Day 1 in Seoul- Changdeokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok, Insadong, Myeongdong

Once we touched down in Incheon International Airport, after collecting our luggage, we bought 2 AREX tickets to Seoul Station as that is where our hotel is located.

AREX train tickets- 8000 won/ person (~RM 27)

There are two types of transport to get to Seoul Station from Incheon Airport:

• AREX- Express, non-stop ~43 minutes
• Towards Seoul Station- operates from 0520-2150
• Towarsds Incheon Airport- operates from 0600-2220
• one train every 30min 
• Subway- non-express, stops at every subway station ~60 minutes
• every 6 to 60 minutes

Tickets can be purchased from machines or the service counter near the entrance to the AREX platform. 

We left our luggage at the hotel - Stay Inn & headed straight for our first destination- Changdeokgung Palace 

But before we embarked on our journey, we dropped by GS25 mart to get our T money cards & loaded 10000 won in each card as the whole journey in Seoul and Busan will require using this card. 

We took the subway to Anguk Station (Seoul subway Line 3, exit 3) , walk straight until you see the palace.

We spent about an hour or so in the palace and end up eating our first street food in Korea in front of the palace. It is a type of red bean delicacy, crunchy and delicious. 3000 won for 10 pieces. In the end, we did not have time for proper lunch and decided to just eat any street food we came upon.

Next stop, we walked to Buchon Hanok village which is just around the corner from the palace. We could not find the exact entrance but no worries, there are Koreans dressed in red shirts patrolling the streets in every tourist attraction areas who can speak Chinese and English and they are armed with maps. We asked one of these red-shirted people and we were soon directed in the right way.

Mickey and Minnie in Hanboks

We spent about 1-2 hours walking around the entire Hanok village. It was beautiful. Every door is different from the next one. And I like how some of them maintained the old traditional doors but the rest of the house is new and modern- where east meets west~ very beautiful. 

We stopped at a small roadside stall to try the famous Korean delicacy tteokbokki and their Chilsung cider- which is equivalent to our Sprite.

Next stop was Insadong, we reached Insadong street with no hiccups. It was a lively and crowded place even though it was a weekday afternoon. Do not forget to take a picture with the only Starbucks branch in the world where the sign is not in English in Insadong. It was written in Hangeul (Korean). 

We went to Ssamziegil, a shopping centre with lots of artsy and unique stuff. 

After that, we went back to our hotel, with our feet begging for a warm soak in the bathtub.

After a much needed shower and rest, we still feel very tired and we ditched our original plan to go to N Seoul Tower to watch the sunset and instead head to Myeongdong for dinner. 

To reach Myeongdong station, use the subway (Line 4, exit 6), you will exit right onto the Myeongdong street filled with all the shops selling beauty products.

We were glad to go to Myeongdong at night instead of in the afternoon the next day as planned because the place is livelier at night with food stalls and some stalls selling knick-knacks and clothes lining both side of the streets. 

However, dinner was disappointing. It was expensive and cold. That was because my genius of a husband ordered cold noodles served straight from the fridge along with kimchi as the free side dish. The worst thing was both the noodles and the kimchi were super spicy and my husband could not finish either one. He was feeling nauseous from eating the dish lol! And the whole torturous meal costs us about RM50 for one person! I on the other hand was smarter and decided to buy some street food as my dinner as nothing looks as appetizing as street food to me. I like to try a variety of food rather than submit myself to only one dish.    

I bought 3 'cucuk' of street food for 3000 won each. That is about Rm30 for street food alone. I saw other places selling the same food for 2500 won only. Myeongdong is considered one of the more expensive place for food. Anyway, when you are out travelling, you should not complain and just go with the flow.