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Korea 2025: Back to Seoul
posted : Saturday, July 12, 2025
Travel day again! This time round I did book a sort of earlier train (around 11am) because I was trying to leave more time for Seoul.
Took my own sweet time in the morning really. Wanted to go down to the restaurant to redeem my free Americano but unfortunately breakfast hours are over so they couldn’t serve it zzzz oh well. So checked out and headed straight to the station, thought this food souvenir shop that I wanted to go was in the station but after a while realize it was actually outside the station and in fact two streets down, still had time so hurried over to buy.  More variations of this freshly baked butter sand cookie thingies  Got a sweet potato latte from this place, thought it was kinda sweet  Sustenance for the train ride back to Seoul is this chewy mochi twist bread thing from a random bakery at the station And with that I’m back in Seoul! By the way still wasn’t 100% but functioning ok, taste buds are working which is all I cared about lol coz there’s still much to eat hahah. Hotel was not too far away from station, one train stop away actually but looking at the weather I thought I would just take a walk, since luggage is pretty manageable and there is this nice overhead walking path for the most part.  Nice weather for a stroll, even though I was pushing a big luggage around  Heading up this elevated path - Seoullo  Actually a nice place making idea. I really think place making outdoors need to be complemented with good weather sigh  This is gonna be too complicated for us because our dumb drivers need all sorts of signs. Actually they don’t but if things go wrong it is always convenient to blame someone else  Seoullo Checked in! No room upgrades this time and in fact room wasn’t ready for check in sadly (it was around 2pm, official check in time was 3pm). The surprise this time round though was when I was informed that I had breakfast because I absolutely don’t remember booking a rate with breakfast, and furthermore my mentality for Seoul was cafes cafes cafes (i.e. I wouldn’t have filled my stomach beforehand) so I was wondering if this was another upgrade of sorts lolol. But I went back to check my reservation on Expedia and indeed it was with breakfast, so I can only conclude that it was free at the point of booking, maybe as a promotion or something because it was quite new when I booked. Anyway I decided to just take a dump first (lol) and head out to check out Namdaemun Market which was conveniently opposite the hotel.  Actually I felt there’s nothing much to see. Wasn’t in need of street food, and fashion in the market isn’t exactly trendy. So I was done in less than an hour  Back to the hotel  Got into my room, a nice one for the last three nights. They are quite new, and for some reason the prices are kinda attractive  Mandatory shot  View of Myeongdong from my room Out again and took one stop to Myeongdong, bypassed all the street food stalls and went straight to my only formal meal of the day hahah. Planned as such knowing the big portion so I also deliberately chose an off peak timing to do it.  Myeongdong bustling as usual on a Friday evening  Andong Jjimdak. I remember being very pleasantly surprised by it the first time I had it in SG and I made it a point to finally try it one day in Korea. Went for the slightly spicy option because I think it’s primarily a soy based dish and I wanted as much of that flavor to retain. It’s a huge portion but I slowly ate and it went so well with rice so I finished it. Was so good. And the rest of the evening exploring Myeongdong streets sans the food. Because I do remember the street food to be pricey and one glance tells me that they are still pricey and have not changed since the last time I was here, so no urge to try anything new. But I did spend quite a bit of time here, then called it a night.  Activities including checking out yet another Blue Elephant shop and contemplating getting a pair.  Good night |
