Walking Around Northern Seoul

On November 18th, 2016 a group of us international students walked around northern Seoul with some students who we tutor in E-Lounge.  We started at 4pm and returned to the dorms at 10pm.  It was a fun day and there was a lot to see.  Unfortunately I did not have a vieo camera and therefore couldn't take videos.  

On this subway map I traced out what we did.  Red is first, blue is second and green is third (our return train ride home).  

First Stop: Bukchon (북촌)

We started out at the dorms and walked to Heukseok Station (흑석역) and went to the Express Train Terminal (고속터미널) and took it all the way to Insadong (인사동) at the Anguk Station (안국역).  Once we got off there, we walked through a part of Seoul called Bukchon (북촌) which is surrounding Insadong.  Bukchon is very well known for its traditional style houses which bring a unique feeling to Seoul.  The area itself felt really different, authentic and in a way, magical.  

Walking through Insadong, we saw this school which was used for the filming of a kpop music video.  It also looks a lot like the X-Men mansion.

Moving along, we finally made it to Bukchon and looked at all the houses.  These are all traditional style Korean homes and are still currently occupied.  However, there are notices literally everywhere saying to be quiet and keep your voices low.  Police also patrol these areas to make sure people are quiet and respectful.  

Here are bird's eye views of some of the homes in the area.  

Here are a few of the people I went with.  I took the picture along with one of the Korean students who brought us here to see the sights and show us around the more traditional parts of Seoul.  

Bukchon/Insadong are really close to the Blue House (Korea's capital building/like America's White House).  However, because of a protest against Korea's president, all streets leading to the Blue House were blocked off and this was the closest view I could get.  Ironically, the Blue House is the building in the center under the mountain that has the brown roof (only visible part of the Blue House).  The roof is the only visible part, but I was told that the main building is invisible from this view because it is a smaller building. 

From Anguk Station (안국역) to Myeongdong Station (명동역) on foot:  

We walked for hours from Bukchon to Myeongdong with a stop in Insadong for dinner at a very good buffet.  We walked through Seodaemun (서대문) to Myeongdong and saw various small shops and other cool things.  

Past Seodaemun, there were various shops like this to buy plants and small gifts.  There were also many gift shops to buy various keychain type gifts and badges. 

Walking down one of the streets through Insadong, I saw various benches that looked like this and I thought they were pretty cool.  

Here is a picture of people walking to protest the president and her recent actions against Korea.  Here is also one of the two students who brought us walking as he takes a selfie in the middle of the protest.  The streets around the areas where there are protests are closed every Saturday so that protesters can walk through the streets.  Many of them walk with candles.  

At the top of that building is a restaurant that has the best view of Seoul.  That being said, the meals up there are very expensive.  

Above is the Lotte Young Plaza.  Next door (to the right) is the Lotte mall.  

Finally, after walking so far, we got to Myeongdong where they were celebrating Christmas with these decorations.  The Christmas tree they had at that building was massive and had a very cool light show going on.  After we reached Myeongdong and saw that it was already 9:15, we decided to call it a day and go back home.  It was a fun time and there were so many cool and fun things to see.  I highly recommend just taking a day to walk around Seoul and find new things to see and do.  We found a lot of things we would have never thought existed there if we had taken any other type of transportation.  

Shake Shack Gangnam

Shake Shack is a burger place from the east coast in America.  It's the equivalent of In-N-Out Burger on the west coast.  In Gangnam there is one Shake Shack that opened around March 2016 and the burgers there are very good.  The line outside is long but it moves along very fast.  Finding seating inside is a little tough though and competitive.  

How do you get there?: 

Take the subway to the Sinnonhyeon (신논현) stop and get off

exit through exit 5

walk straight ahead for about a minute or two once you're out and Shake Shack will be on your left.  

Above are two pictures from the outside of Shake Shack.  This was about 7pm on a Saturday night.  

While waiting in line, a hostess will come around and give you a menu to order from so you know what you want when you walk in and pay.  The prices are a little high for Korea (a burger costs about $6.00).  The menu comes in English and Korean.  

This is the front dining room inside the Shake Shack.  There are three in total with a lot of seating.  There are also very few available seats at any time.  I waited for a booth and some guy threw all his stuff in it as a woman climbed out when he saw that I was waiting to sit there.

Behind the cash register is the kitchen and you can watch the cooks make all your food right there.  When you pay, the cashier will usually tell you how long you will wait before your food is served.  

Here is a neon burger sign near all the condiments.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Here is a burger that I ordered. i got a regular single shake burger and a coke.   

This is the burger my friend ordered.  He got a bacon shake burger (I think that's what it is called).

Here is the reciept for my order (burger and a coke).  Kind of expensive but the food was amazing.  I will definitely go back.  

Here is a picture of a picture my friend and I took after a satisfying meal at Shake Shack in Gangnam.  He recommended me to go and we went and did not regret it.  The only thing we both mutually regret is not ordering the fries because they looked AMAZING and everyone else was ordering the fries.  

The Han River (한강)

On November 5th I went walking to the Han River.  This river is very popular to jog around, go bicycling around and to workout by in general.  It is the 4th biggest river on the Korean peninsula at 514km (319.38 miles) and connects to the Yellow Sea.  It is a really pretty place to walk by and the view from it all around is nice.  While you may not be able to swim in it, people do take ferries across it, take their boats on it and go fishing there.

