[Travelogue] South Korea: Seoul, Day 6 | Tosokchon Samgyetang, Hanbok, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gwangjang Market, DDP (Hera's Seoul Fashion Week)
By Lasmarya Hadi Purwanto - July 25, 2017
Seoul, Day 6
Heading out before noon to have lunch at the must-visit/must-try Tosokchon Samgyetang by subway, and came across some of these super artistic yet historic pieces of wall art in the Gyeongbokgung subway station that we passed by along the way. I just love the fact that they put much attention to details, that they adorn the subway station in a historical area with just the most "compatible" art works, which is like an indirect way to pre-introduce the Palace to tourists. Thumbs up!
Tosokchon Samgyetang 토속촌 삼계탕
[Address]
5, Jahamun-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
서울특별시 종로구 자하문로5길 5 (체부동)
[Directions]
(Subway)
Gyeongbokgung Station (Seoul Subway Line 3), Exit 2
Go straight about 170m and turn left onto Jahamun-ro 5-gil Road.
It is located 10m ahead on the left.
Tosokchon Samgyetang ranks as the most popular place to have a taste of the Korean's traditional Ginseng Chicken Soup or Samgyetang in Seoul. If you're thinking that you'll have to wait in a long queue just to get a seat in the restaurant, worry not, cause the place itself is really spacious and there's enough space for the everyone. Another thing to love is that the restaurant is constructed in a way that looks like the Joseon-era nobleman's house with separated pavilions!
Ginseng Liquor (small) and Tea
The standard portion is one bowl of Samgyetang for one person.
Some herbs, ginseng, and glutinous rice are stuffed inside.
It is almost like the usual chicken herbal soup, but with a slightly different taste.
The chicken is so tender and the soup is well-seasoned, light but also flavorful, refreshing but also fulfilling at the same time.
It is definitely a pleasure to dig in, besides the fact that it is also known to have a lot of benefits to our health too. :)
p.s.: We didn't know that there was glutinous rice inside, so we ordered an extra bowl of rice, but trust me, the one bowl of Samgyetang is enough to make you full. But I guess that won't be the case if you're a big eater :p
Also ordered Haemul Pajeon (green onion pancake with seafood)
They give you a generous amount of seafood in the pancake, which is something to be thankful for, haha, the seafood was well-cooked that it was not hard to chew, but overall, for the taste, just so so.
Aiming for a traditional vibe kinda day, and while we're in the area, hanbok rental is definitely one of the things that would come out in your mind, don't you think? :P
The rental fee is KRW 15,000 (simple hanbok) for 4 hours, adding another KRW 5,000 if we prefer the better looking hanboks.
There are a lot of hanbok rental stores around Tosokchon Samgyetang, and around the Gyeongbokgung Palace, so it's not going to be difficult to look for one.
Tips:
Choose the brighter colour hanboks for better contrast in picture, will even be better if you can find a colour that'll pop out the most, doing it that way will result in better looking photos.
plain or pastel colors just won't do you much justice.
Do you see that I'm regretting right now?
Haha, no, just kidding :E
Well, okay, maybe deep inside, yes, but hey, just a bit. Really!
(Where the heck that I'm looking at??)
Walked across the street to the Gyeongbokgung Palace.
(credit to Erlyna)
Tips:
It is said that the admission fee to the palace for international visitors is @KRW 3,000 for adults age 19-64 , but if you walk in wearing hanbok, then you'll be allowed to enter for free. So on the day of your hanbok rental, make sure to visit the palace!
by: Fiona
Tourists thought we're native Koreans going to a wedding party dressed in hanboks >o<
and asked to take pictures with us
We're looking Korean enough?
©Fiona's
©Fiona's
again by Fiona
(Okay, I'm looking at I-don't-know-where again, c'mon *sigh)
©Fiona
(Pardon the chubby cheek please >.<)
Guards Changing Ceremony↓
See what I'm talking about? This kind of bright colour!
Yeah, this was when the regret seeped in.
Cherry Blossom <3
©Fiona's
Mandatory pose with the cherry blossom :p
Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁)
regarded as the most beautiful and grandest of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon dynasty, and was the main royal palace in the dynasty.
Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁)
Directions
[Subway]
Gyeongbokgung Station (Seoul Subway Line 3) and Exit 5.
Anguk Station (Seoul Subway Line 3) and Exit 1.
