Monday May 28th was a national holiday in South Korea. It was Buddha’s birthday. I don’t know how old he turned but lots of birthday love and decorations could be seen all over Ulsan.
Since it was a 3-day weekend I took the opportunity to get out of Ulsan! And I visited Seoul.
I left my house after 7am on Saturday and was able to catch the 8:00 am bus from Ulsan express bus terminal to Dong Seoul. The ticket cost 22,500 won and the ride was about 4 hours and 30 minutes.
Dong Seoul is “east” Seoul and the nearest subway station is called Gangbyeon
(green line #2). I planned to do nothing but relax, eat and site see per usual 🙂
When I arrived to Seoul after 1pm, my first stop was lunch. I checked out Vatos Tacos in Itaewon. Of course I captured tons of pictures of my meal BUT I will leave you in suspense and do a separate post about my experience there.
After Itaewon I headed with a full belly to check into my spa accommodation. Wait, don’t be impressed. It was just a Korean style JimJilbang. It’s called Metro Spa Cabin. I wouldn’t really recommend the using the public baths. I feared getting some flesh eating disease and the pierincing stares from all the really OLD women in the bath area.. But staying the night there was really cool because of my cabin style “pod”. I booked this place through Agoda.com the day before I left 🙂
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| Inside the cabin. I’m only 5’4 or maybe 5’4 and I had more than enough room. Some taller might not 🙁 |
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| I made a video tour of the spa. My pictures are not great 🙁 |
After checking in and receiving a tour from the on duty receptionist, I chose my cabin and settled in. It was super hot Saturday in Seoul so I washed my face and freshened up before heading out to explore the city.
On my list of things to do were: visit Bukchon hanok villgae, National museum of Korea, the hongdae and Ewha university area, Coex mall and the Sinsa area.
Leaving the spa I headed to Hanok village. The stop there is called Anguk station. The area is filled with the many restaurants and coffe shops. The main attraction is the village filled with the old style Korean homes. When I arrived the tourist center was already closed. I I believe it was around 6:30 pm, so be aware of this if you visit there. I was not able to get an English map. I followed the crowds and had no idea whehre the entrance was ha ha.
This ajoshi that noticed I was lost gave me a map…in Chinese and pointed the direction to walk. He was very kind and I was thankful. I spent maybe an hour wondering around the village.
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| There was a wedding shoot going on. |
I found it to be quite lackluster and pointless without a tour guide. So I left and headed to Myeong-dong for dinner. On my way to the train station I saw this this cute coffee shop. I decided to stop in for a drink
I ate at Myeong-dong Kyoja which is a famous noodle place. They specialize in 4 (I think) dishes and mandu. I could only have one because the other dishes were beef or pork flavored.
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| Kyong Guk-Su. A noodle dish made with beans, soymilk and sesame seeds. |
Only 8.000 won and it was enough to serve for 4 people. I should add its a cold noodle dish. This restaurant is near the men’s entrance of H&M. Not the H&M across from LUSH. The one closest to the subway station. I don’t know why there are 2 H&M’s in Myeong-dong and none in Busan or Daegu but that’s Korea…nothing makes sense here :-/
After I walked around for a really long time to digest 🙂 And no I didn’t eat all of the noodles! I
I headed back to the spa around 11pm, showered and passed out!
Stay tuned for part 2!