Turn around Bright Eyes

every now and then i fall apart

south korea day 1 and 2

25th april
arrival at incheon around 330pm.
took airport limousin bus to dong-myo station.
tommy's apartment is very near to chonggye stream bridge.
after refreshing ourselves we decided to eat at the famous dongdaemun grilled fish stalls.
after locating ourselves with the map we found the JW marriott and from then on it was easy to find the way.
the grilled fish was delicious and the restaurant owners were kind to fools of strangers who did not know what to do.
night walk at chonggye stream and some shops around the dongdaemun area, and went on the rite of passage of buying banana and melon uyu/milk at convenience store. i like the melon milk better than banana.

26th april
we wanted go to hanok village and thought we had gotten off the right subway station, but turned out we ended up at namsangol hanok village which was more like a garden. we spent some time at the large plaza of the park and there were traditional korean games like run after a metal circle with a hook and throwing some sticks into pots. we couldn't perform any with finesse. there was an old guy who was an expert with the circle - the look of pure joy in his face as he was running around was priceless. saw namsan tower in the distance. we didn't visit the hanok houses as we want to go straight to the proper hanok village - bukchon. outside the park we bought grilled octopus and the famous goldfish kuih.
hanok village was hilly and because it was on a saturday, there were LOADS of people around. mostly locals, hardly foreigners. we didn't hit any of the photo spot or at least i don't think i even found those markers but the hanok houses were pretty with impressive doors.
coming down we ate green tea and red beans pat bing soo at this cute rabbit themed cafe.
hanok village is near the changdeokgung palace so we went there next. didn't have time for entrance to secret garden so we didn't do that. as palace goes it was beautiful and old and impressive. at the gardens some ahjussi spoke to us and offered to take our picture, so sweet.
after that we were hungry so we decided to go to itaewon and there we could go to the mosque. another uphill climb to the mosque. and lunch/dinner at murree where everybody goes. good food but not so great pajeon.
went on to namsan tower. at the subway station where we emerged i saw a bus that says namsan tower and while gesturing to the others i saw the driver gesturing to us to get on. we boarded the bus and it looked full and must have looked confused a lot as suddenly out of nowhere kind passengers turned up seats next to them for us to sit. so there were spaces for everyone. so we got up the hill to namsan tower cable car which was extremely lucky for us as the climb. was. STEEP.
namsan tower cable car, ronda-ronda kawasan, lovers' tree locks, lovers' lookout point locks, etc, we went down and walked towards dongdaemun. night ends.