Our flight from Hawaii back to Hong Kong included a stop over in Seoul so we took full advantage of the opportunity to see the city. We bought day passes for the Seoul Tour Bus, their version of a hop on, hop off bus - a super easy and convenient way to check out the city.
Our first stop was the Namsangol Hanok Village. Here we were able to see some traditional Korean houses like those built during the mid 1800s (during the Choseon dynasty). As it turns out they were also having a festival with live musical performances. There were men on stilts, groups of dancers in traditional costumes and even TV cameras there to capture it all. The Namsangol Hanok Gardens includes pavilions, ponds and rocky streams amongst all of the native plants - a very peaceful walk and definite contrast to all of the action we saw when we first arrived at Namsangol Hanok.
While waiting for the bus some locals passed us eating this fish waffle looking thing which looked to have nutella inside. After looking around a bit I was able to find the lady making these fish. We had no idea what they were or what was inside but Melissa felt adventurous and took a big bite. As she handed it over for my turn I noticed it was not chocolate but red bean...yuck! They have red bean everything all over Asia, but I pass... every time!
Insadong is a great place to check out traditional Korean teahouses, craft shops, antique shops and local art galleries - bonus also that the streets are restricted to pedestrian traffic only. There weren't many western options available here, so we decided to try some Korean food. We stumbled upon a restaurant in a back ally that had a photo menu - score! We ordered a Korean pancake, glass noodles with vegetables, and seafood tteokbokki. As this was our first experience with Korean food (of the non-barbeque variety), we didn't know what to expect except for spicy (Koreans love their spicy food.) When the dishes started to come out we realized quite quickly that we ordered way too much! Oh well, this way we got to try a little of everything plus with more choices, you increase your odds that you will at least like one of the dishes.
After walking off our lunch, it was time for dessert. We spotted a HUGE line in front of a store with these strange cane like ice cream cones. This place was so popular that they had someone on the street for crowd control. After finally making our way into the shop, there was an assembly line of sorts - at the first counter, a guy takes your money, at the next counter, a guy hands you one of these hollow cones and then right next to the exit there is a guy that takes your cane/cone and pumps ice cream into it. Melissa said it was like McDonald's ice cream just in a fancy cone. I got my ice cream fix a few blocks later from the Turkish ice cream stall - strawberry which was AMAZING!
Insadong is great for picking up local souvenirs, which we found a few. Melissa also found the perfect white elephant gift for her next Christmas party, YEP gangnam style socks.
The Koreans sure do love their street food! We passed a stall that was cutting and frying potatoes on a stick, tastes ok but sure does look cool. There was another stall we passed that looked to have corn dogs with french fries stuck to it, good if you are on the go and want to eat fries with your corn dog I guess. We passed on that one. We also stumbled across a guy dancing very enthusiastically with a giant cat head on holding a sign that said something about cat cafe. Melissa had read that people go to these places to play with cats or dogs (at a dog cafe) while they drink their drinks. Interesting concept I guess.
As we were starting to get hungry we stumbled on a Korean BBQ restaurant and figured why not. There were pictures on the menu here but everything was in Korean so after sitting down we did our customary looking at the other tables to see what people were ordering. The couple next to us were grilling some meat on the grill so we pointed at that and the waitress very loudly grunted MMMM!!! with satisfaction as she pointed it out on the menu. Okay, I guess that was a good choice?? After ordering, they prepared the grill in the middle of our table and then put two large pieces of meat on it, periodically coming by to flip it for us. When the meat was cooked they took out a pair of scissors and cut the meat for us and then prepared the noodle with vegetable dish we ordered. Again we ordered way too much! Oh well, when traveling abroad and tying new things it is all about variety. Before we got started eating the beef we noticed the couple next to us making lettuce wraps with the meat then shoving the entire thing in their mouth. Not so gracious looking but at least it tasted good!
