Seoul Night Life, Where To Go In Seoul At Night

This trip to Seoul, we went to many more places than we would have if not for my 2 lovely Korean friends. 

We checked out the night scene and had fun partying, if not drinking away. And a few places stood out in my mind:

1) Gangnam

If you haven't heard about Gangnam yet, this is the latest hip area in Seoul where many hang out and relax after work. Naturally, it would be a place with lots of great shopping, great food and great drinking holes.

In fact, the whole of the area on one side of the river is known as "Gangnam". We had our dinner at this charming restaurant in Gangnam  and to be exact, it is near situated near to Sinsa Station and we exited from Exit 8. It serves traditional Korean food and it was one of the best meal I had in Seoul this trip. 

Sumptuous Dinner With Wonderful Company 

We had so much fun that we stayed 'til the restaurant's closing time and here's a pic of the interior:

That night, we took a stroll down Gangnam to check out some of the fashion stores before heading to a Jazz Club round the corner. ::Once In A Blue Moon Jazz Club::

Although it was only a short distance away, the cab ride took about 15 mins or so. The traffic around Gangnam is pretty heavy during the night so you can probably make out that it is really THE place to see and be seen right now.

There's a live band here and it's a cool place to chill. Great for listening to music and just enjoy a quiet drink if you ain't up for a night of dancing.

Toast To Great Night Life in Seoul

Inside Once In A Blue Moon

2) Hongdae

The next place that I'll recommend is Hongdae! 

Although I heard that the night life there is even more vibrant and energetic than Gangnam, we didn't have a chance to experience it.

But we had yet another fantastic meal of Korean BBQ at Hondae. there's many korean BBQ restaurants that line the streets and all you have to do is take your pick!

It's one of life's greatest joys to have a good hot meal and drinks in cold weather. **Love it!!**

Korean Bulgogi is really yummilicious with the Kimchi Jigea (Kimchi soup) after you are done with 1 round of fluffy egg.

It was also the night when we discovered Makkholi also known Korean Rice Wine. If you want to give it a try, do note that the expiry date is very short so you might as well finish up the bottle at one go after opening. ;)

We also had our first taste of Korea Burnt Rice Porridge / Soup. This dish is made with rice from the bottom of the rice pot or cooker which give the porridge a slightly burnt rice taste. We were told that it's a good dish after alcohol as it'll calm the stomach.

And it's surprisingly tasty, especially if you add in Kimchi, heh.

3) JJ Mahoney's @ Grand Hyatt Seoul

We ended the night at JJ Mahoney's in Hyatt, which is located at Namsan. It's a pity I didn't snap more pics in there as my girl friends were all drooling at the many cute Korean men there.

I had a very pleasant surprise that night when I ordered a cocktail called "JJ's Childhood Toy" and it was served with a bunny soft toy!!

My friend commented that this is my happiest picture taken in Seoul and I don't think I can disagree.

Do check it out, it's a great place to dance the night away with babes and hunks all around.

Lipstick Sales An Indicator Of Economic Health

Lipstick sales has been said to go up when during times of economic uncertainty. Just because it's considered an affordable indulgence.

Oooo.... I so understand that sentiment. I love my lipsticks, particularly my M.A.C lippies! 

I've just exchanged 6 used MAC items for a free Party Line lipstick yesterday and it makes me happy. Really love it that MAC has this "Back To MAC" program, allowing me to enjoy this little indulgence for free many times.

MAC lipstick never fail to make my heart skip a beat. I love its faint vanilla scent and can lick it right off. Mmmmm... :P

Jimjibang , Bath House in Seoul, Korea: SILOAM Sauna Near Seoul Station

My friend made it her agenda to visit a Jimjibang / Korean Bath House this trip. She is a big K-drama fan and didn't want to visit Korea without experiencing the bath house she has seen in several dramas.

After doing some online research, we decided on Siloam Sauna near Seoul Station because of its good reviews.

Siloam Sauna Entrance

It is rather cheap too with a 7,000KRW per pax entry fee. We didn't quite understand the ticketing lady but there's a cheaper fee of 5,000KRW if you only want to use some of their facilities. Anyway, we paid the full 7,000KRW so that we can explore the whole sauna.

For entry after 8pm, it'll cost 8,000KRW per pax instead.

Ticketing Booth

Shortly after we reached the place, a group of school children arrived with their teachers too. We got our tickets and the ladies and men have to enter through separate doors leading to the locker rooms.

Locker Room Where Naked People Roam

Once in, you'll need to place your shoes in a small locker located near the entrance and pass the locker key to the counter lady. She'll exchange it for another bigger locker key, a set of clothings and 2 towels.

It's quite a sight to see everyone walking or sitting around naked in this locker room. The first step is usually to go into the baths one level down on B1. And it's the practice to leave your clothes behind and nonchatlantly strut naked downstairs.

