South Korea Again: Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm

After we book our ticket for my second visit to South Korea I immediately search the net for the places to go outside the city.  Its Ati's first time to Korea so we cant avoid to roam her around the Seoul's touristy site.  I planned our itinerary as 3days city tour and 3 days in the nearby provinces.

 

Have you heard of a sheep farm in Korea?  I've seen pictures of it in some foreign blogs and immediately fell in love with it!  It looks like your in  New Zealand!

 

How to get there:  I searched for a pinoy blog on instructions on how to get there but it seems that were the first pinoy going there (hehehe).

 

Ask your hostel to write the name of the place your going to in Korean, it helps a lot.  Daegwallyeong is 2.5hrs away from Seoul, very few speaks and reads English.  You can show it to locals in case you get lost and needs to ask around. 

 

Take the bus going to Hoenggye at Dong Seoul Bus Terminal (Exit #4 of Gangbyeon Station, Seoul Subway Line 2).  Get your ticket at the window, it cost W14,000.  We got the 10:50am bus but when we get to the boarding line, the 10:30 bus is still there and not full so they let us take that bus.  Get off at Hoenggye Bus Station.  Ask the driver if its the right stop, the bus first stop is Pyeongchang.  We made a mistake of getting off at Pyeongchang and it cost us W50,000 taxi fare to get to our destination.  At Hoenggye Bus Station take the taxi to the sheep farm, it should only cost W10,000. 

You'll see this sign at the highway, it means your at the right direction

get the chance to feed the sheep!

Its a huge place, you'll have a lot of walking

proof that were far away from the city, everything is in Korean

 

 

To get back to the city, take a taxi back to Hoenggye bus terminal.  At the exit of the sheep farm you can ask the people manning the store to call you a taxi.  They are very helpful, the taxi will come and pick you up.  Take the ticket back to the city at the bus terminal

South Korea Again: Their love for coffee!

A friend once told me that coffee is a way of life in Korea.  Maybe, because they have coffee shop in every corner.  We didn't plan to have an "amazing-race" kind of tour, we want it to be relax and as leisurely as possible.  So we had time to lounge and just sit in a coffee shop and enjoy our drinks.

strawberry yogurt smoothie at caffe bene

can you see the N Seoul Tower?

 

after our Sunday mass breakfast at coffee bean and tea leaf

that's ham and cheese bagel and café latte

 

Starbucks at Insadong

all the establishment signage is written in Korean

we didn't get inside, what's new with Starbucks anyway!

 

The best interior is at Holly's Café.  We stayed there while waiting for Pat doing his shopping and because its raining outside.  The cafe's wash room has a password lock that you'll see on your receipt!

 

Café Pascucci

 

 

Almost all coffee shop has Bingsu on their menu, its their version of our halo-halo.  We didn't got the chance to try it but I think it has fresh fruits and red beans on milky ice.  Like halo-halo to us, its their summer concoction.

 

There are still a lot of other coffee shop in Seoul, these are only a few that we've tried.  I've seen Angel in Us, Mango Six, Snoopy Café and Hello Kitty Café which we tried during my first visit.

South Korea Again: Myengdong

So we stayed in the Myengdong area, expect a lot of shopping!  During our 6 days stay, we were in Myengdong shopping area almost every night. 

Every corner there's a cosmetic and skin care store.

JYJ for Tony Moly

 

 

We just observe that most of the endorser for cosmetic and skin care products are male celebrities

 

Choi Min Ho, Paul John of To The Beautiful You for Etude House

 

Ready to take a bath?  Bath tub in the street!

 

Every store is on sale that time.  An of course Face Shop, Skin Food, Laniege and Body Shop are also just around the corner.

 

 

Street Food!  My travel buddies this time are not as adventurous with street foods so we only tried a few.  Unlike my first visit where in we almost had street food as our daily staple for dinner.

 

 

Sugar cane juice and Lemon Cider!  We tried both, the sugar cane juice tasted like water with brown sugar.  I like the lemon cider, during fall they served it warm, now that its summer they had it with ice cubes.  Refreshing!

 We went inside the Lotte Department Store, its duty free.  I almost got a Baby G watch, but we were just on our second day so I still has my self control.

 

Everything is being sold in the street

 

I got this for my sister at 55% sale at Les More shoe store

 

This one is for my niece, regular price at W10,000 from Payless.  Just because its her birthday.

 

 

This is our first dibs on shopping, at Uniqlo

 



South Korea Again: Where we stay

Just got back from my second trip to South Korea.  My first visit was last autumn where we had a taste of Seoul's chilly weather.  Now were back to experience their summer.  Unlike the humid Manila during summer, theirs was dry and sunny.  Moisturizer and sunblock is a must!

We left Manila at midnight and arrive at Incheon International Airport around 6am and head straight to the bus that will take us to the city.  Just like my previous visit we choose to stay at a guesthouse in Myengdong, this time we choose B my guesthouse.

Its at the same area with Namsan3 Guesthouse, a bit far away from the subway station.  You'll pass by Namsan3 Guesthouse and take the uphill road.  I like B my guesthouse because its new, they just open last September and the bathroom is bigger.  We had a double deck bed and an extra futon for the 3rd person.  The downside is they don't have an elevator, we got the room at the third floor and its an extra workout every time we go back to our room.  Also, B my guesthouse runs a tiny coffee shop so they don't offer free breakfast unlike in Namsan wherein we get to dibs on unlimited cup noodles, coffee and toast.  But all in all we had a good stay in B my guesthouse, the staff are very friendly and the place is clean.  And we also got a free caricature from the owner, looks like the owner loves to draw.