1 year overdue post on my graduation trip to Seoul ! ( Also my third trip there within 3 years ) I procrastinated updating mostly due to the fact that I wanted to edit the photos before posting them up . . We took an evening VIetnam Airlines flight on 25 th March from Singapore - Hanoi - Seoul , reaching 26 th early morning ! Mom , kor and grandma came along to send me off where I scared them ( before I even left ) by misplacing my boarding passes and having to head to the check - in counter to get duplicates printed . Hah we ' re surely off to a great start ! Went to Swensen ' s for dinner where my food came so late I had to wolf them down and rush to my gate and meet Ping . There we boarded our flight and got settled in for the flight ! 26 th March ( Day 1 ) Touched down in Seoul at around 6 : 35 am where the weather was under zero and upon disembarkation the cold air hitting our faces foresaw a chilly week ahead . From there , we dragged our luggages to the metro and made our way to Hongdae to get to our AirBnB host , Mieun ' s place ! The weather out on the streets was really chillier than what I had expected , my previous trips being in October ( fall period ) where the temperature was around 10 - 15 degs and just tolerable . This was definitely new to someone like me who have almost never traveled before during winter periods . Thankfully with Mieun ' s directions , we found our way alright ! The AirBnb place turns out to be a cosy loft apartment , just nice for us two young girls . From here we threw on more layers of clothes then headed out for our day ! There was a bus stop just in front of where our apartment was where we figured out the bus to take to get to Ehwa Station . Did I mention that on my 2 previous trips I never did try to take the public buses before haha . It was a new experience for me too ! Care to guess why the first destination I ' d head to would be Ehwa upon reaching ? 전골 떡볶이 ! !!!! My all time favorite ddeobokki restaurant ( Oh I ' ve missed you so ) So glad I could introduce this place to Ping and be back there myself to enjoy the food ~!!! Even right now 6 months later I miss it so so much . Would absolutely love to go back for more After filling our tums we found another bus to get to Myeongdong where we walked the streets , with a banana milk in hand ( of course ) . We realised that it was pretty much strawberry season as there were so many street vendors selling them by the boxes ! They were being sold at prices of 5000 to 7000 won ( S $ 6 . 00 ~ $ 8 . 50 ) per box of roughly 25 strawberries ? We got 1 box to try out which cost us 5000 won . I never was a strawberry - fan but oh dear I absolutely fell in love with korean strawberries on our trip . The strawberries were unbelievable sweet and juicy ( inexpensive too ! !!). We continued this buying of boxes strawberries every single day for the rest of our trip . While at MD , I went to one of the 10 , 000 won bag shops and got 1 for my brother and 1 for myself . I remember the bag I got for myself was one meant for work , who knew I ' d actually get employed only 2 months after . .. Bought magnets for momsies too ! We also found this supposedly famous place called 복 촌 만두 ( Bokchon Dumplings ) where they sold king - sized dumplings . I was looking forward to this for its popularity and the amount of customers they had at a bustling afternoon . Well , unfortunately I was quite underwhelmed hahah . The inexpensive street stall me and Sam had dumplings at during our 2012 October trip won this by the folds . After we struggled to finish the monstrous size of dumplings ( for the money we spent ) , we went out and continued street shopping . We chanced upon this traditional rice cakes store called 비 즌 ( Bi Zeun ) where they had assorted rice cake items and other pastries . While ping picked out some rice cakes , I grabbed a bottle of mineral water and a cuppa matcha latte ! Which reminds me that I actually brought the mineral water bottle home to continue using as a water bottle for the followed few months because the size and shape was just nice for carrying around ! A lot of my friends asked me how much I spent to buy that water bottle , when it ' s really just a mineral bottle of water like that of Ice Mountain / Dasani in Singapore ! By 5 pm we had found our KT building to buy & activate the EG Sim Card ! We had decided to get it in Korea instead of Changi Airport for the savings . It wasn ' t