I have always wanted to blog about the honeymoon trips I had with my hubby as working trips when I was still flying with SQ and also when we actually went on real holidays together, but I never found the time to do so. Thus I'm starting now with Honeymoon #60 and hopefully I will get to blog all my other trips eventually. (:
SIN - ICN 30 August 2014 0800 - 1535
ICN - SIN 01 September 2014 1935 - 02 September 2014 0050
Waiting for boarding for my flight to Seoul to meet my hubby who will be coming in from San Francisco.
Meeting a friend on a flight is always good reason to take photo with!
Landed in Seoul at around 3.30pm and after I cleared immigration and customs it was only 4.30pm, my hubby's flight from San Francisco will only arrive into Seoul at 6.35pm, thus it was a good 2 hours wait.
What better thing than to snack at Paris Baguette while waiting for hubby?
In 2009 when I brought my parents and sister to Seoul and my dad discovered Paris Baguette and fell in love with it, he would have it for breakfast every morning we were in Seoul. This was before it came into Singapore, and we remembered it to be way cheaper than it is now.
The chocolate cake in the picture was around 9,000won which is around 11sgd.
We stayed in Sheraton Seoul D Cube City Hotel. The pros of this hotel is that it is big, new and very nicely furnished. The cons of this hotel is that you have to change elevators to get up and down between your room and the ground floor. The location is around a decent 35-40 minutes train ride to Myeongdong.
My hubby was given a double queen size bed but it went great with us as we used the extra bed to put things like shopping and clothes. Hee!
As my hubby had requested a smoking room on his previous stay, he was automatically given a smoking room this time, and I hate it that the room stinks strongly of smoke smell even though we didn't smoke in the room until just before checking out.
It was almost 8.15pm when we got to the hotel from the airport, thus after checking in, unpacking and showering, we left the hotel at 9pm for our late dinner. We went to a joint that his colleagues wanted to go to as it was late and we were all tired.
My hubby ordered Squid and Seafood Soondooboo set for 12,000won, while I ordered Pork and Seafood Soondooboo set for 12,000won.
But our Pork and Squid went communal with my hubby's colleagues. There was enough for everyone to share!
We also ordered Oyster Cake (Hao Jian, as the China lady working there called it - just like Singapore) which my hubby's colleagues said is a must try. IMO, the Hao Jian at Maxwell Food Centre in Singapore is wayyyyyybetterrrr.
After dinner we went to my hubby's colleague's room for a supposedly short chillax session of beer that turned out unexpectedly into a sci-fi discussion of more than 3 hours! Before we knew it, we were back to bed at almost 4am...
Day 2, we woke up at 11am, much later than planned. :(
Having my favourite drink in Seoul - Denmark Milk, while waiting for lift. If you go to Korea, you must try Denmark Milk, especially the Taro and Morning Cereal flavour!
The last time we took a cab from Sheration D Cube Hotel to Myeongdong was around 15,000won, so we decided to take a train this time. It costs us only around 1,300won per person after refunding the ticket at the destination.
However we were initially lost and confused at how to read the train map as we were looking for Myeongdong station only to be told by a fellow commuter that the station name at Myeongdong is called Euljiro 1(il)-ga.
Excited to go Myeongdong, #butfirstletstakeaselfie.
I have not been to Seoul for more than a year thus I was super excited to go to Myeongdong and even more excited to eat Andong Jjimdak in Myeongdong.
I have been told by my ex-colleagues that they feel all Jjimdak tastes the same. But IMHO, I don't think so!!! I have had Jjimdak at one of the restuarants at D Cube before and it doesn't do Andong Jjimdak justice!!! So you must go to Andong Jjimdak, it is really...shiok.
We ordered a portion to share, it says 1-2persons on the menu but we are sure it can feed 3-4persons cos the portion was huge. Luckily my hubby and I are big eaters! ;p
The 1-2persons portion is priced at 28,000won.
