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Seoul 2023: Hanoks
posted : Sunday, July 23, 2023
Yet another wake up early day but still not early enough for the intended activity kind of day.
In this case the first agenda of the day was to visit this uber popular cafe. Onion had a few branches in the city, with this particular one in Anguk being the most popular one because it is set in a hanok which immediately ups the charm by ten fold, in my humble opinion. And in a lot of people’s humble opinion too apparently, because I reached there about 20 minutes after 9 (they open at 9) and I ended up in a two hour wait. Part of the reason may also be because I conveniently forgot that it’s a Sunday too.  Namsan Tower says hi~  First stop! Oh well. It being a solo trip meant that I had lots of flexibility so gamely waited. And there’s actually two sets of queue, one to get a seat and the other for food. I actually thought the second one would go a lot faster (I still don’t see a reason why not) but it turns out to be about an hour queue each sigh.  Plenty of time to snap photos then but I’m not uploading everything haha I guess the good thing is they replenish their bakes very quickly so there’s no risk of ending up with nothing after all that queuing. The of a solo trip however is that I can’t stomach too many things oh well, and all that waiting meant that brunch has turned to lunch proper.  Bakes on display  I want many things  Coffee station  What i ended up having. Mentaiko avo baguette was decent. The cheese boat thing was awesome, the croissant was not bad too. All in all, bakes are good but probably won’t wait two hours for it next time.  More pics of the charming place  One last one. Off to explore the neighbourhood next. Anguk is home to the Bukchon Hanok Village which I had wanted to visit the last time round, but we were there late afternoon and girls were reluctant to leave the metro station to face the cold so we ended up chilling in Paris Cafe for too long and by the time we left sun had set (it was winter so sunset much earlier than usual), and we can’t really see much.  Wanted to try this too, but queue + full so never mind.  Hanbok bears  Entrance (?) to the village, picture taken coz 30kph reminds me of FS again  They literally put signs telling tourists to keep quiet coz these are residents living here. Honestly if I own one of these I would have moved out and just rent it out as a AirBnB or something  The hill  THE shot  Swap favors with a fellow solo traveler It is a bit too touristy though, I think internet had lots of recommendations for other quieter Hanok villages which are equally charming (though one wonders how long before they too became touristy). But honestly I can appreciate the beauty of it.  Resorted to using this mode more often these days It was a pretty warm day (though still windy) so I don’t know what got into my head but I decided to take a 15minute walk towards Gyeongbukgong. I hadn’t planned to enter it but I reached there just as the change of guards ceremony started so stopped and entered it for a bit, but didn’t stay too long because I had seen it once already.  Pit stop at O’sulloc! Refreshing tea and I ended up buying a fair bit as souvenirs  Guard ceremony  Great weather for pics  There’s road works outside I forgot for what already, so the castle is sort of hidden a bit  I actually stayed here for a while figuring out the phasing (which is a typical T-junction phasing, just people drive on wrong side) and diversion plan. 职业病 returns  I forgot which famous person is this  And this. Short bus ride to Seoul station because it’s technically my last hotel night in Seoul so better get all the shopping out of the way so that I can pack. Specifically, snack shopping at Lotte Mart in Seoul station because memories lol. And to be honest it’s cheaper than all the random snack stores in Myeongdong or something.  Seoul station!  More drinks to quench thirst. Saw this everywhere so decided to try, didn’t get coffee coz caffeine quota haha but this is a bit cheating actually, what makes it “mega” is the amount of ice  Lotte Mart food section is awesome! Regret is not buying some, wanted to leave it for the next day but when I did pop by the next evening, many things are sold out Popped back to hotel to drop off the box of snacks (honestly, the provision of boxes for packing is a great idea), then headed back out to Myeongdong to explore it proper. First up, quick dinner!  Myeongdong Kyoja for dinner! Either I was early or they are just not as popular as last time, but no wait at all. Thought about stuffing myself with mandu but decided to postpone it too Walked around a bit then headed off to Cheonggyecheon Stream again. Because I can’t get enough of the place and I hadn’t seen it at night.  There’s a light projection show too  Seeing it in a different light  Ok I think next time I won’t come here liao ahaha Then back to Myeongdong for supper of sorts, before calling it a day.  Night is young  Burnnn  More grapefruit juice, best thirst quencher there is  Night shot of hotel building |
