We booked a driver through Seoul Private Driver for our day tour which would take us to Alpaca world, Gangchon Rail Bike & Nami Island and pickup was at 7am. I thought it would take us 3 hours to get to Alpaca world hence I timed it at 7am (cos the place opens at 10am). If I knew it would only take 2 hours, I would have scheduled the pickup at 8am -.- And the driver also didn’t initiate to let know know we could have scheduled it later. Tsk. Anyway, we were 1 hour early so the kind cafe owner opened his doors earlier for us to hide from the cold

where I also got a very cute Alpaca cake (cos so cute right) while the friends got their daily coffee fix

The souvenir shop also opened shortly but given this was Alpaca world..

You can expect nothing less from Alpaca cuteness overload

There were lots of Singaporean around cos you could distinctly hear them

The ticket counter opened shortly thereafter so we made our ticket purchases where busloads of tourists were arriving. We were like omg, so many people for a weekday!

The good thing about having tour guides around was we could hear them explaining to their tour and at least we had an idea what to expect. There were so many guides around you could just stand anywhere and listen. lol

There was a show at 10am which was held at the entrance so we just hung around and they gave us this feed while we entered the enclosure

This feed actually last us the entire duration. Well done to our rationing. lol

So the show was basically a herd of Alpaca running down the slope and into the enclosure for their morning treats

Yup, they literally ran. I guessed they were well-trained for it

And soon enough one popped up infront of us, and they gobbled the feed like they haven’t eaten for 3 days

I chose the baby Alpaca to feed and the friend asked why I fight with the kids for the baby Alpaca and I went ‘I’m scared!!’ lol

But they were definitely more gentle and not so aggressive like they were gonna bite your entire hand off

There were different stations around the farm and you could collect stamps from each station in exchange for a gift from the souvenir shop. The friends decided to do that in exchange for a piece of sticker. lol

We found more Alpaca having breakfast while treading up the hill

And sheep that looked like they needed some food as well. Basically all the animals here feed on the same feed so yes you can feed the same thing to all of them

We chanced upon this station where you could walk an Alpaca for 15 minutes and so we decided to do it, thinking it would be an easy task. You were unable to choose the Alpaca but the staff gave us this Alpaca, named Prince

And here’s the said Prince with such a Prince-y attitude. He totally refused to move if we never give him treats. Very practical my friend

I guessed he gave up after while. Well, me too

I guessed Prince also 看人的 cos when the staff told him to look straight, he actually did

We decided to move on to rabbits where they would be so excited if they sense you are giving them treats

So I stood down, took 1 piece of feed and pushed the spoon in and the friend went ‘why you only give them 1!’ lol. Well, rabbits need to maintain their figure also ma

Continued walking around and we came across a lost deer. Hello my friend, your house seemed to be on the other side?

Basically there were lots of animals in the farm and we actually spent close to 3 hours before finally coming back to where we started

Saying goodbye to the most gentle Alpaca. I wished they were all like this!

They clearly had a Photoshoot area with their tripod prepared for tourists to use. We were amused

Getting our souvenir before leaving the place. Cos if I were to buy the big one home, the mum would probably kill me. lol

We asked the driver to take us to somewhere along the way for lunch since it was close to 1pm and he decided to drop us off at this Chicken Galbi place near the rail bike. The friends were like I thought he was gonna take us to some impressive place for lunch. lol

But first we went to get our rail bike tickets cos there were timings for departure

We chose the one departing 2.30pm cos we didn’t want to rush our lunch

Here’s our lunch place

The menu was straightforward and there were lots of tourists there (like those big buses kind) so the friends were even less impressed. We thought we had came to one of those tourist places

And then this came, and we were like hmmm

The kimchi wasn’t impressive either. It was sour

But then, the food started to take shape and our eyes were glued to the pot

And we couldn’t wait to dig in with the cheese melting

Verdict? It was actually not bad. lol. Like legit, not bad

We added a portion of seaweed rice, and it was tasty. Imagine the chicken, sauce, cheese and everything just mixed together for that flavour. It was actually pretty satisfying

Since we had some time to spend, we went to the cafe downstairs for our coffee cos apparently if you showed them the receipt from lunch, there’s a discount for coffee!

