The Palace Cafe (Themed Cafe)

 

Situated up a side street in Hongdae is the Palace Cafe. It’s quite an interesting Victorian themed cafe, filled with antiques and velvety furniture. I stopped by there one evening and enjoyed a really tasty Bailey’s coffee in a nice china teacup.

It’s quite large inside and it’s sort of like someone’s house as it is divided up into rooms both smoking and non-smoking. It’s has very low lighting and had soft music playing when I was there. Although the division into smaller rooms makes it seem  cramped, it still has a very intimate feel with a sense of privacy the way it is laid out.

 

I recommend this cafe for couples or a group of girls who fancy some afternoon tea and chats.

Getting there: 

Take Exit 9 at Honkik University. Take the next main left going uphill and cross over the road near the top of the hill and the map shows it’s exact location below. (It’s probably earlier to walk up to the next intersection and take a right as opposed to cutting through the lane ways unless you know where you’re going)

 

Thanks Nature Cafe (Sheep Cafe)

Less than ten minutes away on foot from Honkik University Subway stop lies the Thanks Nature Cafe. This is also known as the Sheep Cafe in Hongdae. It’s quite a small cafe and the entrance isn’t obvious as it is set downstairs off the main street. (See the map below).

They have lovely coffee, a selection of sparkling fruit ades and smoothies including a very moreish oreo smoothie.

They have two sheep that look well cared for by the owner who is constantly checking on them and petting them. The sheep really are the only novelty to this cafe but their outdoor area is quite pleasant with a tree reaching up to the ceiling and it has a nice relaxed atmosphere.

Getting there:

Take exit 9 at the Honkik Universitay subway stop.

Walk straight and take the next main left turn, the road has a gentle uphill incline and it’s not the easiest to spot but it’s signposted “Thanks Nature” and is downstairs off the main street.

The DMZ

I had a friend come to visit at the weekend so we took the opportunity to visit the DMZ. We took the Panmunjom Tour with TourDMZ.com.

Their pick -up point was at Lotte Hotel in Seoul at 11.00am on a Saturday. They briefed us on the bus about etiquette such as “no pointing” and not to talk to any North Koreans. We stopped for lunch close enough to the border and had bibimbap 

Firstly they drove us to the Freedom Bridge and then we passed two checkpoints to get inside the DMZ Area. We were then brought into a briefing room where we were given a rundown of the history of the DMZ which was short and relatively interesting.

The meeting room we were then brought into lies directly on the border of the two countries so technically you get to set foot in North Korea itself. It is heavily guarded but despite recent altercations between the two countries, there was no sense of danger whatsoever.

North Korea…

After the meeting room they took us on a short drive around the DMZ area pointing out various villages and border markers in the distance. A lot of photography is prohibited in certain areas so it’s something you wouldn’t get to see unless you actually go  yourself.

It felt like quite a long day, approximately 3 hours are spent on the bus but I’m glad I went and got to see what it was like. It’s unlikely the DMZ will be there forever so I’d certainly recommend Tour DMZ for bookings. They also stated that they’re the only tour group who take groups there on Saturdays so if it’s true then that’s something to take note of.

Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital (정신병원 곤지암 )

I stumbled across this place when I was looking for interesting places to visit in Korea. It came up on CNN’s most scariest places on earth list. Being a huge fan of American Horror Story’s “Asylum”, I had to try and visit this place that technically isn’t a tourist attraction.

Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital supposedly closed down suddenly around 1996 when people started dying mysteriously. The owner abandoned the place and apparently went to America, leaving the place as it was.

After a lot of Google mapping and searching on Naver.com, I found the location of the hospital. Unfortunately it is totally closed off to the public, with a large amount of barbed wire around it and signs discouraging people from entering.

There really is an eerie feel to the place, even though apparently several people visit this place each year to take a look and there’s plenty of evidence of that with graffiti and broken windows. However, a large amount of furniture and bits and pieces are still strewn about the place which does give a hint of what the place used to be like almost twenty years ago.

An old lab coat propped up on something.

Getting There: 

The 1113-1 bus goes from Seoul and the stops are marked on the map below. It goes directly to Gonjiam,  It’s a  ten – fifteen minute walk just outside the town Gonjiam.

Please note that this is not a tourist attraction. 

Cherry Blossom South Korea

The Cherry Blossom Festival takes place every year in spring time in Seoul… 

Hwaseong Fortress, Suwon

I headed here last Sunday with a couple of friends. I knew nothing about it but needed a good excuse to get out in the good weather and do something cultural.

The fortress was built around the late 1700s and it’s walls run through the city Suwon itself. Apparently it was built to honor the remains of a Prince whose father was buried alive because he refused to commit suicide… not sure how accurate Wikipedia is but the full article can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwaseong_Fortress

I wasn’t expecting the several steps to reach the top, nor did I expect there to be any sort of incline but I have to say, once I got to the top I was really glad I did and realistically it only took about 20-30 minutes..

It was a great time of year to go as there were plenty of great photo opportunities too.

Getting There:

Take the subway to Suwon. There was a tourist information booth just outside of the subway with the leaflet for the fortress. We took a bus (can’t remember the number this time but they told us at the information place) and it was about 4/5 stops away so not impossible to walk on foot on a nice day by any means.

