As you guys might know, I am madly in love with K-Pop and thus these years I've been craving to go to South Korea. At first it was only because of the longing to breath the same air as my favorite celebrities, but now it has flourished into an interest for many things Korean other than their Idolized entertainment industry. The food (street food! mm), language, the pop culture, the fashion, the streets...everything has just captured my attention.
Last year my family and I had gone to Seoul, but on a tour, so we were limited to our free activities. This year, I opted to become our own private family tour guide so we can do what we want to do on our own time without needing to rush back on the tour bus every few hours :D
It's my second time going to Seoul and the first ever time going to Seoul without a tour guide, so naturally we had to figure everything out ourselves. BUT this time I didn't have the help of my parents since I volunteered to take care of everything. So, I had to make sure I was getting all the information correctly about destinations and our means of transport before going to ensure that I don't get my family lost somewhere in Seoul HAHA (that wouldn't be very nice, would it)
So the main plan was to get around by the subway, which was recommended by my Korean language tutor (who's hometown is Incheon). He said that taxis tend to drive the longer routes due to the fact that we're foreigners, so it's best to take the subway. Buses were also an option, but fortunately, all of our desired destinations were somewhere on the Seoul Subway Line 2, so we didn't need a bus.
I had initially wanted to bring my family to the Namsan Tower and the outdoor Yeouido Park which lines up right along the Han River. However, these mainly outdoor activities were a big no-no for my family when we got there because of the frigid, cold weather.
Seriously. The cold weather was no joke.
...and to make matters more extreme, we were flying in from Hong Kong, where our lowest temperatures in the Winter times ranges 5-12 degrees and it never snows here! So flying into freezing Seoul with slippery ice and nose burning coldness did take quite some time to get used to.
SO, I have a few pictures to share and i'll just share them in accordance to the districts and places that we've visited;
MYEONGDONG
Just how can you ever leave out the lively place of Myeongdong if you travel to Seoul? It's full of pretty much everything, from clothes to footwear, from footwear to eyewear, from eyewear to skincare and from skincare to food! LOTS OF FOOD!!!! My family's hotel, the Lotte Hotel in Seoul is just right around the corner of Myeongdong, an extremely convenient 5 minute walk away, which explains our frequent visits to this place during our stay in Seoul. We would eat breakfast in Myeongdong, take the subway to another district, then roundhouse back to Myeongdong for dinner.
Myeongdong is like a trendy district, there are teens everywhere, street stalls, and street FOOD! There's this potato thing where it's deep fried then put on a stick, kind of like intantly made potato chips. It's so fattening but so good! You guys mUST try that if you happen to stumble across it in Myeongdong. Oops, off topic. What I wanted to say is that Myeongdong is pretty huge, you can't possibly walk through this place thoroughly in one day. Do take your time and explore the streets before thoroughly spending your money because you really don't want to miss anything in these colorful streets :)
