Seoul Day 2: Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain

After dinner, we took a taxi and headed to Hangang Park to see the Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain. This is the longest bridge fountain in the world with nearly 10,000 LED lights that run along both sides of the bridge. The fountain operates from April to October so we got to see how it’ll light up.

When we got there, the taxi ahjussi were telling us “No light! No light!” and we were like “What?? Why??” And the ahjussi were just like “I don’t know.” We’re trying to ask if there’s no light tonight or just right now (because there are certain hours that the fountain will light up and when we arrived there we were ahead of the scheduled time). But the ahjussi seemed to not understand what we were saying. But since we’re there already, we thought we should at least give it a try and wait for the show time. If it’s true that there’s no show that night, we’d still have a good time just walking around the park (and burn off all that meat that we ate earlier).

Turned out, the ahjussi was telling us there were no light when we arrived because 20 minutes later, the show began. And you know what, we thought the lights are going to be on both side of the bridge, but oh boy, we were wrong. So once the show began, we were running like mad to the other side of the bridge so that we wouldn’t miss the show. It’s just become one of the things we surely will remember from our trip :) For 15 minutes we just sit there, looking at the lights while listening to the music playing and enjoying the cool breeze of spring.

On our walk back to the subway station, I saw this on the wall.

Seoul Day 2: Garosu-gil, Apgujeong, & Gangnam

After we got our stomach full, we headed to the subway station to go to Gangnam. The subway station is quite different than the ones we’ve been to. And we got lost this time. I wasn’t quite sure where we were, but we were definitely not at the place that we intended to visit. It was pretty funny because we wandered off to a fairly quite area. But, we made the best of it and just laughed it off. What is traveling without getting a little lost right?

On our way back to the subway station, we went through what probably the longest escalator we encountered yet in subway station. I’m amazed on how deep underground the subway system goes in Korea.

Also, I saw this interesting advertisement. Not sure what it’s for or what it means, but it looked intriguing.

After that, we arrived at the famous Garosu-Gil (가로수 길). We were sweating bullets from the hot sun and decided to make a quick pit stop at Caffe Bene for some cold treats.

Mango Bingsu

The area is filled with restaurants, shops, cafes, studios, and galleries that are pretty upscale. So we just started strolling down the street and walked in to some of the shops that interest us.

We saw something that’s totally unexpected: a couple of guys walking donkeys on the other side of the street. Seeing something new everyday here.

After Garosu-gil, we headed to Apgujeong (압구정) also known as the Rodeo Street. The area has a lot of foreign brand shops that are very familiar to us. We just took a quick look around the area since the brands we saw are available in the States.

Afterwards, we took two taxis to Gangnam because our feet kinda gave up on us from all the long walks in the past 7 hours. I have to say Gangnam has some pretty cool and interesting buildings. Tall buildings here and there and kinda reminded me of financial districts in the States.

We were meeting Bella’s college friend for dinner since he worked around the area. He took us to this one awesome samgyeopsal place that I forgot to pay attention to the name of the restaurant, partly because I was tired AND hungry. So as soon as we arrived, we just walked in and sat down on the tables that have been prepared for us. The meat was excellent and we also tried some makgeolli. We also ordered their naengmyeon and ate until we were stuffed.

Seoul Day 2: Gwangjang Market

Day 2. We started our our day with a delicious breakfast at the Gwangjang Market (광장시장). We got there around 10 am and might have arrived a little late because some of the stalls and shops were closed. Even so, many were open, so we got to sightsee the market for a bit. For a market, I think the place is very clean and organized. It felt very different than the markets I've been back home in Indonesia. We ate and tried a couple of different things and after we're done eating we just walked around the market.

Bindaetteok (빈대떡)

Pajeon (파전)

Tteokbokki (떡볶이)

Jokbal (족발) - Pork's Feet // Gimbap (김밥)

Sundae (순대)

I tried it and it doesn't taste as bad as I thought. Very interesting taste and definitely taste better with the sauce/dip that the ajumma gave us.

Vlog: Seoul Day 1

Seoul Day 1: Lotus Lantern Festival & Cheonggyecheon Stream

We were still walking around the shops in Ssamziegil when we suddenly heard a drumming noise from the street. People started to rush out of the mall to the street, so we took a peek from the 3rd floor to see what’s going on out there. Turned out, the Lotus Lantern Festival parade is passing by. We were there on Buddha’s Birthday weekend celebration and I think the Lotus Lantern Festival ws part of that celebration.

Apparently Insa-dong was on the parade route and we didn’t even know that. We were thinking of going to Cheonggyecheon Stream later on tonight, because that’s where we thought the parade’s going to be. But I guess we lucked out. We also got a pretty good spot up front to see the parade clearly. I managed to snap photos and took a couple of footage of the parade.

After the parade, we started exploring the area around Ssamziegil. There are lots of shops that sell traditional items that are perfect for souvenirs.

Since it's almost 9 pm, we decided that it's time to grab dinner. We picked Gung (개성만두 궁) that's close by. They are known for their famous Gaeseong-style mandu.

Assorted Pancakes – Mung Bean, Ground Potato, Chopped Red Pepper & Leek, Chopped Kimchi

Gaesong Dumplings cooked in Casserole (개성만두전골) ₩30,000

Gaesong Steamed Dumplings (개성만두찜) ₩7,000

After dinner, since we still have time before the subway closes, we decided to head to Cheonggyecheon Stream (청계천), where the Lotus Lantern Festival happened to have their installments at. It was around 10 pm on a Sunday night and we're very surprised that the place was still packed with people—young, old, families, kids, couples. One of my friend made a comment, "It's like they don't need to work or something. How come Sunday night can be this packed?". I have to agree that it feels very different than here in the US. The nightlife in Seoul is definitely more alive. Plus the weather was perfect for just walking around the stream or sitting down while looking at the lanterns. We enjoyed the cool night breeze while watching the people around us. It was a perfect way to end our first day in Seoul.