Oh right, why was it a risk? Because I couldn't find ANYTHING about their closing dates. Were they closed on Sundays? Mondays? Did they open later on certain days? No one knows!
The idea was to exchange 5000 won for 10 coins at the entrance (look out for a lady sitting at a small table). You'll then receive a plate/tray (with multiple compartments) and then go buy your food. One coin can buy you about a handful of kimchi, this and that. If you'd like to use regular cash, you can as well but the whole point was the experience of paying using these coins.
In any case... we headed to Tongin Market (통인시장) which was located a loooooong walk away from Gyeongbokgung station exit 2. The map said 0.7km but we felt that the walk was... much longer.
And it turns out. My sixth sense was right. IT WAS CLOSED. FOR CLEANING. FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK. A WASTED TRIP.
Some stores were open but they were truly far and few between and there wasn't much to see. The only things interesting were how all the stores had their English names spelt out full in Korean here and how we witnessed a protest march.
And Gyeongbokgung Station was quite cute as well, look at the decor!
Sigh. Oh well. Mum was really sporting about it though so since it was our first stop we just headed off to spend more time at Myeongdong instead.
Myeongdong
When planning the itinerary, I had intended only for an afternoon to be spent here and not the full day. From my past trips, I felt that Myeongdong was really catered to the foreigners, many things were sold out in each store and because I am truly treated like a tourist I felt uncomfortable shopping here. The sales staff are able to speak English more now (previously it was mostly Chinese) although the usual sales tactics of "today is the last day of the offer" etc are still commonly used.
The only time I felt that uncomfortable was at one of the Innisfree stores. One of their staff just trailed me everywhere I went, staring at whatever I picked up as though I'm about to steal it. You know, that kind of suspicious eyes they look at you with? Yep. Wasn't pleasant, so I put back what I thought of buying and walked out.
In any case, many of the stores here are equipped to give you an immediate tax refund by deducting it from your bill! Do remember to ask for it though, some of the staff don't check in with you on whether you need the tax rebate.
I have since changed my mind and I now think that shopping here is great! Right off the bat from the exit of Myeongdong Sation we saw these pillars with BTS all over and a sock shop. (You can smell it, my bias towards BTS, can't you?)
For lunch: 홍콩반점 (Hong Kong Ban Chan)
Location: 7 Myeongdong 8-gil, Myeongdong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Another fantastic restaurant researched by my mum, this place is famous for its Tang Su Yok which is the sweet and sour crispy pork. But hor, if you have had our regular sweet and sour pork in Singapore.... I think Singapore's one is better... #sgpride.
They used a lot of flour and gelatin in the dish, to a point that some pieces I eat the amount of pork inside was ridiculously little.
We over-ordered, my fault because I was too excited to have Jamppong (Spicy Seafood Noodle) and JJa Jang Myeong (Black Bean Noodle). Both were absolutely delicious. AND MAN TOU. The fried dough bread. With condensed milk. Wah really...
There were actually a lot of food options in myeongdong but because we don't have enough meal times to eat all of them.... we tried our best.
Here are some of the different street food we ate!
We also had odeng (fish cake on skewer) and tornado potato but it was too much of a hassle to take a photo so don't mind us.
Milky Bee's Rose Ice Cream (Strawberry Sorbet and Yogurt flavour) and the brown sugar pearl ice cream. BOTH OF THESE WERE SO GOOD.
This was a strawberry red bean mochi.
And others we walked past:
Some tips:
1) Some of them do not display their price! Always ask first BEFORE you place an order. Some of the prices are RIDICULOUS. LIKE 6 SGD FOR CARAMELISED FRUIT, i.e 冰糖葫芦.
2) Prices for the same item are all different depending on the vendor. Doesn't mean that you "walk further into myeongdong" equals to cheaper food.
3) Have wet tissue on hand. Toilets are a pain to find in this huge area.
Speaking of toilets, a lot of the stores are very stingy about you using their toilets unless you are a customer of theirs. Even for some stores where you have purchased something, you won't be allowed to use it (cough cough Mediheal cough cough)
Some toilets free to use are at Uniqlo, Noon Square, 6ixty 8ight on the 4th floor.
Back to the business of shopping, we explored the area and landed in Olive Young.
WAH TWO STOREY LEH I WAS SO HAPPY. There was a lot to see and buy here so... only regret is coming here too early, so we ended up lugging the goods everywhere for a long time. My poor shoulder!
Another store to mention was how Mediheal had a standalone store of their own and a lot of BTS stuff, even a second floor dedicated to them. Idk if they are still the spokesperson anymore sooooo depends! We got a free coffee because we purchased above 30,000 won I think. Mum liked it but it was just americano, too strong for me....
We also visited the Daiso here. Surprisingly, we found a few different things here to still pick up hehe.... This daiso was 5 stories instead of 7 stories like the one in Hongdae.
Dinner time!
We looked around and decided to try this place for their Hanwoo, or premium meat.
황금목장 명동본점
Location: 6 Myeongdong 8na-gil, Chungmuro 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
It is also opened 24 hours so even if you shop until really late (like us) you can have your meal here. We ate about 8pm, as we were so full from the day's snacks.
We ordered about two plates of the premium beef and asked for their help to cook it for us. We also ordered their ginseng chicken soup as another dish and it was so good. Would recommend this place if you are in Myeongdong. Price wasn't cheap though - I scribbled down in my notebook that it was 150g for 39,000 won.
And that concludes day 4!! :D We honestly shopped quite a bit today but other than skincare, I noticed that we barely found clothes that we wanted to buy, or any other items. Mostly food and beauty stuff.
