Jeonju's hanok village is a cultural village with traditional hanok, a calligraphy museum, and a traditional liquor museum. Jeonju is quite far from Seoul by public transportation so my friends and I took a bus that goes straight to Jeonju. The buses can be booked online and the price varies depending on the comfort level of the bus (luxury, economic, etc...). I highly recommend traveling on these buses for longer rides, it was so comfortable and also affordable. Once in jeonju we first tried bibimbap that is special to Jeonju as well as other food like mochi and bingsu. We also were able to walk though a night market to eat even more Jeonju specialties!
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Incheon is a Metropolitan City and most people land at the Incheon Airport since it is not far from Seoul. At the end of November my friends and I went to check out the Mini China Town and Songwol-dong Fairytale Village. We went early in the morning and many of the stalls were closed but we still had a fun time walking around. We were also able to do the Yeongjong Seaside Park Rail Bike which was super fun and the view was gorgeous. I do however suggest going during fall when the leaves are turning color or spring when everything is blooming.
On November 11th my friend Kasandra and I went to explore the Gangnam district in Seoul. Gangnam is known for being the beauty district and it did not disappoint! We decided to get facials and were surprised with how many different shops we saw while walking around. The streets were also filled with different types of restaurants and cute photo opportunities.
After settling into the dorms my roommate and I took the bus to IFC mall. There were many floors and some stores we recognized like Uniqlo and other sports apparel but there were also but booths lined in the small from smaller businesses. While being here I realized that most department store are high end so we ended up on the bottom floor searching for someplace to eat. Lucky for us we missed the lunch rush and ate some delicious buckwheat noodles. After lunch we were planning on heading back to the dorms but we got a little lost and stumbled upon Yeouido Park, which is absolutely beautiful and there were so many things to see there. There were many pavilions to sit in and other art exhibitions which all included several types of flowers and trees. Jeju was an absolutely amazing experience and I recommend going to anyone that has time! My friends and I booked and AirBnb and two tours while we were on the island. The first day we took a walk through Manjanggul Lava Tube and at the end we were able to see the largest lava column in the world. Afterwards we made a quick stop at Woleongri Beach and it was so nice to see the ocean again, even if it was just for a little while. We then headed to lunch and ate the famous black pork and mackerel. After lunch our tour guide took us to a local market and we bought some tangerines because they are another Jeju specialty. There were so many booths with fruit, street food, clothes, fish, and side dishes! We then headed to the Jeju Haenyeo Museum. Haenyeo are Jeju’s women divers! Then we went to a cute little cafe and got some mango bingsu and bought some cute tangerine hats. Then we went to Seongsan Ilchulbong/Sunrise Peak which was a very steep hike, but definitely worth it for the view. Our final destination was Herb Park! There were so many picture locations and beautiful plants and shrubs. Another cool thing they offer is a foot bath which was a very interesting experience. We started the day going to Hello Kitty Island and it was full of Hello Kitty characters! We ate brunch there and all the food was Hello Kitty themed and there was a gift shop full of cute things. We then went to get lunch at a Korean buffet! It was recommended to us by our driver. It was definitely a local favorite, and the kind owners even gave us some tangerines for free! We then went to a botanical garden called Hallim Park. There was a wide range of plants and flowers there. After the park we went to our final destination, Aewol Cafe Street. Here we did some shopping in the gift shops, tasted some more tangerines, watched the kayakers, and even found a photo booth! We explored for about an hour and then finally headed back to our accommodation. That night we had KBBQ since the black pork the day before was so delicious. LINE is originally a messaging app but introduced the use stickers and characters. The store was super cute with plenty of figures to take pictures with. There were also so many tempting things to buy and I highly recommend it to any BTS fans!
For the holiday Chuseok my friends and I visited the Gyeongbokgung Palace! We also rented out hanboks which are Korean traditional clothing and got our hair done for free at the hanbok rental shop. The Palace is incredibly well taken care of and the buildings look beautiful with vibrant colors. It was built in 1395 and served as the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty. The walls were once destroyed during the Imjin War (1592-1598). But later restored during the reign of King Gojong (1852-1919).
I was able to get to HiKR which was made as a promotional hall for Korea with different exhibitions inside. Inside there were different rooms filled with smart technology that helped to show hallyu stars, arts and more. The first room I saw looked like a subway cart, but you were able to control the lighting as well as the music inside. Next there was a large platform which looked like a stage that people were able to dance on and looked like you could make a music video there! There were many other photo spots as well posters from popular K-dramas.
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AuthorGrowing up on Big Island I have never experienced a city Seoul. I have been to so many different places and met so many new people :) |