Travel to Seoul and shopping & eating in Myeongdong

18 November 2025

The plan for the day is to travel from Gwangju to Seoul by KTX (South Korea’s High Speed Train) in the morning and spend the afternoon in Myeongdong. Myeongdong is a famous shopping district in the heart of Seoul, known for its dense concentration of Korean cosmetics, fashion brands, restaurants and vibrant street food. My original plan was to go explore the Daehak-ro and Naksan area in the afternoon but Seoul was experiencing an unusual cold spell on this day. I thought Naksan, being at higher elevation would be cold, so our plan changed.

Where we stayed in Seoul

Our hotel in Seoul for the next 3 nights is the Ibis Ambassador Myeongdong. We chose this hotel because it is located close to bus stops along Namdaemun-ro, Euljiro 1-ga (Line 2) subway station and the bus stop for the limousine bus to the airport is just at its doorstep! 

Travel from Gwangju to Seoul

The journey by KTX took about 2 hours. Once again, I booked our tickets online from the Korail website.

There are two KTX stations serving Seoul City – Yongsan Station and Seoul Station. We chose to take the KTX to Seoul Station since it is closer to our hotel.

It was close to noon when we arrived in Seoul. From Seoul Station, we queued and boarded a taxi for a short ride to our hotel. Since we are too early for check-in, the hotel staff stored our luggage and we went out to have lunch and explore Myeongdong.

Lunch at

Sinseon Seolleongtang(Myeongdong Branch)

Sinseon Seolleongtang is a popular restaurant chain found all over Korea serving up tasty bowls of ox bone soup known as seolleongtang.

My wife and I had our first taste of this dish in 2012 after the restaurant was featured in a SBS korean drama called “Brilliant Legacy” and we went to hunt for the restaurant. Since then, we always wanted to taste this dish again and we found that there is a branch located in Myeongdong.

This picture was from my visit to another branch in 2012. Brochure from the restaurant featuring the menu and actor/actress from the K-drama “Brilliant Legacy”.

The Myeongdong branch was located on the 2nd floor of a building but is was not difficult to find. The menu was displayed on the ground floor. It was pretty much similar to before but the price had risen quite a bit. Inflation everywhere!

The menu features a variety of different types of seolleongtang besides the standard seolleongtang. Price now is 11,000 KRW for the standard soup. It used to be 7,000 KRW in 2012.

We ordered one standard shaved beef seolleongtang and one Myeongpum Galbi (beef rib) seolleongtang.

Seolleongtang with meaty beef ribs.

The rich and creamy white broth is the result of many hours of boiling ox bone. This dish is extremely nice on a cold day. The dish came with a bowl of steamed rice that we could add to the soup. There were also kimchi and radish that we could help ourselves to.

It is good that there are guides on how to enjoy this dish.

It is quite common to find a pair of scissors provided on the table, plus other utensils – Korean metal chopsticks and long handle soup.

Do as the Koreans do. Use the scissors to cut up your food to bite size chunks.

Craving on ox-bone soup satisfied, we went to do some shopping.

Shopping at Myeongdong

The first stop we made was at the Olive Young cosmetic store located opposite the restaurant. There are many Olive Young stores in Korea nowadays and there are several even within Myeongdong itself. The store was packed with shoppers from abroad. This is a sign that Korea’s beauty products are top notched and highly sought after internationally.

This was one of the many items in my wife’s shopping list. Many items in the list are for friends and relatives.

The Olive Young store provides duty free shopping. Shoppers need to show their passports to claim the tax refund. We went back to our hotel to check in and dump the heavy bags of cosmetic we bought.

From our hotel, we went into the underground shopping mall and up to Lotte Departmental Store located right across Namdaemun-ro. We bought some Korean snacks, Kanu freeze-dry coffee at Lotte Mart. We were also looking out for toys for our grandchildren but this is the wrong place to shop for toys.

Returning to Myeongdong, we wandered into any stores that caught our fancy.