difficult to find the place nor was the buying tough either ! The staff all spoke like 3 or more languages it was so impressive . From here we continued onto Insadong to look around before heading to 광장 시장 Gwangjang Market for late lunch . I remember how we ended up over - estimating our stomachs and buying way too much food at Gwangjang Market . We got 순대 ( soon - dae ) blood sausages at my request , Kimbab , Mung Bean pancakes and ended up barely even finishing half of what we bought . To anyone considering going Gwangjang Market , language shouldn ' t be too much a problem since most of the stall vendors seemed to be able to speak Chinese ! Well I did end up speaking Korean most of the time so I never got to really find out if they could speak English / Chinese . . but I assume so since there were quite a lot of tourists there ! ! We started to feel the fatigue from the long flight + day so we headed back early to rest ! Quite a fruitful first day I must say ahaha 27 th March ( Day 2 ) Got up at around 8 am before heading to 노량진 ( Noryangjin ) area to do our hair ! We actually got hair treatment coupons online from T - Mon where I searched up for our preferred coupon / treatment before getting Ping ' s korean friend to help us purchase , download and call the salon to make an appointment for us ! The coupon ended up costing around S $ 25 . 00 each I believe . It was definitely under S $ 30 . 00 and we got ourselves a 4 - step hair treatment . Salons in Seoul all have these x - step treatment processes . The more steps the more expensive / extensive the treatment would be of course ! Shall go back again some day for the full 8 step experience ! The shop we got our treatments done at turned out to be a really nifty and humble place . Its interior wasn ' t all spanky and new which would translate to sky high costs but maybe that ' s also why our treatments were more affordable . I was able to chat with the hairstylist throughout our 2 - hour long treatment and also help Ping and him chat which was so fresh and fun since I didn ' t ever get to actually sit down and chat with a complete stranger in Korea before . Got to know from the salon owner that rentals are a lot lower in that area so they could offer services at lower prices ! It would definitely be cheaper than getting our hairs done at Gangnam / Apgujeong area . After 2 long hours , our hair was silky smooth and super flowy - in - the - wind kind of feeling . Super glad that we dedicated one of our mornings in Seoul to this hair - time ! While making our way to 노량진 Noryangjin Fish Market , we went into a huge supermarket and bought some snacks / drinks to bring home ( if we didn ' t finish them all before we left Seoul that is ) . Bought another box of strawberries today at 2000 won , cheapest one we got ever and equally yumz ! It was almost as though we were on an expedition to find the best tasting strawberries they could offer hahaReached the fish market and since it was Ping ' s first time there we spent some time walking around just looking at the varieties of seafood they were offering and also to experience the touting skills of the stallholders there . We weren ' t too hungry so we only got a plate of San - nak - ji ( Raw Octopus ) ! I had it before the last time and absolutely loved it so it was exactly how I remembered ! Raw , slimy but defeinitely fresh and an exciting dish hehe . After this we took the metro towards Apgujeong for more street shopping ! When I say street shopping we usually don ' t ever buy anything and just walk for hours enjoying the businesses and people there . I could say that we really didn ' t spend on unnecessary items ( largely kudos to Ping for holding me back from spending thoughtlessly ) We had our lunch at another supposedly " famous " Jjampong place where I ordered a Jjajang bab ! I usually only had the noodles version which is Jajjangmyeon but this rice version aint too bad too . Plus it was only 5 , 000 won heheh value for moneyHere on Ping allowed me to indulge in a lil fangirling by accompanying me to The Min ' s ! Yes the one and only The Min ' s . The place is really done up quite nicely with the white themed interior and mostly - wood settings . They had a lot of artistes ; autographed CDs on display congratulating Changmin on the opening of his cafe and of course bigger ones by BTS . I ordered a hot chocolate and sat around for awhile noticing how the other customers there