South Korea 2017 - Seoul 30 Sep | Hotel Park Hill | Namdaemun Market

Happy to travel with the foodie gang, again! This time round to South Korea where they will first be doing Jeju and I will join them later on for Busan and Seoul. This is by far the furthest destination travelled with the foodie group; @littledevil_98, @chubbybotakkoala, @ivan_teh_runningman and @littletinysun.Well done to us!

Read about our 'maiden' overseas travel here: Bangkok (May 2016). 

My style for travelling? Mostly independent. We agreed to stay nearby for easier meet-up. For Busan, it was mainly at the Busan Station area and in Seoul, we'd be staying at the Hongik University area. As am not joining them for Jeju, am on my own for one day in Seoul before regrouping at Busan.

Flight-wise, it was Asiana again. Worked till 730pm that Friday night, took a cab back to house. Showered, packed the bags and go! At the airport, checked-in the luggage, picked up the Changi Recommends Wifi and then loitered till boarding gates opened. Flight-time was 230am.

Breakfast was served at 720am (SG time), and there was a choice of porridge or omelette. The omelette was nicely warm and pretty dense. Fills the tummy pretty fast.

Asiana omelette breakfast

plane

From Incheon, take the Airport Express (AREX) train back to Seoul. Non-stop ticket is priced at ₩8000 but one could get discounted ones from websites such as Klook or Trazy. They are also having special discounts for airlines with fare at ₩6900. Non-stop train takes just 43 minutes to reach Seoul Station while the all-stop-train takes about 65 minutes.

AREX to Seoul Station

train view

As I'd be alone on Day 1, decided to stay near Seoul Station so that I could take the train to Busan on the next day. The Hotel Park Hill is located at Hoehyeon Station, which is one-stop from Seoul Station. It is really near Namdaemun Market but unfortunately, I went the wrong way. Had to ask for directions and figured out I'd wasted my energy for 1+km as I went the opposite direction. Coincidentally, the wrong direction had the same landmark, which is a Starbucks.

Take Exit 6 or 7 (escalator) of Hoehyeon Station. If you see 7-eleven, Ediya Coffee and Starbucks in a row, then walk towards Starbucks and the hotel would be just round the corner.

Hotel Park Hill

The check-in was quick and the receptionist spoke a little English. Was given a twin bedroom instead. The room door was not locked when I went in. The key is old-fashioned, so do remember to lock the doors when you go out.

twin bedroom

bathroom

amenities

double bed

The hotel wifi was not so good, so I ended up using the wifi router rented from Changi Recommends. The side entrance of the hotel provided a slightly nearer route to Namdaemun Market.

side entrance

side entrance alley

exit of the alley

vicinity

towards Namdaemun market

Was starving because spent too much time looking for the hotel. Decided to eat at the Galchi Jorim (Fish) Alley in Namdaemun Market. Jungang restaurant has a queue so decided to just try a random one.