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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Travel from Incheon International Airport to Jeonju Hanok Village

14 November 2025

We planned to stay a couple of days in a hanok located within Jeonju Hanok Village after our arrival to South Korea. The distance between Incheon International Airport (ICN) and Jeonju city is about 242 km. There are various ways to travel from Incheon International Airport to Jeonju Hanok Village. 

The fastest way to get from Incheon International Airport (ICN) to Jeonju is to drive but I did not plan to get a rental car on this trip.

Alternatively, we could take a train from the airport to Jeonju Hanok Village via Seoul Station, Gwangmyeong Station, and Jeonju Station in around 4.5 hours. From there, we would have to take a taxi to the Jeonju Hanok Village.

We chose the best and also cheapest way to get from Incheon Airport (ICN) to Jeonju which was by express bus which costs $28 - $40 and takes slightly over 3 hours. The bus terminal is located close to the Jeonju Hanok Village.

Our flight arrived as scheduled and by the time we cleared immigration, it was around 8 AM. The bus ticket counter and ticketing machines was just outside the gate in the arrival hall.

We chose to go to the ticket counter as there were queues on the ticketing machines. I was telling my wife that Jeonju is pronounced as “Cheonju” just like Jeju is pronounced as Cheju by the Koreans.

It was 8.08 AM when we got our tickets and the ticket seller told us to hurry as the bus is leaving at 8.10 am from the bus bay nearby.

With the tickets on hand, we rushed to the bus stops for the various limousine buses, located just outside the arrival hall of the airport. We managed to catch the bus on time. The good thing about taking the limousine bus is that our suitcases are loaded onto the luggage compartment on the side of the bus and we need not lug them up to our seats. The express buses are also very spacious with comfortable reclinable seats.

Interior of the Express Bus with 3 reclinable seats per row.

The bus left immediately after we boarded. I was feeling a bit uneasy since the bus fare was slightly lower than what I had expected. On inspecting our tickets, it showed our destination as Cheongju! 

We are going to Cheongju?

It was good that we had internet connections on our mobile phones. After a bit of googling, I found that there is actually a city called Cheongju and the ticket seller had sold us tickets to Cheongju instead of Jeonju!

With the language barrier and the fact that the bus is an express bus with no stops in between, we figured that we had no choice but to ride the bus all the way to Cheongju. It was a good thing Cheongju is actually located in between Seoul and Jeonju so we are heading in the right direction although there was a slight detour.

Fortunately, there was an Intercity bus from Cheongju to Jeonju leaving at 10.50 AM from the same bus terminal and we would be in time to catch this bus, if there is no further setback. 

The ride to Cheongju took slightly over 2 hours. The ride on the airport express bus was very comfortable. After the clamp conditions in the plane, the spacious seats with plenty of legroom to stretch out felt so good.

We arrived at the Cheongju Intercity Bus Terminal as scheduled. I was happy to see the clear blue sky and the rows of yellow gingko trees lining the streets in Cheongju. It looked like our timing was just about perfect for autumn leaves viewing. Like the year before, the weather in 2025 had been warmer than usual, so autumn has been delayed by a few weeks.

Rows of yellow gingko trees at Cheongju.  

We managed to book our tickets for the 10.50 AM Intercity bus to Jeonju at the Cheongju Intercity Bus Terminal. This time, I made sure we got the destination right.

Our intercity bus tickets from Cheongju to Jeonju.

Although the distance between Cheongju and Jeonju is only about 115 km, the ride to Jeonju took slightly over 2 hours as the bus is not an express bus and made a few stops at Daejeon city along the route. We finally arrived at the Jeonju Intercity Bus Terminal at about 1 PM. From there, we took a short 15 minutes taxi ride to the Jeonju Hanok Village.

Jeonju Hanok Village with 700 traditional hanoks.

Our accommodation in Jeonju Hanok Village was the Star Rest Guesthouse located in the southern edge of the village and just a few metres walk from the paved roads running through the village.

Overall, our journey from the airport to Jeonju by express bus which was supposed to take about 3.5 hours and cost about 33,000 KRW took 5 hours and cost us a bit more instead. It was not a good start to our holiday but thankfully, the rest of our stay in Korea went as planned.

Lesson learnt: Show the intended destination in Korean text AND English text to the train or bus ticket seller, instead of trying to speak the language.

Alternatively, use the ticket machines which have English language option.

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Autumn in Garosu-gil

8 November 2014

Located between Sinsa-dong and Apgujeong, Garosu-gil, which means “tree-lined street” in Korean, is a good place for viewing the autumn foliage in Korea and it was our first destination for the day.

Earlier, we had arrived at Inchon Airport after taking the red-eye flight from Singapore, travelled by limousine bus 6703 to Seoul Palace Hotel where we were able to get an earlier than usual check-in. On the way to the hotel, we were relieved to spot red and yellow foliage on some of the road-side trees, although we also spotted bare trees.

Getting to Garosu-gil in Sinsa-dong was easy; using the Seoul subway, T-money card and the handy Jihachul Seoul Subway smartphone app which supports English language. The nearest station to Garosu-gil is the Sinsa station.
  Map of Garosu-gil posted at the exit of the Sinsa Station. It is a good practice to snap a photo of the area map on our smartphone. Who knows, it may come in handy later on.