Our first stop was the Namsangol Hanok Village. Here we were able to see some traditional Korean houses like those built during the mid 1800s (during the Choseon dynasty). As it turns out they were also having a festival with live musical performances. There were men on stilts, groups of dancers in traditional costumes and even TV cameras there to capture it all. The Namsangol Hanok Gardens includes pavilions, ponds and rocky streams amongst all of the native plants - a very peaceful walk and definite contrast to all of the action we saw when we first arrived at Namsangol Hanok. 
While waiting for the bus some locals passed us eating this fish waffle looking thing which looked to have nutella inside. After looking around a bit I was able to find the lady making these fish. We had no idea what they were or what was inside but Melissa felt adventurous and took a big bite. As she handed it over for my turn I noticed it was not chocolate but red bean...yuck! They have red bean everything all over Asia, but I pass... every time!
As the bus winded it way through the city we passed an area that had a ton of American restaurants, such as Popeye's, Papa Johns, Dominos, TGI Fridays, Outback just to name a few. We are so jealous (and annoyed!) that Hong Kong doesn't have any those eating options.
Insadong is a great place to check out traditional Korean teahouses, craft shops, antique shops and local art galleries - bonus also that the streets are restricted to pedestrian traffic only. There weren't many western options available here, so we decided to try some Korean food. We stumbled upon a restaurant in a back ally that had a photo menu - score! We ordered a Korean pancake, glass noodles with vegetables, and seafood tteokbokki. As this was our first experience with Korean food (of the non-barbeque variety), we didn't know what to expect except for spicy (Koreans love their spicy food.) When the dishes started to come out we realized quite quickly that we ordered way too much! Oh well, this way we got to try a little of everything plus with more choices, you increase your odds that you will at least like one of the dishes. 
After walking off our lunch, it was time for dessert. We spotted a HUGE line in front of a store with these strange cane like ice cream cones. This place was so popular that they had someone on the street for crowd control. After finally making our way into the shop, there was an assembly line of sorts - at the first counter, a guy takes your money, at the next counter, a guy hands you one of these hollow cones and then right next to the exit there is a guy that takes your cane/cone and pumps ice cream into it. Melissa said it was like McDonald's ice cream just in a fancy cone. I got my ice cream fix a few blocks later from the Turkish ice cream stall - strawberry which was AMAZING! 
Insadong is great for picking up local souvenirs, which we found a few. Melissa also found the perfect white elephant gift for her next Christmas party, YEP gangnam style socks.
That evening the hotel concierge recommended that we check out Itaewon which was just across the street from the hotel - which we couldn't miss if we tried with all of the crowds of people and all the neon lights - seriously there were so many lights on some of the streets that you almost forgot it was nighttime!
The Koreans sure do love their street food! We passed a stall that was cutting and frying potatoes on a stick, tastes ok but sure does look cool. There was another stall we passed that looked to have corn dogs with french fries stuck to it, good if you are on the go and want to eat fries with your corn dog I guess. We passed on that one. We also stumbled across a guy dancing very enthusiastically with a giant cat head on holding a sign that said something about cat cafe. Melissa had read that people go to these places to play with cats or dogs (at a dog cafe) while they drink their drinks. Interesting concept I guess. 
As we were starting to get hungry we stumbled on a Korean BBQ restaurant and figured why not. There were pictures on the menu here but everything was in Korean so after sitting down we did our customary looking at the other tables to see what people were ordering. The couple next to us were grilling some meat on the grill so we pointed at that and the waitress very loudly grunted MMMM!!! with satisfaction as she pointed it out on the menu. Okay, I guess that was a good choice?? After ordering, they prepared the grill in the middle of our table and then put two large pieces of meat on it, periodically coming by to flip it for us. When the meat was cooked they took out a pair of scissors and cut the meat for us and then prepared the noodle with vegetable dish we ordered. Again we ordered way too much! Oh well, when traveling abroad and tying new things it is all about variety. Before we got started eating the beef we noticed the couple next to us making lettuce wraps with the meat then shoving the entire thing in their mouth. Not so gracious looking but at least it tasted good! 
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