South Korea Archives | Page 5 of 10

Fall in Korea Day 1: N Seoul Tower At Night

January 27, 2015

N Seoul Tower never disappoints. Be it spring, summer or fall, the place looked romantic. So on our first day in Seoul, we trooped up Namsan Park to have a grand overview of Seoul.

As much as we tried to catch the sunset, we were running quite late since we only arrived in Seoul that afternoon. We disregarded our planned itinerary and just decided to head straight to N Seoul Tower. Even at night, the red and golden leaves on the trees mesmerized us. We braved the cold and hiked up the slope leading to the tower.

Good thing the Seoul’s skyline at night was more than a nice consolation. [Read more…]

Seoul Accommodation: Hongdae Family Housetel (Pencil Hotel 3)

January 23, 2015

Our stay in Seoul may have been short, but our hostel made sure we felt at home every single day.

Our hostel falls under a couple of names, which we found odd! It’s called Hongdae Family Housetel in Agoda and Hostel Hongdae in Facebook. It’s also called Pencil Hotel 3! In the grand scheme of things, the name doesn’t matter because the building was a welcoming site after every tiring day in Seoul.

It’s one of the simplest hostels I’ve stayed in, but I must say that it still has its pros. Also, among the Seoul hostels, they seem to offer the most varied breakfast, which is always a plus.

What I love most is the host’s kindnes. We did two bookings—first was for only night, then the second was for four nights—since we’d be staying in Busan for two days. Before going to Seoul, I corresponded with our host via email and they allowed us to leave our baggage in the hostel once we leave for Busan.

We were surprised when they said that we could leave our baggage and pretty much all our stuff in our room for two days and one night! Take note, we didn’t pay for that night, but they saved us the hassle of moving our things from one room to another.

So from the very bottom of our hearts, thank you very kamsa! [Read more…]

Instadump: Hello Again Korea!

November 14, 2014

It hasn’t been a long time since I finished blogging about my trip to Korea last May. Now I’m back with another post about Korea, but this time for my travel this November. It was the first time I went to Korea with friends and not family, and it’s a completely different experience. Though we visited places I’ve been to before, I viewed things with a different set of eyes.

I’ve been questioned a lot on why I keep coming back to Korea, and I cannot give a completely honest answer because it’ll take me hours to say why. So they ask instead if it’s really beautiful, and I answer with a wholehearted ‘yes!’

Maybe because it’s Autumn when we visited, but everything looked golden.

Before I dive into a full-blown blogging of the trip, I’ll update you first with the Instagram photos I took during the entire week I traveled back and forth between Seoul and Busan. Everything—from random alleys to fallen leaves to dingy street lamps—is so photogenic that I took a lot of photos. [Read more…]

Seoul Food Diary: Four Days of Nomnoming

August 27, 2014

First, a disclaimer. I’m not a foodie. I just happen to love food, and Korean cuisines are some of the best I’ve ever tasted. We didn’t dine in any fancy restaurant during our four days in Seoul, but we devoured plenty of amazing Korean food. Just thinking about those four delicious days makes my mouth water. Eating is seriously one of the best activities you must indulge in Seoul (and everywhere else!).

After watching the Korean drama Let’s Eat, I went to Seoul with a list of must-try Korean food. Obviously, thinking of where to eat in Seoul wouldn’t be an issue! Sadly, I didn’t get to cross out everything from my list. Though they have delicacies like octopus and blood sausages, there are simpler and more common ones, simply prepared the Korean way. And with ban chan (반찬) present in every meal, the dining experience is enough to make a satisfying impact on our palate.

You’ll leave Seoul with a ridiculous love for Korean food that you go home craving it every day. Well, that’s the case for me. But it can also be because I watch dramas everyday and seeing them eat kimbap and samgyupsal in every episode doesn’t help. [Read more…]

Seoul Day 3: Hello Kitty Cafe at Hongdae

August 12, 2014

South Korea is the home of aegyo, BB Cream, KPOP, and a lot of themed cafes. The Hello Kitty Cafe is one of these themed cafes, and it has a couple of branches around the country. In my previous visit, we went to the Hello Kitty Cafe in Hyewa near Sungkyunkwan University. This time, my family and I opted to visit the one in Hongdae which was pretty near Trick Eye Museum.

Prior to the trip, Gian and Gabby didn’t want to visit the cafe because Hello Kitty. Haha. But Gianna really wanted to, and I promised that we’d visit the Hello Kitty Land in Malaysia, but we ended up going to Korea. So despite the two boys’ complaints, we trooped to the cafe for a quick coffee run. Gianna was ecstatic when she saw the cafe and wouldn’t enter as long as she hadn’t taken a picture.

Doesn’t the cafe look adorable even from outside? [Read more…]