15 Dec 2013 -6C Myeongdong

Yongnak Presbyterian Church is the biggest Presbyterian Church in the world, so they say.

Just as A and us had pre-arranged, we rendezvoused at Yongnak Presbyterian Church for our Sunday service. A and the kids were lodging at Namsan area and since they are the majority, it was only right that we meet up with them near their base.

Yongnak Pres is one of the oldest conservative churches in Seoul with 15 000 members in the congregation, whose average age is 50. Its founding members were North Korean escapees some 60 odd years ago. 

Post worship photo

We worshipped at the 10 am international English speaking service where their Tanzanian pastor delivered his last sermon on trusting God. The folks were friendly and invited us for coffee in their basement hall. The pastor prayed with us as we departed , a nice gesture we should considering doing at ORPC.

Springy noodles with lots of bite

Giant mandu the size of a little fist

Mandu place. Prepare to queue and not complain about the lack of service.

We exchanged ‘war stories’ and shopping bargains with A while J led us to the most patronized mandu shop in Myeongdong like a seasoned commander. Lunch was simple but amazingly delicious. We had cold noodles and Wang mandu. Every item costs 8000 won.

Street food in Myeongdong.

Sweet potato cakes

Spiral potatoes

We parted company after lunch where we continued our shopping. Before long, I ended up with 3 tubes of BB cream and compact ( 60 000 won ), a superlite brolly ( 15000 won ). And who should we meet but Jonas and Debbie, buying food for their parents who were down with food poisoning and resting in the hotel! What a small world!

Cheongnyecheon iced over this time.

Insadong. It gets busier than this in the afternoon.

Our Sunday tea place, Very chi-chi.

Samszedong

Inside Samszedong

Mr G gets bashful among thousands of love tokens.

We walked to Insadong where we stopped for afternoon tea. Pat had his coffee fix and I had a refreshing herbal tea and waffles with ice cream ( 23 000 won ). Everything about the tearoom was right – ambience, décor and service. I never knew herbal tea could be so trendy!

Downtown Seoul Palace district at mid afternoon.

Palace where the Blue House lies beyond. Sunset here is pretty cool.

In front of Gyeongbokgong entrance at sunset.

Beloved King Sejong, giver of Hanguel

At Gwanghwamun square where heroes are remembered

At a roundabout

Late afternoon, we made our way to Gwanghwamun to catch the last light of the day. There we caught King Sejong and General Shin, with the setting sun behind them.

Mushroom feast at Hongdae

Mushrooms can't get any fresher than this, from a pot

Mushroom hotpot place

6.30pm. On the way back to the Studio, we settled for a mushroom hotpot dinner ( 41 000 won ) and had the biggest plate of mushrooms for steamboat. It was the healthiest dinner in our trip.

Next up Hallyu at Nami Island.