Tag Archives: Asia2015

Anything related to my Asia 2015 trip

Myeongdong, Gyeongbok Palace Round 2, and War Memorial Museum

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We started off the day by checking out of our hotel (Samseung Designer Hotel), then heading to Seoul Station to store our bags in a locker. After, we headed to an area called Myeongdong since there were some restaurants around that area that seemed pretty appealing.

When we got to Myeongdong, we first took some pics in front of City Hall.  

Then, we went to the first restaurant of interest, which was in the Lotte Hotel. We wanted to eat at this buffet, but it would end up costing $100 per person, which is pretty ridiculous (have to say though the Lotte hotel is like a Vegas style hotel). So we decided to go to this dumpling restaurant, which ended up being really good. Along the way we explored the market around Myeongdong, which was filled with lots of American stores, street food, and Asian restaurants. We also found the closest thing to an Apple Store in Korea, which is an Apple pre-authorized dealer called Frisbee.

   
   

   

    
   

After exploring Myeongdong, since it was taking forever to get a taxi, we ended up walking to Gyeongbok Palace. I’ll let the pictures do the taking about the palace.

   
    
    
    
    
 From Gyeonbok Palace we quickly stopped by the War Memorial (since we got there it 30 minutes before it closed). I briefly learned about Japan’stake over of Korea in the early 1900s. Unfortunately the DMZ section of the museum was closed when we got there. The museum also had a bunch of weapons and arsenals used during war time.

   
    
    
    
 
    
 

Dada Life at Octagon

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So we partied it up in Gangnum on the Saturday we were in Seoul with Abi’s sister and cousin. Never seen Dada Life outside of EDC, and I must say it was a very different experience. Octagon itself is better than Ruby Skye (as its lights and screen were pretty good). Also, they have lockers you can put your stuff in instead of a coat check. The only crappy part is that is you accidentally spill your drink in front the bar tender, they don’t care. I feel in SF they would actually help give you another one.

  

Round 1 of Gyeongbok Palace & N Seoul Tower

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We started our day with a late lunch (around 2pm). We went to a Korean restaurant in Gangnum and had this interesting beef and octopus dish. It was pretty good.

   
 
  
After, we tried to make it to Gyeongbok Palace, but it closed early (closed at 5pm instead of 6pm). So we took some pics outside of it, then met up with one of Abi’s friends University. She took us through Insadong where we had some street food.

  

  
 After we briefly met Abi’s aunt and mom, then Sam and I checked out N Seoul Tower. We took the cable car going up to the tower. The view of the city from the base of the tower was partly obstructed by fog, but you could still see many of the sky scrapers. All in all, Seoul has a lot of skyscrapers … more than any city that I know.

   
    
    
   

Itaewon and Dongdaemun

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After Hongdae we went to our hotel to drop of our things (however we also ended up taking a nap for like an hour). Then, using Uber, we got a taxi to take us to downtown Itaewon. Itaewon was pretty busy at 2am. We walked around for a bit, comparing Hongdae to Itaewon. Itaewon had an older crowd (more of our age). A lot of people were drunk. We ended up going to a club called B One.

   
    
    
 
After Itaewon, at around 3:30AM, we went to Dongdaemun, where we experienced an interesting night market, where essentially people who own (clothing) stores go to these buildings where designers sell their clothes (and the people who own stores buy things in bulk). A very interesting experience. Also, aside from exploring that, we got some street food like cronuts 🙂 and some chicken/hotdogs.

   
    
   

Hongdae

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So we spent 50 minutes on the AREX to get to Hongdae. At The station (I think Hogndae Universiy station), we spent a good amount of time looking for lockers and waiting for them to become available. But after, we exited the station and had our first taste of Seoul. It definitely seems like Japan, but less cleaner. Mainly there were a lot of restaurants and kids performing in the street. We ended up eating at a KBBQ place where stones are used as the grill.

   
    
    
    
    
    
 

Arrived at ICN

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Plane ride was bumpy. Only notable thing while flying is that we had unlimited wine and cheese :).

   
 Also, I guess another thing to note is that at one point outside the window you could see the Arctic, where the whole ground was covered in snow and there were glaciers. 

Passing immigration took a long time. But considering the size of the line, it did go by pretty fast (esp. Compared to US Customs).
   
 
Also, got my first snack here from Gong Cha at the airport:

  
  
Lastly, taking the AREX to hongdae, which we’re stopping by before the hotel (since it makes more sense given the distance).