Adventures in Seoul
Yesterday I decided that instead of staying in my room and doing homework, I needed to amp up spending time hanging around Seoul. I can't believe I only have two weeks and a bit left! Not enough time!
So I figured I'd go back to Samcheongdong, which is an incredibly cute neighborhood full of art galleries and cafes. I then managed to overshoot my intended subway station-this is one of many stories about my Seoul Metro mishaps-and decided to walk instead of take the subway back a station. This being me, the exit closest to where I wanted to go ended up having construction around it, meaning that I had to walk even further to circle around. Then I spotted a sign for a free shuttle bus for Samcheonggak and thought, "Whoo!" I got on the bus with two other women and happily smiled as it drove through Samcheongdong.
Then I started wondering when it would stop. I figured if it went to the other end of Samcheongdong, that would actually be nice, since I could stroll leisurely back to the subway station after cafe hopping. Alas, the bus went further than the other end of Samcheongdong. "That's okay," I thought. "I can still walk back." And then it went yet further... through a tunnel... into the mountains. Me: "Uh. This does not look like Seoul." The driver then entered what looked like a set of traditional houses and stopped. "Uh. How go back?" I asked in my terrible Korean. "Something something six [twenty?] something here something something," said the driver.
Clearly my listening had not improved as much as I had hoped. Well, it was beautiful (albeit in the middle of nowhere!), and I wandered around a bit. Apparently it was a place for people to learn about traditional Korean arts and partly a hotel, but alas, by the time I got there, everything had closed, so all I could see were the gardens and outsides of the beautiful traditional houses. Then, of course, it started to rain.
I am certain this happened because I lugged my umbrella all through school all day long while the sky was insultingly bright and sunny, and then I left it in my room before going out, thinking, "Obviously the weather report was wrong!"
Samcheonggak is extremely beautiful, little houses nestled in the green mountains surrounded by a twisty wall, with what I think was gayageum music playing in the background. I am quite sure it would have been very nice had it been open and had I brought my umbrella. After aimlessly wandering around for a few minutes, I returned to the shuttle to find the other two women speaking in Japanese and intently studying the schedule. It was rather comforting to think that I wasn't the only one who got mistakenly boarded the shuttle.
After that, I managed to get off on the right shuttle stop and find my way toward the subway station. I stopped by a nifty status of a giant calligraphy brush, photographed it, then tried to puzzle out the hanja in Korean. "In... something... dong. Huh," I thought.
"Oh wait. Insadong! Duh."
Insadong is an incredibly touristy yet still charming neighborhood filled with shops selling fans (I am obsessed with fans. I think I bought ten at a dollar store when I did homestay in Japan, and am on my third fan for this trip), porcelain, tea, handmade paper, embroidery, and etc. I wandered around comparing fan prices and watching the various ggultare (like Chinese dragon whisker candy except they put more of a mixture of nuts in the ones here, as opposed to the peanut or black sesame I am used to) makers go through the exact same spiel for the tourists. I am impressed by their spiel! The ggultare guy in Myeongdong has the exact same one as well.
I would have wandered around some more, except it started to rain again. I ducked into a completely random teeny cafe with the most expensive waffles ever. Thankfully, the waffles were almost good enough to justify the price, though by the time I left, the very fickle rain had of course begun to pour. I bought another umbrella (purple polka dots!)-like fans, I obsessively buy umbrellas and have brought back at least three super cute ones from Taiwan. And, uh, bought two more this summer. I could not help it! It was a sakura of DOOM umbrella and clearly meant for me!
I also found a shop selling teruterubouzu earrings (the little guy in my icon), which I now desperately want; a shop selling absolutely adorable teeny weeny Korean food charms (website); a shop devoted solely to Lee Byun-Hun; a wee stand selling even more fans (!!); and a ton of embroidery and patchwork. All this in the Ssamzigil, which has three or four floors in a spiral pattern, letting you gradually walk through the entire thing without taking any stairs if you don't want to.
Also, it looked like an adorable little bakery/patisserie was opening up right by the subway station. I will have to go back when it is open, because I am also completely obsessed with adorable little bakeries and patisseries, particularly Asian/French ones.