It was soon time to make our way to the bike area for our scheduled departure and there were so many people there this time. We were like where did all these people come from? lol

The bikes were separated into 2-seater and 4-seater and we went for the latter. Thank goodness we chose the 4-seater cos it was so tiring! Like you really need a collective effort to ride together 

We were glad we were the first bike out there though we stressed ourselves so much that we were riding non-stop for the fear of slowing everyone down

To be honest, there were not much views. I guessed if you had come in the right season, there would probably be something to see. Else it’s just… like that lor

We did pass by some tunnels. Some had light shows with Christmas music playing in the background

What was supposed to be a 40 minutes leisure ride, we finished it in 20 minutes. lol. That was how intense we were cycling. Though we were laughing most of the time and trying not to lose our energy

We dropped off at the interchange area for our train ride and we had to wait for everyone before departing together.  I guessed they timed it such that everyone would be able to get on the train

And here’s the said train in the distance

We wanted to go to Nami Island but given we wanted to be back in Seoul by 6pm and the sun was setting, we see no point rushing there so we skipped Nami altogether and proceeded back to Seoul instead

We requested for our driver to drop us at the restaurant where we were gonna have our dinner so we don’t have to find our way there. If you asked me how was Seoul Private Driver, well, he’s really just a driver. Nothing much, nothing less, just a driver. lol

Since it was still early, the friend wanted to shop around the area to see if anything was opened but we couldn’t find a nearby mall/underground shopping so we headed back to the restaurant

where we were gonna have seafood stew for dinner!

The restaurant called 东海海鲜汤 동해해물탕, seemed to be a popular place when I researched about it. You do not need to make a reservation for this place

Menu 🙂

Abalone porridge and raw ginseng to start

And the rest of the banchan that arrived thereafter. The banchan was actually delicious, so much that we asked for a refill

I always wanted to try seafood stew in Korea and you can only do this with more people so this was like one off the checkbox

The portion of seafood was generous. It’s like the whole family of octopus in there. You could taste the sweetness of the seafood in the stew. We added ramen to finish it off and it was satisfying

After dinner, we decided to walk it off to our cocktail bar (Zoosindang) which was a 30-minute walk away. This speakeasy bar was probably one I was really excited to try. The place does not accept reservation so I hoped it would not be that crowded

Find the entrance!

The whole concept/theme of this place was so strong from the interior to the presentation we were really impressed. Drinks here were all inspired by Zodiac so you could try one of everything if you like

Drink inspired by Horse, a citrus based drink that was quite easy to drink

Drink Inspired by Dragon, a herbal and floral drink that we thought was pretty good too

Drink Inspired by Snake

I don’t get how the inspiration came about. Vodka and lemon doesn’t really remind me of Snakes but I guess the drink was pretty. lol

Drink Inspired by Rat

I really liked this too. Hazelnut + Green Tea, what’s not to like?

Drink Inspired by Cow

Probably one of our favourite, from the presentation to the drink itself. Milk tea + Cinnamon Tea, this was the adult’s version of milk tea

Drink Inspired by Goat

I guess you could tell the resemblance to that of a Goat from this with the cotton candy. It was really such a cute drink

We came across this dessert on IG so we decided to get one to try

Verdict? Skip it

We had so much fun in there. I would definitely visit it again

We would probably stay longer if not for the fact we had such a long day and we were rather tired already. This was a combination of signs of ageing + what travelling does to you. lol. So we ended off the night by cabbing back to our airbnb

It was time to head to Ikseondong this morning so we headed to the area for breakfast

And the famous Mil Toast House it shall be!

The place was rather empty when we arrived except for a couple still waiting for their food. So we quickly ordered and anticipated the arrival of our freshly made bread. Unfortunately we thought our order might be in the wrong batch cos we waited close to 40 minutes before breakfast was served while the table next to us who arrived much later got theirs pretty soon. Imagine how hungry we were

Steamed Bread – Chestnut/ Sweet Potato (left)

Souffle French Toast – Butter / Red Bean Paste (right)

Waited 40 minutes, done in 5 minutes. Lol. To be fair, the bread was good. It was soft, sweet and chewy but probably too long a wait

The French toast was good too, but we definitely preferred the steamed one for the texture

So after leaving Mil Toast House, we ventured around the area to check out the cafes and we found this new cafe, Soha Saltpond that was opened by the same team behind the famous railway cafe

This salt-themed cafe was pretty eye-catching and the interior was also done up nicely to reflect the theme

Even though we had eaten, but we couldn’t resist the bakes. They just looked too inviting and everything smelled really good. The friend commented – we eat like we haven’t eat breakfast. Lol

Tell me, how to resist?