were probably all BTS fans . .... It was rather near to their BTS Begins concert so I wasn ' t too surprised . Continued on after The Min ' s walking around the area looking at all the expensive premium cars and wondering how much they actually cost in Seoul since it seemed as though many of them could afford it . Eventually walked our way to Sinsa area where we went into a LINE Friends store . IINW , it was the flagship LINE store in korea so it was rather crowded with picture taking everywhere simply because how beautiful the store was decorated like a LINE Friends shrine . Well it literally was . I realised that there were some baking supplies by LINE so I chose some pretty ones for mei ! Ended up with Cony designed oven mittens and a baked cookie . Definitely LINE eye - candy heaven for a small time LINE fan like me . We then headed to Hongdae to watch performances by the talented buskers . Be it acoustic or flashy dance performances , the buskers never failed to attract a rather impressive crowd of audiences . I remembered snap - chatting away seeing 2 amazing dudes dance to SISTAR songs more sexily than SISTAR themselves . . Walked on and ended up eating the famous Ozzang Express ( Fried Squid ) again ! I had this probably 3 times on my last trip and definitely made sure to introduce it to Ping this time . The weather seemed to be getting colder into the night so much that we were still shivering while huddled up . So . .. we headed back home ( AirBnB ) Grabbed a hoddeok ( maltose pancake ) and ramyeon on the way back for supper ! ! 28 th March ( Day 3 ) Started our day a little later by going out at 12 pm towards Edae ( Ehwa Women ' s University ) We headed towards Sak - this famous place that sold amazing twigim aka fritters ! According to Ping , Sak had a lot of rave reviews online so we were really looking forward to it . Turns out , it wasn ' t open for business yet . . yaySo we ended up eating street food ! Got hoddeok , sweet sour pork in a cup with cheese , tornado potato , oh - happy squid ( similar to Ozzang but definitely not as good ) Not too yummy but satisfying enough . Went to bavi - phat , the same old orange store selling skincare / cosmetics at crazy prices where I mainly sweeped a good SGD 60 . 00 of skincare stuff . Lip masks , sheet masks , pore care and all other things possible . Went to TableA Cat Cafe to play with kitties ! It was the same cafe and outlet I went back in October so I felt really glad seeing the same kitties again after 6 months . Got a drink as per usual and sat around waiting for the sleepy kitties to get up so we could take pictures . It was probably after an hour that I got to take a nice photo with a brown kitty named Coffee hehe ( lowkey got the most likes for this pic on instagram out of all my trip photos ) After about 2 hours there , we took a bus to Hongdae for the Flea / Free Market at Hongik Playground . Apparently it would only be open on Saturdays in that month so lucky us ! They had a lot of artistes doing caricatures , handmade items on sale and other novelty items . Ended up getting a nice postcard for Steven ! Since he too gets me postcards when he went overseas . For dinner , we headed to Far East Broadcast Station at Hongdae area for this famous Japanese ramen place called - Hakata Bunko Ramen . Despite the chilly weather there was actually a queue outside the restaurant so I guessed it ought to be good ? ? Waited a decent 30 mins till we got a seat and went in ! Ping ordered the famous ramen while me ( not a ramen fan ) got a chashyu rice bowl . Really really really not too bad at all This was when I realised the deliciousness of adding minced garlic into rice bowls . .. Don ' t mind the smell but the spicy kick ish gud . Took another bus to Myeongdong for the N Seoul Tower ! Had to take the same ol slow climbing + overly packed bus up the hill . And I thought it can ' t possibly get any colder hahaha . The scenery was as expected , breathtakingly beautiful . But also , crowded as hell . It took us like 10 mins to get a nice photo without some couple ' s shadow cast upon us . We started heading back when we weren ' t able to take the cold anymore . .. 