Korea Day 5: Seoul

Upon checking out from LOHAS, J and I had our breakfast at MOS, we each had a breakfast set (burger of the day and a small carton of milk) for 3000won (S$3.60). After our yummy breakfast, we headed to Choi's House, our accomodation for the next 7 nights. It is located 5mins away from Sungshin Women's University Station Exit 4. Paid S$395 for 7 nights, which was about S$56.50 per night, booked via Agoda.

 

Since we arrived at 12pm, we weren't able to check in so the receptionist recommended some places for us to kill time. We checked out the local market and boutique shops nearby, like many areas in Seoul, there are also many restaurants and cafes around..

 

 

We had a quick lunch at 7-11, purchased  a tteokbokki snack and a tuna kimchi kimbap set that comes with a soybean drink. Total cost 2700won (S$3.20). The kimbap was awesome!! During my next 7 days in Seoul, I bought it on 2 other occassions :) It will be so nice if they have it in Singapore too!! :p

 

We went back to check in at 2pm and the room was sooo cozy, it has an ensuite kitchen and washing machine but you will need to bring your own washing powder. You can sun your clothes in the garden on the top floor. Housekeeping will be conducted once in every 3 days. And since we went during autumn, we truly appreciated the adjustable underfloor heater (i think it is called an ondol). Other than keeping our feet warm, it is perfect to relax your calf muscles after a whole day of walking haha..

Weirdly, for the whole period staying at Choi's, this was the only photo that I took. You can checked out Agoda for the photos, but in my opinion the room looks nicer and cleaner than the photos.

After resting for half an hour, we left for the famous Namsan tower. We took the subway to Chungmuro station, exit from exit 2 and take the yellow bus. The bus frequency is ~15 to 20 mins.

Panoramic view from the ground level of namsan tower

 

Like many couples that goes to Namsan tower, we too wanted to padlock our locks there. So I asked J to buy the locks from Singapore as we weren't sure if they sell it at the tower so one night before our trip, J took photo of the lock size for me to see but little did I know that he bought only 1 lock which I only found out when we were leaving for Namsan *facepalm* hahaha. How can anybody buy just 1 lock if it's meant for couples to "lock" their love, so silly! Since we didn't want to spend money on another 2 locks (they do sells locks at the souvenirs shops, I think it costs about S$15 for 1 set of locks that comes with a marker. Pretty expensive), we decided to just locked it to some other couple's lock, like as though we are some third party hahaha.

 

Bottomline: Give very precise instructions to your boyfriend/husband/son or anybody classified as males if you want something done, do not assume that they know what you want or how things work haha.  

Our lock at the far end!

Heading down the mountain

 

After locking our love lock, we had some yummy chocolate ice cream with churros 6500won (S$7.70) before making our way down the mountain to Myeongdong. But after walking 1/3 down some steep (I have short legs so it is steep in my context :p) stairs, I felt too lazy so we took the cable car. The 1 way ticket cost 6000won per pax (S$7.20). The cable car ride took about 5 mins? Really fast, before we can enjoy the city view, the cable car has already arrived at its destination. Sad! Thereafter you will need to take an elevator to the street level. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We randomly chose a restaurant for dinner, ordered a bibimbap, steam egg and Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), total bill came up to 20,000won (~S$24). Considered really cheap as compared to Singapore when a Samgyetang is usually charged at S$24 or more. But we were surprised that the it tasted more bland than those sold in Singapore, not much ginseng taste. Not sure if it's the same all over Korea or just this restaurant. If you guys have tried Samgyetang in Korea before do let me know your verdict.

 

 

After dinner, we walked around Myeondong and J bought 3 work shirts from SPAO @ 129,700won (S$155), $52 per piece. The shirt is made from really good material and the cutting is perfect! While I bought some facial products for my colleagues and his sister before we wrap up for the day by relaxing in the guesthouse with some snacks from the convenience store :)



Night view of namsan tower from myeondong



PetiteFreckles ♥

Poulet: First French Casual Dining Restaurant in Singapore

Poulèt's first outlet is at Bugis+ , they serve affordable french food in a modern bistro setting. After hearing all the good reviews, we decided to give it a try despite the long queue. We visited their new outlet at Bedok mall, had to wait for half and hour which wasn't so bad.

 

Address:

311 New Upper Changi Road
#B2-31/32
Singapore 467360



 

We ordered half a Poulèt roti and 1 Braised de Canard, here's the review for both dishes:

 

Poulèt roti

Price: Half chicken S$15.80, whole chicken S$28.80

Description: It's their restaurant's signature dish. The chicken was roasted slowly and served with their homemade creamy mushroom chardonnay sauce.

Verdict: A very flavourful dish, the chicken was well roasted- juicy and tender while the addition of the chardonnay made the sauce less salty which was great. Overall, the dish was still a tad salty for me but I have to say that it really does taste superb!

 

Braised de Canard

Price: S$15.80

Description: Braised duck leg in sweet wine sauce served on a bed of baby spinach topped with cranberries and glazed shallots

Verdict: Love the baby spinach and carrot, the duck was soft and easy to debone but overall the dish was too sweet for me.

