Wine Of Choice

It started with the first bottle from Julien in Strasbourg. He describe it to be acidic. I may not like it but I did. We bought some more when we get to wine tasting in Obernai.

When we got back home we buy some more.

and more.

I also ordered the same wine for my birthday.

I believed we also bought it when we were in LA.

Oh, we also have this.

How Wifi Kills Communication

We enjoyed our last stay at the Guesthouse Korea. I blogged about it. There are people hanging on the common room. People watch the television. We speak to each other.  Here is how the Guesthouse looks like now. This is our home away from home.

Some things have changed. The heated floor is gone. The two desktop computers are still there, but no one is using it now, unlike before. Nobody hangs out in the common area. What I think changed this of course is that we have Wifi now. Before, you need to get into the common room to get connection. If you don't have a device, you could use the desktop. I miss the friendly faces there.

In other news, we still have the same breakfast but I think I was only able to eat that once. I also missed eating this.

Gapyeong Day Tour

This day was a very long day. The last time we went to Gapyeong it was just Naminara the whole day. We even rode the local train back. That was a very tiring ride. This time we find out that after Nami there are other places we can go to – like Petite France. 

To get there, we get the train to Cheongnyangni then transfer to the ITX to Gapyeong . We were late for the 9:30 train by just seconds. We get into the next train an hour later. We ate breakfast in the Mister Donut located just before the transfer thingy to ITX.
 

When we get to Gapyeong station, we learned that there’s a tour bus now around Gapyeong. The fare is 6,000 Won. It is a hop-on hop off bus. It was a good deal. The only problem with it is that it is always loaded. We were always standing. We get into the first bus that arrived and settled in standing. The next bus is due for another hour.

There are no vendors now selling food or anything on the ferry terminal. There are less food vendors around the island too.

Red Bean Bun

More read bean buns

 

This is Nami Island now.

Singapura represent

We went around the island then catch the ferry to get to the bus stop. We were thinking maybe this time we might sit down. But we didn’t.

Next stop for us is La Petite France

The place is fine. It is inspired by France and the Little Prince. There’s a theatre on top of the hill. We could have catch a show but there’s no time for that. 

We have still another stop. While standing at the bus I searched for the Garden of the Morning Calm on Instagram and the place looks promising especially at night. It is winter time. How could the garden still in business, right?

Before coming inside, We eat this hotdog covered with fries. We miss this too.

There was this cat  that we feed too. The lady on the store also feed it too.

Inside the garden is just barren, no flowers as it is the winter still.

 When the evening comes, it will be a different story. They will lit up the place and this is how things will look like.

 

The night was very cold. One time we just hang out in this souvenir shop to get warm. There's a heater inside. We left before 7PM just to be sure we can catch the bus where we still stand. There's already a long queue when get into the stop so we got crammed up in front of the bus. It brought us into Cheongpyeong Station where we could catch the ITX back to the city. When we returned at Angguk station we were very hungry. We did not eat proper lunch that day. We were lucky to be able to get into a Korean Barbecue place before it closes. We got really tired. My body ached the next day.

Korea Trip in Winter

My sister asked us to come with her to Korea. Minsan lang naman, so we went. We have no itinerary whatsoever. We went there before and we have a clear list in mind which places we should go to. We had a good itinerary before, very detailed. When you get to some places you it will just hit you that this might be not worth your time. So this time we’ll just go to places where we think is good to be there again. We also booked the same Guesthouse. We had a good time there before, it would be good to be back, we hope.

Arriving at the airport, first thing to do of course is to get Korean currency. Just enough for the Limousine fare, T-Money, food for the night, and the pocket wifi rental.  T-Money on the airport was sold out. We just bought bus tickets. We got to the Airport Limousine Bus #6011 alright but I got us off early by one stop. I forgot there was a stop at Changdeokgung.
That night, we eat our first Korean food at Insadong outside Jongno 3-ga, the same place we have our dinner the last time we were there. It feels very Seoul-y to eat on these tents. We also hit the nearby 7Eleven to stock on water and breakfast for the next day.

The next day, we went to Meongdong. We had just enough money to buy T-money and top up. My old blog entry tells me that the best rate money changer is outside Hoehyeon Station. When we got there, the money changer place is not there anymore. We walked inside Namdaemun to find a money changer. It was still early and the shops are still opening. We found one and the rate is good. We also ate the first odeng store we found outside. 

After that we went up the mountain, up to Namsam Tower. It was awesome re-creating photos from our first visit.

2012

2017

There were a lot of changes. The area where they put locks on got extended. Up and outside the cable car station, there is now the railings where they can put locks. There’s also a store where you can buy locks and pen and is cheaper compared to the store right outside the tower. It was cold that morning so we tried to eat something. We tried churros con chocolate. 

  

We went down after then went around Meongdong to shop. 

We found Brown!

We ate at this Korean Barbecue place then went around again for a while. We were supposed to go to Gyeongbokgung but then I asked the tourist help guy for directions how to get there fast. He told me that the palace closes at 5PM, it was around 4:30 then and we will not make it. We just stayed there the whole stay. 

Crablets. You dip on on ketchup so, not good

 

A place we can check out next is Cheonggyecheon Stream.I consulted Google Maps how to get there then rode a bus. Too bad we got lost a little. We were on the wrong end of the river and I kinda noticed a little late. There was a lot of walking involved. 

I forgot where this is but it is far from the stream

 We rode another bus to get to the right place. They have this light that changes color now under the bridge.

 

We went back to Angguk via train this time then ate at a McDonald’s outside Angguk Station.  Next day we will do Gapyeong day tour.