South Korea: Seoul: Tea House White Birch Story

Place to have your tea break. Enjoyed the hot Korean Herb Ssanghwa Tea (6000KRW = 240PHP)

2017 Nov: South Korea: Seoul: Blute Garden Cafe

Not your regular cafe, but this is another flower garden themed cafe in the heart of Hongdae.  This is the previous location of Four Season's House (Yoon's Color), that is now converted to a garden coffee shop.

2017 Nov: South Korea: Seoul: Things to do in Miss Lee Cafe

1. Enjoy dosirak
Olden times in Korea, lunch boxes are prepared using a silver metal box.  Apart from rice, there are already sausage and egg, plus side dishes (seaweed, kimchi) inside and you just have to shake it before eating.

2017 Nov: South Korea: Drama Cafes Brewing in Seoul

Miss Lee

Food: dosirak or Byeoldabang's memorial assorted box

Location: Miss Lee Cafe in Insadong 144 Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Train Station: Line 3, Anguk Station Exit 6

Website: http://missleecafe.com 

Open: Monday-Sunday 10a-12am.  I came here on a Saturday morning at 10:45am, but was told that they are still closed.  They have requested me to come back by 11:00am instead. 

2016 Nov: South Korea: Heyri Art Village

We have visited Heyri Village because it is nearby English Village Paju.  If you are looking for what to do in Paju, here is another place to visit.  It just came along my research that this is one of the drama locations.

Autumn Trees
Coming from English Village, we walked from Gate 9 to Gate 4 (almost 30-45 minutes stroll), passed by the mountain side and saw a deer on the wild.

2016 July: South Korea: Daegu: C'est La Vie

What's exciting on this is that, I'm not aware on this place.  But it so happened that I'm lost and reached a Protestant Church grounds when I accidentally saw a billboard with filming location site of Love Rain, KBS 2012.

C'lest La Vie ("Such is Life")

Location: 244, Dongsan-dong, Daegu, South Korea (Banwoldang Station Exit 18)

South Korea: Itinerary for 3 days in Seoul, Chasing the Winter Snow

Sharing our itinerary last 2014 as our fifth visit in South Korea, fourth inbound in Incheon.  More of about chasing the snow (since it’s a bit late visit on Feb/March). Although, we did not plan to visit a ski resort. And experiencing k-drama sites until 2014.

Accommodation: Where to stay in Seoul?

K-pop Residence II in Myeongdong

Food Review

Drama Cafe

Seoul Food  

Itinerary: Places to go, Things to see, Points of Interest, What to do in Seoul?

Thursday

Arrival in Incheon.  Rushing at Seoul Station to catch the last transfer for Myeongdong Station

Friday

Breakfast at Droptop (not the actual branch for You Came from the Stars, When a Man Falls in Love)

Yakhyeon Church for Love Letter and Prime Minister (of Yoona)

Culture Station Seoul (Former Seoul Station) for Reply series

Mango Six (same branch for The Heirs)

Everland for snow buster/winter ledge

Saturday

De Chocolate Café (not the actual branch for Winter that Wind Blows of Zo in Sung)

Jade Garden (still for Winter that Wind Blows and Love Rain)

Petite France (for You Came from the Stars, it was a day after the episode that was taken in the site)

Sunday

Secret Garden

Insadong

Stroll until Myeongdong

Other sample itineraries:
For my further sample itinerary, expense, trip reports and PDF guides, please visit links below:

• South Korea: Itinerary for 2 days in Jeju & 3 days in Seoul v 2011 
• South Korea: Itinerary for 3 days in Seoul, Chasing the Winter Snow v 2014 | PDF
• South Korea: Autumn Itinerary for 4 days in Seoul (University Hopping) v 2014|PDF
• South Korea: 2 weeks Itinerary for Southern Provinces v 2016
• Long Layover in Incheon Airport: Quick Seoulful Escape
• South Korea: Autumn Itinerary for 4 days in Seoul v Nov 2016 | PDF
• South Korea: K-Pop Itinerary for 8 days in Seoul v Oct 2017
• South Korea: Autumn Itinerary for 5 days in Seoul v Nov 2017 | PDF
• South Korea: Itinerary for 3 days in Busan | PDF

2011 November: South Korea: Bukchon Village

What is 'Sanggojae' (상고재)?  It is the house used in the Korean drama Personal Taste (also known as Perfect Match in the Philippines).

