Korea 8/11 : Ihwa Mural Village, Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, Korean Folk Village, Dongdaemun

“Not all those who wander are lost” 

– J.R.R. Tolkien

Day 8 – Thursday, 27 Oct 2016

I was planning to take taxi to airport but I found there is a Bus No. 500 which will stop in the airport from in front of hotel, so why not take the bus, haha KRW 1,200 paid with T-money. I also met Korean at guest house and planning to go to the airport too with the bus but he will heading to China from Jeju. It’s really close to airport, less than 10 minutes I am arrived already at Jeju International Airport.

My flight at 8 AM and I will meet my friend at Kimchee Shinchon Guesthouse, Hongdae. Arrived at Gimpo Airport after an hour flight I rushed to Hongdae, we promised to meet at 9.30 AM.

inside Bus no. 500

Jeju Airport

Hello Capt!

Back in Gimpo :)

From there we will go to Ihwa Mural Village, alight at Hyehwa Station Exit 2 then walking, it’s a village where as usual Korean Drama filmed. Some spots are lovely to take picture, you can also buy the map KRW 2,000 if you want and put stamp at some spots that provided on the maps. We encountered some children are exciting to look for the stamps and stamped their maps haha, so cute. We need to climb up stairs for sure to find the spot. There are some spots that quite famous to see in drama so we went to those spots but some of them are in renovation so it’s gone. It’s not that crowded but especially in some spots that quite popular you need to wait your turn to take photos.

Going up up up

Rain spot at Love Rain Korean Drama :p

too bad renovation ;(

When we finished and take a look a map, instead of back to Hyehwa Station, we thought we will go to Dongdaemun Station by walking from there and go to Suwon. Since it would reduce time to transfer on subway too, we prefer walking then.

Heading to Dongdaemun and we stop a moment at Dongdaemun Seonggak Park, initially, we will visit this place at night but thankfully we did visit already now. It is so beautiful, we could see Eulalia Grass and there is a church on the top, we wander around before heading to the station. We also see Heunginjimun Gate, I think this is a good route so we could take photos in daylight like that and I love the pictures, you may see below.

From Dongdaemun we go to Suwon, it’s quite far, almost 2 hours from Dongdaemun, located outside Seoul. Our destination is Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. It is a large fortress with length 5.7 km and height 6 m and designated as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 1997. 

Next would be Korean Folk Village, and we were planning to take free shuttle bus from Suwon Station, but we forgot to check the schedule and it’s already about 3 PM while the last free shuttle bus leaving at 2.30 PM. So we decided to take public bus, there was a tourist information center and I also got discount coupon book since I forgot to bring my coupon book. Admission Fee is KRW 15,000 but with this coupon book we only need to pay KRW 10,000 cool! We also asked what bus to go to Korean Folk Village at Tourist Information from there, they could speak English very well so no worries.

Waiting for our bus and we took the bus until the last stop, both of us are the last passengers that alight at Korean Folk Village. From the bus stop we walked about 5-10 minutes and we felt excited already, along the way are just too pretty and we already could feel the traditional things, lovely!

At first we kind of hesitating whether we go or not because it’s almost getting late, and it took almost an hour from Suwon Station to Korean Folk Village. We just afraid once we arrived the place would be closed and dark already but thankfully we keep coming to that place because it’s totally beautiful.

Soon after we paid the ticket, we enter and wowww…walking into Joseon era. There were so many Korean Drama filmed here and even they made a board contents what drama and which spot in Korean Folk Village. We took the map and marked places that been mentioned on the board and heading there right away :)

I am so excited to be in that place, the autumn season makes it so perfect and beautiful. We went to some filming site like Sungkyukwan Scandal, Daejanggeum, Lady Jang Ok Jung, Moon Embraces The Sun, Aral & Magistrate, Doctor Jin and many more. There was a place that captured my heart, they don’t mention it but when I entered that place, I remember exactly what was that, it’s a filmed site for DBSK The King's Men Parody long time ago, when they had a special mission and each of them has a role and line to memorize, got 10 chances but on their last chance, they made it! I love watching them on that parody very much, I laughed too much.

In every place for filmed they will put a board that consist of scenes in the drama so you will know where the drama is filmed, even they put character standee at some spots. They also put the numbers of the house that been used so you will find the places so easily and find the way with the map.

Wander around the place, I got to see lovely bridge with colors of leaves were too pretty, and apparently they have small theme park inside for kids and it’s too adorable. At that time I think if I have kids, and if we go to Korea, I will bring my kids here to experience traditional and modern things and of course having a great time like I did.

