[Winter Korea Trip 2010/2011] Day 6: Bye Yangdeokwon, Hello Seoul!

Having accomplished our main objective of visiting Yoochi-ri the day before, we decided to have a longer rest to regain our normal energy levels. Our only plan scheduled for the day was just to check-out and head back to Seoul where we would be settling down for the remaining days of our trip. Anything else was really situational.

Waking-up just in time for an early lunch, we set off for the last Invincible-Youth-related restaurant in Yangdeokwon left to visit - 수정닭갈비 (Sucheong Chicken).

 수정닭갈비 (Sucheong Chicken)

Sucheong Chicken was the restaurant where Sunny and Hyomin visited to trade for spicy chicken on episode 4 of Invincible Youth.










We decided to have a look at the restaurant first as the owner was a little caught up with her work.

 Inside the restaurant

 Invincible Youth flag on display

 Snippets from Invincible Youth featuring the restaurant

 Snippets from Invincible Youth featuring the restaurant part 2

 Sunny and Sunhwa's autograph

Several other G7's autograph

As soon as the owner was done with her work, she came by our table to take our orders. Since it was a 닭갈비 (chicken) restaurant, we decided to order just that, costing each of us 9,000won ~(S$10.60).

 Restaurant Menu

When I first saw the heap of raw vegetables placed on our table fry pan, I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much out of this meal. But as the owner started frying and mixing the ingredients, it started to look more and more delicious! Interesting...

 Boring vegetables?

 With the tossing and turning from the frying stick...

 It starts to look good...

And when the cooking's done, MMMMmmmm....

The meal definitely tasted much nicer than it seemed. It was a little spicy with mainly chicken, cabbage and rice cakes in it. A great combination of ingredients and was well worth the 9,000won.

Having forged a close relationship with J and his parents whom we have been seeing very often during these 3 days, J offered to show us to a nearby ski-resort where many of the locals from Seoul visit during the winter season. Well, it could be because we had previously shared with him our travel plans and itinerary that he recommended to us this ski-resort. We had wanted to go to a ski-resort which attracted mainly local Koreans rather than those that were hyped up for tourism, as our main objective was to blend in and experience everything Korean.

We checked out of our motel after we had our meal, and went to J's shop for the final time to have a group picture taken together with J and his parents before leaving Yangdeokwon.

Group picture with J and his family

We then bade J's parents farewell before proceeding to board J's SUV. Before heading to the ski-resort, J had to drop by a local elementary school where he was tasked to do some delivery. Great! I have always wanted to visit a Korean school but never knew how to go about doing so. Not until this great opportunity came along! =)

Arriving at the loading bay area of the school, J went on to do his deliveries while we decided to hang around the playground area nearby. Besides, we did not dare to wander too far into the school.

Just like any elementary school we see in dramas, it had a huge open sandy play field in the front yard and the structural design of the school, well... looks distinctively Korean.We did spot some of the students playing around the gate and decided to just whip out our cameras =P. Perhaps school had just ended and the kids were waiting for their parents.

 Playing field

 Kids by the school gate

 Playing with sticks

 Waiting around

 On the field

Girl playing with monkey bars

With J's delivery done, it was off towards the mountains where the ski-resort is located. According to J, it would be about a 2-hour bus journey from Seoul. Traveling through valleys and tunnels, we eventually reached our destination sooner than we thought!

Touring the ski resort to see what is in stall for us, it was indeed a ski-resort catered more for the locals than tourist. Unlike the other ski-resorts like YongPyeong's which are highly commercialized for tourists , there were hardly any here in sight! Just as we hoped for! 

Unfortunately we were there then just to peek around at what they have in store for us. As for the actual skiing, we were to return here again at a later date. I will be elaborating more on that and the details of the ski resort when the report for that day is ready later on.

 Through the valleys we go..

 Vivaldi Park Ski Resort

 One of the the ski slopes

 Korean kids having their ski lessons.. So cute!

 Small food stalls on the flat ground area. Opps this kid caught me snapping her =P

After showing us around the resort, we headed back for Yangdeokwon where we would be catching our bus to Seoul. After saying our last goodbyes, we proceeded to the bus stop while J went back to his shop.

Instead of having the usual bus ticket sales counter, the bus tickets in Yangdeokwon are sold at the 7-11 convenience store just opposite the bus stop which is rather new to us.

 7-11 Convenience Store

  The tickets for our bus back to Seoul

Arriving back at Dong-Seoul Bus Terminal, our first stop was to the guesthouse we had earlier made an online reservation with - Backpackers Inside.

