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Seoul 2023: Dongs
posted : Wednesday, August 09, 2023
Final day in Seoul! And given that I have an early flight the following day which is too early for me to travel to the airport (and also making that extra hotel night a bit not worth it), I decided to head to airport the night before and stayed at the airport capsule hotel instead. Which means first order of business for the day is to check out and leave luggage with reception.
Bus ride to another stop that I had wanted to visit the last time round but didn’t manage to - Gwangjang Market. Plan was to settle brunch there, but I think I got a bit more than what I had bargained for.  Random entrance to the market, there are plenty of them  The cooked food section is the most lively section..the market market was pretty quiet still  Had this mung bean pancake and I was instantly full FML…couldn’t try other noodles and stuff  Blood sausage I wasn’t gonna try anyway  After walking around a bit decided to sit down for some pan fried dumplings and this was so bad urgh waste of calories and stomach space Still had a couple of cafes on my list to check off, so off to Ikseondong next. And can I just say, I was surprised by how much I love the charm that this place gives off.  Entering the..village? I don’t know what you’d call this  Made a beeline for my first stop and my heart stopped when I see queue outside and turns out they were for the restaurant opposite hahah. Saw this all over IG and thought I should visit - Cheongsudang Dessert Cafe  Pretty to look, decent to eat, wanted to get an iced tea but didn’t realize it came with a hot version too and they assumed i was ordering a hot one  This little stream flowing through the communal table is so aesthetically pleasing  Like this cafe that has bakes featuring salt from their salt pond…should have tapao-ed something  Exploring the hood  This was on my list too but didn’t make the final cut coz it was kinda full - Nakwon Station  This cheesecake shop is so cute as well! Featuring cheese made in-house woah  Settled down at Seoul Coffee for a Vienna Coffee  I shall be back next time! Insadong is nearby so I just walked over and it was another interesting street which I quite enjoy the vibes here, even if I think it’s more of an artsy vibe which I don’t usually identify with.  Main Street at Insadong  Chanced upon this art exhibition and I really liked the works, but the postcards are a bit too expensive to justify sitting in a box at home.  I almost wanted to go for this caricature drawing service too coz they were running a promotion, but there’s a bit of queue and I wasn’t in a mood to wait.  Shopping mall of sorts with a lot of artsy knick knacks  End of street Off to dinner! You can’t leave Korea without having K-BBQ so that’s what I reserved for my last night. Danielfooddiary recommended this place called Ggupdang which is a pork only restaurant and I am of course immediately sold. This particular branch at Sinsa opens at 3pm which is obviously too early for dinner even for my standards. Reached there just after 4pm instead, got a queue number of about 20 which means there’s a bit of a wait. You are supposed to have a Korean number to register for a queue and they will call you back when it’s your turn, but if you don’t then you can just let staff know and they will fill in their own number, and you need to hang around outside for them to call you. But surprisingly queue moves quite fast! I think I only waited about 20-30 minutes and in I go. Got the “Kokumi” Moksal (pork shoulder blade) and Samgyeopsal (pork belly), and also at DFD’s recommendation, a bowl of rice flavored with pork juice. Bit of damage to the wallet as a result but food is good, craving satisfied.  Shop interior  Couple of banchans and the condiments for the pork, including the salt which lifts the flavor so much  Raw meat  The rice, similar idea to 油饭 or chicken rice maybe hahah  Staff will cook for you  Yummmm Back to Myeongdong after dinner, hung around the streets for a bit to run some last minute errands, wanted a go at Myeongdong Kyoja but ultimately decided that I am too full for it, so picked up my luggage and off to Seoul station an AREX to Incheon. And that is kind of the end of the Seoul trip. I do think there’s still much to explore so I don’t mind coming back another time, but probably it won’t be solo - eating is difficult here if you are on a solo trip.  Train to Incheon Last part of the day involved checking in to the airport capsule hotel, which I was so so impressed by. Instead of capsules it’s a small room, which is thankfully very well ventilated and well isolated as compared to my past experiences in a capsule hotel which I was never able to sleep properly. Actually the Niseko one was one of the better ones but I think I was too overcome by the sauna that I couldn’t sleep properly. But back to this one, I think there’s some standard there as it was ran by a reputable brand in Walker Hill. Though side note, I was also pretty sure that their booking site, which came with all sorts of safety precaution that required me to download a software and only accessible on desktop, was also the reason why I ironically got into a whole series of credit card fraud attempts which led me to lock my card permanently.  Checking in  I got a room without bathroom, not an issue at all and it wasn’t stuffy. Comfy except that if I had a bigger luggage I won’t be able to spread it out  Lotteria, also felt like I needed to buy something from here Good night’s sleep even though I had to wake up at 5am still. Off to the last part of the trip which deserved a post on its own!
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