[SOUTH KOREA 2012] Day 8: Yonsei University, Sejong Center, Dongdaemun, Banpo Hangang Park, Itaewon

DAY 8 (18 Nov): Yonsei University, Sejong Center, Namdaemun, Banpo Hangang Park, Itaewon

Morning
- Yonsei University
- Sejong Center

Afternoon
- City Hall
- Namdaemun Market

Evening
- Banpo Hangang Park
- Itaewon

On this day, my sister and I were going separate ways with her friends - they were headed to Nami Island, and we were just going to explore the area. My sister and I weren't that interested in Winter Sonata, so we decided to have a day out with another friend of my sister's, who happened to be studying and living in Seoul at the moment (well, to be precise, he's a student of Sungkyukwan University).

So he was basically our (free) tour guide for the day, lol. First order of business, he brought us to one of his favourite restaurants in the area - even though it was too early for lunch, we gulped down everything because it was delicious.

The squid has got to be the most delicious dish ever - and I don't even eat squid!

After the meal, he took us to Yonsei University. The grounds of this university was beautiful! Ahhh, I wish Malaysia's local universities were this sprawling and beautiful :'(

This building's architecture was reminiscent of one of Malaysia's older buildings.

We then made our way by taxi to the King Sejong Center, since we didn't get to go in last night because it was closed. It has some pretty interesting exhibits, as well as a historical 15-20minute movie about the war between Korea and Japan (well, one of the sea wars, anyway). If you don't know who King Sejong is, he's one of Korea's most influential rulers. He invented the hangul (Korean handwriting) system - prior to that, most of the Korean commoners were illiterate since the writing system used Chinese characters, which wasn't conducive to literacy as it hardly suited their language. Hangul uses a phonetic system to denote Korean's syllables and alphabets and increased literacy among the Koreans.

What is it with Japan and their miniature displays anyway.

We also got to write our names in hangul at the center - it's FOC for tourists, where you'll write your names and place of origin on two papers. One will be plastered on the wall at the back (which you can see in the pictures below) and one will be kept by you as a souvenir.

Afterwards we just went walking around Dongdaemun for souvenirs, went to the City Hall and just walked around the area before making our way to Banpo Hangang Park by taxi. As I understand it, the building of Banpo Hangang Park was rather controversial, as locals lamented that it's mostly a waste of money.

Unfortunately, when we went the place was closed, as the buildings at Banpo Hangang Park wasn't opened for access, and there's also no show on the Rainbow Bridge :( Ah well, maybe another time.

We made our way to Itaewon for some dinner and prayed at the mosque there. Went home with the kebab we bought (yummy!) for supper, had some coffee and blacked-out once we got home for a good night rest.

Go to Day 7 (Hongdae, King Sejong Statue, Cheonggyecheon Stream) | Go to Day 9 (Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, Hongdae)
South Korea 2012 Masterpost