Overall verdict: Worth to pay a visit as the price is affordable and the food is pretty good. Will be back to try the other dishes especially their tiramisu.

PetiteFreckles ♥

Korea Day 4: Jeju

Here's what we did on the last day in Jeju:

First we visited the O'sulloc Tea Museum and the Innisfree cafe.

Operating Hours: 9AM - 6PM

Admission: Free 

 

 

Miniature model of their tea harvesting and processing process

O'sulloc cafe

While walking to Innisfree cafe, we saw this huge spider with an insect being spunned into a ball. Wasn't that interested so I walked away but J and sis kept staring at it and snapping away for a good 5-10mins, gosh..

Entrance of innisfree shop and cafe

Love the quietness of the innisfree cafe as compared to the o'sulloc cafe. Would love to spend a lazy afternoon here :) and they have a very nice view of the tea leave farm.

Interior of innisfree cafe

We ordered a hallabong tea and multigrain cereal drink to share, 6000won each. The hallabong tea was a little too citrusy for me but the multigrain cereal tasted surprisingly nice, but the downside was that the black sesame seeds kept getting stuck in my teeth haha.

 

 

Headed to Sanbangsan Mountain 산방산 after our drinks. We walked around the area and weirdly I forgot about the Sanbangsa temple thinking that it's similar to Mount Hallasan so we didn't get to see it :( Will come back in future. 

 

Anyways here are some information about Sanbangsan mountain, it is about 400m above sea level, the formation of the mountain is due to volcanic activity many hundred thousand years ago. The name of this mountain literally means cave in the mountain. Sanbangsa and bomunsa temple are located on the mountain and it holds the Buddha relics. The view is said to be magnificient and worth while to go :)

 

 

 

After walking around Sanbangsan, we drove to Cheonjiyeon waterfall but due to my blurness, I brought J and sis to Cheonjeyeon waterfall instead and I didn't realized it till after lunch hahaha. The whole time when we were there, I was wondering to myself why does this place looked so different from the KTO website and why was the seonimgyo bridge visible from this waterfall :p So guys, remember to read the signage properly, it is only a letter difference!

 

Cheonjeyeon Waterfall 천제연폭포

Admission fee: 2500 won (adult) 1350 won (child)

Operating Hours: 9AM - 6.30PM

 

 

There were lots of stairs to climb so do wear comfortable shoes! In fact, if you are planning to visit Jeju, do wear a good pair of shoes as there's lots of walking to do. I wore my converse high top shoes, it was really comfortable and it doesn't get wet easily as the soles are quite thick.  

 

 

 

Upon exiting the waterfall, you will see Seonimgyo bridge, it has seven nymphs carved on both sides.

 

We had our lunch at a nearby restaurant (5mins drive away) called Jangsuhaejangguk, they serve all sorts of hangover soups. We ordered a haemul tukbaegi (seafood soup), gamjatang (spicy pork rib soup) and soondubu jjigae (tofu soup). Total cost 27,000won (~S$32).

The seafood soup was the most expensive, about 12,000won (S$14) but it's so worth it. The soup was filled to the brim with an assorted range of seafood- 3 abalones, 1 small crayfish, 2 prawns and 2 green mussels. It was one of the best meal I had in Jeju, a definite must-try!

 

 

 

J drove around to look for the Oedolgae rock and Jusangjeolli cliff but after walking around, we still couldn't find it. Supposed to look like this:

Jusangjeolli cliff, Credits: Visit Korea Website

Oedolgae rock, Credits: Visit Korea Website

But we only managed to see these :p

 

Last stop Saeyeon bridge, before we return the car, if I'm not wrong, it is the longest pedestrian bridge built in Korea. Upon arrival, we were lucky enough to see a few haenyo (female diver) packing up and bringing their catch to the back of their restaurant to wash and prepare for business. It started to drizzle again so we quickly took some photos before driving off. If you have the time, do come here in the evening to see the sunset view from the bridge and to try the freshly caught seafood prepared by the haenyos :)

 

Before returning the car, do remember to refill the fuel tank or else there will be a penalty charge. For the 2 full days of car rental, we used up 33L of petrol which cost about 62,000won (S$74). Returning of the car was fast and we took the free shuttle bus back to the airport. Sincer we had some time, we decided to settle our dinner at Lotteria- Korea's fast food restaurant. Their fish burger was pretty good :)

On a side note, if you would like to visit Jeju,  go for at least 4 Days 3 Nights, we were there for only 3 Days 2 Nights, even with a car and planning the itinerary according to areas, I find it quite rush, as most of the time, the duration it takes to travel from 1 place to another can be time consuming and the areas for each place can be quite big so you will need to set aside at least 2 hrs for each place if you do not want to rush.

I personally think it will make a very good honeymoon or anniversary trip as the island is so peaceful and it doesn't have the stress ambience like in big cities and most importantly, their sceneries are super nice.
 

View outside the airport

That's all for my Jeju trip, next up will be my posts on Seoul. Stay tune!

PetiteFreckles ♥