7 April 2015 - Back at Seokchon lake

Simple but delicious breakfast of Kimchi, Spam, roasted seaweed and bean sprout rice to start the day ^^
I always love this kind of simple breakfast ^^
All ingredients bought from Homeplus. 

Despite the gloomy weather, I made a trip to Seokchon Lake becos I really wanted to see the cherry blossom here once again.

I think heaven was kind to me becos it did not rain heavily.
Really grateful for it.

Gloomy sky but the place was as beautiful as ever.
The place was pretty quiet due to the weather.
In fact, I enjoyed my morning here despite the light shower.

Up next is shopping at Coex Mall!

6 April 2015 - Gamjatang for dinner!!!

I met up with my 2 friends for dinner at 이대조 뼈다귀.
The eatery was located behind my apartment ^^

Good that they have serving for one person!
Wonder if this place is really open for 24 hours.
It will be awesome if its open 24 hours.
I hope to be back again to try their steamed pork bone with soy sauce.
I think this dish is something like stewed pork.
Btw, this menu with English translation was pasted outside the eatery.

I didn't notice any menu in English translation inside the eatery.
This menu in Korean was inside the eatery.

Floor seatings only.

I think ours was the medium size becos we had three people and not allowed to order small.
I think so...but I can't really recall. 

Love to see the soup boiling ^^

We ordered one packet of ramyeon(1000 won) as well ^^
Shiok!

Medium portion was just nice for three people who were not super hungry. You can also add 당면(Dang myeong ie Korean rice noodle aka Dong Fen) or 수제비 (Sujebi ie big noodle pieces aka Mee Hoon Kueh in Hokkien) for 2000 won each.

Of course, how can we not order fried rice, 볶음밥 (2000won). We requested for two bowls of rice instead of three. It was our first time to see 깻잎 Perilla leaves being added into fried rice. Perilla leaves are known for its strong smell, which was ok for me and one of my friend. I felt adding Perilla leaves adds a stonger flavour to the fried rice. I liked it a lot and tried the same recipe when I came back to Singapore. My family except my brother loved the taste ㅋㅋㅋ

Nearest subway station is Hongik Univ Station, exit 2.

6 April 2015 - Lunch at 조선김밥

Making my way to eat hotteok ^^ 
I ate the honey hotteok from Samcheongdong Hotteok in my previous trip, so I am back to try the veggie hotteok ^^
Always walking along this stoned wall pavement.

Turn to your right when you saw this ramyeon eatery with red signage.

Yay!  No queue ^^

Very nice!!!
진짜 맛있다 ^^

I prefer this to the honey hotteok cos its like eating 잡채 jap chae and I love jap chae ㅋㅋㅋ 
People who dislikes onions may not like this cos there's a lot of onions.
Well, I find that Korean onions are more crunchy and sweet, so its ok for me.

Next, I walked over to 조선김밥 for lunch. 

Finally, I find time to come here! 

The food and ambience were the reasons why I came here.
I always love small eatery like this ^^

You can either take the window seats or those floor seats. 

TRUST.
They placed their money at the doorway, which is so visible to everyone!

Simple menu and only in Korean.

I think noodles used are those noodles used in bibim guksu, so you can't take too long to take pictures lol Cos this kind of noodles tend to turn soggy easily when cooked. The soup was rather unique. It does not taste like the usual soup base but the lady working in the eatery said they do use doenjang to cook the soup. I will be back to try their Kimbap on my next visit!!

Anguk Station, exit 1 is the nearest station to 조선김밥.
However, I will usually walk from Insadong main street, cross the road to get to the stoned wall pavement.  

라면 땡기는 날 (the ramyeon eatery with red signage) is circled in Red and 삼청동호떡 Samcheongdong Hotteok is circled in Blue. Both are not far from 조선김밥. The orange dotted line was the route I took to 조선김밥.  I think there is no short cut from 삼청동호떡 Samcheongdong Hotteok to reach 조선김밥. 
Operating hour of 조선김밥 (if I did not misinterpret the staff) as follows:
- Open everyday except Sunday
- 11am ~7.30pm
- Close for break time 2.30pm ~ 4.30pm

6 April 2015 - My air bnb apartment in Hongdae

   My accommodation in Seoul for this trip was booked from air bnb. My host, Jisu fetched me from   Hongdae station, exit 2 to her apartment which was about 2 mins walk away.

Having an elevator in the building is so important to me.
It is one of my top criteria when I looked for my accommodation.

Bright and clean passage way.

First impression of the apartment?

Clean and homely.

Jisu told me she used to stay here and only moved out few months ago.

No wonder....  

This cabinet is actually a kitchen area.

Jisu did not have any wardrobe but only that cloth rack in the picture.
It was enough for my short stay.

I liked this corner ^^

I feel Jisu is a very thoughtful person from the toiletries provided.

Airport limousine bus stop is in front of the apartment.

I still prefer taking the AREX to & fro airport becos its cheaper and faster, although its a long walk from the AREX exit to reach Jisu's apartment. The bus to Ganghwa Island is also in front of the apartment. I think there are a lot of air bnb apartments in this building and the rent is pretty high due to the location. What I like to do is, I will always look out for new openings becos the host will usually offer a promotional price for maybe the first month. 

Main street of Hongdae is just across the road. 

The trash area is at the basement.
One can make use of these recycle bags by carrying down your bottles, trash etc to the trash area.
This makes it a lot easier if you have many things to throw.


Yup, it looks like this when you open up the cabinet.

Chocolates as welcome gift ^^
고마워

Jisu showed me where to throw my trash.

There is no washing machine in the apartment.
Washing machines and dryers are located at the basement of the building.

You can use them at a small fees.