One store not to miss is the HBAF store. HBAF stands for Honey Butter Almond & Friends and is the largest nut brand in Korea. Besides the classic honey butter almonds, there are now plenty of other flavours to choose from.

We also walked up and down a 12-storey Daiso store with an elevator that is practically not fit for purpose (too small and slow). Although it is a 12 storey building, the store is not big as area of each floor is quite small. We managed to buy a toy car on one of the floors but otherwise, I did not enjoy my visit to this store. I am not sure why this store is so popular and crowded.

We also bought more Korean snacks and souvenirs to bring home from the local stores. There are also cafes aplenty.

Dinner at Hanam Pig BBQ, Myeongdong Branch

Myeongdong really become more vibrant when evening came and the street food vendors popped up like magic. Although there are plenty of tempting street food in Myeongdong, I have learnt to stay away from them.

For our dinner, we chose to have pork BBQ at the Hanam Pig House. Hanam Pig House is a popular Korean BBQ chain specializing in premium, grilled pork (pork belly, shoulder loin, ribs). Being a chain restaurant loved by the locals, the quality may not be the best in town but it would be value for money and the food and service would be more consistent.

Entrance of the Hanam Pig House Restaurant with its large, red logo in Chinese “ Chang”. 

The restaurant only serves pork. We ordered the samgyeopsal (pork belly) and one other cut. The staff did the cooking for us on a hotplate. 

The Samgyeopsal (Pork belly) is cooked on a hotplate in front of us.

The chef would use a scissor to cut the meat into bite sizes chunks.

Aprons are provided to protect our clothes from oil splatter but there is no air suction device above the hotplate. Our clothes would have the oily smell thereafter.

I was a little surprised when the chef BBQ the kimchi cabbage.

Side dishes are provided. We are to wrap the BBQ pork in the lettuce leaf with garlic, add some gochujang before popping the parcel into our mouth.

We also ordered a Doenjang-jjigae (Fermented soybean paste stew) and a Gyeranjjim (steamed egg custard).

Doenjang jjigae (Fermented soybean paste stew)

Steamed egg custard with some roe in it.

Overall Hanam Pig House serves delicious pork BBQ and other dishes. We enjoyed our pork BBQ dinner in Seoul but I still prefer the Black Pig BBQ I had in Jeju that was cooked over a charcoal fire.

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Tteokgalbi - Must eat food at Gwangju

17 November 2025

Gwangju, located in South Korea's Jeolla region, is a renowned culinary hotspot known for rich, flavorful, and varied dishes. One of their signature local delicacies is the tteokgalbi (grilled minced beef or pork short rib patties).

The best place to try this dish while visiting Gwangju is at the Tteokgalbi Street in Gwangju Songjeong-dong. This area is renowned for having around 20 restaurants specializing in this traditional grilled dish and our hotel in Gwangju (Gwangju Madrid Hotel) is just a few minutes walk to the street!

We had already sampled tteokgalbi during our stay in Jeonju Hanok Village but we have to try this dish at its place of origin. The tteokgalbi here stands out from tteokgalbi found in other regions in a few ways. Most places use 100% beef in the patties, but Songjeong-dong tteokgalbi uses a mix of beef and pork. This change was made in the 90s in order to keep the prices the same during a tough financial season. The restaurants here also serve a pork bone soup with the meal, made from boiling pork bones with kelp and radish for over a long period of time.

After checking the reviews of the various restaurants on this street, we chose to go a restaurant called Songjeong Tteokgalbi (Google Map location here). Established in 1976, this could be one of the pioneers of this dish.

There is often a queue to enter this popular restaurant but there was no queue when we arrived. Probably there are lesser people dining out on a weekday.

The restaurant is very spacious and clean. The restaurant has many traditional Korean style dining tables with low tables and futons. Thankfully, we were shown to a Western-style table that is easier on our legs.

Tteokgalbi is their main dish but the menu also offered bibimbap and other Korean dishes.

We came for the tteokgalbi and ordered one with special Korean beef and one with a combo of beef and pork.

The beef tteokgalbi is the one on the right and is darker in colour.