When you go to the Heukseok station entrance there is a bridge near one of the exits.  If you go down that bridge there is a path that leads directly to the river.  The two pictures above were taken on my walk to the river.  People go cycling through this pathway or run through here.  There is always someone here though (however, I took the picture when I was sure there weren't people around).  

These are two pictures I took during my walk to a part of the river that's a kind of hidden away sitting area to relax and do whatever.  The bottom picture shows a bridge that looks much better in person.  I was also underneath the subway bridge when I took one of those two photos.  

Here I am sitting by the river on a bench.  Where I went there were a lot of trees and it was pretty relaxing.  On a good day, it would be a nice place to go and study or relax.  The temperature wasn't too bad when I went.  It was chilly but not too cold that I needed a jacket but cool enough for a thin sweater and pants.  

Be careful walking near the lake though because there are snakes that blend into the greenery that almost bit me.  Luckily the snake got scared and turned around and slid into the grass and disappeared faster than it came out.  

Here is a picture of a tree I sat under.  I thought it looked nice and decided to share it.  

The Han River is a really nice place and there are a lot of things that go on around it.  There are music festivals, food festivals, firework shows, concerts, etc.  There is so much to do there and its also really relaxing in other parts.  While in Korea, I highly recommend going there at least a few times (a different part though each time).  There are also many parks alongside the river where people go to eat dinner and hang out with friends and get drunk.  The river runs through a few of South Korea's provinces (it goes from east to west and does not go near North Korea).

Below are a few more pictures of the river from another angle.

CKEP 2: Yangpeong Borigogae Village (양평 보릿고개 마을)

Today (November 5th, 2016) the international students who were eligible (participated in the global fair) were allowed to go on the second CKEP trip.  The registration was done online and there were less spaces than last time.  Luckily I was able to register on time again and go.  It was a lot of fun and the weather was not too bad.  The village is 3 hours east of Seoul in Yangpyeong.

Above is the itinerary for the day.  We did this completely out of order being that we arrived an hour and a half late due to traffic.  My favorite activities were pear picking and the biseokchigi.  

The first thing we did was make barley cakes.  We were given these four different colored balls of barley and a got to make little art works with this that we could eat later.  Magenta was the messiest color.  I learned that the hard way and couldn't use my phone for a while after that since i had so much dough all over my hands.  

Once we finished making barley cakes, we went pear picking.  We had to walk a far distance but the view was worth it.  It didn't feel anything like Seoul and it felt very much, for the first time, like i was in a completely different country.  The pictures I took couldn't compare to the real views.  Seeing the mountains and all the colors of the trees on the way to pear picking was very nice.  

Here is my view of a traditional Korean home.  I couldn't get a better view because of the wall blocking me from seeing it but what I could see was very pretty.  

Here is one of many vegetable (mostly cabbage) patches that were along the way to the pear picking area.  That wall is actually a water run off sewage system for the village.  Areas like that run all throughout the fields and run into the natural stream (only water run off from water vegetables, no waste goes through there).  

Here was something interesting I didn't expect to see.  These bushes were all carved into different shapes.  This was only about 1/4th of the amount that there were and they made up someone's entire front lawn.  

Finally, we were at pear picking.  When pear picking, keep your head low and watch where you step.  I kept tripping, falling and getting my head stuck in trees, on wiring and getting branches in my hair.  The GLAMs told us "get bigger and higher pears for better quality."  Each person is only allowed to pick two so choose wisely.  

After pear picking we returned to our arrival spot for lunch and then learned how to make tofu.  This is a picture of one of my friends using a tofu grinder to make the liquid tofu before sending it to the big tubs where it would be mixed to be solidified.  The process is very lengthy but in the end, the tofu came out very tasty. 

After making tofu we went on a tractor ride to our next activity,  The tractor ride was fun.  It felt like the tractor ride at a pumpkin patch during halloween in the states.  

 The next activity was biseokchigi (stone-matching) and the objective was to get a rock from point a to point b and make your rock hit the one at the end.  However the rock you have has to be carried on top of your head, on top of your shoe, on your shoulder or in between your knees and your hands cannot touch it once its placed there until after you have dropped it in an attempt to match rocks.  Pictured above is one of my friends contemplating where he will put the rock to get it to point b.  

After the rock game, we made a Korean hackey sack and played a little.  After that we came back to the meeting spot for makolli (Korean rice wine).  As a tradition, visitors to the village must drink makolli made by the grandmas from the village.  This makeolli is made and bottled in this village and not sold anywhere in Seoul.  It is also not as strong as the kind you will find in Seoul.  Here is my friend playing around with the bottle before we were told to open it and drink.  

We had to drink it from bowls.  Here I am drinking a litle bit from a copper bowl they gave everyone to drink from.  I guess normally this is how you would drink makeolli.  

After drinking makeolli, we had a farewell ceremony with a speech and we returned to the buses for the three hour ride back to school.  It was a fun day and went by very fast.  I highly recommend going on this trip if possibly for all those prospective exchange students to CAU (either to the Seoul or Anseong campus).