[HRKRTRAVEL] Songdo, Incheon - Day 9

Today is the last day I'm gonna be in Songdo. I will definitely miss this place a lot. They have the best guesthouse interior, the best environment and the best weather. Although the living expense here is way higher compared to Seoul, I can definitely see why it is worth the difference.

Woke up at 8am today, ate some breakfast (toast, yogurt, juice, cereal and scrambled eggs) and headed back to Shinsa market to try out the food I didn't manage to try yesterday. The market is kinda far from my guesthouse by foot so I had to take subways and bus. It was quite a long journey.

As soon as I reach, it was around early lunch time. I went to the 순대 restaurant where Song triplets went and ordered what they ordered. The restaurant 이화순대 is very clean. I ordered the 순대국밥 and it costed 7000won. It was really delicious! Other than 순대 inside, there is also some makchang and meat pieces. The soup base was really really tasty! The portion was kinda big so I was really full.

After the meal, I went to the store where Song triplets ate 오뎅(odeng - fish cake) with their dad. There are three different soup based 오뎅, the anon spicy, slightly spicy and very spicy. Each costed only 500won, which is 50% of the price we normally see in Seoul, it was surprising! I also tried their 식혜(sikhye - traditional korean sweet rice beverage)! The taste wasn't as good as the one I had in Blue Ocean but it was refreshing.

I also had a little chat with the store owner. She tried her best to explain the 식혜 and tried to build some conversation! She said I am pretty *shy*.

After eating the 오뎅, I am ready to continue my journey. Along the way out from the market, I saw the baby clothing store where Song Ilgook bought some cute sleeping pants for the triplets. It looked so cute and comfortable he even ask if there is any adult size.

After that, I went to 바르다 김선생 for some 김밥(kimbab - rice rolls) and 만두(mandu - dumplings)! The Song triplets also came here when they were smaller. Their 먹방 was so good! 민국이 was so happy when the mandu came he even sang. They ate a lot of the mandu and even Song Ilgook couldn't stop himself from eating. The mandu they ate was 갈비만두.

I don't know why but I am not a fan of the mandu. It tasted weird for me. But I'm glad the song triplets ate well. The 김밥 on the other hand looked so pretty. It was filled with a lot of ingredients rather than rice.

By the way, the restaurant was really really small. But it looked big and spacious on television. I couldn't have imagine that at all. After eating and resting, I continued my Song triplets food hunt!

Since it was my last day here, I don't want to leave without trying as much as I can. For dinner, I went to the nakji stew restaurant the Song triplets went too. It was really far away from my guesthouse so I took the subway and bus. At the time, it was around 6pm where the roads are full with cars and the traffic was bad. Thank god the restaurant was kinda near to the subway station. It was quite easy to find the way to the restaurant. I went to the second floor of the restaurant and sat at the table where the Song triplets sat! I ordered the nakji stew and it was the most expensive meal I have ever had in Korea. It costed 60,000won for the regular portion. I wanted the small portion but the owner said in order to put the nakji in the stew, you have to order the regular one. And that was the triplets ate.

The owner came with a pot of seafood stew with mussels and clams inside. Then after the stew starts to boil, he brought over some live octopus and threw them in. He put around 3-4 of them inside. The octopus was so chewy and fresh. All the seafood in the stew tasted really fresh. And the soup! Now I know why 민국 made that face when he tried the soup. It was slightly seasoned with pepper and green chilli, so it has that spicy taste. It tasted nice. Sadly, towards the end of the meal, the soup has reduced and it tasted really really salty after all the seafood boiled to their best in the pot.

It was really a tummy satisfied day! I went back to my guesthouse around 9pm. Today, there are some magazine reporters and writers here, to interview the owner of my guesthouse as she is the only guesthouse established in Songdo. She was really pretty too!

As soon as I came back home, they started the interview with her. After that, they also interviewed me and ask me about my trip and how I came about to like Korea. They were kinda impressed with how much I like Korea and also how much I know about Korea.