Siloam Hot Pot Sauna Brochure

The ticketing booth lady kindly pointed out that the common meeting area is on the 2F as shown in the brochure. In fact, besides B1 and L1 where naked souls reside, all other levels are unisex.

While my friends were making up their minds to go naked in B1 and try out all the different hot, cold, salt etc.  baths supposedly good for your health and skin, I ran off to the higher floors to be fully clothed in comfort.

I just tried all the different hot, cold, salt etc rooms that are supposedly beneficial for health. There's even jade, charcoal and ice rooms. All I know I was sweating like hell in 1 room and cool like a polar bear in the next.

At the end of it all, I still had to go naked to shower and clean up after all the sweating. The small towel was definitely not enough for my modesty but at least, it's only strangers (no friends) around by then.

Visiting the bath house is such a norm to Koreans and there were people soundly asleep in the resting room, hugging the hard wooden divider and snoring away. It's quite a sight.

In fact, if you want a cheap accommodation, you can stay overnight in a bath house; there's sleeping rooms available in the topmost floor. And there's even a room for snorers! How considerate, hehe... 

Map From Siloam Sauna Website

It's not hard to locate this sauna. Just take the train to Seoul Station on intersection of subways Line 4 and Line 1 and exit. Walk to the back (or around building) of Lotte Mart and you should be standing on the top of the stairs below:

Back of Building

You should be able to see the view below from the bottom of the stairs and behind the building. The Siloam Sauna sign is red and big on top of the building. 

Walk towards Siloam Building and you'll need to cross under the overpass at the 4 way intersection below:

Walk ahead and Siloam Hot Pot Sauna is situated on top of the very steep slope.

It is an eye-opener to visit Korea's Hot Baths. The many naked Ajuumas should be right about the right way to maintain tofu smooth skin. Must be all the salt scrubbing...

And it's interesting to know that teachers are perfectly comfortable being naked with their students.

If you have the time, take it slow in the Jimjibang because there's even hair and beauty salons in the bath house for your enjoyment! And should you get hungry, there sell food just like in the K-dramas!! You can practically run away from home cheaply and stay in a Jimjibang!

I'm sure it's a welcoming place to go to, especially in the Winter. Just make sure you go on a weekday where there's less crowd if you're body shy like me. ;)

Korea Calling Cards, Prepaid Phonecards, Telephone Cards or How to Make Phonecalls from Korea?

I was searching for info from the web before my trip to Korea to find out how I can make inexpensive phonecalls from Korea to Singapore and to Korea itself. 

Mobile Phone Rental by SK Telecom Korea

Using my Singapore mobile phone at $1.85/min calls to Singapore (Singtel rates) and even more expensive calls to Korea, I was weighing the odds of either renting a cellphone from Incheon Airport or to just use my mobile phone.

Click on the picture below to enlarge it and you can see that it cost 1,098KRW per min (excluding 10% VAT, daily phone rental charges, 10KRW per sec) to make a phonecall back to Singapore. It may be even cheaper to use your own mobile phone to call back home.

Charges for Renting Mobile Phone In Korea

But if you need to make a lot of calls to Korea itself, renting a Korean mobile phone from the airport may be a good idea. 

Locations To Rent Mobile Phone In Korea

In the end, I settled for public phones when calling my Korean friends and my favourite Kik to keep in touch for non-urgent matters.

Afterall, free wi-fi is widely available in Seoul. It's unreliable though; signal can be weak when on the streets. It's best to chill in a cafe when you need to use the internet or Kik someone. ;)

Damyang (Slow City), Samjicheon Village, Bamboo Forest & Soswaewon Garden

One of the things I was really looking forward to this trip was visiting Damyang. And I sure wasn't disappointed. 

Our first stop was to the Bamboo Forest aka Jungnogwon Garden whereby quite a few K-dramas were filmed at. 

Bamboo Forest Entrance

Feeling Cold In Bamboo Forest

We were blessed with sunny and cloudless days the whole time we were in Damyang. Yet, when under the shade or when the wind blows, it felt colder than when we were in Seoul. I think it has got to do with the fact that Damyang doesn't have tall building and it's like a old preserve town instead. I've read that it is nestled between 2 mountains too. Nice!

There's even a Hanok in the Bamboo Forest and I guess the guests will really have it s.l.o.w. when staying there. There'll be absolutely nothing t...o....  d...o....

One thing I found unsettling in the Bamboo Forest was the presence of fake pandas everywhere. It's so weird and what's with the pandas man??

Anyway, we ended the Bamboo Forest visit with a pot of expensive bamboo leaves tea, which tasted almost like normal teas.

*Click here to find out how to get to Bamboo Forest.

