Days 5 & 6: Myeongdong, Cookin' Nanta & DMZ Tour

Korea Travelogue 2016 Days 5 & 6 – Myeongdong, Cookin’ Nanta & DMZ Tour

Days 5 & 6 of our Korea Travelogue was pretty relaxed & effortless as we were literally traveling around the Myeongdong area & joined the DMZ Tour.

Korea Travelogue 2016: Days 5 & 6 Vlog

As usual, our vlog is up! Join us in a virtual tour if you can! 

Day 5: Myeongdong + Cookin’ Nanta Show

I was down with a bad cold and hence rested in our apartment the entire morning.

Weather was not so cold making it feasible for us to walk along the streets of Myeongdong.

8 Korean Street Foods To Try

The streets of Myeongdong was bustling with mobile stalls selling wares and Korean Street Snacks. The variety of the snacks available pale in comparison with those offered at the Night Markets in Taiwan and not all of them looked appetizing for our Chinese palate.

We also took this opportunity to try some of the popular Korean street which looked appetizing, namely:

• Tteokbokki  (떡볶이) (Spicy Rice Cakes) – This is on the top of my Korea Bucket List as I love Tteokbokki! Word of caution: they are real SPICY! We couldn’t finish the entire packet as it was too spicy. 
• 32cm Ice-Cream Cone (2,000 won)  – we tried the Matcha + Vanilla flavoured one and it was YUM 
• Home Made Fish Cakes/ Odeng/Uhmook (오뎅/어묵) – tasted pretty normal
• Sweet Korean Pancake / Hotteok (호떡) – nothing fanciful… I would prefer the Tapioca Pancakes sold in Singapore Pasar Malam (Night Market).
• Egg Bread/ Gyeran-Bbang (계란빵) (2,000 won) – ideal food for breakfast like McDonald’s Egg Muffin? LOL
• Pomegranate Juice – The most expensive juice ever tasted. Served in transparent plastic packets with a straw poked into it – ideal for Halloween when you can be perceived to be drinking blood packets. LOL.
• Cheese Shrimp Roll (5,000won) – Not bad.
• Grilled Scallops with Cheese – Looks gimmicky but taste wise is actually pretty lackluster. The buttery taste is lacking.

Fried Chicken + Beer @ Two Two Chicken

Next item on my Korean Bucket List is to have Fried Chicken with Beer like the romantic Korean Drama shows.

Hence that brought us to Two Two Chicken.

Fried Chicken + Beer @ Two Two Chicken, Myeongdong

The Fried Chicken was not considered very cheap in our opinion and it tasted pretty dry. We would still prefer our good ol’ Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) here in Singapore. 

Two Two Fried Chicken

Location:

6-4 Namsandong 2(i)-ga

Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Tel: +82-2-2275-2297

Cookin’ Nanta Show

The next highlight of our Korea Trip has got to be watching the Cookin’ Nanta Show.

Cookin’ Nanta Show

Booking: http://nanta.i-pmc.co.kr/Nanta/en/ticket/ticketing.aspx

Discount Tickets Only: http://korealtrip.com/trip/cookin-nanta-myeongdong-discount-ticket/

The Cookin’ Nanta Show is a musical that incorporates acrobatics, magic tricks performed with a great sense of humor. There is little verbal dialogue throughout the musical and the spoken words are mostly in English to suit the audience.

The show was very entertaining and we laughed so hard throughout. 

Day 6: DMZ Tour + Hongdae

We got up bright and early for the DMZ Tour.

We booked our Tour in advance via Tour DMZ & we were to confirm the tour 48 hours prior to the scheduled tour. However the hubs forgot to confirm the tour and realized it only on the tour day itself.

Hence we were in a frantic state that morning calling up the tour agency to confirm the tour and was relieved that we can still join the tour & hence we cabbed down to the meeting point for the DMZ Tour.

DMZ Tour (Panmunjom Tour)

Our meeting point was at Hotel President, which was a stone throw away from our apartment.

The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) is surrounded by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) under the provisions of the Armistice (cease-fire) Agreement signed on July, 1953. The MDL runs 155miles and separates the South and the North. Southern and Northern boundaries of the DMZ are located 2km apart from the MDL.

The Demilitarised Zone (DMZ)  consists of the area between Southern & Northern boundaries of the DMZ. It was established to serve as a buffer zone to prevent any provacative action & collision between South & North of Korea.

Hence strict guidelines must be adhered at all times by visitors like ourselves when we were near the DMZ, such as dressing and ban of photography at certain points of the visit.

The rundown of the tour:

• Panmunjom Checkpoint
• Camp Bonifas
• Joint Security Area (JSA) – Advanced Camp; Freedom House; Conference; Observation Post of Visitor; Bridge of No Return; Stump of Felled Tree
• Freedom Bridge (Imjigak Park)
• Bulgogi for Lunch
• Leave for Seoul

To me, the highlight of the tour was the Imjigak Park where we get to see remnants of the locomotive and railway track. The Bulgogi lunch tasted superb too!

Hongdae (Hongik University Street) (홍대)

After the DMZ Tour, we stopped by Hongdae for some shopping and café hopping.

Hongdae

Studio Ghibli

Hongdae is a neighborhood known for its youthful vibrance. The place was lined up with fashion shops, cafés, clubs, art markets & eateries; making it a popular hang-out place for local youth.

Thanks Nature Café 

The Thanks Nature Café is a Sheep-themed café whereby you can enjoy desserts such as Bingsu and Waffles & have close contact with real sheep at the same time.

Thanks Nature Café

Location:

10, Hongik-ro, Mapo-gu | Seogyo Purgio B121, Seoul 04055, South Korea

Tel: +82 2-335-7470

Operating Hours: 11:00 – 22:00, daily

The food tasted so-so as the Waffles ain’t cripsy & bingsu didn’t taste fine enough. However,  we have to give some plus points to the café for it’s relaxing ambience and being able to interact with real sheep in the midst of Hongdae’s shopping street.

Back To Myeongdong due to Korean Protest 2016

After visiting Hongdae, we intended to visit the Namsan Tower via the City Hall Subway Station but realised that the entire area was congested by protestors.

We were shocked to see over 12,000 protestors holding a candlelight vigil near City Hall with signs reading “Who’s the Real President?” & “Park Geun-hye, step down”. We spent over 2 hours trying to wriggle out of the crowd & thank God we managed escape unscathed.

We learnt that what we witnessed earlier was the most massive Korean protest in decades. This makes us even more thankful that the Singaporean government has done an excellent job in preventing such protests / riots from occurring as the tourism industry & economy will suffer.

Vacant Street of Myeongdong as a result of the protest

Some protestors also marched on the streets of Myeongdong on a smaller scale and the roads were all blocked as a result.

Have you ever encountered a riot / protest whilst traveling overseas? Do let me now in the comments below! ☺