Seoul Backpacking Day 1 – Insadong, Everysing, N Seoul Tower

It’s been 4 days since I left my heart in Seoul and that past 5 days had been nothing but amazing. My sister and I planned this trip in a month when we suddenly felt like going there. I’ve always wanted to watch Jessica in Legally Blonde so we decided to go backpacking in Seoul.

11/12/12

We arrived in Incheon Airport around 8:20am, expecting for the worst weather. Everyone in the flight were sighing when the pilot announced,

“The weather is nice, it’s er… -11 degrees.”

We’re not sure what to expect so we wrapped ourselves with 2 layers of down jackets and gloves. And it was the right thing to do. The coldness hit us hard outside the airport! We take the Airport Limousine to get to our guesthouse, since it’s the most convenient way to get there. It was only 10,000 KRW per trip and it took around 70 minutes till we get off at Chungmuro stop. While we were waiting, we chatted a bit with Semi, a pretty and friendly Korean girl who speaks fluent Indonesian!

From Chungmuro stop we have to rely on our map to find the guesthouse, Dalkom. After wandering for around 5 minutes in the cold, we reached our destination with the help of 2 kind ahjusshis. Dalkom Guest House is such a cute and cozy place to stay in. The rate was also cheap. The only thing I want to complain was the location, lol it was in the alley surrounded by printing companies.

After resting for a bit and ate our lunch (instant noodles Maggi FTW!) we headed out to Insadong to buy tickets for Nami Island. We had a bit trouble finding the subway and ended up roaming Euljiro-3-Ga underground mall for about 10 minutes haha. That place was classic and interesting in its own way, and it was filled with elderly locals. We felt like we’re in the 70’s for a while.

We finally reached Insadong and were overwhelmed with the place’s culture richness. There were galleries along the street, people selling handmade items, food and so much more.

After buying our Nami Island tickets, we made a stop at Etude House to shop for cosmetics. They gave us so many samples! Like no kidding, it was a LOT. We made a stop at it’s Skin and the ahjummas there was so friendly! I speak my broken Hangul with her,

Unnie, neomu yeppo!

and she got excited and gave us Nichkhun posters and cards. They even walk us to the door and take photos together with Khun cut out. I’ll never forget this ahjumma haha.

We were shocked when suddenly the street vendors shouted, ‘Apa khabar!’ and ‘Saya cinta kamu!’ as they saw us. LOL. Who taught them these Malay words?! We tried the cookie, it was wrapped with strings of flour and there were sweet fillings in it, I’m not sure what it’s called though. But it tastes good.

Then we stop by the famous Ssamziegil mall. It’s a beautiful place.

It was cold and we’re tired but we already planned for another destination for day 1. We decided to continue to Myeongdong and Namsan Seoul Tower.

We walked from Insadong to Myeongdong and on the way my sister noticed this cafe with Yonghwa and Seohyun photos pasted on the door. Turns out it was Miss Lee’s café, the one where YongSeo had their date on WGM and also Yoona came during her KBS’s guerilla date.

I ordered a cup of hot chocolate and it was a perfect drink in the cold weather. Also a cute Korean guy near our table greeted us. People here are so friendly. One eye contact and smile and they will talk to you.

We also passed by Cheongyecheon Stream on the way to Myeongdong

While we were walking randomly at Myeongdong, we accidentally found SPAO and Everysing. We went in for a while to rest and keep warm.

Finding the N Seoul Tower cable car was no laughing matter. I read through blogs that it was only walking distance to there from Myeongdong, but it didn’t mention that it was LONG walking distance. But, we still managed to find the place all thanks to a girl who helped us. She’s not fluent in English so she asked us to follow her. It was a long, tiring walk along the steep icy path, but we get to the cable car eventually.

The tower is amazing and we also visited the Teddy Bear Museum. It was very interesting to see the bears were arranged to tell the history of Korea. They were so cute it made us forgot about our tired feet for a while.

There were also the original bears from the MBC drama Goong.

Amazing view from the observatory floor at N Seoul Tower

We were too tired to walk anymore and took a cab back to the guesthouse. LOL. But we’re excited for day two!

Bear Gangnam Style!