I remember DB5K soon when enter that place

The place closed at 6.30 PM so we were there until closed and we walked to Sanggal Station and decided not to go back to Suwon since it would wasting time, but walking to Sanggal Station also pretty far though, haha. It took us around more than 30 minutes until we arrived.

Heading back to Kimchee Sinchon Guesthouse to get our bags and check in to another hostel located at Jongno area, since we thought that place will be more closer to Dongdaemun and we are planning to do night shopping at Dongdaemun.

We stayed at Hostel Chloe Jongno, alight at Jongno 3-ga Station Exit 15 the hostel is quite near from station, about 10 minutes walk. We followed the map and saw the signage, too bad no elevator to go upstairs and we got the room at 5th Floor, which is need some extra effort with our bags since we shopped few things already so my bags were pretty heavy.

The room is yes too small, but amazed with how they optimized the room in every corner. We got the card key for the room, private bathroom, bed was double but the size looks like 120cm, so basically it’s just large single bed, but well with such a price I think it’s okay, they provided hair dryer, aircon, towel etc. The cost for one night is about less than $25 (Rp316,712/night/2 person) for one room so @$13 for one night and actually we got breakfast but we will check out in early morning for tomorrow so not going to have breakfast there.

Checked in and get ready to go out again for dinner, this dinner would be special because we did arrange to have dinner here, haha XDD, the place was one of filming site of Descendants of The Sun (again??) lol well yeah, I didn’t knew at first if this restaurant had opened already in Jakarta because I think it’s different and I haven’t tried the Jakarta one. Glad to try one here :)

Seorae Galmaegi (서래 갈매기), get off at Hoegi Station Exit 1 and the place is pretty close from the exit and you can see the sign already, and of course the banner displayed on their front door welcoming you. This restaurant used for the scene when Captain Yoo were there with his friends and been drinking for 3 nights in a row since it’s their off time haha xDD and also they had an after party when the drama was ended, the interior design of the restaurant is quite classy especially the color of those chimney that hanging on ceiling made those place looks nice. 

We ordered BBQ so we could do what usually Korean people do and looks like their favorite food, we ordered 1 ribs, 1 bulgogi with 2 rices, banchan (side dishes) was not much at that restaurant. Total cost we spent for dinner was KRW 21,000. For tea and banchan usually for free in mostly every restaurant in Korean. It was really delicious, and we were so happy enjoying our dinner, happy tummy.

We were continuing our night at Seoul by going to Dongdaemun by subway and kind of lost a bit that night because we took the wrong platform and need to go back again, thankfully not too far yet, phew.

Started our route from Doota Mall, my friend keen on going there for the first place because there was Descendants of The Sun exhibition there and Song Joongki also their Mall Ambassador so you may see him everywhere in that building. Since the entrance he already welcoming us through visitor guide, LED, poster, standee at showcase and so many things. 

Went upstairs to the Descendants of The Sun exhibition and WOWWW so amazed with everything there. They set the places in such a pleasant way to pampering their fans, you may find spots that you won’t forget about where the scene were looks like. And the best thing is they build the house, kitchen part where Wine Kiss Scene, awww. Also Kang Mo Yeon house was attached beside that house, it’s totally cool. I think I need to separate my experience for Descendants of The Sun that I had in Korea, haha, since I took massive pictures in every place.

Wander around Dongdaemun such as Migliore, Good Morning City and Hello APM. Migliore reminds me with last time when I went to Korea, I remember at that time we went to Dongdaemun while carrying our backpack since it’s our last night in Korea and we planned to stay at Jimjilbang in Good Morning City, it was exhausting, carrying the heavy backpack and do shopping or just window shopping, so uncomfortable and that was made my memories of Dongdaemun not that nice except the memory of exhausting haha, but I got some pairs of clothes lol :p At that time you can still get start from KRW 5,000 but it was few years ago haha. But now mostly clothes here are start from KRW 10,000, well happy shopping!

This time I don’t need to carry our bags, and we wander around and went upstairs, there you will find Korean souvenirs that quite cheap for keychains, wallet, t-shirt and so many things. We stayed there quite longer to buy couple things. They also sell cheap socks with cute characters or motives all KRW 1,000, even Pokemon socks were there and the character quite many. There you can also find 2017 calendar with your celebrities favorite or even their accessories such as keychain, handphone strap etc.

It’s almost 12 and there was no more subway on that night, even bus. So we walked slowly from Dongdaemun to our hostel, about 20-30 minutes walking. By the time we arrived at Hostel, we felt so tired and our legs feel want to break haha..but every night we always put our painkiller all the time haha :p Time to packing again because tomorrow night we will leave Seoul for Busan, yay!

Cafe Latte before sleeping haha :)

Thank you very much for reading my blog and see you in Seoraksan blog post hoho :)