Based on my online research, the original name of the house is known as 'Yeorangjae' (여랑재).  It is found in the middle of Bukchon Hanok area. 

The name, 'Bukchon,' which literally translates to 'northern village,' came about as the neighborhoods that the village covers lie to the north of the two significant Seoul landmarks, Cheonggyecheon Stream and Jongno. Today, many of these hanoks operate as cultural centers, guesthouses, restaurants and tea houses, providing an opportunity to experience, learn and immerse in Korean traditional culture. [Reference]

2011 November: South Korea: Paju: BCJ Garden

That day’s challenge is to find where 49 days (Pure Love) and City Hunter were filmed.

From Myeongdong, it is around 80 minutes by train to reach Wollong Station.  If you notice, Paju is the address of my next destination but as advised in Trip Advisor, Wollong Station is closer to the garden.  After the station exit doors, on your left, you will see cabs on queue.  I gave to the driver the address I found on the internet.  It took him around 10 minutes to figure out with his GPS on where we are going.

Good thing he has GPS, or else it will make me freak out.  We were driving 30 minutes on the road with the thought of – Is this right? Is this safe? Will I still be able to get back?  There are very few buildings, huge area for fields, far-away mountains, less vehicles around and from very wide highway, we ended with two-lane road.

South Korea: Seoul: Gyeongbokgung Palace

First Visit on 2011 June:

We find our way for the tickets (we though, that we can buy it cheaper with the Seoul City Pass Plus, but we did not get any discount). We were able to attend the English Tour in the palace – it was a good learning experience.

In Summary, the kings live on their own palace separate from his queen. The queen takes good care of all the servants and other wives of the king. The heating system of the palace does not use woods due to the smoke it produce, instead they use charcoal. Most of the buildings and arches found in the place were restored pieces due to the destructive invasion of Japan. The uneven flooring in the courtyard is for it not to be slippery in winter.

If you notice, the roof are already covered with nets.  This is to prevent the birds from building nests in between the roof design.

We were able to watch the exchange of guards in the palace at 1pm, the ceremony lasted for 10 minutes. They use big drums and old flutes before the guards do their marching.

Hours of Operation:
- Changing of the Royal Guard Ceremony: 10:00, 14:00
- Gwanghwamun Gate Guard on Duty Ceremony: 11:00, 13:00
- Royal Guard Costume Experience: Before and after the Changing of the Royal Guard Ceremony
- Gatekeeper Military Training: 9:30, 13:30 (running time 15 min.)


We were also able to visit National Palace Museum of Korea.

Since we are still hungry, and to satisfy our craving – we need to look for McDo or KFC (yeah, nothing beats that type of food), we decided to have a quick visit at Myeongdong – and near Exit 07, we had fish sandwich from KFC.


Breakfast? It was hard looking for an open restaurant or café during early Sunday morning at Namdaenum area. We tried to stop at one station, but every store we saw are still closed. Until we reach Gyeongbokgung Station, we saw this coffee shop near National Museum – we had this cold beef with bean sprouts for 15000won (600php).

Updated with photos taken on our second visit on 2016 November 10 (for your autumn color reference):

We normally take the Orange Line Gyeongbokgung Station Exit 5, when going to the palace.  This time, we took Purple Line Gwanhwamun Station Exit 9, to roam around the square and meet Admiral and King Sejong.  Crossed the street to go to the palace gates.

Upon buying a tikcet, please present senior citizen card to get discount (this is applicable for foreigners).  You can either join the english tour or watch the 10:00 exchange of guards, every after 15 minutes.

I just finished watching my first full length traditional drama, Bogum's Love in the Moonlight, and it made me appreciate seeing the interior of the main hall.  

Good thing, we are still able to chase the ginkgo leaves and able to watch the exchange of guards.

Then we moved to Insadong, it is just so quiet in the morning just like Myeongdong. Don’t go there early, better to visit after 3pm to taste the street food as well.

Drama Location:
Goblin (aka Guardian: The Lonely and Great God; Gong Yoo, Lee Dong-wook) Episode 2 (19:50-20:49th minute, aired December 2016)
The scene when Kim Shin and Eun Tak return from Canada to Seoul.

Last updated: 2017 September