Can't wait to put the Jjimdak in my mouth, #butfirstletstakeaselfie!
I love that in Korea when you order soft drinks at restaurants they usually come in recycled glass bottles. 1) It's not plastic. 2) It's recycled!
Satisfied(:
Time to start shopping!
Bought this Hulk lego for my hubby's brother for 9,900won.
Though weather wasn't as hot as when we were in Tokyo in the first week of August, it still made us crave for ice cream!
I insisted on buying only one to share as I wanted to keep my stomach space for other street food! (But obviously somebody wasn't too happy about it.)
Probably everyone will say must try Korean Spicy Rice Cake (Nian Gao), but I'm not a big fan of it.
Myeongdong has quite a few shops selling their famous 32cm twist ice cream cone, this must be the cutest I saw there...in a Volkswagen van.
I like to #actlikemodelevenbutfatlikehorse!
When I was in Tokyo, my Japanese friend told us that ice shaving dessert (ice kachang in Singapore context) is very popular in Japan during summer time. But it seems it is just as popular in Seoul too! Except that the ones in Seoul are topped with ice cream...
The portion is really big, probably intended for sharing, priced at 12,000won.
Someone doesn't seem to be happy about sharing again.
While having the ice kachang green tea ice cream, we realised that across the street is Yoogane which was recently opened in Singapore. My hubby's friend is one of the co-owners of the franchise in Singapore...however looking at the insane long queue in Singapore and looking at the no-queue Yoogane during dinner time on a Sunday in Seoul...I don't think I'd ever queue at the Yoogane in Singapore. (And by the way, when we mentioned Yoogane to my Korean ex-colleagues, they have never heard of Yoogane before! Seems like a touristy thing than a local joint?)
Again, #actlikemodelbutfatlikehorse.
By the time we were done shopping, it was almost 9pm and we were famished! We decided to head to Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market for the much raved about seafood for dinner.
Took a train to Noryangjin from Myeongdong, had to change train at City Hall but pretty easy.
From Noryangin Station to the Fisheries Wholesale Maket (open 24hours) was about 300m. The entrance of the market isn't obvious, we had to ask a passerby for directions then to realised that we were already beside the market's entrance. The entrance was like an entrance to an underpass/tunnel and was dimly lit and one side of the tunnel was lined with squatting vegetables stalls but were all closed for the night.
It was quite scary initially we laughed about getting mobbed at a fish market as we walked in. After we passed the tunnel we still had to walk some distance in a dimly lit area before we reach the fish market...
But once we were inside the fish market, we were overwhelmed, it was a whole long corridor of stalls after stalls of seafood on both sides of the corridor. It was almost 10pm and the stalls are still open and there were still people buying seafood.
We bought abalones, prawns, octopus, sea urchin, scallops and this hugeassbig mussel-looking thing for 55,000won at 1 stall and spider crab for 65,000won at another stall.
Breakdown:
Abalone 3 for 10,000won (we bargained and she gave us 4 for 10,000won)
Octopus (small sized) 10,000won
Sea urchin 3 for 10,000won
Scallops 3 for 10,000won
Prawns 4 for 10,000won (she gave us 6 eventually)
Hugeassbig mussel-looking shellfish 5,000won
Spider crab (we were told it was from Russia?) 65,000won
We're sure that not being local and having language barrier probably meant that we didn't really get a decent bargain...cos on hindsight, 6 prawns for 12sgd isn't at all cheap anyway. Oh wells, guess it was for the experience!
A lady waiting nearby the stall where we were buying our seafood then brought us to her restaurant...I supposed we could have looked for a better one as there are a few there, but we were tired and hungry to bother.
The restaurant at 10.30pm, seems pretty decent since it was so late and there was still a crowd.
The squid was recommended to be eaten sashimi way...with its tentacles still wriggling! You may want to check out my instagram (verarara_) for its video...
My hubby had local beer while I had coke.