29 th March ( Day 4 ) Sunday morning rain is falling ~ Left house at about 9 : 40 am where we took a bus to Shinchon area for breakfast . It was more like a hunt for breakfast considering that most places aren ' t even open that early . Do koreans not eat breakfast ? ? We ended up having food at a Naju Gomtang restaurant where I had a albab ! Similar to a bibimbap but with more veggies and stuff . I noticed that this Naju Gomtang was a franchise store as well since I saw it a lot around Seoul . Definitely a value - for - money meal ! Continued onto Itaewon to walk around and realising how ' tourist - friendly ' Itaewon really was . The whole place was strewn with shop franchises familiar to the Westerners ( i . e . Taco Bell , Subway and etc ) , lesser seen in Hongdae or Myeongdong areas . I ended up going into LUSH and being introduced to various skin conditioning / scrubbing items from a rather good - looking korean staff person . Having told him I understood Korean despite not speaking it too fluently , his entire explanation which included him scrubbing my hands and putting Argan conditioner was so so memorable muhahahaJust kidding . . Maybe . While I was immersed with how much I should patronize said handsome guy , Ping was snapping away . ... Thank you and no thank you hahahah I think one of the biggest spendings of my trip was there where I got their Argon Body Conditioner which I ' m still using till today ! The smell is really damn nice . .. Then we continued outside around Itaewon where I got some baby clothes for Declan ! Probably should have waited till we went to Hongdae or Edae to get them since it was super expensive at Itaewon . But anything for baby Dec ! !! From here we headed towards Lotte World via Gangnam area ! Over at Gangnam we went for a dessert of Seolbing ' s Injeolmi Bingsoo ! Injeolmi is essentially their traditional rice cake with peanuts and peanut powder ! Different from the usual oreo / cheesecake picks but definitely my personal favorite . Got more snacks on the way ; prawn and octopus twigim as well as Honey Butter Chips ! !! ( but I bet its fake ) . Since we were at Gangnam station , I got a blazer / cardigan at 10 , 000 won from one of the underground shops . Nearing 3 : 50 pm , we went to Lotte World with after - 4 pm tickets bought from T - Mon ! Saved like 70 % of the original price we ' d have to pay at the Lotte World ticket counter . Lotte World turned out to really be more kid - friendly than we imagined haha . The indoor theme park were mostly for kids and the ones which were for teens / adults had uber long queues . All them korean couples . ..... We even gave up after queueing a while for Bumper Cars . The only outdoor ride we waited approx 20 mins for was the Bungee Drop ! It was the smaller version from the Gyro Drop ( which probably had like a 2 hour queue waiting time ) but a third of the height . Good for my weak heart . We took a break from the outdoors by going inside for the arcade ! Then we went to queue for this indoor roller coaster ride called the or French Revolution . I remember asking myself which part of it was French at all hahahaah Anyway , after about an hour we got on the minute - long ride and it was definitely worth it ! ! Recommend everyone to try this ( and probably just this indoor ride ) if you visit Lotte World ! While rushing with adrenaline we decided to get Tarot Card readings ! The psychic ( ? ) only spoke Korean and was so relieved to know that I understood so we went ahead with asking about my parents and siblings ! I was pretty astounded by how much she seemed to know my family even though I never mentioned anything about their current job / health and well beings . It was as though she is a family friend . .. but in actual fact a complete stranger . I was completely sold and spent approx 5 , 000 won x 4 ( S $ 24 . 00 ) to hear about my family ! Funny thing is that looking back 1 year later all the things she premonition - ed / advised they all kinda came true . .? Creepy creepy Oh and I didn ' t ask about myself back then since I literally had zero questions hahahaahHere it was probably 9 + already so we watched the ending parade ! A lot of foreigners in big flamboyant costumes with LED lights ! Kinda regret missing out on skating in the Lotte World indoor rink . . Next time ! Here ' s a photo spam of Lotte World ! !! For late dinner we went to Gary ' s restaurant in Gangnam ! I couldn ' t seem to find it but ended up meeting staff who told us that it had been refurnished with a new name ! The menu was still the same as before just minor adjustments + a new location in Gangnam . I remember insisting on getting Soju ( me and my Soju - holic self whenever in