Early Winter Trip to Korea (Part 3 + First Snowfall in Gangnam!)
- Dian Putri W.
- Dec 19, 2017
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 16, 2018
Day 5
I was catching flight back to Seoul at 9.30 am from Jeju Intl Airport and arrived in Gimpo Airport at 10.40 am. Because of we didn’t get a breakfast, we decided to take brunch at Lotte Mall Gimpo Airport before taking the subway. You can walk to subway Line 5 and you’ll find Lotte Mall gate in front of it.
After having brunch, I headed back to hotel to put our luggage and continued my journey. I decided to go to Gangnam (K Star Road) to take pictures with Gangnamdol. To get there by subway, you can get off at Apgujeong Rodeo Station and take Exit 1. Luckily, when I was taking the elevator out of station, it suddenly snowed for 10 minutes. It was so pretty! (I didn't take the picture of snowfall because I'm way too excited)
People said that you can find Blossom Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and SM Entertainment on that road but I don’t know exactly where they are. Sorry not sorry. It was very cold, the temperature was 2 degrees and I was not intense to find that agency. Along the road, there were lots of branded store such as MCM, etc. You can go shopping while taking pictures with Gangnamdol. Unfortunately, the pedestrian where TVXQ Gangnamdol located was under renovation, so I just can took a picture from far.
After struggling with the breeze, I decided to visit COEX Mall where also famous in Gangnam. To get there, you can take the subway and get off at Samseong Station, Exit 5 or 6. You can see SM Town Building beside COEX Mall and you can take a look. There is SUM store where you can buy original product of SM Town.
In COEX Mall, there is the biggest yet coolest library I've ever seen. It was also decorated with a big and beautiful Christmas tree.
Day 6
It was actually scheduled for Mt Sorak, but after a long consideration, I decided to cancel the schedule because it took a long time from Seoul, you need around 4 hours from Seoul to Mt Sorak and it costs 18.000 won for transport one way by bus. The scheduled was changed into Gyeongbokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village, and shopping at Ewha Women University.
I tried the famous samgyetang at Tosokchon before visit Gyeongbokgung Palace. You can go to Tosokchon Samgyetang by subway and get off at Gyeongbokgung Station Exit 2. Go straight about 170 m and turn left onto Jahamun-ro 5-gil road. Tosokchon is located 10 m ahead on the left. Along the way from Gyeongbokgung Exit 2 to Tosokhon, you can find Hanbok rental if you want to rent Korean traditional clothes.
I recommend you to come to Tosokchon before 12 am because after finished lunch around 12 am, it was already crowded and long queue.
To go to Gyeongbokgung Palace, I went back to Gyeongbokgung Station and take Exit 5. You can walk around National Folk Museum of Korea, Gwanghwamun Square, and Gyeongbokgung Palace. Luckily, it was the time for Changing Guard Performance at Gyeongbokgung. It was very cool like what I’ve seen in television movie. If I'm not mistaken, this performance is around 1 pm and only lasts for 15 minutes.
You need around 20 minutes to walk from Gyeongbokgung to Bukchon Hanok Village. You can take the west gate of Gyeongbokgung and turn left. I recommended you to ask the guard for direction.
On my way to Bukchon Hanok, I rent Hanbok for 1,5 hours and walked around Bukchon to take pictures. It was very cold because I didn’t wear outer or coat to protect me from the breeze. There are 2 kinds of Hanbok, traditional and character. The traditional is plain and the character is not. The character one is more expensive than the traditional. It costs 20.000 won and 10.000 won for 1,5 hours. For tourists, you can show your T-money card (T-money that designed for tourist) and get special discount. I chose character for 1,5 hours and get discount from 20.000 won to 14.000 won.
After that, I went to Ewha Women University Station Exit 2 and went shopping. You can find skirt and short pants in 5.000 won and jackets in 10.000 won. I also bought the food street here because it’s cheaper than in any other places that I visited. It costs around 1.000 won until 3.000 won. I also bought cute socks in 1.000 won. In here, I found a place that sells the cheapest banana milk. It only costs 900 won when in supermarket or in mini market like 7-eleven costs 1.300 won!! But make sure you check the expired date, because it didn’t take long time. Only around a week left.
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