Day 13 — Taipei, Taiwan

6/13/2024 Thursday

Itinerary:

• Yong Kang Beef Noodle
• Taipei Station
• Ximengting
• Ningxia Night Market

After breakfast at the hotel, we took the metro to Dongmen Station to go to Yong Kang beef noodle shop. It is one of the most famous beef noodle soup place. We had to queue up for 20 minutes and once we were allowed inside, we were told to go to the second floor. The beef noodle soup is not worth the wait.

After an early lunch, we took the Metro to Taipei Station to shop around. Mason left to go meet up his friends and Anthony went to visit his grandfather and I went with Maddie. Next, we went to Ximengting again as we didn’t spend too mich time there last night. Then we went back to the hotel to rest as it was so hot.

Anthony came back and we left for Ningxia Night Market. We ate our dinner at .

Day 12 — Taipei, Taiwan

6/12/2024 Tuesday

Itinerary:

• Yehliu Geopark
• Shifen Old Street
• Shifen Waterfall
• Ying Yang Sea
• Shiunadong
• Gold Waterfall
• House Old Street
• Ximengting
• Din Tai Fung

After breakfast at the hotel, we took the metro to Ximen station to meet the tour guide as I has booked a tour to the Northern part of Taiwan. We had planned to go there on our last trip to Taiwan but the kids got sick, so we cancelled the trip.

After an hour drive, we reached Yehliu Geopark. The most famous rock is the Queen’s head and the top part is the hardest. Her neck is pretty fragile so in the next 5 to 10 years, we might not see the Queen’s head. You can then try to see the cute princess rock if the Queen’s head is gone. Yehliu was a fishing village and its name came from the village resident who stole the rice from the businessmen. 

Yehliu Geopark is situated in Wanli District, is a 1700 meter long narrow promontory jutting out from the coast of Northern Taiwan. The interaction of erosion and weathering for millions of years led to the numerous wonderful geological formations within the Park, which include mushroom rocks, candle rocks, ginger rocks, potholes, tofu rocks and sea caves.

We saw the Queen’s head and had to wait in line to take a picture. It was so hot but since it’s our first time, we queued up for the picture. Next we went to see the cute Princess head as the Queen’s head might vanish in the next 5 to 10 years. We took some pictures before heading to visitor’s center to be cool.

Next is the Shifen old street where we can release lantern. Yellow lantern is to wish for more money, 8 colors is for if you have many wishes. 

Copper mine causes the Ying Yang Sea, so you can see 2 colors.

Jiufen used to be a gold mine.

Day 11 — Taipei, Taiwan

 6/10/2024 Monday

Itinerary:

• Taipei 101
• Grandpa’s home 
• Dermatologist 

After breakfast at the hotel, we took the metro to Taipei 101. We shopped around the malls there and later ate at the food court in Taipei 101. 

Later, we went to visit Anthony’s grandfather and Mason got bitten by mosquitoes again. The mosquitoes bite from last night became very swollen on Mason’s arm, so we decided to take him to see the dermatologist. Since we don’t have any insurance in Taiwan, we had to pay extra but it was so cheap and only cost less than $20 (TWD 600) for the doctor’s visit and medicine. We didn’t wait too long to see the doctor and talked to the doctor for less than 5 minutes. He told us that it’s because Mason is new to the country and got an allergic reaction from the bite as it’s bitten by a bug that he has not been bitten before. So he prescribed a cream and oral medicine for Mason to take and come back to see him in 3 days. We got the prescription and went next door to collect the medicine and no extra charge for the medicine. It’s so much cheaper than USA.

Day 10 — Taipei, Taiwan

6/10/2024 Monday

Itinerary:

• Incheon Airport
• Matina Lounge
• Taoyuan Airport
• Dinner
• Grandpa’s home 

We left Myeongdong early today as we have a 10:30am flight to catch to Taiwan. We had arranged for a driver with a big car to pick us up as we have 4 large luggage. It took us about an hour drive to Incheon airport and there was no traffic. After we checked in and printed our boarding passes, we had to queue up to drop off our luggage and the line was super long. Took us 30 minutes to drop off our luggage and after that, we also had a long line to go through the security line. It was another 30 plus minutes. So it took us over an hour when we arrive at the airport to getting inside. There were too many people travelling and I wasn’t expecting it. I thought it was Monday and shouldn’t take us this long. Luckily, I always try to arrive 3 hours before our flight, so we had time to visit the lounge. The lounge at Korea was pretty good and I left early to go buy some gifts to bring to Taiwan and US. I had to run to the gate after buying the gifts as I was getting close to boarding time.

After a quick 2 hour and 40 minutes, we arrived in Taoyuan Airport and went to pick up our sim card. And we were picked up by Anthony’s cousin. It took about an hour to go from the airport to our hotel in Da’an district.

