Insadong, Gangnam, Bongeunsa Temple and Han River

 

Saturday, August 31, 2024

 

Wondering around Seoul allows for a casual itinerary, giving time to start my day with a run along Cheonggyecheon.

 

Cheonggyecheon’s walkways, footbridges, and greenery are a popular escape from the urban traffic and commotion.

 

Seoul has everything! They even have a piece of the Berlin Wall!

 

Having been plagued by a lack of open eateries for breakfast in Korea, we took advantage of the free ramen from our hotel - with its fancy ramen cooker.

 

Our morning activity was to stroll through Insadong, a trendy artistic neighborhood in Seoul. We walked along Insadong Culture Street with its touristy souvenirs and spiraled through the offbeat Ssamziegil four-story open air shopping mall. I managed to find a unique handmade hanji paper lamp to add to my collection of travel memoirs.

 

Before leaving Myeongdong, we committed to checking our luggage for the flight home by buying some skin products from Olive Young, the #1 health and beauty store in Korea. Describing it to be like Sephora, Kate asked me if I had seen any. Yes, we have seen the store that’s as common in Korea as Starbucks - there are over 1,200 branches here!

 

At the insanely busy multi-story Myeongdong Olive Young flagship store, overhearing English, I asked a girl if the Round Lab product I chose was a good one. “Yes, my boyfriend likes that one,” she replied.

 

We moved our luggage over to our Hongdae hotel and then left to spend the remainder of the day on the opposite /south side of Seoul’s Han River.

 

We started with Gangnam’s Starfield COEX Mall and library to compare it to the one in Suwon. At half the size, the library is still impressive.  The mall itself looks similar to a basement, which surprised me.

 

Outside the mall is the Gangnam hand sculpture, modelled after the signature hand motion from Psy’s 2012 mega-hit song ‘Gangnam Style.’ 

 

Gangnam Style became the most viewed video on YouTube - a title it held for an impressive five years.

 

Bongeunsa Temple, located in the middle of Seoul and across the street from the mall, is surprisingly peaceful.

 

The entry to Bongeunsa Temple was full of beautiful lotus flowers.

 

Before we left on our trip to Korea, it took me a while to figure out what people do along the Han River, other than a river cruise. Someone should blog that! I finally came across information that the Bamdokkaebi Night Market at Han River’s Yeouido Hangang Park has food trucks serving various cuisine on Friday and Saturday nights (from 5pm-9pm) but when we arrived there were just hundreds of people picnicking - and no food.

 

An evening picnic at Yeouido Hangang Park along the Han River would be one of my favorite ways to spend a weekend if I lived in Seoul.

 

If you don’t bring a picnic with you, you can join the long line at 7-11 to buy ramen.  They give you everything you need to cook it in a fancy ramen machines.

 

Disappointed by the lack of food along Han River, we had a second serving of ramen today, this time adding an egg.

 

Along the river you can catch a performance of a want-to-be or rising K-pop star.

  

Rather than chill at Han River’s Yeouido Hangang Park, we had an additional pit stop tonight: Banpo Bridge Moonlight Rainbow show. It was a popular hangout despite the closest subway being a 15-minute walk away. We managed to catch the last two shows of the evening at 9:00pm and 9:30pm.

 

Water jets from Banpo Bridge illuminated with brilliant colorful lights, dancing to the rhythm of the music.

 

Walking along the (lower) bridge offers a more intimate viewing of the water show right in front of you.