Winter Seoul 2011 Part IV

Day 4 starts quite late for me as we're taking a break after 3 days in a row had an early start. Don't worry thou, Seoul have lots to offer to it's visitors and I mean LOTS!!! So we're heading to our own destination first before meetup and starts our day 4 Seoul adventure.

King Sejong's Museum entrance

Since I've gotten the directions to King Sejong's Square from Jaja, I head straight to the destination since it's only around 20-30mins of walking distance from Anguk. The museum only opens at 10.30am and the admission is FREE. But it closed on Mondays so lucky I went there on Tuesday and got the chance to see what's inside. I'm not really a fan of visiting a museum thou but visiting King Sejong's Museum really opened my eyes especially the introduction video on the wall.

hundreds of notes which I need to browse through

I then proceed deep inside the museum when I found hundreds of notes posted on the wall. Well this is the main reason I'm here thou. I'm not so sure from when and until when these notes will be here but at least my "Amazing Race" challenge will be completed. So now I need to search from hundreds of notes and reply her message. It was quite tough at the moment to browse through each 1 of the notes but I managed to get the previous picture which she sent and try to figure out the location. 

chain notes from Malaysia, what a view~

Not much of a problem when I saw her note and reply back. There were empty notes, pen and tapes for you to leave your messages. Can't sure what type of message but I think its to wish happiness and a prosperity new year for all people (I think). Then its time to leave a message to another colleague which he plans to go around June. Wish him good luck to find this note, IF they were still there thou. hehe~

I then proceed on looking around what does this museum offers. There were a lot of history stuff, on how their astronomer can read stars and the devices they used during war. Not much on other things besides the full story of King Sejong on animation which they showed it on TV there.

countries who have supported South Korea

progress of the Korean war

picture taken from satellite during night

Once settled at the museum, I then walked out of the museum and head straight to Gyeongbukgung Palace where I saw a row of display pictures. I then approached across the road and saw a display about South Korea war with North Korea. This was to remember those countries who have contributed to the growth of South Korea (Republic of Korea). I was really into it when I would like to find what are the reason these two countries would like to have war on each other. So I found out that they were influenced by the Soviets and communists from China at that time. What amaze me was a picture by satellite at night that shows the difference of North and South Korea where the northern country was totally in darkness where other countries surrounded were full of lights.

I then proceed to Gwanghwamun Station and continue my journey to Dongdaemun History and Culture Park where I meet my friend and we continue back our journey. We're planning to go Namdaemun again to browse through the market during day time and see if there are any differences compare to night time. At least I can still find the "wolf snowcap" that I've always wanted~

bear and wolf. ain't we cute? :D

We arrived and our expectations was true, it was totally crowded and full of stalls. I even got myself the "wolf snowcap" with just KRW10,000. The best part is it comes with a long stretch of paw, which you can use it to cover your ears and cover your and if it's get too freezing.

Looks like this lil kid doesn't want to be left behind so his parents gets him a very very very cheap bear snowcap for only KRW2,000!!! Well look at that, who said that you need to pay more when shop at Seoul? We've prove it to you that if you know where to shop at the right place, you can get the best deal.

We then continue our walk through the market and bought a fresh, big strawberry for only KRW4,000. It was sold inside a plastic container with 15-20 big strawberries inside.

checkout those strawberries!!!

After we done for our final shopping at Namdaemun, we then catch a train to Yongdeongpo to find Seoul's Time Square. I think most of the tourists doesn't know that Seoul have a Time Square and we're about to find out.

We arrived at the Yongdeongpo Station, not much here to do but the station was quite big. This is actually 1 of the Korean Train Express (KTX) station, Seoul's bullet train like The Shinkansen from Japan. KTX connects from Incheon airport straight to Seoul city stations. You can buy the tickets by online at KTX website or proceed straight to their counter at arrival hall.

Seoul Time Square

Times Square located 15 minutes walk from Yongdeongpo Station. Just like normal shopping mall, the building was combined with Shinsegae. Most of the decoration was on Valentines Day since during the day we visited is nearly reaching Valentines Day.

Just like normal shopping mall, at least we've covered Seoul's Times Square. We then proceed to find some good local food. Most of the foods here are seafood and Korean BBQ. It's been a while since I would like to try on their local BBQ especially Bulgogi (beef). We walked into alleys and surveyed each of the shops to find some good menus and affordable price.

cheap Korean BBQ place

the set itself

very cute girl serving us

Our search stops at 1 of the BBQ restaurant, which I'm not really sure what's the meaning (since it's in Korean). So we sat down and the menu was all written in Korean so we sat down and order. Since the owner was very friendly to help us to order, so we proceed on having bulgogi set which worth only KRW17,000 for 3 pax. At first we're quite confuse since the only thing on the menu that we know is 17,000 and 3. So we thought that the set contains 3 stuff and the price will be KRW17,000 each. What the heck!!! Just eat and let's see the result. If it's good then definitely worth but if it's isn't, then at least we've tried right?

Then came this 1 cute girl and served us. that's not the only thing that amazed us, it's the food as well. The beef was juicy and was perfectly done. (eventhough it's only medium cooked, still nice indeed). So we set to order extra rice since the set came non stop (i.e kimchi, salad, coleslow) and the beef portions are A LOT!!! so we ate like nobody's business and finish up anything that was on the table, forgetting about how much we need to pay for each 1 of us.

When it's time to pay, we're definitely shocked because the amount stated was only KRW20,000!!! With all those portions, it was absolutely worth paying. To those who would like to try, I can't really remember the exact location but when u walked out from Yongdeongpo Station, head straight to Daiso on the right, keep walk straight and you'll see an alley on your right. Turn right and start your search based on my picture of the shop signboard as above. Good luck on your food hunting at Yongdeongpo!!!

We then head back straight where tomorrow will be my last day at Seoul. We'll be covering Everland which 1 of the biggest theme park in Seoul besides Lotte World.

for more pictures on this trip, kindly refer to my Facebook photo album: 

Winter Seoul 2011 Part 1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108578&id=1372841986&l=5ed3f7da79

Winter Seoul 2011 Part 2  

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108690&id=1372841986&l=4da372f265
Winter Seoul 2011 Part 3

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108697&id=1372841986&l=9062e7ae64
Winter Seoul 2011 Part 4

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108700&id=1372841986&l=bfa5efec98
Winter Seoul 2011 Part 5

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108704&id=1372841986&l=09db5937c3