We checked into our hotel and Anthony and his cousin went to a cafe to catch up while I took the kids around. It was so hot and humid, that we bought some snacks and drinks ar 7 eleven and headed back to our hotel quickly. There was not many stores in the area as I heard from Anthony’s cousin that this is a rich residential area, so they don’t want too many people and the rents are high, so not many stores want to open here.

Afterwards, Anthony and his cousin came back to our hotel and we all walked to the restaurant that his cousin has booked in advance. We waited at the restaurant as we were a bit early before their opening time. Soon after, Anthony’s uncle and his auntie as well as his cousin’s wife and 2 kids came. We had a room for all 10 of us and the dinner was good.

After dinner, we went with his uncle to take the metro to see Anthony’s grandfather who is 105 years old. We spent some time with him before we left for our hotel as we were all tired since we woke up at 5am this morning to get ready for our flight. 

Our main purpose for this Taiwan trip was to see Anthony’s grandfather as he is getting so old. I am glad that we were able to see him.

Day 9 — Seoul, South Korea

  6/9/2024 Sunday

Itinerary:

• Bakery
• DMZ Tour
• Imjingak Peace Gondola
• Unification Village
• DMZ Jangdan Kongcafe  
• School Food Myeongdong 

We woke up early today as we have the DMZ tour. We bought some pastries on the way to the meeting point. There were 43 guests today on the tour and the guide asked us to fill out our name, birth date and phone number on a form as she needs that with our passports to buy the tickets. Also, the guard might come to the bus to check our identity as well.

South Korea is known as Republic of Korea while North Korea is known as Democratic. Starbucks was the first company that introduced to go coffee as Koreans usually sit in the cafe to drink coffee. Koreans love to drink coffee and don’t sleep too long. Korea was attacked 3000 times and never attacked other countries. Japan conquered Korea for 35 years. Brassware was used in utensils by Koreans but Japan melted them to make bullets to use in war. Japan surrendered in August 1945 after USA dropped the bombs. Korea became Americanized and American military starting coming to Korea.

DMZ is 4 miles wide and 155 miles in length. 2 miles from North Korea border and 2 miles from South Korea border.

It took about 50 minutes from Seoul. First, we were stopped at the checkpoint where the guard came to check our passports. After we were allowed to pass, we visited the Korean Peninsula Ecological Peace Tourism Information Center and saw the unification bridge and freedom bridge. The unification bridge is also called the cow bridge as the CEO of Hyundai was from North Korea and stole the money from his Father who got the money when he sold 1 cow. Later the CEO was successful and returned 1001 cows which travelled by the unification bridge to North Korea. We also saw the Pyeonghwajeong Pavillion and Wish Ribbon Zone.

Then we bought the tickets to go on the Imjingak Peace Gondola and we picked the Crystal cabin for a bit higher price so that we can see the bottom of the gondola. The gondola is 1.7km long and we can clearly see the fields below us. We went to Camp Greaves to check out some exhibition. This is also the world’s only gondola that travels the Civilian Control Zone area connecting the north and south.

DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)

On July 27,1953, the Korean War ended with a cease-fire. The Northern and Southern Limit Lines were created as each side moved their troops back 2km from the Military Demarcation Line. The lines reach 248km in length from Jeongdong-ri, Paji-si, to Myeongho-ri, Goseong-gun.

At present, an area within 2km on both the north and south side is designated as the DMZ. Excluding the DMZ, the overall area is considered the most heavily militarized region in the world.

CCZ (Civilian Control Zone)

The southern and northern cease-fire lines of the DMZ are called the Southern Limit Line and the Northern Limit Line. The CCL was designated within a distance of 5-20km from the Southern Limit Line of the DMZ to limit and control the entrance of civilians into the area to protect and maintain the security of military operations and facilities near the DMZ.

North Korea’s men had to do military service 7-9 years and women 4-6 years. You can’t get married during military service. 

151 family live in the village at DMZ and 452 people total. They are farmers and grow organic produce as they can’t use pesticides as they can use pesticides to make bombs.

Next, we went to the Observatory Deck to see North Korea.

Only 30% we can get a good view and we are lucky today as we have a very good view of the North Korea.

The tunnel was founded by South Korea in 1974 and they used to be poor while North Korea was richer as they have fields, nuclear, etc. Have to wear helmet in the tunnel and can’t bring any belonging as well as cell phone.

JSA means joint shared area and is monitored by United Nation. 

We are going to the third tunnel which is 358m walkway down and 265m straight. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought. The main thing is that we have to bend our head when we go to the second part of the tunnel as the clearing is not too tall.

Unification village was built in 1973 and has 151 families and one of their local village. After we reached the village, I had to try their Jangdan Soybean Latte as it’s DMZ’s speciality. It has a very unique taste that I don’t really like.

After the collage, we were on our way back to Seoul and had to prepare our passports again as the guards will come and check our identity again and everyone has to be in the bus before we can leave. If anyone is misssing, we can’t leave.