Salted Butter Coffee, Salted Cream Latte, Hot Americano and Truffle Sea Salt Croissant

And so here’s our coffee and one croissant. We controlled, hence only one croissant. The drinks were good and I personally recommend the salted cream latte. We really liked the truffle sea-salt croissant too. You can taste the truffle in it and the croissant was soft and fluffy, finishing off with a salty aftertaste

We walked for a little bit more but given we were early, the shops were still closed. We were surprised shops in Korea actually opened pretty late. So we made our way to Hongdae next where we spent some time shopping before proceeding for lunch. Yes, food again. Lol. It felt like breakfast just happened not long ago

We went to this place at Hongdae called Sooragan which served home cooked Korean cuisine. It’s a small and cozy 16-seats restaurant that was pretty empty when we reached at 1.15pm

We took a look menu and I went, okay first 4! And the friends were like.. can finish or not!! Lol

Starting with makgeolli cos I haven’t had makgeolli this trip. And this makgeolli was delicious!

Banchan to start. The banchan was really well made too. You could taste it was really home-made. The friend was exceptionally happy with her fishcake banchan

Seafood Pancake

You could tell the generous amount of seafood from this picture and we liked how different the texture was. It was less starchy yet crispy and just full of ingredients. The spicy sweet sauce was a good accompaniment too. It was a decent plate of pancake

Salted Pollack Rolled Omelette

We wanted to try Korean omelette. Unfortunately this was the most underwhelming dish. It wasn’t bad. Just that it tasted like omelette roll

Marinated Crab in Soy Sauce

I really wanted to try Ganjang Gejang cos you can only have delicious fresh raw crabs in Korea. I liked this, but felt it would better if they had given us some seaweed to wrap along. We ate with some rice else it would be too salty. But I was glad the friends enjoyed this too given they had never really tried raw marinated crabs

Braised Spicy Chicken

And of the course the star of the show. When I saw this on IG, I joked it looked like curry chicken

But wow this taste, was nothing I tasted like before. And you could never find this taste in Singapore. It’s sweet yet a little spicy but not too much that you can’t enjoy the broth. It’s nothing like curry chicken kind of spice. Yet this was a very comforting stew. This felt like their own recipe of spicy chicken stew and it was damn good. All of us were so impressed we actually did finish the entire pot of it

We had a lot of food, and we managed to finish most of it. I think the staffs were very impressed by how much we could eat. And as we were eating, there were people streaming in at 2pm for lunch and I was like wah, their lunch here is really flexible. If you are in Hongdae, give this place a try. I would love to go back there again

After a feast, we spent the next few hours shopping in Hongdae and before we knew it, it was time for coffee break again. Lol

There were so many coffee places in Seoul there’s really no need to search for it. Walk along the street and pop into one. Most of the coffee we had were actually pretty decent

Then we made our way to Prepix dance studio which was located at other side of Seoul. It was an exciting adventure for us cos it’s our first dance class overseas and we don’t know what to expect. We had reached an hour before our class commenced just in case we needed to queue like 1M, but the system here worked differently. They would require you to scan the QR code 15 min prior to your class starting for attendance and everyone would line up to go into class together

Studio of Doom. Lol, I’m kidding

And here’s a happy us before class hoping we would still be smiling after class. Ha

While waiting outside, we were observing who would be in our class cos there were 2 classes happening at the same time. And thankfully, the more popular one was not the one we had signed up for. Ha

So yah this was how the queue was like. The staffs would call out your name and you line up one by one. Very interesting

It turned out our class only had 6 students. It was a rather private class which we actually enjoyed alot. We attended a class taught by @itsme_myturn and we really loved it. We felt like at least we could follow most part of it and not spoil the video at the end. Ha. That was the most important

A picture with our lovely dance instructor. I personally felt that her choreos are really nice. There’s really lots of talented dancers in Korea

After class, we headed back to Hongdae cos I really wanted to see if I could find sneakers. So we grabbed some street side snacks for dinner cos the friend wanted to have fishcakes. And so it was fishcakes and tteokbokki for dinner. To be honest, we were still quite full from lunch (oops) so this was probably the least we consumed for a meal

We walked around Hongdae but most shops were closing/closed by then. So after a tiring day, we cabbed back to our airbnb since we had some bit of packing to do. Yes, it was our last night in Seoul already! Boo. And while back at Airbnb which was 12 midnight then, the friend asked what time are we leaving tomorrow. I said 7.30am and there was a loud reaction from her (we had many early mornings). Lol. Well if you had known where we were going, you would understand why we need to leave at 7.30am 😀

