Hey Hive!
So if you missed the last few posts, I've been sharing about our first trip to Seoul back in Nov 2022! We were waiting post-covid for everyone to go on their holidays before taking a big one and we finally decided to go on our honeymoon! It's also our first time experiencing Fall so we were double excited!
Last week, we continued our tour of Gapyeong (a little ways outside of Seoul) by taking a ferry across the river to Nami Island! It's a beautiful river island that is known for its natural landscapes and is actually a self-declared micronation! We had to go through "immigration" which thankfully didn't actually require our passports.
The ferry only took about 10 minutes or so then we were free to explore the island!Â
We saw a few cultural exhibits and displays of cultural performances like this:
And of course lots of beautiful fall foliage as well.
There's still a little bit left to explore on the island so here we go!
11 Nov 2022. Friday.
There was a small playground area for kids beside a couple of restaurants and food shops.
This duck bench was goofy-looking I couldn't resist taking a photo with it.
We also saw a fairytale castle which was just housing a bunch of food stalls and vending machines.
Turns out the castle also had the UNICEF lounge, I guess they must be related to the Charity Train.
There was a small river with a curved wooden bridge going across that looked just like those I've read about in fairytales.
Thankfully the bridge was stable but anytime I felt like a troll was going to come up from the river and stop me from crossing.
Further down the river was another bridge and this one had a carving statue at the end.
The stagnant water made me fear mosquitoes but thankfully I didn't see any bugs. I guess it was too cold for them to be around.
We came across this clearing with a small hill and some tunnels.
I'm not really sure what they're about but I think some emperor or important figure was buried here. We went through the tunnels to the other side but there wasn't much tbh. One of the tunnels was more inviting with twinkly lights and neon strips.
It was nice to just enjoy a walk in nature after being in the bustling city for a while.
We passed by this small waterfall with a styrofoam bunny being tied up. I'm not really sure why, but it felt kinda cruel.
There was a small pond with a fountain and this statue of a naked lady. I'm not sure what this statue is or why it's here, but it's art I suppose.
I tried to censor her butt though.
It was almost time for us to head back since we were nearing our meeting time with the driver. We started making our way back to the port but had to snag a quick photo with these bonsai trees.
On the way back to the port there was a line of differently dressed snowmen statues to bid us farewell.
And of course we ended up with this Welcome sign and map which I think was more useful than the first one we saw.
I think we only explored maybe half of the island but it was alright. We got the gist of it and managed to get lots of nice photos with the autumn leaves so we were satisfied.
It had been a long day too, so our feet were kinda sore from all the walking.
There was quite a long queue for the ferry and we hoped there would be enough space for us to board lest we miss the deadline with our driver.
I must've missed this goofy-looking totem on the way in, but he bid us goodbye as we boarded the ferry! Thankfully there was enough space for all of us.
We enjoyed a nice sunset ferry ride back to mainland.
There wasn't a Singapore flag on this boat but there was a Malaysian one so we took a picture with it.
Once we were back on the mainland we saw these adorable pomeranians in a doggy stroller!
We were actually arrived a little earlier than our agreed meeting time with the driver so we had time to see what else was here. I think this was the mascot for the crazy zipline across the river to and from Nami Island.Â
There were also more snowmen here dressed in different outfits.
Once we were in the car we enjoyed a relaxing ride back to Seoul.
The driver asked where to drop us off and we told him Namdaemun Market since I wanted to see more night markets.
The larger market section was closed with produce stalls were closed since I guess that was the regular daytime market. But there were some stalls open on another side making up the night market.
We were walking along and found this building which was basically a huge stationery shop.
I'm more into digital art now but it was still cool to see all the different art supplies. We also bought some LINE Friends notebooks we found that were pretty cheap.
Walking along we found the larger section of the market with more stalls selling all kinds of goods from jewelry to cheap clothes and bags.
We thought there would be a larger food section like other night markets we've been to, but there were only a few food stalls like these pushcarts.
They did have Sean's new favourite snack - hotteok; which is a pancake with filling, most commonly brown sugar syrup.
But there are different fillings as well like this stall that has some savoury ones like vegetable, bulgogi vegetable and cheese vegetable.
I wanted to try the savory one since the sugar hotteok is too sweet for my taste. So we bought a vegetable one to try and it was actually really good!
Sean also bought a sweet one to try and see what the difference was with another stall we bought from previously. This one had a flatter shape and I think the sugar syrup wasn't as evenly distributed.
Just across from the hotteok stall was a steamed bun and dumpling shop that was apparently really popular. I'm not sure if it's famous but it did look really good so we bought some to try as well.
You could see them making the buns on the spot and from the shape I initially thought they were fishcakes at first.
We bought some buns to bring back to our hotel since they were steaming hot. Unfortunately I think I forgot to take a picture of them but they were pretty yummy.
We saw this tart shop that looked pretty good with lots of different flavoured tarts so we got one to try for dessert.
We bought a banana tart to try back in the hotel and it was pretty good but a little too sweet for me. The custard was nice and the crust was very flaky and crisp still which was good.
This night market was a little disappointing compared to the one in Myeongdong so we decided to head back after buying our snacks. On the way we saw another cute pomeranian in a bag!
Sean wanted to try a bubble tea drink from this place called Coco which I think is a Taiwan-based chain.
I think Singapore has these stores but they're really expensive compared to other bubble tea shops here so we haven't bought from them in a long time. I guess Sean was craving it after so long.
We wanted something refreshing since it was a little warm in the night market so we tried a strawberry tea drink which was pretty good.
We were back in Myeongdong market which was probably the best market we've seen with a lot more food stalls. This time we decided to try this stall selling grilled chicken skewers.
It looked and smelled really good, and they were probably the longest satay we've seen!
I think the special flavours are from the sauces so we just tried it on its own first and it was actually already quite flavourful with black pepper and some seasoning.
We did try the chili sauce but it was not really necessary. It was really yummy on its own!
There was a fruit stall selling strawberries and muscat grapes so we bought a cup since we didn't have time or energy to go to the supermarket for fruit. It was still really nice and sweet though!
But that's it for this day! Join us next week for a more relaxing day in Seoul! Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #236 (Seoul): Fall Foliage Fairytale Fun in Nami Island 🍂