Trick Eye Museum, Seoul

We had the day off yesterday so we headed into Seoul to the Trick Eye Museum. I’d already looked it up online, and even though I had seen all the pictures it’s still fun to go and put yourselves into the artwork and have your own photos.

It takes about an hour to go through the full experience. There’s a small house of mirrors and a “mission room” where you fill out a sheet with tasks linked to the artwork.

It was more expensive than the ice museum (W13,000) but worth the bit extra as we got a lot more out of it.

Getting There:

Take the Subway to Hongik University and go out exit 9.

It’s less than 10 minutes from there by foot. Just keep walking straight and take a left turn a few blocks up. See map below:

Ice Gallery, Seoul

​After a late night of Norae-Bang, (Karaoke), I dragged myself out of bed and went to the Ice Gallery. I’ve read that it’s the first indoor ice sculpture gallery in the world.

I don’t know whether it was the tiredness or the cold but I was a bit underwhelmed by the place. We paid W7000 in each and the place was about twice the size of a Korean apartment.

A lot of the sculptures were just random objects encased in ice and some of the installations didn’t seem to serve any particular purpose. However, there was an impressive ice Buddha and Korean palace that were worth a look up close.

For an extra W5000 there is the option to sculpt your own ice glass and have a drink out of it. However, in the exhibition I had sat down at an ice piano on an ice piano stool and surprise surprise ended up with a cold wet arse so I was keen to leave at that point.

If you want to do something quirky for under a tenner and you have half an hour to spare, then it’s worth popping into.  It’s also very close to Insadong which is full of life with plenty of street food and stalls you could easily spend an afternoon wandering throughout.

Getting There: 

Take the Subway to Anguk Station.

Take exit 1 and turn right. Take the second right down a pedestrianised street and walk about 5-7 minutes to the end until you get to a main street.

Turn right and its right there opposite a tourist information booth.

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DakGalbi Street, Chuncheon

So apparently the delicious Dakgalbi (Korean bbq’d chicken) originated from a city to the north east of Guri called Chuncheon. We took the ITX up from Yongsan on Saturday to go to the well known DakGalbi Street itself that is a small minor street just off the main shopping thoroughfare and it’s just galbi restaurant after galbi restaurant. We didn’t have a particular one in mind so popped into one right opposite the above photo.

It was incredibly tasty but not sure whether we’d venture up there a second time just for galbi as it took an hour an a half on the ITX train and all the shops there are the same as everywhere else.

It is fun to do an afternoon trip up there though and the views from the train were great. Don’t let the touristy picture above put you off either! We were the only waygooks  (foreigners) around that we could see.

Getting there: From Seoul: Get the ITX from Yongsan to Chuncheon,(W6900). It’s the last stop and takes about 90 minutes. It’s walking distance (about ten minutes from the station). If you can’t find it, ask somebody for “DakGalbi Street”.

Seoraksan National Park

With a couple of extra days off for Chinese new year, we decided to head to Seoraksan Park for the weekend near Socho, far east of Seoul.

For convenience we decided to stay in Seoraksan Tourist Hotel which is just inside the entrance of the park. The view alone from the room was worth it…

We stayed in a double room which was simple but incredibly comfortable with the standard underfloor heating.

I’ll admit I’m not the most active person when it comes to the great outdoors, and coupled with the icy footpaths we only went for a short walk into the park. If we had another day I’d definitely liked to have explored more. There are several trails on a map the hotel manager gave us. There’s an excellent coffee shop just past the hotel and large Buddha statue. It was definitely the best coffee I’ve had since arriving in Korea.

We took the cable car (right opposite the hotel) (W9000 for adults) up to one of the peaks.

Not surprisingly there are gift shops, coffee shops and street food at the top. From there we walked for another 5-10 minutes up an icy stretch which had a man made footpath for easier access up to the very top of the peak. The view was incredible even if somewhat spoiled by the hoards of tourists around. This may have been the fact it was new years day though!

If anyone is thinking of going, I recommend bringing some snacks for breakfast/lunch. There are a couple of restaurants just inside the entrance of the park, but they have very limited menus (the American breakfast in the hotel restaurant was awful) and they close at 6pm.

There are busses into Sokcho that run every 10 minutes up to 10.30pm and taxis are cheap enough to get there too. Sokcho itself is a really pleasant city, on the coast and surrounded by mountains it reminded me a little bit of Dublin. We grabbed a pizza and coffee there for dinner on our second night and got the bus (7/7-1) back afterwards.

Getting there:

It’s incredibly easy to get a bus from Dong Seoul bus station. It costs W16,100 (adult) each way and takes about 2-3 hours. It stops once at a lay by with bathrooms and street food. During busy times it’s recommended you book online and you can also select your seats. We couldn’t work out how to book return tickets so we reserved one way online with some help from our Korean co-teacher and Naver.com. We then purchased our return journey as soon as we arrived at Sokcho Bus Station.

Once you get to Sokcho, exit the station and just to your right there’s a bus stop. Take the 7 or 7-1 to the last stop (Fare W1,100 – have cash ready). It takes about half an hour. If you’re travelling after dark, look out for the “Rainbow Road” you’ll pass when you’re near enough to the park!