Day 25 -- Bukchon Hanok Village, Ikseondong, Insandong, and Mom and Dad

This morning I met up with Sandi, Sonia, and Adeline at Anguk Station and from there we walked over to Bukchon Hanok Village. It was very hot and very crowded, but the buildings themselves were beautiful. I loved seeing the different tilework on the different buildings, and really enjoyed the mountain views that we could see from the village.


After walking around for a while in the heat, we were very tired and very dehydrated. We walked for about 20 minutes to Ikseondong and we went to Namdo Bunsik for a light lunch. We had black bean tteokbokki and gimbap (and a lot of water), before going to Cafe Langsom, a beautiful cafe in a hanok, for dessert. We shared a strawberry matcha montblanc, and for a drink I got a plum lemonade. The montblanc and the drink were both absolutely phenomenal!






After Ikseondong, we went to Insadong nearby. We went into a few of the accessory stores that are so popular in Korea (they are huge stores with very cheap hair accessories and jewelry), and it was amazing to see how vast their selection was. Next, we went to Ssamzigil, a four-story complex with lots of handmade goods and crafting experiences. Then, we decided to go into an art gallery because there are so many in the area, and saw an exhibition with dyed paper strings tied into knots and attached to a canvas to form circles. The works were plain, but very impressive, and the four of us really loved them.





I went back to my dorm briefly to use the bathroom and do some homework, before going to Mom and Dad's hotel to meet up with them. I walked them (unfortunately in the rain) to Hong Kong Banjeom for my favorite jjajangmyeon, and then walked back to the subway station with them to head back to the dorm and finish my homework.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 31 -- Eunpyeong and Birthday Dinner

Image
After class, I had Greek Day and then took a taxi with Mom and Dad to Eunpyeong hanok village, an area full of modern versions of traditional Korean buildings. The buildings were interesting to see in comparison to older hanok because they were newly painted, had fresh wood, and had different decorations than traditional ones.  After walking around briefly, we went to 1in1jan, a six story building with beautiful views of the village and the mountain behind it. I got a grapefruit ade to drink, and the three of us shared a cake with lemon cream and strawberry jam, a chocolate-mugwort-injeolmi cake, and three types of tteok with red bean inside. All three were delicious, and from the cafe decor to the views to the food itself, everything about the cafe was amazing. We went to the rooftop to see some more views before going on a longer walk around the village to appreciate the buildings more. We also went to the Eunpyeong History Hanok Museum to learn about some of the design features of h
Read more

Day 60 -- (G)I-DLE Concert!

Image
This morning I studied for my final and had some ramen in the morning before going out for Greek Day in the early afternoon to fuel myself for the long hours ahead. After an hour-long subway ride I got to the venue, KPSO Dome at 3:00 for (G)I-DLE's "i-DOL" concert. Even though I was there three hours early, the line for foreigners to pick up tickets was over a quarter of a mile long, so I am glad I got there early when the line was shorter than it would be later on. Once I finally got my ticket, I found a shady spot outside of the venue and read and studied vocabulary until we were finally let in. I got to my seat quickly and talked to the girl sitting next to me for a bit before reading some more before the concert finally started. It was an amazing concert! There were a ton of backup dancers and most of the songs had choreography which was fun to see in person. There were also some cool effects used on the stage itself, with pyrotechnics and stands that lifted the membe
Read more

Day 11 -- A Little Bit of Everything

Image
This morning I did homework before meeting Sandi, Sonia, and Sonia's roommate from SNU Adeline at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. When we went inside, we first saw an exhibition featuring lots of AI. The exhibition was interactive, and the AI did things like tell us which hair color would suit us best and analyze our clothing in order to recommend us outfits. I am generally not a fan of AI, but it was cool to see some of its capabilities. The exhibition hall also featured lots of sculptures, and some unique rooms, like one you could walk in that was covered entirely in pillows, from the floor to the walls to the ceiling. We then went to another mini exhibition that walked us through some of the architectural features of the DDP, like the fact that it has 45,133 panels covering its surface that took a year and seven months to install. After the exhibition, we saw a showcase of posters celebrating the DDP's ten year anniversary, and we each got to take a free poster home with us! Ne
Read more