Next, we checked in to our Hanok called House of Kim Yeong-Bong after the kind Hanok owner picked us up from Damyang bus station. My Korean friend was so worried that we'll get lost as you'll hardly find anyone who speaks English in Damyang, hence, she arranged for the pick up.

It was a beautiful Hanok and really breathtaking. I heard that it is run by only a husband and wife couple and there's about 16 rooms in total.

BF Learning To Set Up Our "Beds" For the Night.

The owners are really warm and friendly even though we didn't have a common language; they speak only Korean.

Attached Bathroom In Hanok

For 50,000KRW per night, it is a really charming place to stay.

By the way, the floors of Hanoks are warm but bf and I weren't used to sleeping on hard grounds. It was a comfortable stay on the whole though.

While at the Hanok, we were met a young Korean couple who could speak English and were just about to go out as we arrived. They were really friendly asked where we were going for the day. Since it was close to 5pm, we wanted to stay around Samjicheon Village and venture out to Soswaewon Garden the next morning.

Our new found friends then invited us to go along with them to Soswaewon Garden. It really was our lucky day!

Soswaewon Garden

It's about 10 mins ride from Samjicheon Village but would have taken us more than an hour if we were to take the bus.

It is one of my favourites this trip. You can almost understand why the person who built the garden have it done the way it is.

Even with its small size, Soswaewon Garden exudes such charm that'll make you forget time for a while, as if it has stopped.

*Click here to find out how to get to Soswaewon Garden. Or simply cab there for convenience sake!

We had dinner together and tried the Damayng styled BBQ whereby the meat are in patty form instead of slices. It was also the night we discovered the addictive Korean Raspberry wine that was served at APEC 2005.

By the time we were full with a little alcohol to start the night, we were treated with a beautiful sunset right outside the restaurant. The restaurant faces a lake and has a beautiful view.

Seeing how much we enjoyed our drinks, our new found Korean friends invited us to their room (theirs was the bigger room with a common area and a sleeping area) for another round of drinks.

We went prepared with snacks we've brought along from Seoul together with a big bottle of Max Beer.

Our Korean friends brought us more Raspberry wine and also a bottle of Plum wine. I guess they were pretty amused that we drank so much and we had a good time. It was really a lovely night and blessing to have made new friends somewhere so far out as Damyang.

Traditional Rice Snacks Complimentary from Hanok Owners

The rice snacks were more delicious than they look!! We didn't stay long that night, just a round of drinks before going back to try out hanok living. 

The next morning, we have learnt to take it slow in Slow City to appreciate the beauty of the Hanok and Samjicheon Village.

Fresh In The Morning 

Original Hanok Which Is 100 Years Old

By noon, we made our way to Gwanju Train Station to catch the KTX back to Seoul.

*Click here to find out how to get to House of Kim Yeong-Bong Hanok.

I hope my self-drawn map helps if you decide to test your navigation skills to get to the House of Kim Yeong-Bong in Damyang, Samjicheon Village.  

Damyang has indeed left a impression on me. I felt so blessed to have great weather, met kind strangers, found a warm Hanok stay and a had special time stepping back into old world Korea.

How To Get To Damyang From Seoul
-No direct train from Seoul to Damyang

-Take KTX train from Seoul (Yongsan Station) to Gwangju

• It's a direct train from Yongsan Staion in Seoul and you can check out the train schedule here
• It take about slightly more than 3 hrs to travel from Seoul to Gwangju
• 1 way ticket is about 50,000KRW

-Take bus no 301, 303, 311 or 312 from Gwangju Bus Terminal to Damayng

• Bus ride is about 30 - 40 mins
• Check with the Tourist Information Centre right outside Gwangju Train Terminal, they'll be able to advise better and provide maps

How To Get To Around Damyang

-Cabs are inexpensive but if you're feeling adventurous enough, you may try out the many buses traveling within Damyang

• Do note that intervals of the buses as some may come every 40 mins apart
• Plan your route before heading to Damyang and check with the Tourist Information Centre right outside Gwangju Train Terminal for the bus frequency and correct bus no. to take; staff can speak English which is a great help as not many people can converse in English in Damyang

Cherry Blossom In Korea, Spring 2011

So, did I get to picnic under the full bloom of Cherry Blossom in Seoul? Heck no... :(

Some trees were already in bloom. So, we snapped some pics to capture the nature's beauty.

Even at Damyang, which is further south of Seoul, only a handful of trees were in bloom. Most were just starting to bloom.

Oh well, wrong dates estimation. 

Another time perhaps.

On the day we left ( 14 April 2011), it seemed like most trees were in bloom. I'm sure it'll be a beautiful sight this week in Seoul.

Beautiful Springtime Flowers

'Til next time, we'll just look silly posing away with lone Cherry Blossom trees here and there. :|