The flight of my dreams came to an end when it landed in Incheon at 4am. It was raining. We took a deep breath in anticipation for a long day of fighting both jet lag and weather. Immigration, airport train, two snack breaks, and a long walk later, we arrived at 7:30 to drop bags off at the hotel. Then the adventure began.
Sotetsu Hotels The Splaisir Seoul Myeongdong
For our one-night stay in Seoul, we picked a hotel that could really use a better name. It was chosen over Park Hyatt and Conrad because:
- It was walking distance to/from Seoul Station, where we’d be boarding our Train to Busan. Figured that with our recent track record, we couldn’t afford relying on someone else taking us to the train station
- It was right next to Myeongdong and Namdaemun. We mainly wanted to spend time in the middle of the old city, so staying here would save us from needing to navigate the subway system
- It was cute with Line Friends decorations, including everywhere in our room
Cafe Onion
After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we walked nearly 2 miles to get to our first real destination. Along the way we caught glimpses of the City Hall, Cheonggyecheon, statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, statue of King Sejong, among other neat arts scattered throughout the city. We even took a brief stroll on the grounds of Gyeongbokgung, the main palace, before it officially opened. Alongside all these top iconic sights of Seoul, we were most impressed by an air-conditioned bus stop with a TV and free wireless phone chargers.
Then we finally arrived… at the south end of Bukchon Hanok Village was an eye-catching pastry shop called Cafe Onion. The shop occupied an entire Hanok, or traditional Korean house, retrofitted with glass panels for weather insulation. Their pastries (in looks and in price) were Paris Baguette on steroids. It was an obvious tourist trap, with a long line for entry and a dedicated employee for directing customer traffic. We were fortunate to have gotten in without much wait, but, like Disneyland, there was another line for the actual purchase.
The food was good, but not to the point of matching its looks. We got too many pastries for their attractive appearance and were grossly sugared-out half way in. Their signature (according to their signage and merch, anyway) pandoro (the one looking like a snow mountain) was especially impressive to see and unpleasant to bite into. The ambiance was excellent, though, and we even got to wash our hands using Le Labo soap. It was a unique experience that we remember fondly of.
COEX Aquarium
After Cafe Onion, the itinerary said that we should be exploring Bukchon Hanok Village before heading to Insadong or Ikseon-dong. The unanswered question then was how many of the other unique and Instagrammable cafes in those neighborhoods we could visit. Lucky (unlucky?) for us, we didn’t actually have to figure it out because it started pouring like mad. We had barely taken 10 steps from Cafe Onion and had to immediately jump into another cafe to dodge the rain. When it became apparent that the storm wasn’t going away any time soon, we had to make a pivot in our plan. Nothing in the vicinity had much indoor space, and the Asian summer storm wasn’t the kind of rain any sane person would stroll in, even with an umbrella.
COEX Aquarium was our top choice alternative. It was indoors within a giant mall. We had contemplated visiting back in 2015 but did not make it. I was frustrated with this conclusion because we had specifically planned our hotel location to avoid Gangnam, and now we were detouring there. COEX was a cool place to hang, but getting there and back was a 2-hour ordeal.
Anyhow. We arrived at COEX, had a nice meal of noodle soup, and headed to the aquarium. The entrance had me concerned because it signaled a childish establishment. Thankfully the inside was legit, with some world-class exhibits and incredible animals, including: one of the biggest collection of arapaima, our favorite fish; a bunch of pure-white goldfish; axolotls in a variety of colors.
Myeongdong
It was almost dinner time when we returned to the hotel. We spent the evening in the nearby Myeongdong. We had been here during the day before, but had no idea this busy district full of shops and restaurants would be extra popping with food stands at night. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, the force of jet lag and general lack of sleep started getting in the way. We spotted a BBQ Chicken and took care of our dinner there.
Namdaemun Market
Our hotel’s location was ideal because we could eat and shop at Myeongdong before bed, then eat and shop at Namdaemun right after getting up. It was fun to aimlessly roam through a traditional market, especially one large enough that you could get lost in. Although we got here before some of the shop owners, others were ready to sell us snacks and random knickknacks. Then we found a 24-hour restaurant on the second floor of a building, run by a hospitable auntie. We ordered a hot pot of soup with pork bone and soybean grinds for breakfast, and it was incredibly satisfying.
With that wrapping up our brief stay in Seoul, we were ready to move on to Busan. But one more thing…
Seoullo7017
It’d be a stretch to call this an attraction, but it’s pretty neat. Seoullo7017 is a retired stretch of elevated highway that got converted into a pedestrian bridge, connecting multiple corners of busy intersections and, most importantly, Seoul Station. “70” and “17” refer to the years when the original car bridge was built and when the conversion finalized, respectively. It reminded me a lot of New York’s High Line, but Seoullo7017 felt more functional because it helped people bypass some rather hazardous intersections.
The eastern end of this pedestrian bridge was adjacent to Namdaemun Market, and transitioned smoothly via a gradual slope. I was impressed by how effortless it was to ascend so high up in the air. The majority of the path was real pleasant, too, with plants, ponds, and a cafe along the way, as well as great views of the streets below. However, it failed spectacularly at Seoul Station, which I’d argue was the most important place this bridge (sort of) connected to. Nope, it did not connect directly to the train station. We had to take an exit onto the top level of a spiral driveway of a parking structure, walk into the said parking structure (dodging a few cars, too, which I thought the bridge would help us avoid), enter through there an office building styled in the 80s, then elevator down to the train station. No signage along the way pointed in the right direction, either, so if an old cafeteria lady didn’t help out we’d have ended up exploring the KTX employees’ conference facilities.
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