Breakfast for the morning was the famous London Bagel Museum which was at Anguk area. And yes, it was such a popular place that waiting time takes about an hour. No joke. Look at the amount of people! So we keyed in our Korean phone number, got a SMS confirmation and walked over to Buchon Hanok Village for photos

Because how often can you get shots like this with nobody in the background. We took all the time we wanted while also checking our queue update and by the time we got back to London Bagel Museum, the timing was perfect and the friend was famished! She told me she it’s the first time she felt hungry for a long while cos every meal we ate so much she was constantly full. I could totally feel her, my friend. Lol

We were so excited to be finally called inside, and were offered either seats facing the window or seats facing the wall. I told the friend let’s face the window and make people hungry *cues evil laughter*

Jokes aside, the bagels were every bit inviting

Just. Look. At. Them. All

Spring Onion Bagel which we saw many people sweeping it off the rack

Also the whole place screams British and with Christmas music playing in the background, what’s not to like?

The friend asked how many were we getting? I said uh 1 each? And she went huh 2 only!! And I was okay.. 3? But we wanted everything from the selection.. so we ended up with..

4 bagels. LOL

2 girls can really eat. Or rather, never let a girl order when she claims to be hungry

Our favourite was the spring onion bagel. Personally we really liked the taste of spring onion so if you are not a fan, maybe you won’t enjoy this as much. But this bagel was different yet very memorable. The texture of the bagel was a little bit chewy, yet soft and fragrant. Somehow with the combination of the spring onion, it really worked. My next favourite was the chocolate, which was the sweet end of the bagel, and cos chocolate cannot go wrong. Lol

We got the potato cheese and brick lane as well cos these were known as popular items. But somehow I felt like these were pretty normal. So skip this! Try others instead. Lol

We really enjoyed our breakfast at London Bagel Museum, well, only if you are willing to wait for it. But the bagels were really pretty good. I told the friend I was contemplating whether to dabao some back to Singapore but decided against it cos good things were meant to be left behind. That gives you another reason to return!

After our very satisfying and filling breakfast, we headed to Myeongdong to get our last minute purchases from Olive Young before rushing back to our Airbnb to check out. Our timing was so tight that the cleaning team had reached while we were still packing up. Oops. We managed to get a taxi to Sinchon Y hotel for our dayuse so we can dump our bags there before our flight at night

We popped by Hyundai Seoul shopping mall cos there’s apparently Christmas things going on but the mall was so crowded with people all trying to get photos so we quickly snapped and went to explore the mall instead

Christmas spirit all around

We were starting to get hungry at 1.30pm so we went down to the basement (think of it like Takashimaya basement) to get lunch. And the friend chose this Tonkatsu stall that seemed to be really popular. So I went to order and while queuing up, the staff seemed to be telling people they were closed for break. I pretended I didn’t understand (I mean to be fair, it’s in Korean!) and just placed my order. Thankfully they accepted me as their last customer else the hungry us would become angry us. Lol. We found it interesting there’s lunch break in shopping mall (I mean, imagine it’s like Takashimaya basement!) but well, maybe it’s a regulation in Korea

Ebi Katsu Set Meal

Ebi Katsu Don

We actually liked the ebi more than the pork. The prawn was succulent and deep fried very well. The pork was good too but the prawn was the winner

We shopped a little before heading to Blue Bottle for coffee fix cos the friend had never tried before. To our surprise, we had to key in our mobile number to even enter the queue. And we were like wow, this place is really popular. We waited about 45 minutes before our turn was finally called

And here’s our coffee!

The queue to key in the mobile number got even longer when we left. lol

We went to get some more stuffs from Olive Young (yah I know, like buying the whole store already) before heading back to our hotel

But not before stopping to buy some ahjumma gimbap! We found this random gimbap store near our hotel and decided to buy some back for dinner later. It turned out to be a very good decision

We had arranged our the enthusiastic driver to send us to the airport. We were so early the check-in wasn’t even opened. Lol. But looked at the queue already

We decided to grab something to share from School Food before going in. Let’s just say we were glad we had our gimbap with us. Lol. This kimchi stew was just way too sour, and was probably my worst meal the entire trip

The gimbap was really good. I really love ahjumma gimbap. Hee

We wanted to shop a little at Duty-free but realized the shops were all closing at 9pm and they charged in USD. So we went to the one and only Asiana lounge and chilled for a long time before our flight back home

And that wrapped up my short, fun and tiring Seoul trip 🙂

Read here for Part 1

Travelogue: Annyeong Seoul (Yes, again)