October 26-29, 2017
I made plans for Seoul initially with a few friends, but like most things with exchange, the group grew to about 12 of us. We booked a hostel type place through AirBnb and flew in on a Friday night. We had a bit of a time getting from the airport to the hostel, but eventually made it in late at night.
No rest for the weary, I woke up early the next morning to go with Tam, Julie, and Hendrick to rent hanboks!!!! We went to Oneday Hanbok where it was utter chaos. Families and groups were running around trying on hanboks all over the place. We looked through hanboks in our sizes; they had every color combination imaginable in newer and more traditional styles. We could try on two but after that we had to pick one. Julie and Tam tried on a couple but I picked a nice blue traditional one and stuck to it, I mostly didn’t want to deal with all the effort of getting someone to come take it off me. We quickly picked out handbags and accessories and we were good to go. Hendrick got a fun red outfit and hat while we were all occupied.
Walking around the city in the hanboks was actually pretty embarrassing. People were definitely staring. A group of school children actually heckled Hendrick and made fun of him a bit lol. But we had sooo much fun romping around in our outfits. Plus, we got into the Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace for free with them on!
One of the best things about being in Seoul in October was the fall weather. I was beginning to get a little exhausted by the warm and humid weather in Hong Kong. The crisp fall air in Seoul felt so good!!
After we finished parading around in our hanboks we returned them and I had my first bibimbap for lunch!!! So yummy oh my goodness. We finished up lunch and decided to go to a street market in Hoehyeon-Dong. I had ddukbokki and browsed around for souvenirs!
We wandered over to Sungnyemun Gate and then grabbed some dinner. We were absolutely obsessed with the kimchi that came with all of our meals!! Especially Hendrick, who had kimchi for the first time on the trip. Julie left us after that to do some homework (study abroad, amirite?).
After dinner we grabbed some soju (RIP) and headed down to the Cheonggyecheon Stream. The stream goes right through the heart of Seoul and has been built up with walkways and other infrastructure for pedestrians to use and relax on. Tam had seen photos online of the plaza which was all the way at one end of the stream but we started on the wrong end, and even though we walked forever we never made it. It was so fun to roam around with Tam and Hendrick in Seoul!! We’re all very similar so we could talk forever. We did walk by a cool art installation where you could draw on a screen and have your drawing projected up onto the underside of a bridge. Pretty nifty.
Once we were sufficiently chilly, we headed to a bar to meet up with more friends! Angela and Matthew were also on exchange in Hong Kong and were visiting Seoul for the weekend. We had a bunch of drinks that were served in bags like large capri suns!
We then linked up with the larger group we came to Seoul with and went out a bit. Tam and I eventually split a cab ride home and had a very eventful ride.
The next morning we had a later start and then Hendrick, Tam, Julie, Ariel, and I went to Myeong-dong for some shopping and eating. I had more bibimbap for lunch (I was obsessed) and we had a delicious shaved ice for dessert. We liked browsing around all the little stalls on the street, everything is way cuter in Asia.
We checked out Itaewon and found a very strange store / art installation. We eventually met the rest of the group for Korean BBQ, but Ariel, Tam, and I opted to head elsewhere. ~Just vegetarian things.~ It was Halloween weekend so the streets were crazy with people in costumes all packed together. We walked around after dinner in all the madness and opted for a night of karaoke!! We had our own room and all 12 of us sang our hearts out.
The next morning I headed out with Hendrick, Tam, and Julie to the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple which was all decorated with sooo many flowers!! Literally flowers everywhere.
We walked around and did some window shopping and eventually made it to a large multi story craft market. I bought some adorable souvenirs and Tam bought food shaped like poop ahaha.
We had lunch at a large indoor market! We sat at one stall with a very live octopus staring at us. I had a tasty smoothie and some noodles and a pancake!
We did some more walking around Jongno-gu. Some crazy buildings!
We went back to the Cheonggyecheon Stream and finally found the plaza with all the fountains!!
We ended the day at Ewha Womans University where we did some more shopping, eating, and chatting indoors where it was warmer.
And that wraps up our trip to Seoul!! All of us loooooved Seoul and are dying to go back to South Korea! Going on exchange there would have been pretty fun as well. I’ll be back for sure. 🙂