While the beef tteokgalbi is tasty, we found it a bit too dry. The pork and beef combo was juicier and tasted better. This is one instant where food with cheaper ingredients tasted better than the one with more expensive ingredient.

This restaurant is known to serve many side dishes (banchan) with the beef patties. We were provided with more banchan than the tteokgalbi restaurants in Jeonju.

There are 8 side dishes, plus a bowl of pork bone soup, steamed rice and items (garlic, gochujang, green chilli pepper) for ssam.

There are 8 side dishes, plus a bowl of pork bone soup, rice and Korean ssam.

      

The tteokgalbi was incredibly tender and delicious. It goes well with rice and also with the side dishes. But it is also fun to eat tteokgalbi wrapped in lettuce.

A highlight of dining here is the complimentary pork bone broth. The broth is so flavourful, a result of simmering pork bones and radish for hours. 

Meaty pork bone in delicious broth. This is served as part of the tteokgalbi meal.

The lady staff is friendly. She offered to top up the side dishes after we finished some of them. We told them we would like to have more soup and she brought a larger bowl of hot pork bone broth with a ladle for us to refill as much as we want.

The staff brought us a large bowl of pork bone soup with more meaty bones. She also refilled the banchan that we loved the most.

Happy diner.

After paying for our dinner, we were offered free Yakult (Japanese-originated probiotic cultured milk drink). There is also an ice cream and coffee machine at the entrance.

We made ourselves a cup of hot coffee to enjoy on our slow walk back to our hotel.

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Day trip to Naejangsan National Park in autumn

17 November 2025

Naejangsan National Park is highly raved as one of the best mountains to see the autumn foliage in South Korea. The peak autumn foliage is supposed to be in the first two weeks of November. With global warming, the peak period could shift slightly later. Since we are visiting in mid-November,  we were just in time and it was an excellent opportunity that we must not miss.  

Naejangsan is also known for its many hiking trails that lead to its 8 summits.  Almost a million people come every year for its breathtaking views. It is especially crowded during the peak autumn foliage season. Hence it is advisable to visit this place on a weekday and arrive before 9 AM. For us who are relying on public transport, it is also advisable to leave before 4.30 PM as there is known to be long queues for the local bus in the late evening. 

Getting to Naejangsan from Gwangju

Naejangsan National Park is located near Jeongeup, a city in North Jeolla Province. We made a daytrip to Naejangsan from Gwangju. The fastest way from Gwangju to Jeongeup is to take the KTX (Korea’s high speed train) from the Gwangju SeongJeong Station.

It is advisable to arrive early so we had an early start from Gwangju. We enjoyed a hearty bowl of boiling hot gukbap at the popular Yeongmyeong Gukbap shop located opposite the train station. The store opens at 5 AM and is an ideal place to try the famous Korean’s gukbap (rice soup).

At 6.30 AM in the morning, we were the first few customers, in addition to a group of servicemen in uniform. Based on google reviews, we ordered the assorted gukbap that came with cuts of tender pork head meat, pig stomach, liver, bean sprouts and sundae in a boiling pot of rich savoury broth. There is also a bowl of rice and side dishes provided.

Highly recommended gukbap for 11,000 KWR - assorted soup with sundae, pork and organs.

Side dishes or banchan that is included with the gukbap. The includes pickled garlic, kimchi, salted shrimps and white onions.

After the body-warming breakfast, we had plenty of time to catch the 7.40 AM train to Jeongeup. We had booked our tickets in advance using this online ticketing site. There was no checking of train tickets during boarding. However the inspector would walk through the cabin once the train started moving. Journey from Gwangju to Jeongeup by KTX took about 20 minutes.

From Jeongeup Station, we took the local bus No. 171 to Naejangsan National Park. Getting to the bus stop was easy. It was located across the road from Jeongeup Station and there were many people in hiking gear heading there. The frequency of Bus 171 was about 20 to 30 minutes. We were concerned to see many people waiting at bus stop. There was a big group of hikers with daypacks and hiking poles.                   

