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2013/09/15

Why Korea is awesome: Insadong and yummy Mandu


Added this photo because apparently, this is the only Starbucks in the world which name is not written in English. And it's located in Insadong.

Insadong is an area that is pretty famous between tourists, it sells a lot~ of souvenirs that you can probably find cheaper somewhere else but it's easier to find them in Insadong.
There are also a lot of tea houses, traditional restaurants etc.
And in between the many small stores selling ink brushes, national flags, masks and postcards, you'll also find a few cosmetic shops and a few stores selling all things Hallyu.
In conclusion, it's basically the place everyone goes to when they notice on their last day in Korea that they didn't buy any souvenirs for their family and friends yet.
I went there with a Korean friend of mine because she wanted to buy some traditional Korean things to take with her before going abroad.
It's not the cheapest place for souvenirs, but if you're on a tight schedule and a not-so-tight budget or if you just want to look around, it's definitely worth a visit.

How to get there:

Take subway line #3 to Anguk Station.
Get out of exit 1, walk straight and cross the street when you reach Samcheongdong.
If you see a statue of a giant paintbrush, you're on the right track.






On the side of Insadong-gil, you'll see a few of those guys selling traditional korean sweets. They'll probably call out to you in whatever language they think you're speaking. Those guys are usually hilarious, able to speak some sentences in a lot~ of languages, and good at making sweets. You can judge that yourself, because they make those sweets right in front of you, which is quite fascinating. They start off with some kind of dough, then pull, then place it together, then pull again and at the end, it looks like many thin threads.
And the sweets taste great as well. But be careful if you're not planning to buy anything, because those guys know how to sweet-talk people into purchasing those sweets :P



This is Ssamziegil, a really interesting part of Insadong.
It's kind of like a mini shopping mall, but the interesting part of it is that you do not need to climb up any stairs. There's a path that just curls upwards and you can just walk along that and check out all the small stores along it.


Some are really...interesting?


They also have stairs, if you want to go the faster way back down.
And since there are some art galleries and artists selling their items in Ssamziegil, there are many creative things hidden in there. Like those giant, pretty roses for example.











And on top of Ssamziegil, there's a small area to relax..


Including an alley for lovers because couple culture is huge in Korea.


You can purchase those somewhere, write a message on it with your beloved one and then hang it up there.


There were so many of those...



They also had some interesting statues all the way on the roof of it.


And some lovers chose to hang their messages on those statues ^^ 


There's also a small store of the famous Choo Choo Cats in there ^^



And at the ground, you can buy some famous...poop bread.


There are many of those all over Insadong, and I only found out what they were after I came back from Korea ^^''
Those are ice-cream cones.
You wouldn't think that when seeing them, right? :D 

Now, if you're really hungry and not just in need of some ice-cream, there's a pretty famous Mandu place in Insadong as well.


Just walk through Insadong, if you're coming from the direction of the paintbrush statue this alley will be on your left side.




They also sell Mandu to-go, if you're in a hurry ^^


The menu. Lots~ of different Mandu variations, but also some standard dishes like Naengmyeon.


And some sauces for you to add yourself if you need more ^^

I chose the assorted Mandu plate:


It costs 8,000Won (roughly 5,60€ or about 8$ I guess) and it may not looks like much, but the dumplings are really big...so big, that you actually need to cut them in half at least. With scissors.
Korea is really practical. Everything works so much better with scissors :D


Steamed dumplings~ those were quite yummy ^^


No dumpling-dumplings.
I didn't really like them to be honest. Too much meat for me.


Super yummy fried dumplings.
Those were so, soooooo good :D
They were really crispy, but still nice to eat and I just loved them ^^


The filling of the fried Mandu~ ^^


So, that's all about my adventures in Insadong. 
If you ever go there, try the Mandu and tell me if you liked them :D













2013/09/13

Big Taobao Haul & Taobaoring Review

My Taobao stuff finally arrived~ :D


Click if you want to see all the photos and reviews, it's going to be a long post ^^
2013/08/14

Why Korea is awesome: Travel Maker, a Traveller's Café

This will probably be a very short post, but I felt like this café really deserves its own post.
This café was on the way from my hostel to the subway station, and what makes it special are...
pancakes.
Most cafés on Korea offer waffles, that huge korean version of toast (aka "bread") but not pancakes.
So one day on the way to the subway station we decided to eat brunch there.
Also another thing that makes it special:
It opens quite early (for Korea), at 9am if I remember it correctly. 

How to get there:
Go to Hongik Station
Get out of Exit 3
Walk straight, it should be on the left side of the road.


It's small, but nice ^^  The owner is really nice too, and he speaks English!
The menu is written in 4 languages!
A perfect place for travellers who don't know Korean ^^ 
And, if you go there on the day you leave Korea and show your flight ticket, you even get 50% off the price of all drinks. 

That's the menu, click on it to enlarge it.

The prices for everything are perfectly reasonable, and they have lots of yummy food to try.


You can even get an "Obama breakfast". I guess this means American style breakfast? ^^ 
Which is great, because you probably will have a hard time finding this kind of breakfast in any other café in Korea.


Yummy ice-tea for 2,000Won


So refreshing~ x3


I chose the banana and strawberries pancakes :D They were less than 5,000Won
They were really yummy, even though the strawberries weren't fresh strawberries. But fruits are really expensive in Korea, so that's okay.


Bonus:
Teddy Bears in a gas station near the café.


I hope you enjoyed this post ^^ 
2013/08/11

Why Korea is awesome: Cute Cafés in Samcheongdong

Why yes, I am extremely slow with posting.
Sorry guys T^T
I already came back from my trip two months ago but I still didn't write about half of the things I wanted to write about. Oops.

Anyways...tell me, about which areas of Seoul did you guys hear before?
Gangnam for sure, the "rich" district.
Itaewon, the foreigner district.
Insadong, perfect place for souvenir shopping.
Hongdae, the artsy college area with lots of cafés and clubs.
But did you know there's another area that has lots of cute cafés and art galleries too?

It's called 삼청동.

I first found out about this place when I watched EatYourKimchi's video about it.
Even if you're not particularly interested in arts and art galleries (I didn't visit any of those), it's still a nice place to visit. And it's very conveniently located, just opposite of famous Insadong and not far away from Gyeongbokgung palace, so if you're in that area, why not check it out anyways?

How to get there:
Take subway Line 3 to Anguk Station.
Get out from Exit 1.
Go straight for about 100m until you see this : 


Insadong-gil should be just on the other side of the street.
Follow this alley located between two schools and find cute restaurants at first, then keep walking and find art galleries and interesting shops. 


The alley itself is really beautiful.




Onto the cute cafés~
This one was my favourite.



It's located very close to the beginning of the alley, you won't miss it.


(Photo spam ahead)