The interview was really fun and it was a nice chat+conversation+interview with the writers. The owner was really good in English so she translated what I said to Korean for the writers. I really enjoyed myself and the interview experience was one in a million. It was a really good experience.

The writer ask me what is my major and if I intended to come over to further my studies. They even recommended Yonsei for me because it was located near Songdo, maybe 20mins by car. She also ask if I am interested in Korean guys and what is my impression on them. She said she could introduce some to me. Yes, please do. Haha

[HRKRTRAVEL] Songdo, Incheon - Day 8

Beautiful morning in Songdo! Breakfast is provided so I had my breakfast in the guesthouse. There are bread, eggs, cereal, milk, juice, jam, peanut butter, butter, yogurt and more for breakfast. It was delicious! I woke up early around 8am and went down for some walk and there were so many kindergarten buses stopping around to pick up children from their house. The wind was blowing so strong in the morning, it was chilly!

I went to Shinsa market 신사마켓 where the Song triplets went to eat 순대국 and 오뎅 but sadly both were not open today. Such coincidence. The restaurants posted a lot of photos of Song triplets screenshots eating their food on the wall and even printed banners. This is also where Song ilgook bought the cute black pants for each of them and even asked if there is an adult size for himself.

After visiting the market, I went to Incheon National University where My Love From The Star 별에서 온 그대 filmed. The university was so so huge, there were at least 24 buildings as each of them were numbered. Although it is Monday but I don't see many students in the university. Just a few. And there are gardeners busy trimming the bushes.

After visiting the university, I went to have my lunch. Again, I went to a restaurant called 홍실 청실. The triplets and Song ilgook had mandu and japanese cold noodles here. I order both of it and also another 왕만두! Both mandu were so delicious. However, the Japanese cold noodle is not my style. But it was a nice try! Now I know why they had so many 만두 and didn't want to share with their dad! The mandu was kinda small, it is understandable why they could eat so much!

After eating such delicious lunch, I bought an iced caffe latte at Paik's Coffee. It was tasty and refreshing.

The restaurant was at the ground floor. At the 6th floor, there is a sauna called Blue Ocean. It is the sauna where the Song triplets went to. Minguk spilled his sikhye after he bought it because he was busy drinking it with two bottles of sikhye on his two little arms. The sauna was kinda huge and the common area was equipped with lots of massage chairs, television and computers.

From 5am-10pm costed 8000won per adult. As soon as you pay at the counter, the lady would give you a wrist key holder with 2 towels and a set of clothing to change. There are two lockers provide for each key. One is where you put your shoes and one is where you can put your belongings and hang your clothing.

After changing, it is time to relax! It was so nice to lay around in comfortable clothes and watch Show Me The Money 5, drinking sikhye and eating hard boiled eggs. I slept around and lay around for a few hours. There are also different sauna where you can take a dip. However, I couldn't let myself be naked in front of strangers so I didn't try them out. But it is normal to see people completely naked in front of you, walking freely. People ranging from 9 years old to 50 years old. However, female and male sauna is seperated. Only the common area is joint together.

I went to have dinner around 6:30pm. I went to Giana's Napoli, also another restaurant the Song triplets went. It is an Italian restaurant. I ordered 3 dishes. Although they were a bit pricey but it is out of the world delicious!! All three dishes are worth a try! Really really delicious. I have to repeat it again and again because it was so damn delicious! Song ilgook is really good at finding good food!

[HRKRTRAVEL] Songdo, Incheon - Day 7

Woke up early today because I am going to incheon! I had samgak kimbab and milk for breakfast! The check out time at Kimchee Guesthouse was 11am so I check out at that time. Then my nightmare starts.

I have been shopping these days so my luggage bag was so so heavy. I had to carry the luggage bags up and down the stairs at subway station and walk from stations to stations to transfer lines. It took me around 2 hours from Chungjeongno station to Incheon. The station I need to get off is Central Park, which is one station away from the last station of incheon line. By the time I arrived, the subway was empty because it was towards the end of the subway line.

