11 Days Korea Trip 2011 Free n Easy - Day 9, Seoul

9 Dec 2011 (Fri)



Seoul / Myeongdong / Cheonggyecheong Stream / Seoul Folk Flea Market / Dongdaemun


Snow! Snow! Yes we came out of the hotel in the morning and were greeted with snow. Initially we were not sure what was that as we had not experience snow before, until a while later then we realised it was snow.

We had our breakfast at the fast food outlet just opposite our hotel;

The snow got a bit heavier after our breakfast;

Cheonggyecheon Stream (청계천)

We took subway Line 1 and alight at City Hall Station Exit 4. 

We walked towards the Cheonggye Plaza (청계광장)which was the beginning of the Cheonggyecheon Stream. The Cheonggyecheon Stream is a good place to visit and you may read up about the past and now here. Of course the landmark of the Cheonggye Plaza is the inverted "ice cream cone" I called it. 

It took about 20 to 25 mins to reach the City Hall Station and once out, we saw that the workers were preparing an open air ice skating ring (in the background left);

Oh were they selling something;

We were not sure too;

At last we saw the "inverted ice cream cone" landmark;

Of course it's official name is not "inverted ice cream cone" but "Spring", the name of the spiral snail sculpture at Cheonggye Plaza;

The best part was that we could actually went down to the "canal" and walked besides the stream;

From here, we could see the KTO (Korea Tourist Organisation) building on the middle right with the name T2 Tourism Building on it;

It was getting cold again;

Finally got a good view of the KTO Building;

The front view of the KTO Building taken from the stream;

Since we were around the KTO, we decided to go out and visit the KTO first;

The K-Star Gallery where you can pose with your favourite K pop stars;

We got some interesting souvenirs from this K-Star Shop;

Now then I see the blue red KTO logo outside the building;

Road side stalls on our way to the subway station;

Seoul Folk Flea Market (  서울풍물시장 )

Our next destination is the Seoul Folk Flea market. Actually I wanted to go to the Dongmyo Flea market too but decided not to as my wife and daughter might not be too keen to visit such flea market. The Seoul Folk Flea Market is open between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. You can take a look at it's Korean Web Site here.

We took Line 1 to Sinseol-dong station and exit via Exit 10 of Line 2 Sinseol-dong station;

Nice painting on the container office outside the flea market;

Inside really looked like sheltered Sungei Road (Singapore flea market road side stalls) stalls but well organised;

We had our lunch in the food court at the level 1 of the flea market;

After lunch, we went upstair to the level 2. On both sides of the corridor, there were some old exhibits and old photos;

I love this shot;

How the level 2 looked like (sorry photo blur);

Old photo;

I didn't buy anything from the flea market and decided to go back to hotel for a short break. Nice bike outside the flea market;

On our way back to the subway station, came across the "yong tou foo" stall...yummy;

This was the Exit 10 of the Sinseol-dong Station Line 2;

Waiting for a train to Dongdaemun;

Dongdaemun 

There are 2 stations for Dongdaemun, Dongdaemun Station and Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station (previously known as Dongdaemun Stadium Station as in some maps). We took Line 1 from Sinseol-dong Station to Dongdaemun Station which was only 2 stations away. 

Below are 2 maps of Dongdaemun, the Doosan tower also known as Doota (I think it is a place where one can buy large size dress);

If have the time, one should visit all the 3 shopping complex : Doota, Migliore and Hello Apm;

First place we went to were Goodmorning City/ Hello Apm ;

Many stores were not opened on the upper level;

Outside the Hello Apm building, there were some road side stalls and in the background were the still constructing Baseball and Football stadiums;

We went up again to the Hello Apm Building to have our snack;

As if it was still not cold enough;

Funny, we didn't get anything in Dongdaemun. Just walked around;

Migliore (yes another one at Myeongdong near our hotel);

You can see that they were feeling cold;

Since there wasn't much to do here at Dongdaemun, we decided to go back to Cheonggyecheon Sream. My wife told me there will be a laser show at night, so we headed back since it was not that far;

My daughter posed in front of a convenience store SM Mart that bore the initial of her name;

Found the board that said about the laser show;

Getting tired with the waiting and not so sure which part of the stream that might have the laser show;

Finally saw some fog;

And some laser murals on the wall;

Yes, that's all the show about and no more;

Feeling disappointed with the laser show as we were expecting something like those we saw in Hong Kong, we left for a good dinner;

We couldn't find a good place to eat so we ended up going to Insadong for dinner. We wanted to have grilled pork belly but the shop we wanted was full house so left back with only one shop. We had no choice but to have our dinner there. We didn't like this shop as we had to have 2 serving of the same;

After dinner, it was back to Myeongdong for shopping around again.

...Day 10 to be continued in next post.