a dust in space.: Korea Trip

From Dongdaemun, me and Anis took the subway to Anguk Station. I was following the map provided by Nami Island Shuttle Bus which said that the nearest way to go to the office was by exiting through Anguk Station, so to Anguk Station we went.

Dongdaemun gate in front of Dongdaemun Station.

Anguk Station is located in Insadong, a place full with antique and craft stores. We also saw a lot of older citizens in their smartest clothes here, I think there is a community center for them located near. From Anguk Station's exit 6, we honestly tried to follow the map but we got lost. We've walked very far from where we were supposed to head and finally I couldn't recognize any landmark around us.

This map was not helpful at all!

Knowing that we were lost, I stopped to ask a Korean how to get to Tapgol Park. He had a hard time understanding what I said so I typed "Tapgol" on my iPod, and he said "Ahhh! Tapgol!". He pondered for a while how to tell us the way and then he said "Follow me!". So me and Anis followed him. He guided us through the most bizarre path; behind restaurants, small lanes, back alleys, to the extend I was a bit scared and tried to remember what was the Korean words for "Help me!". However after walking for quite some time we finally stopped, and he pointed that Tapgol Park was just right upfront. I said many many thanks to him, it must be really out of his way but he still brought us to the place. This would be one of the many instances during our trip where we would be amazed by the generosity and helpfulness of Koreans.

From Tapgol Park, we found the Nami Shuttle Bus Office easily, and paid the price for our integrated tickets (including return bus trips, ferry and admission) to Nami Island. From Tapgol Park, we took the subway from Jongno 3-ga (THIS is the closest subway station, not Anguk) to Hoehyeon Station, which is the subway station for Namdaemun.

The other members were already there and they have asked the information booth in Namdaemun how to get to the halal kebab stall. I know that there is a halal kebab stall in Namdaemun from my reading on the internet, but all the sites/forum posts on the internet don't exactly specify the location of the stall. So in case anyone else is wondering where the stall is, I've pinpointed it on a map below:

It is right in front of the road between exit 5 and exit 6, just a few steps away from Namdaemun Market's Gate 5.

The stall is next to NH Bank, right behind that newspaper stall.

The stall is very small, and there was no place to sit except for a few chairs the owner puts inside the stall itself. We let Nadia's parents, Rahah and Azie inside while the rest of us sat on the stairs for some upstairs offices next to the stall; one person sitting on one step, going higher. What a view we must have made eating our kebabs, some Koreans even took a second glance at us, smiling and waving.

Halal kebab in Namdaemun. I took this from Daum Map because I didn't remember to take any picture at all. Too hungry.

Once we finished eating, we browsed Namdaemun market for a while, bought some stuffs and finally because we were too tired of walking we decided to take taxis back to our rooms. There were some misunderstandings when the door on Kaifa's side was not closed properly and we thought the taxi ahjusshi was telling us to lean back or wear our seat belts. And then he couldn't find the address based on the business card Mr. Ko gave us. Finally by butchering the Korean language (I kept pointing and saying "Igo, Igo" (this) when I should've said "Yeogi, yeogi" (here). No wonder that ahjusshi was grumpy), we managed to arrive at our rooms safely. It was actually cheaper to take taxi because we shared the taxi with 4 people, than taking the subway. After dividing the fare, each of us only had to pay less than 800 won.

After resting for a few hours, we made our way to Gwanghamun again. This time to take the Seoul City Tour Night Bus. This bus took us across most of the bridges crossing Han River with explanations about each bridge. However, I would suggest skipping from taking this bus and take the Han River Ferry Cruise instead. We couldn't see much from the bus, and the bus didn't stop at all.

My pathetic attempt to take a picture of the lights show on Banpo Bridge.

After one and a half hour, the bus took us back to Gwanghamun and this time we managed to see how Cheonggyecheon stream look at night.

Still too beautiful.

The temperature around Cheonggyecheon however was too cold for us, so we took refuge in a 7-Eleven store nearby. We scalded our tongue drinking hot chocolate, and discovered these:

Yep. Pringles in Korea are 'HALAL JAKIM'.

We wanted to take a look at Kyobo, which is the largest book store in South Korea. The bookstore is also located in Gwanghamun so we walked there, but not before taking these pictures of Gwanghamun Square:

The statue is of King Sejong the Great, considered the greatest king of Korea. He was the one that created the Hangul alphabets, replacing the much more difficult Chinese characters (Koreans call them 'Hanja') that was used previously.

Another statue in the square is of Admiral Yi Sun Sin, who is revered for his many victories against the Japanese.

Kyobo Bookstore is connected through exit #3 of Gwanghamun Station. There are many books, and the store is humongous. Most of the books are in Korean though, so I mainly looked at the cards and postcards (I bought Nadiah's birthday card here). Kyobo have a lot of workers, making me think that the store was still crowded until a worker suddenly approached me and said

"Miss, this store closes at 10."

I looked at my watch and it was already 10.05. Oh! I apologized and immediately made my payment. Then me and Anis (again) had to be escorted to the one remaining door still open, which was not the door we used previously. We walked to the door we used before and the rest of them were already waiting there.