We have been told that there are people who choked and suffocated from eating the tentacles as they did not chew properly and the tentacles will suck on our windpipe and suffocate us. So if you are going to try it, chew it well.
Korean sea urchin - sashimi. I love sea urchin, but I don't like these. They have a pungent fragrant taste rather than a sweet taste.
The hugeassbig mussels looking shellfish which I still don't know what it's was done stir fried local style...not fantastic, the sauce isn't tasty and the shellfish was tough and chewy.
Scallops and abalones steamed - simple, sweet and good.
Prawns were grilled.
Our 65,000won spider crab was simply steamed too. My hubby find that the meat is very little, and we both don't eat the roe, thus it wasn't well worth 65,000won to us. But I would say the meat was sweet and fresh.
By the time we finished dinner and got back to our hotel area it was almost 11.30am, we took a cab which costed us around 8,000won. Noryangjin is much closer to our hotel than it is to Myeongdong. We rushed to the supermarket which closes at 12midnight on weekends to grab some Denmark Milk!
BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE TARO OR MORNING CEREALS AT E-MART! :C
But I was still crazy enough to buy 3x 4cartons of them back to bring back to Singapore!
The one thing I love most about buying skincare/cosmetics in Seoul is that you buy these much things...
But they generously give you twice as much freebies/samples!!!
Day 3, we woke up just as late cos we were super shagged from the day before...and it was such a pity cos we were to check out at 4.45pm! :C
Must take selfie and OOTDs before leaving hotel. ;p
Had lunch at a place where they didn't have English menu, so we had to point at the display when ordering...
I really like the braised eggs here, I ate all 3 by myself! (I don't eat egg yolks, btw.)
I ordered Beef for 6,000won while my hubby ordered Saba Fish for 6,000won.
We had a couple of hours after lunch, before we check out of hotel, thus we shopped (or rather, I shopped while my hubby accompanied me) at the mall near the hotel. And it was then that I realised that the clothes there are cheaper than Myeongdong...which I'm guessing it's cos of the tourists and the rental?
For example, this dress was 58,000won at Myeongdong but selling at 52,000won at this mall.
Bought some Paris Baguette home for my parents and MIL too...
I also found a shoes shop selling shoes at 9,900won per pair and I bought 3! They are my best buys for this trip but I didn't have time to take proper photos as we were rushing to pack to check out.
Oh if you're in Seoul in summer, you must try their grapes!! They are seedless, absolutely sweet and delicious and the special thing is the inside are like jelly - YES SERIOUSLY! And they're relatively quite cheap compared to grapes from Japan...we bought 6 bunches of these, at 9,900won per 3 bunches (1.8kg).
I love cherry tomatoes and these were selling at only 3,500won, GRAB!
As we only had less than 3 days in Seoul, we didn't get to go to many other food places I would have love to eat at...but here's are 2 recommendations you should try if you are in Seoul for holiday:
Sigol Bapsang
738-17 Hannam-dong
Yongsan-gu, Seoul
Tel: 82 2 793 5390
Nearest Station: Itaweon/Hangangjin station
Sigolbapsang is a small traditional Korean restaurant at Hannam-dong, which is just ten-minute walk from Itaewon station. For 8,000 won, you can sample up to 30 classic banchans. Be surprised by the spread of traditional and modern dishes. And yes, you can have them refilled. Sigol Bapsang opens for 24 hours daily.
Tosokchon Ginseng Chicken
5, Jahamun-ro 5-gil
Jongno-gu, Seoul
Tel: +82 2 737 7444
Nearest Station: Gyeongbokgung Station (Exit 2)
The most famous Korean Ginseng Chicken restaurant in Seoul, is Tosokchon,. There is only ginseng chicken on the menu. I would suggest coming here for lunch before visiting Gyeongbokgung palace, which is just located 5 minutes away. Expect to queue or go way earlier before lunch or dinner timings.
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