Day 2: Tea First...Then Shopping!

Next up on our schedule was shopping at Myeongdong! Alas we were exhausted by the morning activities at Namsan Park and needed to do coffee/tea before any serious shopping. :)))

Cafes are everywhere in Myeongdong! :O We were exhausted beyond words and settled for Beans Bin at Myeongdong.

Beans Bins offers a great selection of waffles. Being chocoholics, we opted for Triple chocolate waffle & had lemonade to go with it. Coffee for mom & Beanie as usual. 

I wished we could sit longer for my legs were falling apart...but Lin said no...we had a schedule to follow. :)

We love the complimentary stickers by Beans Bins. Will most prob stick them on my instax pics...woohoo...:)

Details of Beans Bins:
W: www.beansbins.com

I really didn't know how to focus when shopping at Myeongdong. There's just so much to see. 

Hope this guide helps a little. ;)

Myeongdong Street (A):

Migliore, U-too Zone (Shopping Malls)/ Brand Name Shops (Levi’s, Bean Pole, Geumgang Shoes Store, Elkanto Shoe Store, Esquire Shoe Store etc)

Side Alley (B):
mid-priced brand name shops (Ssamzie, Club Monaco, Guess) / No-Name Brand Stores/ Trend 20, MyeongdongUiryu (Shopping Malls)

Side Alley (C):
No-Name Brand Shops/Brand Name Shops (Giordano, Jangbangee)/Restaurants/Coffee Houses

Central Street (D):
National Souvenir Center / Avatar (Shopping Mall)/banks/fast food restaurants

Chinese street (E):
Chinese Embassy/Chinese restaurants/stores for Chinese medicine, books, etc

Tina hit all the comestic stores (Etude, The Faceshop, Laneige, Skin Food etc etc) and I just followed suit. We had a shopping list given by friends & so we were shopping on beghalf of others. ;) There wasn't much apparel to buy as it's fall and they wouldn't fit our weather here in Singapore. Having said that, Tina did manage to pick up some discounted, off the season pieces. ^.* Our shopping queen at work indeed! :D

One need not worry abt where to eat as there are plenty of restaurants and street hawkers in and around Myeongdong!

We tried Dukbokki 떡볶이 from this stall.

And Beanie bought some oranges from a mobile orange store! :D They were pretty cheap at 2,000 won for a bag of 5 oranges.

Next up, dinner at Bonjuk Restaurant & Nanta! :D Both located at Myeongdong too!

Day 2: Autumn Morning at Namsan Park

I love autumn for its red & yellow hues. :) Tina & I tried to capture our autumn in Seoul as best as we could. :)

Lin scheduled Namsan Park as our 1st destination in Seoul. :) Getting around Seoul via train wasn't as difficult as we imagined. So that was good! :D Each of us bought a pretty T-Money card that saw us through a number of trips.

To buy T-Money Card:
Deposit: 3,000 Won
Top Up: 15,000 Won
 

We took the train to Myeongdong Station Seoul Subway Line 4 and exited at Exit 3. There's a wide road next to 7-Eleven and we walked straight up. :)

We passed by Issac Toast & bought some for our picnic at Namsan Park! :D

The ajuma from this Issac Toast outlet has got to be the friendliest ajuma for our entire trip. She was happy with us snapping pics of her toasts! :D

We like Issac's special sauce for the sandwiches and we applaud that all Issac franchise has to contribute a predetermined portion of the profit to those in need. :) Issac's toast is as such by no means a simple sandwich.

We ordered a VIP & MPV toast and strawberry smoothie. :D

Details of Issac Toast:
W: http://www.isaac-toast.co.kr/#
W: www.isaactoast.com

We continued walking straight, until we came to this wide stairway. Well, it's one of the many stairs we had to climb! :O

We turned right and were wowed by the yellow gingko trees! :D Our little reward for climbing up that flight of stairs!

Many pretty cafes dotted the way up to Namsan Park cable car station. :)

And we saw this 1979 Italian Restaurant. 1979 is an important year for mom & Beanie. ;)

We knew we were reaching the cable car station when we saw the Chinese embassy. ;)

We took the cable car to Namsan Tower; the ride was approximately 3 mins.

Details of Namsan Park Cable Car:
Operation begins at 10am
One way 6,000 won

The cable car cabin was packed, but thank goodness we were standing next to the window and managed to catch a glimspe of what's below. :)

Namsan Park is huge...

Our family outing is brightened by the gorgeous autumn hues. :D

The leaves on the trees were gorgeous...

and so were those fallen on the ground. :)

We had a beary good time at Seoul Tower! :)

We checked out the "Locks of Love" around Seoul Tower. It's meant for couples to lock their love messages. It's fun to see what other couples & even singles have written. :D

There should be millions of locks here! :D

We brought locks to add to the Locks of Love even though we're singles. :) All for the fun of it!

Mom & Beanie took a pic at the lovers' chair! :)))

And Tina & I stole some snapshots with the cute little ones. :)

Oh and this little boy was chasing after pigeon! :D

We salute these ajumas who ascended Namsan Park via foot... :O We descended via foot! :)))

Regardless which direction we turn, there's always something to capture on camera. :) Lin allocated 1hr for us to visit Namsan Park, but we spent about 3hrs here! :)))




























We plonked ourselves down for a pinic. The Issac's sauce was sweet but complimented well with the beef, eggs, cheese, veg & pickles in the sandwich. :)

It's embarrassing Ajumas have better stamina than the three of us! : O Our legs were like jellies...we gotta strengthen ourselves for the Luoping trip in Mar!!! : /

On Jamdoobong Photo Island, we were able to capture a panaroma pic of Seoul city. :) I much prefer the trees though. :)))

More gingko trees greeted us as we descended Namsan Park. :)

We heart the glorious glow of gingko trees!

But they're pretty stinky too! They smelt like dog poo! hahahaha :)))

Having said that, we just had to pinched our noses. Yellow leaves & blue blue sky makes a picture perfect. ;)

Gingko trees lined the streets.

We were off to Myeongdong next! :)