|
Korea 2025: Revisiting
posted : Sunday, July 20, 2025
Final day in Seoul!
It’s a full day actually because I booked a red eye flight home, more on that later. But I did check out early as usual and left my luggage at reception while spending the day out. Breakfast was supposed to be at London Bagel Museum, and when I woke up I checked the Catchtable app before heading out for a quick bite at the buffet breakfast there were not too many people in the queue so I figured it’s too early too put in my name coz I wouldn’t have gotten there in time. By the time I finished breakfast….the queue had ballooned to 77 groups and an estimated 3 hour wait O.O So no choice but to change it to lunch plans instead and headed off to a sort-of-nearby favorite of mine, Ikseondong where there are plenty of places that I wanted to try the last time round and vowed to return. Spoiler alert, there’s still places that I want to return for even after this trip lol.  Arriving at Ikseondong before heading into the alleys  Ah beautiful hanoks I’ve missed you  Queued a bit for Soha Salt Pond  Bread on display! Got one to takeaway, and a more difficult to eat one to dine in  I can’t remember exactly what it is but there’s a chocolate filling  And time for one last cream coffee, salted cream because you know.  Quite obsessed with this wall  Walked past the Jayeondo branch here, no queue, asked the office ladies if they want it for breakfast tomorrow and bought some back lolol.  Korea = specs for me now I think I killed a bit too much time in the end which resulted in me speed walking from Ikseondong to Anguk and I reached with just 2 groups in front of me left, phew. The food itself is okay, not something I would actually queue 3 hours for (the final tally was 2h45m) but being in a virtual queue is fine if I can spend time elsewhere first while waiting.  Their mascot I think  I want many things but there’s limited space and I don’t want to tapao another thing  Jambon cheese bagel  I love the mushroom soup! Walked around Anguk area for a bit and somehow ended up in Gyeongbukgong again to see if I can catch some more cherry blossoms, but alas most of the trees are inside the paid area and I didnt want to pay/rent a hanbok so just had to make do with a couple of stray trees lol.  Streets at Anguk near Bukchon Hanoi Village, had to resist a revisit  Did drop by GBG though. Best I could do  Always worth a pic  This view too Still had a couple of errands to run, first of which is a return to Seongsudong to collect my prescription sunglasses. Had wanted to buy Gentle Monster/Blue Elephant this round, but BE don’t do prescription sunglasses on the spot (you had to bring it to a shop yourself) and I stumbled on one in Seongsu the day before that can process it within a day so that was a big pull factor even if it wasn’t the cheapest. Then off to Myeongdong to collect food souvenirs which I had preordered, and more Olive Young trips to try to find the outstanding stuff.  This is a viral shop too for purchase of towels and apparently they are very good quality but I couldn’t justify the price. It’s aesthetically pleasing to look at though, especially if you’re a bit OCD  Freebie for tourists at OY, only a few branches have it, scan a QR code, sign up for an account and redeem from vending machine  Sunset at Myeongdong And that’s it for the trip actually! Like I said throughout I thoroughly enjoyed myself, weather was comfortable for the most part, even the single rainy day wasn’t annoying, food was good and once again I managed to work around my constraints (picky + solo dining), and I am sure I’ll be back again. Maybe even for short trips but hopefully in groups? Last bit is about the flight home - I think this was the part where my nose started working up, talk about perfect timing. All I missed was the lounge food so I guess that’s not the worst thing on earth. But it was a slight rush to the airport, I missed my intended train while getting a bit lost at Seoul station, but still early enough to eat, shower and drink a bit in the now fully operational SilverKris lounge at ICN.  This iconic bar. Finally had a chance to have something from here  Taste buds a bit compromised, I only remembered the pork ribs were good  They had laksa but I think it’s a bit off as compared to SATS version, even with a malfunctioning taste bud I can tell  Got myself a night cap. Maybe that helped because the blocked nose went away by the time I got on the plane  Off to the gates  Bye Seoul! Red eye flight because uh that’s the only flight on saver when I redeemed, for a good reason I guess. But I suppose I get to try a sleeper flight for the first time, chose to had meal before landing (you can choose after take off or before landing, and the variety of food available is limited - no satay for instance). And BTC out of ICN is very limited also so skipped that. But I managed a solid 3.5-4 hour worth of sleep out of a 6 hour flight even if it wasn’t of the highest quality, enough for me to function after landing because I duly headed to work IN OFFICE. Had a meeting that I needed to attend in person and boss had this policy for WFO on the day after overseas leave (though I suppose if I asked, he should be ok but oh well decided not to try). But some parts of said meeting was so dry that I legit almost fell asleep (shut eye of a few seconds that I think nobody saw).  Started with a juice. Because I felt like I shouldn’t have more alcohol? Priority is to get some sleep  Woke up 1.5 hour before landing for my meal. Most people had their meal after take off so cabin was quite dark, amazingly I managed to sleep with the help of eyeshades. Asked for an iced Milo to start instead of coffee  Sleeper meals varies from supper options to breakfast options. I went for something that can double as both lol, charsiew in such setting will never be great but the meal was alright  Touched down, waiting for luggage. One for the records. I managed to nap for another hour after reaching home and doing laundry lol And with that another trip series comes to an end. Off to the next one! |
