Braving Seoul - Episode 2

On my second day, I woke up early because I need to start early. Mostly because I need to come back early... the next day was my working day.

After breakfast, I made my way to the Namsagol Hanok Village. This cultural village located at about 20 minutes walking time from the hotel.

The morning was comfortably cold and my walk was pleasant :)

For me, there was nothing much to see at the village. Maybe because I've seen Korean traditional architecture from the day before. What I noticed at the village... there were a few groups of primary school children with their teachers. They were discussing something and looked like they were having a good time there.

I wonder whether schools in Malaysia do the same thing. Outdoor learning is very refreshing and stimulating, don't you think?

Namsagol Hanok Village

In Hanok Village, you can see different types of Korean traditional houses and architectures. During my visit, there was a demonstration of traditional Korean basket weaving. If your timing is right, you can catch the
performance of Korean drama and dances.

To read more on Hanok Village, you can visit this website:
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/travel2/seoul/110/

I only spent about 1 hour at the Hanok Village. After that, I started my journey to Itaewon. Today, I travelled mostly by walking and the subway.

Itaewon

There were nothing much for me to see in Itaewon either. Or maybe I'm already tired and can't stop thinking about the need to do final round of preparation for the next day. I had no other plan coming to Itaewon except to check out the muslim community there.

I took a taxi to get to Masjid Prince Sultan because I'm not really sure the way and I was not prepared for climbing the streets there. That morning, there were not many people at the masjid. But there was an Islamic class going on for children.

At the entrance of the masjid, I was stopped by two Korean students. They were doing a research about cross culture in Korea for their school assignment and wanted to take my picture to include in their project. Well, of course we have to help children who wants to learn right? So, I posed... hehehehheeeee...

Masjid @ Itaewon

There were a lot of halal restaurants around Itaewon. You just stand at the entrance of the masjid, look in front, to the right, to the left... you can see all the restaurants there. There were Indian's, Pakistan's, Turkish, Indonesian and Korean restaurants. There was also a halal meat shop, a bakery and a couple of grocery shops.

Muslim center, marts & halal restaurants around Itaewon

There was also a 'US Armed Forces Help Center - Itaewon Self Regulating Anti-Crime Unit' booth at Itaewon town. This is the first time I saw this kind of booth during my travel in Seoul. So, I'm thinking... hmmmmm?

But, whatever... I tried to keep a positive mind.

I didn't buy anything at Itaewon except for a couple of pizza breads at the bakery just now. After Itaewon, I took the subway to Gangnam because according to the travel magazine Gangnam is like a 'Paris in Seoul'. Wow! I have got to see that! I can shoot more romantic sceneries...

When I see the place... hmmmm... definitely not like Paris *sigh*

Maybe I was at the wrong street. At that time, I started to feel tired and I didn't want to search for the right street. Plus, I saw a few nice, funky and cheap clothes that I could buy... So, I need to go shopping... hihihihiiii...

After Gangnam, I took the subway to Dongdaemun Market. I just want to see the place. I didn't have anything to buy. When I saw Dongdaemun Market, I'm reminded of 'Pasar Minggu' in Malaysia. So many people, so many shops, so many things, soooo busy... even though a lot of shops close on Sunday.

Dongdaemun Market

What impressed me the most was the row of shops that sell books. So many books... old and new. I was tempted to buy the old copies of NatGeo magazines because I saw some interesting titles. But then I think, it'll be heavy to carry... and I'm already feeling tired and hungry.

That was when I decided to head back to the hotel. My little adventure today was not as interesting as yesterday but I managed to cover a big area of Seoul in just 2 days. What an achievement :)

Next time when I visited Seoul, I can go visit some place outside the city.

Mount Seoraksan maybe...

Wishful thinking signing out *wink*