[Bus]
Take Bus No. 1020, 7025,109, 171, 172, 601 or 606 and get off at Gyeongbokgung Palace Bus Stop.
Take Jongno Bus No. 11 and get off at National Folk Musuem of Korea Bus Stop. 마을버스 종로11
(Finally got it right *phew)
It was raining really hard and the wind was super strong and chilly that we all along with other groups of tourists had to take shelter and couldn't proceed touring the palace. The wind was so cold that it left us shivering even with layers of hanbok.
It was too bad that the weather wasn't quite friendly and we wasted a lot of time waiting for the rain to stop. Check the video at the end of the post to witness the situation
and how we braced ourselves to walk through the wind when rain calmed down. Brrr.
But the rain wouldn't stop us from playing around, for sure? :P
We didn't have much time left in the palace, the sky was getting darker again, and it's time to go back and return the hanbok. Although it's too bad that we didn't have enough time to wander all around the palace, to the other chambers, the other buildings or pavilions, on the bright side, I guess, this is a sign that we should come back again one day, on a day with brighter sky, and bright coloured hanbok? XD
It started to rain again on our back, T.T
so ruuunnnn... don't get the hanbok wet!
In the midst of rain, we moved on to Gwangjang Market (광장시장), finding something to eat and gaining back the energy (read: calories) that we burned while running and shivering (alert: excuses! we're just hungry, that's all) and to put another tick on our checklist of things to do in Seoul: try the RAW octopus!
Gwangjang Market (광장시장)
Directions
[Subway]
Jongno 5-ga Station (Seoul Subway Line 1), Exit 8.
Euljiro 4-ga Station (Seoul Subway Line 2 & 5), Exit 4.
[Subway]
Jongno 5-ga Station (Seoul Subway Line 1), Exit 8.
Euljiro 4-ga Station (Seoul Subway Line 2 & 5), Exit 4.
Marinated crabs
Various kinds of kimchi↑
Those pots and rice bowls you see in dramas XD
Another kinds of kimchis and side dishes↑
Found a snack stall run by two ahjummas, we ordered:
Mini Kimbab, KRW 3,000
Spicy Ddeokbokki, KRW 3,000
aaaand, *drumroll, Ssan Nakji (Raw Octopus) KRW 15,000
A bit costly, but worth the experience :D
It tastes just like Chuka Idako (Baby Octopus)
in Japanese restaurant, not fishy, no nasty smell, no disgusting taste, it in fact tasted quite good and fresh, worth to try, and worth to have again if you don't mind the price :)
I first thought that it could be kinda dangerous eating raw octopus, I even heard the rumors that it can get stuck in your throat and cause suffocation O.O, but I'm glad I was silly enough to give it a try, and proved myself that it wasn't entirely like that. It may feel chewy in your mouth at first,
but after a while, it just tasted like the usual baby octopus.
It was a really nice experience :)
See the moving raw octopus in the video below↡
Walked to the Dongdaemun area... 
Sunsets at the Cheonggyecheon <3
to DongDaeMun Design Plaza (동대문디자인플라자 (DDP))
DDP, also stands for Dream, Design and Play, which is the currently "trending" venue in Seoul that hosts exhibitions, fashion shows, conference or events, owed its very futuristic and distinctive design to the one and only Zaha Hadid!
We were apparently there during the Hera Seoul Fashion Week, and look at the crowd!
Celebrities!!! How lucky we were! \^o^/
©Erlyna
©Erlyna
©Erlyna
©Erlyna
©Erlyna
I was busy recording them in the videos that I didn't take pictures of them, so I borrowed some from Erlyna :P
I was busy recording them in the videos that I didn't take pictures of them, so I borrowed some from Erlyna :P
©Erlyna
Last stop of the day, Lotte Mart at Seoul Station. This is THE PLACE, the complete one-stop to buy all that Korean snacks that you had all the time in your mind, chocolate pie? yoghurt almond? yoghurt jelly? banana milk? Name it, and you'll find all of them here! This is where I spent most of my Korean Won. Not on beauty or even skincare products, but snacks.*sigh How could I resist? #notdietonholiday #dietwhatdiet #dietcanwait #snackscantwait
And
You won't believe it till you see it, this supermarket was crowded by tourists! Especially Asian tourists, and mostly Chinese, buying Korean snacks in boxes and this one picture below is the self-packing area ↓
Fortunately, my conscience still reminded me to take a snap of it in the midst of the crazy shopping. :P
