Seoul Awesome - Valentine's Week in Korea 2014 Day 7 & 8

Day 7: 21 Feb 2014

It's our last full-day in Korea. We'll need to arrive at Incheon International Airport by 4.30pm the next day, thus we'll probably have only half a day in Seoul tomorrow. We left our hotel (Sejong) around 2pm (yes, very late!) and headed to Sinchon Station.

Palsaik Samgyupsal (팔색 삼겹살)
Sinchon Station Exit 6

Palsaik was recommended by one of my secondary school friend and she was the one who gave me the direction too. It's famous for its 8 flavors pork. Direction: Take the train to Sinchon Station, exit 6, walk straight in front until you see 7-11, turn left, look out for KIA Motors building on your right and you'll see Palsaik at the right bottom corner of the building, then cross the road to get to the restaurant.

Sinchon Station

KIA Motors Building - Palsaik's located at the bottom right

Palsaik

Palsaik's Entrance

Photos of many celebrities whom have visited Palsaik

Glass Door to the Restaurant

Palsaik has opened for 2361 days

Holding area

Palsaik's Interior

Menu on display board

Menu 1

Menu 2

We ordered the 8 color set (KRW 30,000 = SGD 36 for 2 pax) which consist of 8 different flavors of pork.

Seafood Hotpot was served as well

8 flavor set at 30,000 won (SGD 36)

The staffs will cook for us but we stopped them from doing so as we want to try the meat one by one

You can refill your vegetables at Self-Bar

Self-Bar

Palsaik's Restroom

Quite a sweet washroom for the ladies

#selfie with the pretty heart shaped flowers behind

Sinchon station is just one stop away from Hongdae Station. We searched high and low on the train map but couldn't find Hongdae Station at all. I found out that Hongik University Station is actually Hongdae Station after I googled a few days ago. Anyway, we tried to walk towards Hongdae from Sinchon but couldn't find the right direction. So we ended up taking the train.

Hello Kitty Cafe is located in Hongdae. I read on a blog post and the blogger advised people to take exit 5 to reach HK cafe. However, after checking out the map in the train station, Exit 9 is the nearest exit towards the cafe. We took exit 9 and found the Cafe in about 5min.

Watch out for Tony Moly after you come out from Exit 9 of Sinchon Station

Cross the road

Go into the street on the left of Tony Moly

Hello Kitty Cafe spotted on the left of the street

Hello Kitty Cafe (Hongdae, Seoul, South Korea)

Hongik University Station Exit 9

Hello Kitty Cafe in Seoul, Hongdae (Hongik University)

Level 2 of Hello Kitty Cafe

Green Tea Latte (4200 won), Caramel Latte (4500 won), Tiramisu (forgot how much it was)

Happy me in Hello Kitty Cafe!! I am a fan of Hello Kitty since primary school.

Hello Kitty Cafe's Lattes were just average

Hello Kitty Tiramisu Cake. It's surprisingly nice!! Recommended! :)

Inner part of Tiramisu

Cute Tissue and Cup

Only 1 cubicle in the female toilet

Cute earrings! I got the 3rd one from the left on the top row! It's the only earrings with crystals! 19,000 won if I never rmb wrongly

Hello Kitty Cafe in the evening

Hongdae (Hongik University Street) Shopping

I love Hongdae Shopping Street! Many fashionable apparels and are generally cheaper than Dongdaemun and Myeongdong! You'll see mostly youngsters walking around as Hongik University is just few streets away.

Huge dog belonging to the Candy Floss Stall Owner

Original Caps Store in Hongdae - one of the few shops that sell original caps

Road side stall selling Deep Fried Ice Cream!!

Friendly Stall Uncle

Deep Fried Ice Cream 2,000 won (SGD 2.40)

Very nice!! Hot and crispy on the outside and cold vanilla ice cream on the inside! MUST TRY!

Stall uncle gave us two balls of rice cakes for free while we munch on our fried ice cream! So nice!

Watching 2 students tap-dancing on the street, quite impressive

Paris Baguette is EVERYWHERE in Seoul!!

Paris Baguette

Paris Baguette

Paris Baguette Cakes

Paris Baguette Macarons

Bought 2 of them to try but.... they weren't that good, not recommended.

Common cafe and fashion shops that can be found in Singapore

I ran out of Korean Won and there's no money changer in sight at Hongdae, thus we headed back to our hotel, put down our shopping items we got at Hongdae and went to Myeongdong Street. There were many money changers available in Myeongdong. I changed extra SGD 150 into KRW at the money changer on the right hand side of Giordano, which offers the best rate out of 3 money changers I asked.

Myeongdong

Lotte Malls in Myeongdong

Myeongdong

It was 5000 won (SGD 6), so we didn't try. Too expensive!