An alternative to bus transport was taxi. It would definitely be more expensive (about 18,000 to 20,000 KRW) but would be a viable option if we could not get onto the bus.

Some taxis came to offer their services. I was glad to see the group of hikers went for the taxis.

Shortly thereafter, bus 171 arrived. There was an orderly queue to board the bus. Despite the many people at this bus stop, we managed to board but it was standing room only. The journey took about 30 minutes and cost about 1,200 KRW. We just need to tap the T-money card on the machine when boarding and disembarking from the bus to pay for the fare.

It was about 9 AM when we alighted at the small town beside the Naejangsan National Park.  We took a photo of the bus schedule for the bus back to Jeongeup. Bus 171 is a loop service. We will need to come back to this bus station to take the bus back to Jeongeup.

From there, we just need to follow the main street for about 10 minutes to get to the entrance of the park. I was glad to see colourful foliage on the trees lining the road.

A prelude of what is to come – many trees with red and yellow foliage.

The weather on this day was unusually cold due to what is known as a polar vortex, sending cold air from the arctic southward. In fact, the cold spell would starting on this day which was a Monday and continue till Thursday.  

4 degrees C in autumn but the down jacket and windbreaker was effective.

To walk or take the shuttle?

We paid the national park fee of 3000 KRW per person at the entrance of the park. Local residents get free entry. Once past the entrance, there was still a 2 km walk to the center of the park. There was shuttle service for 1000 KRW per person.

Actually, I have read that this 2 km path is one of the best places to enjoy the autumn leaves in Naejangsan. We would have to walk this path either on the way in or do it on our way back.

Since there was no queue, we decided to take the shuttle on our way in.

View of the maple tree “tunnel” from inside the shuttle.

We could see that the road is lined with colourful trees on both sides.

Maple trees with foliage lit by the morning sun. 

On hindsight, we should have walked this path on our way in and also on our way out!

Uhwajeong Pavilion

The first attraction we visited was the Uhwajeong Pavilion. It is uniquely placed in the centre of a lake. I had seen picture-postcard views of the pavilion surrounded by fantastic autumn foliage. Although there are still plenty of colourful autumn foliage around, I could not get a decent photo that matched what I saw.

Uhwajeong Pavilion.

Red, orange, yellow and green leaves on the trees.

Naejangsan Cable Car to Yeonjabong Peak

There is an easy way to get to one of mountain peaks in Naejangsan National Park with minimal hiking. That is by taking the Naejangsan Cable Car to Yeonjabong Peak. The cable car station is located near to the Uhwajeong Pavilion.

We made it a point to take the Naejangsan cable car as early as possible, before the massive crowds arrive later in the day.

As per plan, we came early on a weekday and hence there was no queues at the ticket booth and also at the cable car station. We bought the 2-way tickets for 11,000 KRW per person. One-way tickets are also available for those who chose to hike up or down the peak.

The cable car has a rather large capacity, similar to those we had taken in Mount Seorak. 

Short queue to board the cable car.

The journey takes approximately 5 minutes, allowing for panoramic views of the national park. I was lucky to stand next to the window and could enjoy the colourful canopy of the forest below.

Shadow of the cable car cast upon the colourful forest below.

From the cable car station at the top, we walked about 300 metres to the Yeonjabong Peak Observatory.  The uneven path to the observatory is on a ridge and it was quite windy. We saw a monk positioned midway on this path, chanting and blessing safe passage for travelers and hikers. 

Short 300 m hiking path leading to Yeonjabong Peak Observatory.

The Yeonjabong Peak Observatory is a two-story pavilion.  From the second storey, we enjoyed 360 degress panoramic view of 8 mountain peaks (Yeonjibong, Manghaebong, Bulchulbong, Seoraebong, Woryeongbong, Gachibong, Sinseongbong and Janggunbong). We could also see the red, yellow and orange autumn foliage adorning the mountain sides and the valley below. Unfortunately, the morning air was a little misty which muted the colour of the autumn leaves in our photos.

Naejangsan Mountain View from the observatory -  Woryeongbong Peak and Seoraebong Peak.

