Seoul, Korea - Jan 2016 - Day 3

I was woken up by the birds chirping outside the window. Nope, not the bird but the guys that's working in the hostel playing songs in youtube.

We didn't buy anything to cook unlike most people that stayed at the hostel. The kitchen was already buzzing with activities. Unsurprisingly, there were lots of Malaysian staying at the hostel as well. They cooked heavenly breakfast like nasi goreng but we had nothing to cook. We gotta find something to eat for breakfast.

We got ready, pulled up our sweaters, then walked outside into the cold morning air.  The first destination is one of the kebab place nearby. I opted for heavy breakfast, lamb kebab with rice and M chose Shawarma. Well, we end up sharing anyway.

Lamb kebab. Dig in!

The National Museum of Korea is not too far from the hostel. It took about 30 mins (we were walking slowly) to reach the museum. We took our time, drinking Binggrae's yummy banana milk while enjoying the fresh morning air.

Walkway tile to National Museum of Korea

When we arrived, I realized how stupid I was, I forgot to check the operating hours. The museum turned out to be close today. Not to waste our time, we took the chance to explore the vast garden area of the museum while not many people around. Luckily M was not mad at me for not checking it out, she didn't do it either. Since it's almost time to pray, we waited for a bit and prayed nearby one of the benches in the garden.

The frozen man-made pool with gazebo in front of the vast museum.

We took the subway to Chungmuro Station. We waited for the bus at the bus station nearby to go to Namsan Tower. A Malaysian mother and her daughter was also waiting for the bus. Her daughter was studying at the local university so she came to visit her. Lucky to have someone who speaks Korean! Me and M was eyeballing some part of the travel because we don't know Korean but that's what makes the journey interesting as well.

The bus took us all the way up Namsan Hill. The bus stop was not exactly at the tower, so we had to walk further uphill to reach it. I admired those girls with their high heels walked uphill like it's no big deal. I know I won't (or rather can't) do that. The vicinity of the tower has lots of decorations suitable for couples. Namsan Tower is one of the popular date spots in Seoul, after all.

A couple on the love bench.

Views of Seoul City.

They sold special postcards with N Seoul Tower's stamp and various cute stamp blocks you can use in the tower. I sent 3 postcards, one to myself and another two to friends.

It's worth to mention that the restroom here has ceiling-to-floor glass wall, so I can enjoy amazing view of the city while washing my hand. Thank God the toilet has completely opaque wall, if not someone might see while you take a dump. 

Next place to go was to check out Dongdaemon. Along the way we saw stop by at Taiyaki place. The taiyaki was smaller and crispier than the one I was familiar with in Japan, I love it!

Kimchi in plastic bags

Taiyaki stall

M wanted to buy handbags so we checked out many malls in Dongdaemun. She finally fell in love with one of the Korean made handbags that looked like Chanel's Boy. The salesgirl convinced her that it is made of real cow leather so she bought it without hesitating. I didn't buy anything, window shopping was satisfying enough.

Cute murals donning walls of Dongdaeumun subway.

We went back to Itaewon and had dinner at Murree Restaurant. I ordered Seafood Kimchi Jjigae and M got herself Ramyeon. The taste was OK not particularly amazing, I wish the soup was thicker and has more seafood than just sardines meat.

Murree's Kimchi Jjigae

Since we can't read Korean, we asked help from our Chinese dorm-mate to read the labels inside M's newly bought bag. It turned out that the leather was fake leather, not real cow leather as told by the salesgirl. We were deceived! I told M that we can always return the bag, but the bag does look like it's been carefully made and has good quality. M decided she's too tired to return the bag plus she does like it.