We settled down in Mcdonald's to eat the Bulgogi Burger again cause it's just too heavenly. On top of that, we tried McSpicy Chicken Snack Wrap too. It's satisfying as well. :)

Bulgogi Burger 2000 won (SGD 2.40)

McSpicy Chicken Wrap 1900 won (SGD 2.30)

McSpicy Chicken Snack Wrap

Shops were starting to close at 10pm, hence we went back to our hotel to start packing our luggage for tomorrow's departure.

Gorgeous Namsan Tower view from my hotel room

90% of my shopping loots (next 10% were bought on the last day)

Day 8: 22 Feb 2014

Finally, the day that we were NOT looking forward to... It's our last day in Korea. =( We checked out of our hotel at around 9.30am, left our luggage with them and went back to Myeongdong Streets for last minute shopping.

Namsan Tower View in the morning

Myeongdong Street at 9.47am on a Saturday

#selfie in Myeongdong Street

Another #selfie in the shop that we bought our bags as souvenirs for our siblings

Lunch Venue

Beef was not bad, however the Bibimbap was the worse I had in the entire trip =(

I had been seeing Koreans carrying MCM bags all over Korea! Initially I thought that it's not that nice, but I got tempted to get one after just one week. =P There are 3 outlets of MCM at Lotte Departmental Store in Myeongdong. The one at the ground level is not duty free. Lotte Duty Free is located at Level 9, 10 & 11 of the mall.

Chloé and MCM boutiques at Lotte Duty Free

MCM Boutique that I got my backpack from. You can check out my instagram @lynne_chua if you wanna see the bag.

Tourists waiting for lift to go up to Lotte Duty Free. We didn't have to wait as we entered from the departmental store

Delicious Kebab!!! 3000 won (SGD 3.60) for one

Gyoza Stall, 3000 won (SGD 3.60) for a plate

Gyoza was just average, disappointed =/

Time was running out and we had to get back to our hotel to collect our luggage, as well as to re-pack after our last minute shopping in Myeongdong. Sejong Hotel has a nice business room spacious enough for us to pack our luggage. The staff advised us that the airport bus will take around 50min from the hotel to Incheon International Airport. The bus stop is just right in front of Sejong Hotel, very convenient. Airport Bus is charging a flat rate of 10,000 won (SGD 12). It would be cheaper to travel via train but with our heavy luggage, it's not that cool when we have to climb up and down the stairs, change to different lines in order to reach the airport. Taxi would cost around SGD 70 too. Therefore we decided to take the airport bus.

The frequency of the airport bus is about 15min. We didn't wait for too long for it to arrive. Throughout the 50min journey, the view was awesome (see the pictures below).

Lining up our luggage together of others'

Airport Limousine (Bus)

Hangang Park

#selfie on the airport limousine/bus, spot my Hello Kitty Earrings

Incheon International Airport (ICN)
272 Gonghang-ro, Jung-gu, Incheon, South Korea

Checking in

Another round of Duty Free Shopping before boarding the plane

Got my first Orange Box!!

Today was like a fated day. Why? I almost bought a new Céline bag and Louis Vuitton Bracelet. The Céline bag only left with the display set and there's an obvious scratch in the interior. I won't pay a few thousands for that, even though the sales assistant offered me additional 5% off. Similarly, the LV bracelet only has one piece for the color I want and there's a slight stain. =( My BF was saying I wasn't fated to buy these items now. There's no Céline boutique in the airport; there's LV boutique but they don't carry the bracelet I want. Therefore, I decided to walk into Hermès. I have never thought that I'll own an orange box this soon. Even though it's a small item, I felt that I climbed another milestone in my life. I have been financially independent since University Year 2 when my mother cut off my allowance and I had to find a part time job to support my daily expenses on food in school. I was upset with her during that year but after that I realized it's a good decision by my mum otherwise I will not have enough money for all my travel expenses after I graduate as I only receive SGD 5 a day during university. For an undergrad in Singapore, $5 is quite little. At least it's an upgrade from SGD 3 a day when I was in junior college. Haha. Anyway, I was so so so happy and proud of myself. Be it materialistic or what, I earned and spent my own money on the things I like, so I'm not guilty at all. Moreover, I'm giving my mum a 4 digit sum every month as household allowance as well as paying off my uni school fees. =)

Charging my phone on the plane

Korean Air has Bibimbap as dinner!!

The originally empty glass was filled with White Wine

Dinner on board was awesome! I was doubting the taste of the bibimbap as the paste came from a tube, nevertheless, it gave me a great surprise! One of the best meal I had on flight! I had white wine to accompany the marvelous bibimbap too.

This was a wonderful getaway from our usual lives in Singapore. Korea hasn't been one of the countries that I will prioritize but this trip has proven me wrong. Koreans are friendly, food is excellent, attractions and shopping are terrific. I would definitely revisit Korea in the future, probably during summer so that I can buy more clothes back to SG. It's certainly a memorable trip for us too. Thank you for reading, I hope you've enjoyed it. =)