as most stations we visited do not have escalators (The lift is usually for old folks). To make thing worse, most of the time, you have to transfer from 1 Line to another and each transfer means that you got to get up and down of the stairs to go to another Line. My friend's ankle was swollen after our trip. I guess that is why the Korean women have nice and slim legs. Another point to note is that there are designated seats for the elderly in the train. Even if the train is crowded, most young people will not sit on that designated row.

Travel by Bus
The bus stops sign are easy to read and understand. All stops are labelled in Korean and English names. Below is an example of how the signage look like at each bus stop. However, do not underestimate the distance between each stop. Their distance between 1 stop is equivalent to our 4-5 stops in Singapore.


Travel By Taxi
I have also tried taxi and price was slightly expensive compared to Singapore. For about 15mins ride, the fare was approx Sin$12-$15. It is still affortable if you really need to take one. However, I find that the local taxi driver have problem reading map and could not recognise destination in English names. We took a cab and despite showing him the map where the hotel is located, he has no idea where it is. Half way through, he get out of the taxi (which give us a fright thinking he has abandoned us) and ask for direction from other locals. But he is very honest as he gave us discount because he had made a detour to reach our destination. Therefore, it will be good if you can ask the local to write destination in Korean name so that it will be more convenient for them to locate the place.

Useful Link :
Seoul Metropolitan Subway:-
http://www.smrt.co.kr/Eng/index.jsp
To get a Korea travel guide or to know more infomation, you may visit the official site:-
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto

Place of Stay

Our room in Guest house
Common Kitchen in Guest house

(Apr 07 and Mar 08)
We stayed in Hostel Korea Guest house during our vist in Apr 2007. Our room is located at 4th story and imaging we have to struggle our heavy lugguage to our room without any lift. The room is smal but neat and cosy. It comes with a bathroom, small balcony and mini pantry with kettle provided. Most rooms do not have a bathroom and therefore, guest will have to share the public bathroom within the Guest house. The guest house provides free breakfast (bread + jam) in their kitchen at 1st floor. There is a living room and you can watch TV programme in the room with the rest.
As it is a no frill guest house, it will be good if you can bring your own clothes hanger (no clothes cabinet provided), soap powder (if you are washing your clothes) and maybe some plastic bags (to put your rubbish-you have to dispose your rubbish downstair).

We booked a double room with one additional bed for approx 55,000 won daily. It costed us Sin$31 per night per pax. For a 4 nights stay, we only pay $124/- for accomodation which is really value for money.

The guest house is located near Sinseoldong subway station (approx 5-10mins walk from Guest House). Upon, arrival at Incheon airport, we took airport limousine bus no.602 to Sinseoldong. At each stop, there is announcment in Korean and English. We do not have worry that we will miss the stop. The bus ticket cost 8,000 won which is approx Sin $13.20 then. The bus journey is appox 1 hour and the driver is very helpful as he will help you to unload your lugguage.
Below is the Bus Route from airport to Sinseoldong:

We stayed at Hotel Ibis Myeongdong during our stay in Mar 2008. Our Seon Seng nim has recommended this hotel and has helped us to book the hotel. The hotel is new, clean and is strategically situated near Myeong dong, Namdaemun and Sinseage. You do not have to worry about transportation if you shop till midnight. These 3 areas provide 3 different price range to suit the needs of different market. In Namdaemun (Chinatown alike), cheaper range, Myeong dong (Orchard road alike), middle price range and Sinsaege (where you can find all the famous brands), the higher price range.

The hotel accomodation cost us 122,100 won per night per room, approx Sin$110 per night per pax. You should not miss the hotel breakfast as they provide a wide spread of breakfast variety. The cafe is located at the same level as the front desk which is at the highest level of the hotel (not at 1st floor lobby as normal hotel has).

View from the Hotel Ibis lobby
To get to Hotel Ibis Myeongdong from airport, you can take the airport bus and alight at Lotte Hotel which is 5 mins walking distance to Myeongdong. You have to use underpass to cross over the road as Hotel Ibis is located diagonally opposite Lotte department store. To go to airport, you may arrange with hotel to provide free bus transfer from hotel to bus stop in from of Korean Air Building where the limousine bus will take you to Incheon airport. The ticketing officer will appear at bus stop before the bus arrives and he only accepts cash payment.


Other useful link:
HostelKorea Room rate:-
http://www.hostelkorea.com/

Ibis Myeong-dong :-

http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-6317-hotel-ibis-myeong-dong/index.shtml

Airport Bus rate:-
http://www.airport.kr/airport/traffic/bus/busList.iia?flag=E&fake=1189392191325