As soon as I get out from the station, I can see Song triplet's apartment from a far. It was so iconic I couldn't miss it. The weather at Songdo was slightly cooler than Seoul. The air was so fresher too! Since it is a more high end area, all you can see is expensive cars and beautiful buildings. The food here also costed almost triple the price compared to Seoul.

The famous Tri-bowl of Songdo

I stayed at a guesthouse called Song for Bnb. It was an apartment and it was located exactly opposite of Song triplet's apartment. I can see it through the window every morning! What a view! The apartments are all highly secured. You need an access card to enter the apartment building and to enter the apartment. I am going to stay for 4 days 3 night and it costed 300,000won (around RM1000). That was the most affordable I could find.

In front my guesthouse apartment, there are a lot restaurants, shops and convenient stores. As soon as I checked in the guesthouse, I went to one of the restaurant Song triplets went with Choo Sarang and her dad. It is called 구수한 설렁탕 꼬리곰탕. It is really near my apartment. As soon as I enter the restaurant, I can see the owner framed up a lot od screen shots of the episode where Song triplets and Sarang ate at the restaurant. There were also signature from Choo Sunghoon and Song Ilgook. They ate 꼬리곰탕, the ox tail soup. But I wanted to try other food too so I ordered 설렁탕 too. Both costed 14,000won and 7,000won.

The food was really really nice! It tasted really healthy. It was such a nice meal and the owner was there too! I had a little talk with her after I had my meal. She asked how I came across their restaurant, I said it was because of Song triplets. She asked how was the food and asked where am I from. I asked if she had seen Song triplets on the day they visited, she said yes. But sadly, they haven't been visiting lately. Later, she offered me some sweet iced tea for dessert. It was so refreshing!

After having a decent lunch, I went to NC Cube Canal Walk which is located beside Song triplet's apartment. There are a lot of restaurants at the NC Cube Canal Walk.

For dessert, I went to 옥루몽 for some traditional red bean shaved ice. Song Ilgook brought the triplets here once with ither neighbourhood children after they cycled at the park neaby. When I was about to order, I coukd find the name of the exact dessert the triplets had so I pointed on the screen at the counter where the video of Song triplets eating it was shown. Then the waiter was like 아 만세빙수? ㅎㅎ

Then he asked if Song triplets were famous in Malaysia too and I said yes. He was amazed! the dessert was so so delicious. Unlike other bingsu where they give too much shaved ice and it tasted so plain because there wasn't enough red bean. This one was so different. The ice was so finely shaved and a generous portion of red bean was given too! Not to mention how chewy and fresh the ddeok on top of it was. No wonder 만세couldn't stop eating and insisted to finish it before his father drag him out of the restaurant. The bingsu costed 8,000won.

After eating dessert, I sat at the chairs along this beautiful stretch of lane in the NC Cube Canal Walk.

In Songdo, you can see a lot of pets and children. Looks like it is a really peaceful place to raise kids, if you are loaded. There are a lot of traffic lights and the roads are so wide! The city is really clean and the atmosphere is so peaceful. People are all fashionable and well-dressed. Unlike Seoul, people in Songdo is living a slow paced life. None of them are running, none of them are shouting, none of them are honking their cars. All you can see is children walking freely and parents walking their pets.

After sitting around for over 2 hours, it is time for dinner! I went to another restaurant where Song triplets went, called Tero. They had the pork cutlet pops with cheese dip.

Since I was full so I didn't order much. One set costed 9,900won and it came with a small bowl of soup, salad and rice. The cheese is refillable at 500won. The cutlets were served on a plate with the cheese dip. It is so cute!

I would say it tasted above average because the cheese is so tasty. But it didnt blew my mind away. It was a nice meal tho!

After dinner, I went back to my apartment. The electronics in the apartment is so high tech I don't know how to use. One of the nicest accommodation I've ever been to, and also the most expensive one. But what to do, this is the one and only guesthouse in Songdo, and it is the cheapest accommodation i can find.

What is more relaxing than ending a tiring day with an English movie with Korean subtitles.