Once we arrived at Garosu-gil, we spotted a trio of tourist ambassadors, dressed in red, standing at a street corner. We got an area map from them, plus information of where to find a Korean restaurant for lunch.

Garosu-gil is full of trendy, themed cafes, fashion shops, but not many restaurants for a proper sit down meal. So we backtracked a little towards the Sinsa station and found a nondescript Korean restaurant for our first Korean meal in this trip. The portions were for 3 persons, so we had a pretty filling lunch between the two of us.

With the basic needs fulfilled, we went back to the “tree lined street” and enjoy the views of the yellow ginkgo trees lining the shopping street.

Amber traffics lights in sync with the leaves.

Fan shaped leaf of the ginkgo trees. The leaves turn bright yellow in autumn before shedding. A lot of the leaves were just turning yellow at Garosugil.

Marketing and promotion event happening.

Some of the buildings facade are modelled after european themes. This building spot the familiar looks of the old buildings of the Cotswolds in England.

The street is lined with fashion boutiques, some pretty high end stuff and loads of themed cafe.

Many themed cafes on the street. This one called the Ginkgo Avenue is apt for this place.


What’s with these pigs?



The street was lined with fashion boutiques, some pretty high end stuff and loads of themed cafe. Unfortunately, the shops were displaying mostly autumn and winter wear at this time of year and we have no need for such clothes back home. Still it was good to take our time to stroll down the street, enjoy the cool weather and browse through the hip and arty shops and cafes.

Who knows.  We may bum into a Korean K-pop/K-drama celebrity.

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The quest for Jacob’s Ladder in Apgujeong

8 November 2014 

It did not take long to browse through the shops along Garosu-gil in Sinsadong. We decided to find a place to relax and have drinks. There are so many cafes along Garosu-gil but the one of the place I wanted to visit in Seoul is the Jacob’s Ladder Cafe, owned by my favourite Korean actress Yoon Eun Hye.

Based on some research prior to the trip, I had downloaded a facebook page of the cafe with the address in Korean language and telephone number on my smartphone. Unfortunately, google map was not so good in locating street names in Korea, so I only managed to get an approximate location of the cafe in Apgujeong.

We headed towards the general direction of Apgujeong, passing though small streets, cafes, restaurants and residential areas. Somewhere in the middle of our trek, we came to a small park where we saw 2 local teenage girls chatting on a bench. We decided to ask them if they know the way to the cafe. I showed the girls the facebook page of the cafe on my phone. To our surprise, one of the girls whipped out her phone and started calling the cafe. I could only guessed at the conversation that was taking place, in Korean language.

Girl : “ Hello, is this the Jacob’s Ladder cafe?”

Staff at the cafe: “Yes”

Girl : “Are you expecting someone? There are two persons trying to find your location”

Staff: “We are open but not expecting anyone in particular. Can you asked who they are?”

Girl to us: “Where are you from?”

Me: “We are from Singapore”

Girl to staff : “ They are from Singapore”

Staff at Cafe: “We are not expecting anyone from Singapore. I am not sure why would someone from Singapore be deliberately looking for my cafe when there are so many others around. Hmmm, wonder who they are. Just send them over. We are at …., near …”

Girl to us, apologetically: “I think the cafe is quite far away, somewhere there”. She points towards the direction we were already heading towards.

We thanked the girls for their help. The Koreans are so helpful when you approached them for assistance.

So, we were on the right track, and we were probably halfway there. We continued in the direction we were heading to and in due course, we found the cafe easily along a busy street.

Jacob’s Ladder Cafe – with the characteristic handwritings (done by YEH?) on the glass panes.

So, we were finally at Yoon Eun Hye’s cafe!
This is a cafe based on Christian or Biblical theme. The theme would not appeal to me under normal circumstances. But, the thrill of being in the cafe owned by my idol. I would really be in seventh heaven if she would suddenly pop by while we were there, but it was not to be.

We ordered the Citron Ale and Apple and Grape Ale from the man behind the counter. I wonder if he is the guy whom the girl in the park spoke with. He must be wondering if we were the two lost souls seeking the sanctuary of the cafe.

We stayed in the cafe for an hour. There were free wi-fi. The drinks were refreshing and tasty, especially after a relatively long trek to search for this place.

For the benefit of other Yoon Eun Hye fans who want to make a pilgrimage to her cafe, here is the actual location, based on GPS on my smartphone. Use the location of Apgujeong Station and Dosan Park as references.
Blue arrow marks the location.

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Viewing the autumn foliage at the Changdeokgung and Biwon Secret Garden (Part 1)

9 November 2014

Changdeokgung is one of the recommended places to enjoy viewing the autumn leaves in Seoul, especially the Biwon (Secret Garden) or Huwon (Back Garden) within the palace. Entry to the Biwon is only via a guided tour and places are limited each day. I tried making a booking at this website but it was already full (as expected) since we planned the trip so late. The only other way to get access is to turn up early at the palace (9 AM when ticket booth opens) and try to get the limited tickets that are sold daily. 