Korea ) , introduced Ping to it but she found that it smelled of nail polish remover ! I don ' t deny that fact but it feels more like mild vodka to me hehehehEnded our Sunday feeling tired from the full day ' s activities but high from soju 30 th March ( Day 5 ) It ' s a Monday ! !! Brunch was Dak Galbi at this random restaurant along Hongdae / Shincheon area ! It turned out to be a rather famous place since come 10 am we had a lot of tourists enter the place ? I dont remember the exact price but I remember it was quite affordable for the huge pan that we had for the 2 of us to finish . We headed to Hongdae Flagship store of Stylenanda + 3 CE around noon for none other than their photobooth ! !! Took about 6 sets ? ? 4 paired and 1 solo each ! We looked wacky as hell so ain gon post them here hehehehe My prints are currently hanging off my make up wall ! We then went to the underground Namdaemun shopping area to find a stylish yet affordable spectacle shop for Ping ' s new specs ! After about 30 mins we finally did find one that had a huge huge array of frames , plus prescription it only cost 20 , 000 won ( S $ 24 . 00 ) . Best part was that following prescription , the shop only required 30 mins before we could go back to pick up the ready specs ! It looked as good the ones sold at Lowry Days or other branded " korea " imported spectacle shops in Singapore but at 10 to 15 x the price cheaper ! Personally I don ' t wear specs so I didn ' t know that one had to spend average $ 150 to $ 300 in SG for normal frames with prescription ! So the savings were cray cray for specs in Seoul ! ! Spent most of this day at Samcheongdong area where the neighbourhood was littered with beautiful older styled houses and murals . Absolutely loved the entire time we were there ! There was also a particularly mountainous area which made really pretty photosHere we headed towards whatever direction seemed to be pointing at Han River , and after an arduous hour or so we finally reached it . The sun was starting to set and it was simply beautiful ! ! Definitely worth all the time spent to get there . We took photos and took a stroll before slowly making our way back ! ! Had to walk through Seoul Forest Park at like near midnight where it was actually creepy hahaha would love to come back again in the morning ! Took a bus from there to Sang - wangsibri Station and then to Myeongdong for more street food ! Before we knew it we had walked into Hye - hyon and Euljiro stations too . . Re traced our steps to Myeondong for a bus 7107 back ! March 31 st ( Day 6 ) Today we started the day later that usual , going to Shinchon with Mieun ( our airbnb host ) for delicious Kamjatang ! It was my first time trying this dish but it reminded me of our Bak Kut Teh ? Just spicier and less herb - yWe spent the late afternoon shopping at Gangnam underground shopping centre , I don ' t remember what I bought even hahaha then went hongdae to meet our friends separately ! Met Nicolle at Hongdae stn where we then walked to Luxury Noraebang ! Got a good experience of Noraebang finally , singing our hearts out in this huge huge room complete with disco lights ! We ended up singing for 2 hours from 7 till 9 pm ! Kinda short compared to our singing stints back in singapore hahahahMet up again with Ping for a late late dinner in the premise ! Decided to go back to the ramen place I went back in 2012 and I ordered a ramyun - bab ! Meaning half ramen half rice . Carb overload but I get why the koreans love eating it this way ! ! April 1 st ( Day 7 ) Left house at 9 AM and took bus 7017 to Myeongdong area ! Ping mentioned about a Hoddeok stall she saw outside the window so we tracked the route in a bid to find it ! We stopped at a roadside stall for more breakfast , Mandu and takeout Tuna Kimbap ! !! Walked on and realised there was strawberries selling at 4 packs for 5 , 000 won , without hesitating we each got 1 pack ! AND WE FOUND THE HODDEOK STALL ! ! MiracleDefinitely the best hoddeok I ' ve ever had , super fresh and hot plus sweet sweet caramelWe also tried the vegetable hoddeok from the stall beside it , where there was an even longer queue . While queueing up we actually started chatting with some other Singaporeans ! So amusing to hear a familiar singlish accent in Seoul . The vegetable hoddeok turned out to be equally awesome , a savory alternative to the usual sweet ones . Soon it was nearing 11 AM so we started making our