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So I figured I'd go back to Samcheongdong, which is an incredibly cute neighborhood full of art galleries and cafes. I then managed to overshoot my intended subway station-this is one of many stories about my Seoul Metro mishaps-and decided to walk instead of take the subway back a station. This being me, the exit closest to where I wanted to go ended up having construction around it, meaning that I had to walk even further to circle around. Then I spotted a sign for a free shuttle bus for Samcheonggak and thought, "Whoo!" I got on the bus with two other women and happily smiled as it drove through Samcheongdong.
Then I started wondering when it would stop. I figured if it went to the other end of Samcheongdong, that would actually be nice, since I could stroll leisurely back to the subway station after cafe hopping. Alas, the bus went further than the other end of Samcheongdong. "That's okay," I thought. "I can still walk back." And then it went yet further... through a tunnel... into the mountains. Me: "Uh. This does not look like Seoul." The driver then entered what looked like a set of traditional houses and stopped. "Uh. How go back?" I asked in my terrible Korean. "Something something six [twenty?] something here something something," said the driver.
Clearly my listening had not improved as much as I had hoped. Well, it was beautiful (albeit in the middle of nowhere!), and I wandered around a bit. Apparently it was a place for people to learn about traditional Korean arts and partly a hotel, but alas, by the time I got there, everything had closed, so all I could see were the gardens and outsides of the beautiful traditional houses. Then, of course, it started to rain.
I am certain this happened because I lugged my umbrella all through school all day long while the sky was insultingly bright and sunny, and then I left it in my room before going out, thinking, "Obviously the weather report was wrong!"
Samcheonggak is extremely beautiful, little houses nestled in the green mountains surrounded by a twisty wall, with what I think was gayageum music playing in the background. I am quite sure it would have been very nice had it been open and had I brought my umbrella. After aimlessly wandering around for a few minutes, I returned to the shuttle to find the other two women speaking in Japanese and intently studying the schedule. It was rather comforting to think that I wasn't the only one who got mistakenly boarded the shuttle.
After that, I managed to get off on the right shuttle stop and find my way toward the subway station. I stopped by a nifty status of a giant calligraphy brush, photographed it, then tried to puzzle out the hanja in Korean. "In... something... dong. Huh," I thought.
"Oh wait. Insadong! Duh."
Insadong is an incredibly touristy yet still charming neighborhood filled with shops selling fans (I am obsessed with fans. I think I bought ten at a dollar store when I did homestay in Japan, and am on my third fan for this trip), porcelain, tea, handmade paper, embroidery, and etc. I wandered around comparing fan prices and watching the various ggultare (like Chinese dragon whisker candy except they put more of a mixture of nuts in the ones here, as opposed to the peanut or black sesame I am used to) makers go through the exact same spiel for the tourists. I am impressed by their spiel! The ggultare guy in Myeongdong has the exact same one as well.
I would have wandered around some more, except it started to rain again. I ducked into a completely random teeny cafe with the most expensive waffles ever. Thankfully, the waffles were almost good enough to justify the price, though by the time I left, the very fickle rain had of course begun to pour. I bought another umbrella (purple polka dots!)-like fans, I obsessively buy umbrellas and have brought back at least three super cute ones from Taiwan. And, uh, bought two more this summer. I could not help it! It was a sakura of DOOM umbrella and clearly meant for me!
I also found a shop selling teruterubouzu earrings (the little guy in my icon), which I now desperately want; a shop selling absolutely adorable teeny weeny Korean food charms (website); a shop devoted solely to Lee Byun-Hun; a wee stand selling even more fans (!!); and a ton of embroidery and patchwork. All this in the Ssamzigil, which has three or four floors in a spiral pattern, letting you gradually walk through the entire thing without taking any stairs if you don't want to.
Also, it looked like an adorable little bakery/patisserie was opening up right by the subway station. I will have to go back when it is open, because I am also completely obsessed with adorable little bakeries and patisseries, particularly Asian/French ones.
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