 Back at Dong-Seoul Bus Terminal

Backpackers Inside has a fantastic location - well within walking distance of Hyehwa station which is near most major shopping districts such as Dongdaemun (1 train stop away). Sharing the same neighborhood as Sungkyunkuan University, the streets surrounding the guesthouse are as happening as it can get with many restaurants serving cheap and good food presumably to cater to the needs of the university students.

 Arriving at Hyehwa Station

 Happening neighbourhood surrounding Backpackers Inside

We have arrived!

Besides having a perfect location, the staff of Backpackers Inside are extremely friendly. Fluent in both Korean and English, they are able to communicate well with residents. If you were to have any questions regarding Korea, they would most certainly try their best to help you out. The cozy atmosphere and setting around the house makes one feel very much at home and part of a warm family.

 Backpackers Inside Reception Counter (taken past midnight so its a little dark)

 Living Room

 Kitchen Area

 Shared computers (free wifi is available though for those who brought their notebooks)

Having praised Backpackers Insides to such an extend, here come the bad points. The rooms are awfully small. Really really small that it was difficult to move around our room especially towards the end of the trip when we had brought in our shopping stuff by the heaps. The shower room was also very cold. So much so that I could still breathe out vapour-smoke with the cold air if you get what I mean. However, they do have a heating system for the bathing water that produces steaming hot water you could warm yourself with.

Even with those negative points, I still highly recommend staying at this guesthouse because the positive points simply outweigh the bad ones so much it becomes negligible.

Back to the story of our journey, we checked into our twin bunk room and got a mini-orientation round the house. Having settled down, we decided on going to KARA's Nicole's mother's shop, Aura the Grill, once more and also to camp at CUBE Entertainment again thereafter.

We managed to finally find a music CD store (the first I have ever seen in Korea so far 0.0) with the help of the staff from Backpackers Inside and got our 4Minute album before heading for Aura the Grill.

Music CD store round the corner in the neigbourhood

When we arrived at Cheongdam Station where Cube Entertainment and Aura the Grill are located, X noticed something different about the train on the middle platform. It was a like a market inside! The train was literally parked there with stalls selling all sorts of raw ingredients and food products! Something I had never seen before. Really really interesting.

 Whats inside the middle platform train?

Wow! Its a market in here!

Exiting the station, we made our long walk to Aura the Grill. I had previously checked with the restaurant manager the last time I was here, and learnt that Nicole's mum should be present then.

Aura the Grill

Just as we were hoping for, Nicole's mum was indeed present! In fact, she had been expecting us because the manager had told her about my last visit and that I would be coming again. We were led to a table and Nicole's mum came to talk to us ^^. Gosh! She looks really like Nicole herself! We asked for her recommendation from the menu for dinner and ordered her suggested 'Korean Beef in Hot and Spicy Sauce with Noodles in Hot Pot' which costs us 22,000won each.

Rows of neatly sliced beef!

 Fat noodles

Adding the beef into the soup base

 Still cooking...

Served in the separate smaller bowl

I really liked the soup and had several bowls before I was full! Agree to leave a video message for SG Kamilias. She took the time to think through what she would like to say.

After our meal, she brought us up to one of the private rooms where we recorded the video message. We then proceeded to take a few pictures with her before she had to leave for other appointments. It was really sweet of her to warn us about the impending bitter-cold weather and reminded us to wear thicker clothes before she left. In the following days, Siberian winds would be sweeping through Korea from the north which will send temperatures dropping down to -16 degrees Celsius even when the sun is high in the sky! 

Nicole's Mum, Shirley Kim

Just like my schedule on day 3, we proceeded on to Cube Entertainment after our time at Aura the Grill and played the waiting game again.

This time round though, I had to camp till much later than my last time there. At midnight, we spotted G.NA coming out of the elevator. We managed to have a conversation with her but had to end shortly as she was rushing for time to go elsewhere.

Waiting a little longer, we spotted 4Minute's Sohyun enter the building! This time, I just rushed forward without second thoughts and asked for her autograph! Yey!

Another 10 minutes passed us by and Hyuna appears! We managed to get her attention just as she entered the elevator! Phew! And just as we were passing our albums to Hyuna, Jihyun and Gayoon entered the building too! Wow! So we were in the same elevator with them alone ^^. After getting their autographs, we thanked them before proceeding back out to wait for Jiyoon .

Unfortunately, she never appeared and so we headed back to our guesthouse at about 1:30am. Though we didn't manage to get Jiyoon's autograph, we were more than delighted to have the other 4 members'. With the time running real late, it was then time to plonk down on our beds in deep sleep again... ZZZzz...