way towards Gangchon ! We eventually reached at 2 PM and walked a super long stretch to get to the Rail Park . Found a mart on the way and I bought Rilakkuma heat patch because 1 . its cute 2 . its cold 3 . its cute ! !!! Reached Rail Park at 2 : 30 PM and bought a 2 - seater ticket for 3 pm slot ! After a quick visit to the toilet we were guided to our bike ! The first 15 minutes we got used to the entire bike , where the storage area was to place our bags and how much we had to pedal to simply get a momentum going . Realised the pedal lengths were not ergonomically friendly since its too far for me too near for ping hahahahahaOr maybe I ' m just too short and she ' s too tall . .... Then we had a short rest stop before starting again for the rest of the 8 . 2 kmHonestly a super super scenic place just healing for the soul and eyes . There was a Psy Tunnel where they had disco lights and played Gangnam Style & Gentleman hahaha We eventually ended the route at about 4 pm ~! We were at Kim Yujeong Station so we took the subway to Gapyeong WarfWanted to take a bus but couldn ' t figure out the direction so we took a cab instead and since it was only 3 minutes away the cab fare turned out to be 3300 won , worth it ! !! Grabbed the ferry tickets & was ushered to the 6 pm ferry where we realised we were the only 2 guests on the ferry ! The sailor was giving us VIP treatment and helping us take photos w my DSLRReached Nami Island at near 6 pm ! ( ferry took like 3 mins ) There were many people already leaving the island so we were wondering if we were visiting the island a tad bit too lateAfter confirming that the return ferries were every 30 min interval and last ferry was at 9 : 45 pm , we started walking into beautiful Nami IslandThere ' s actually nothing significant to see on Nami Island , just appreciate the naked trees and the popular spot where everyone takes photos at . Luckily we took the last ferry available ferry in and hence the island was rather empty ! ! So much freedom for nicer photos . Aaaaand my camera battery was dying when we were at Nami We eventually left the island for the last ferry and took a long long way back to Hongdae ! April 2 nd ( Day 8 ) ( Also the only day with no DSLR photos since I didnt bring it out hohohoh ) Took bus to Myeongdong where we went the day before to find the hoddeok placeWent underground shopping centre to get Ping ' s spectacles , eventually got it done for only 20 , 000 won ! !! So bloody affordable . Bought a simple pouch to put my makeup pencilsSaw a random restaurant outside w tourists finding their way to it ( figured it must be good ) Went into it and asked for 2 person ' s serving of whatever they had hahaah since we couldnt locate and menus . ...... Out comes seafood soybean stew with ramen and two bowls of rice along w side dishes so we made bibimbap ! The sesame oil was the bomb which also made me convince myself to buy sesame oil home ~~~ The meal only cost 13 , 000 won aka 6 , 500 won per person and it was easily one of the most filling and most delicious meals of the tripContinued to walk walk around Myeongdong / Hyehoen / Euljiro and eventually ended up at Lotte Departmental Store to check out the Gucci prices ( for my brother ) For some weird reason they assumed we were Chinese and quoted as in RMB . .. We went to the Lotte Hotel where ping got to use a very beautiful toilet hahaGoals : Stay at Lotte Hotel during next trip ( not happening ) We then walked towards one of the palaces nearby and found ourselves at Deoksu Palace where we smoked ourselves half price tickets by lying that we were 18 years old AHAHAH # cheapthrillsTook pictures with pretty cherry blossoms and bought souvenirs from the museum Continued walking but it started raining so it was irritatingTook a train to Hongdae where we continued walking around and eating street food Rain rain rainEnded up at Samsung store to see earpieces and see the model for Samsung Edge and S 6 Decided that we had to go to a supermarket before we left Seoul , we took a bus to Hapjeong ' s HomePlus where we shopped for groceries to be brought homeGot sesame oil at 50 % promo aka 2 500 ml bottles for 9 , 000 won ! !!!! Finally done after perhaps 2 hours and took a bus back to our placeSpent the night packing my luggage for tmr ' s departureSome selfies we took with my bro ' s GoPro ! ! Time to pack and ready myself for my next trip to Seoul happening in travel 12 hours ! !!