Close up photo of Byeoknyeonam Hermitgage as viewed from the observatory.

The valley beneath Yeonjabong Peak and surrounding mountains.

The cable car station and the lake with Uhwajeong Pavilion could be seen.

It was quite cold and windy up on the mountain. Thankfully there are stalls offering food and drinks near the observatory and also at the cable car station. We took refuge in a coffee shop and had hot drinks before heading back to the cable car station.

A cup of hot coffee from a shop near the observatory.

Back at the cable car station, we went to check out the views from the roof.

Back at the cable car station.

Enjoying the sight of the autumn leaves at the cable car station.

A hiking trail that leads to the actual Yeonjabong summit starts at the cable car station. The information board stated the distance is only 700m but there is an elevation gain of about 275m. We were tempted to go but decided against it. We came to Naejangsan for the autumn leaves, not for hiking on this trip.

At the start of the trail to Yeonjabong peak.

For those who bought the one-way tickets, there is also a hiking trail that leads back down. Hiking down may seem easy, but I think the trail is quite steep and uneven.

We saw a tree full of ripe persimmons at the bottom cable car station.

Maple Tree Trail to Naejangsa Temple

Back down to the valley, we took the trail to the Buddhist temple named Naejangsa. The flat 500 m trail to Naejangsa was so beautiful during the autumn leaves season. I love the combination of red, orange, yellow and green leaves.

Many leaves had fallen but there are still plenty above us.

Naejangsa Temple

Naejangsa was bustling with visitors, both locals and tourists alike, who had come to admire the stunning colors of the surrounding trees.

Originally founded in 636 A.D. during the Baekje Dynasty, the temple were destroyed during foreign invasions of Korea and the Korean War. Most of the structures standing today were reconstructed later.

We spend some time in the area just outside the temple complex as it was so pretty with yellow gingko, red maple and even a small pond. This was the place for us to have a little snack (Snickers bar again!) and drink before heading into the temple complex.

Taking a rest on one of the benches at the entrance. 

Outside the gate to the temple complex.

 

Many people were enjoying a photo-shoot on the many benches beneath a large gingko tree.

Our “lunch”.

Start of hiking trail to Yeonjabong Peak Observatory. Don’t be fooled by the signage. It says 0.8 km to the observatory but it is steep uphill trek all the way with elevation gain of about 185 m.

The buildings in the temple complex were quite spaced out. Even with the large number of visitors, there were plenty of space and peacefulness.

One of the buildings stood out prominently. This was the main hall that was newly reconstructed after the old one was destroyed in a suspected arson attack in 2021.

Newly re-constructed main hall at Naejangsa.

The temple was bare of paint and I think it would look fantastic once it is fully painted like the rest of the buildings in this complex.

  

 

Enjoying the surroundings at Naejangsan National Park

We had a lot of time to take more photos and appreciate the beautiful surroundings in the national park before heading back out.

Walking back to the visitor center.

Trying out the exercise equipment in the park. They are so similar to the ones back home.

 

Walking back from Naejangsa Temple to the entrance

Instead of taking the shuttle bus, we walked down the maple tree “tunnel” to the town. There are many photo opportunities along this trail.

Fallen leaves on moss in the stream next to the trail.

Waited for the shuttle bus to appear in my photo.

Maple tree “tunnel”. 

From Naejangsan to Gwangju

Since we left relatively early, we managed to get seats on bus 171 back to Jeongeup Station. We alighted at the same bus stop that we took the bus from in the morning.

From Jeongeup Station, we bought the tickets for the 3 PM KTX train back to Gwangju Seongjeong Station from the ticket counter.

We were quite famished by the time we arrived at Gwangju. The Isaac Toast & Coffee branch at the Seongjeong Station serves good food.

Tea break at Isaac Toast located inside Gwangju Seongjeong Station.

Overall, our day trip to Naejangsan National Park went accordingly to plan. Although we were a a little late to enjoy the peak, the views of the autumn leaves at this park were still magnificent. And we were not hampered by any crowds by going on a weekday and arriving early.

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