My Travel Map!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Seoul: Autumn sonata with my lil' one -Oct2013-


Adriana and I at Nami Island
Finally resumed our travelling activity after 6 months of living in Cairo (on business) and reunited with my husband (I miss him, I miss home!). And it is also about time to take my lil' one to experience the outside world considering the successful flying experience that we had (I took her with me when I went to Egypt, and she's behaving well throughout the journey)

Since we love kpop & kdrama so much, we've chosen Seoul (again) as our first family vacation destination. Our best friend is currently staying in Seoul, so we get to stay at his place instead (yeay!). If you were to go there, please refer to my previous post on Seoul for the hostel selection (of course for budget travellers). 

We've made the simplest itinerary this time around, a more relaxed one, as we're bringing our 13-months-old toddler. You don't want to push too many activities as kids can be fussy at times. And since we've covered most of the top attractions during our previous visit, we're now focused into places that we love most and easy for the kiddos. Seoul, aku datang lagi!

Day 1

Itaewon 
The only place in Seoul where you can find a lot of halal restaurants around (and of course, halal bulgogi! yeay!). I would suggest you to visit the Murree Restaurant for halal korean food. You can print a google map before coming over though. It's a walking distance from Itaewon (Line 6) train station

Ok, to be honest, the food here is not cheap, you should expect to pay around RM40 - RM50 for a decent meal so yes, be prepared. The taste? Not really to my liking though, as I have tasted a tastier Korean dish before (at cheaper price of course), so whenever I am in Seoul, I will eat here only once..hehe

My funky princess

Murree Restaurant at Itaewon
Clockwise: Bulgogi, and Bibimbap at Muree Restaurant
Itaewon Global Village Festival currently happening at Itaewon

Myeongdong shopping arena
You can eat & drink (lots of cool theme cafes can be found here) and shop as there's a lot of cute Korean accessories shops, local beauty shops (beauty product in cute packaging!) and fashion stores (local fashion lines are more suitable to us Asian as compared to Topshop, Zara, etc.). Yes, Myeongdong can be crowded at times, especially at night, but I just love the ambience here. This would be my ultimate place to 'lepak' 

But most importantly, you can take your little one to cat cafes or dog cafes, easily found in Myeongdong. There's 2 cat cafes we've discovered in Myeongdong, we went to both but we prefer Qplus Cat Cafe located on floor 3F, Lot 359-125 though. The other cat cafe has a lot more cats, but their cats are not friendly, and the rules are quite strict. How to get there?

1) From Exit 6 Myeongdong, walk straight until you see BSX (on your right)
2) Turn right 

Myeongdong Shopping Arena

The day Super Junior decided to visit Tony Moly's branch at Myeongdong (we couldnt capture their photos..sighh)
My husband and Adriana
Local beauty products in cute packaging!
Qplus Cat Cafe at Myeongdong

Toms Cat Cafe : Adriana and the cats


The other Cat Cafe : More people but the cats are less friendly

Day 2

Nandaemun Market
You will be spoiled for choice, especially if you have girls. There's a lot of cute dresses, accessories, shoes for girls and I just wish I can buy them all! The only problem I have is the bargaining skill that I have to polish. Since most of the shoppers couldn't speak English, so you need to do more to get cheaper price. You may want to learn a bit of Korean language, I suppose

There's a lot of things can be found in Nandaemun. There are few sections such as souvenirs, accessories, beauty product, kitchen supplies, adult and kids clothing, shoes, etc. Mostly local product. To me, I only go to Nandaemun to find cute & affordable kids clothing, colourful kitchen supplies and of course, funky accessories (look for fashion accessories mall in Nandaemun market area)


Shoe store in Nandaemun Market
Something colourful for Mommy! (I bought ceramic pot too, and that's more durable than this one)

Cute shoes and accessories for Adriana


Please please find this fashion accessories mall located within market area


Insadong Art Centre
It's another place in Seoul you should go to. If you love antiques and arts galleries take the opportunity to savour the beauty of Insadong.

Unique ice-cream cone can be found at Insadong street mall area
Our favourite Korean restaurant (Gosame Restaurant) at Sinchon
And this would be my no 1 reason for keep coming to Seoul. Tasty local food! The combination of juicy grilled mackerel and spicy squid have never failed to lure me to walk all the way from Sinchon exit 2 to this restaurant, and I am willing to do this everyday. And it's quite cheap too. For generous amount of side dishes and rice for 3, together with grilled mackerels and 2 sets of spicy squid cost us only 17 000 won (RM50)! And for the same price, you can get only bibimbap and maybe one drink at Itaewon. 

How to get there?

1) Get off at exit 2 (Sinchon - Green Line 2)
2) Turn left and walk straight until you see UPlex 'Red Cone' on your left
3) Turn left and go straight until you see a Mcdonald. There is a small lane just before the Mcdonald on your left, so turn left and continue walking until you see a healing spa (located across the road on your left)
4) Turn left and walk straight until you see GS25 minimarket and then turn right. The restaurant is on your right (see below picture).

Our favourite Sinchon's restaurant - Gosame
Definitely the reason why I keep coming back to Seoul!

Day 3

Nami Island 
Of course, who doesnt love Nami Island. The breeze, the trees, the surrounding will definitely make you want to stay in Seoul (Nami) forever. The last time I visited Seoul, it was late spring and it was quite hot, and we are lucky this time around because autumn has definitely changed Nami into a prettier island.

You can find halal restaurant in the Nami Island, but because we has always wanted to try halal dalgakbi, there's a halal restaurant near Nami you should visit before you enter Nami Island. Once you arrived at the train station, instead of heading straight to Nami Island, ask the taxi driver to take you to Namiok restaurant (pronounce as Na-mi-yok). And not only the serve halal Dalgakbi, they also provides surau (prayer's room) in their restaurant, a spacious one. 

Namiok Restaurant

Halal Chicken Dalgakbi!

Enjoying the meal!

Nami Island : Early autumn

Cycling with our lil' one
After Nami, we went to Myeongdong again (shopping of course) and Sinchon again for dinner..hehe

Day 4

We went for a last minute shopping spree at Nandaemun market before saying goodbye to the land of kpop. We will definitely be back for more (last time it was Spring, this time its Autumn, so we should visit Seoul to experience Winter next time around). I will make sure, there will be next time..

Goodbye Seoul!
Ttyl 

Signing off..Anyong~




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