Tip: You can also book a Secret Garden & Bukchon Hanok Village Walking Tour that combines a guided tour of the Secret Garden with a walk through the Bukchon Hanok Village, located next to the palace.

We arrived at the palace at about 9:30 AM and were lucky to be able to get our tickets for the second English language tour of the day, starting at 1:30 PM. Ticket to the Biwon costs 5000 KRW per person and this is in addition to the 3000 KRW ticket for general entry into Changdeokgung.

There are free English language guided tour of the palace grounds and we joined the tour starting at 10:30 AM.  These are some of the photos we shot while waiting for the tour to commence.
The old and the new. The Donwhamun (entry to the palace) is one of the oldest palace main gate existing in Korea. ‘Donhwa’ means ‘the friendly reform of the people, thanks to the king’. Interesting to see a well preserved historic site surrounded by modern buildings.

This red-leaf tree was the focus of attention for all the visitors who first stepped into the palace ground. Beautiful autumn foliage. Everyone wanted a photo with the tree, including me.

This tree has a combination of blazing red leaves on the outside, and yellow, orange leaves and even green leaves nearer the trunk.

Geumcheongyo Bridge - Oldest stone bridge in Seoul. It leads to the second palace gate (Jinseonmun).

Second palace gate Jinseonmun, located located after the stone bridge Gumcheongyo.

Typical small figurines of creatures found on the roof of Korean (and Chinese) palaces and temple buildings.  The locals belief that these figurines protect the occupants of the building.

View of the Jinseonmun, looking out. The centre raised walkway leading from the gate is for the King. His subjects walk next to him, on slightly lower pathway on both sides.

Changdeokgung – best time to visit is in the autumn.


The tour started promptly at 10:30 AM and would take about one hour. The guide was a lady dressed in the traditional hanbok with a modern hat. She gave a brief history of the palace and led us through the course.  Passing by the Geumcheongyo, Jinseonmun and the Injeongmun, we came to the Injeongjeon (Throne Hall) that was used for major state events.

Guide telling us the palace is located with the Bukhansan behind and a river in front (like the Gyengbokgung and Presidential Blue House) for good Feng Shui.

Injeongjeon (Throne Hall) used for major state events including the coronation of new kings and receiving foreign envoys. There are 9 levels of ranks stones on the left and right side. One side is for military personnel to stand and the other is for non-military personnel. Obviously, the rank 1 is closest to the King.

Throne with the wooden screen behind showing sun, moon, 5 mountain peaks, waterfalls, waves and pine trees.

Injeongjeon (Throne Hall) – guide recommended this view as the best for photo of the Injeongjeon.

Looking across the wall, the roof of the next building (Seonjeongjeon Hall) has blue grazed tiles which the guide told us was specially imported from Italy.


We went to the next courtyard containing a building with blue roof tiles. This is the Seonjeongjeon Hall - An office for ruling officials. The king held daily meetings with ministers, reported on state affairs and seminars here.
Exquisite roof details in the Seonjeongjeon Hall. The modern lightings were introduced towards the later part of the dynasty.

Close-up view of the King’s seat. Similar wooden screen at the back with moon, sun, 5 mountain peaks, waterfall and waves.


There is a building that is differentiated from other palace buildings in that it has no ridge on the roof. This is the Daejojeon Hall - Official residence of the queen. The ridge represents the dragon and is the symbol of the king. Hence, no dragon (ridge) for the Queen’s residence.

Daejojeon Hall - no ridge on the roof. Destroyed by fire in 1917, it was rebuilt with materials taken from Gyeongbokgung. Daejojeon was used as a residence for the last empress of Joseon. Quite modern in some aspects, e.g. usage of glass, electric lightings.


The guide also pointed to us several interesting points about the building design in general. Korea is very cold in winter and uses the under floor heating system, called the ondol. In the old days, coal was burned (coal produces less smoke) and the heat transfer was through pipes under the masonry floor. Smoke escapes through a separate chimney in the back of the building.

Opening for a stove or firebox to heat up a masonry floor.


Standalone chimney for the ondol at the back of the building. A row of stairs in the background leads to the Secret Garden.


Natural ventilation are built into the top of the building.

The brown tile has gaps in it and served as an air vent for natural ventilation.

Details of the air vent (brown vent in the middle is actually a Chinese word – not sure the meaning though). Another building has a vent with a “double happiness” in Chinese inscribed.


The last building shown by the guide was the Nakseonjae Hall. Nakseonjae was built in 1847 (in the 13th year of King Heonjong's reign). Nakseonjae served as King Heonjong's study, or sarangchae. The interior is characterized by beautiful colourful lattice work.
Entrance to the Nakseonjae.

This is how lessons should be done. A teacher dressed in traditional hanbok explaining something to attentive students with drawing boards (on a Sunday).

Having a rest at the back of a building inside the Nakseonjae.


After the hour long tour, we were free to explore the palace at our own pace before the commencement of the Biwon or Secret Garden tour at 1:30 PM. There was time for a quick lunch nearby.

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