[Part 3] 143. Samcheongdong and Bukchon Hanok Village

So it was back to Samcheongdong again today :) I really love the place because of the mix of modern and traditional buildings, cafes and the general atmosphere there. Before I leave, I'll go back once more when it snows to take pretty pictures.
After having lunch in a Korean eatery, we went in search of Bukchon Hanok Village but had a hard time looking for it!

To get to the Village, turn right here, walk past the teahouse and go straight up! 

I was expecting to find a place similar to Namsangol Traditional Korean Village, something like an enclosed area of uninhibited traditional houses (well, not that I've ever been there before but I saw my friends' photos) but we couldn't find it. When I saw a signboard pointing in the direction of the Hanok Village which was supposedly 300m away, I followed it only to find myself in a residential area comprising of traditional houses. Along the way, we asked a few Korean girls for directions but when they heard us speaking in English, they instantly thrusted an extra map that they had into our hands. Almost everyone around the area was using the same map but I guess the difference was they were Koreans while we were not; we couldn't make any sense out of the map because the places' names were in Korean and the most important thing was that we couldn't even locate ourselves on the map so how were we supposed to navigate? Later on, we heard a Korean guy speaking in English to 2 girls as he introduced the area so we concluded he was a tour guide and started trailing him. We found ourselves in a residential area with traditional houses that people actually live in. There were many Koreans and other tourists taking photos around the area so it seemed like we were actually in Bukchon Hanok Village BUT I wasn't quite convinced that we were because I expected something else. Later on, we decided to leave the place by a different route instead of the one we took initially...only to find ourselves back at the same place after following a signboard which pointed in the direction of Bukchon Hanok Village. So, we concluded that the Hanok Village is simply a residential area of traditional houses.

How on earth did the driver get out?!

Trying to make sense of the map

The tour guide taking a photo of the 2 girls

Remember this building

Imitating Vi's trademark pose

A modern clinic in a traditional building

The sign directing us to Bukchon Hanok Village

And we found ourselves back at the same building again...we walked one big round :( 

It was quite late by the time we left the Village so we had to decide between going to a teahouse for tea or a cafe for waffles, for which the area is famed for. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a place that offered us the best of both worlds so we chose Cafe Coin where we had ice cream waffle. The green tea ice cream was too bitter for my liking :(

I spent the evening shopping in Myeongdong with Phyllis while Yuya, Raus and Jeannie went back to Anam to attend a friend's farewell party. I wish that I would have a farewell party as well but I highly doubt I'll have one :(