It took about an hour to finally reach Myeongdong. After that, we went to School Food for dinner as we didn’t even have enough time during the tour to eat lunch as we were on a very tight schedule.

After dinner, we shopped around Myeongdong for more beauty products and bought some street food from the night market. Most of the dishes are between 4000 to 15000 Won which is not very cheap for street food. A cup of watermelon cost 6000 Won which is a bit over $4 and I can buy an entire watermelon for less than $8 in the U.S.

Day 8 — Seoul, South Korea

  6/8/2024 Saturday

Itinerary:

• Shinsun Seonongtang
• Juno Hair

We woke up late again today as today will be a free day as well. First, I went to buy some cream for the boys to apply after their laser yesterday. After they apply the cream and sunblock, we went out for lunch at Shinsun Seonongtang. It was pretty bland, so we have to add salt and pepper to our taste. Overall, it was not too bad but there wasn’t too much beef, so we had to eat something else afterwards.

After lunch, we went to Juno Hair as Maddie wants to get highlights on her hair and after we met with the consultant, she also suggested to do extra hair treatment. I asked the boys to go explore while I wait for her which will last about 3 hours with haircut, highlights and treatments. Total cost is about $400 which is not cheap but hopefully worth the experience. They have a coffee, tea and juice selection and I picked the Hibiscus tea while Maddie didn’t picked any drink as she got a boba on the way to the salon.

First the stylist cut her hair, then she and her assistant worked on the highlights.

Day 7 — Gangnam, South Korea

  6/7/2024 Friday

Itinerary:

• Hong Kong Banjeom
• Ppeum Global Gangnam
• Namsan Tower 
• Fried Chicken 

We woke up late today as today is a free day where I don’t have much planned. The main thing that we want to do is to go for some skincare treatment for Mason as he has a cyst on his nose which we took him to see a dermatologist in the US. Even after several doctor’s visits, antibiotics and cream treatments, he still has a bump on his nose. The laser at US would have cost $5000 and even the dermatologist don’t recommend it as it’s too expensive. So we decided to see if he can get it done at Korea for a cheaper price.

First, we had lunch at Hong Kong Banjeom which is opened by a famous Korean chef and have multiple branches. We have one near our hotel, so we went there for lunch. We have to order and pay first before we get to sit at our table. The food was quite good and cheap. 

After lunch, we took the metro to Ppeum Global Gangnam to get Mason’s skin checked. There are many skincare clinics in Gangnam and I chose Ppeum Global as it has a very good review of 4.8 stars out of 5. We saw a lot of people at the clinic and since we didn’t booked an appointment, we had to walk about 1 hour and 30 minutes for the consultation which was complimentary. We saw the consultant for about 30-45 minutes and she suggested different treatments based on what we want to remove. For Mason, he had to do a laser to remove the bump on his nose due to a cyst and also some collagen injections to smooth out his entire face. It cost a little over $400. Anthony also want to remove his dark spot on his face, so he has to do a different kind of laser and she suggested the entire face so that the color looks more even instead of just one area. His treatment was less than $200. Over all, I  paid a little over $600 for both boys and can get a tax refund of about 8%. VAT is 10% but due to administration charge, we are only getting 8% back. The receipt show that they have skin regeneration, skin whitening, anti aging and pore tightening. The cost when the consultant presented to us didn’t include tax. She also gave us 5% discount as first time guest. The clinic also has tax refund machines but it will take 2 months for the refund while at the airport, it will be refunded on the same day.

The treatment for the boys will take about an hour each, so Maddie and I got a drink at Gong Cha while we waited for the boys. It’s kinda of funny that we two girls are not getting any treatment and the boys are.

The treatment for Anthony was only 45 minutes or less but for Mason, it took longer than 1 hour. By the time he was done, it was already 5:30pm and his face was full of needle holes. He mentioned that it hurted quite a bit even with numbing cream as they didn’t apply enough in some areas. He had to hold hard to the chair due to the pain but he toughed it out. 

We were planning to shop around Gangnam but Mason wanted to go back to the hotel and rest, so we took the metro back. After sending borh kids back to their rooms, we left to head to Namsan Tower. It was a short walk to the elevator to go to the cable station. However, there was a huge crowd, so it took more than 30 minutes of waiting just to take the elevator up to the ticket station. Then we had to queue up to buy the cable car tickets. The price for one way is 12000 Won and roundtrip is 15000 Won, so we bought the roundtrip tickets. It was a 45 minutes wait to take the cable car. Once we got to the top, it was already dark. My original plan was to watch the sunset at Namsan Tower but after the long wait, we missed the sunset. The view was still very nice and we saw the area where locks are put up.

We took some pictures and enjoyed the view before heading back down. It was a much shorted wait and by the time we reached back down, it was close to 10pm, so there was not many restaurants open. We picked one that sells fried chicken and ate our late dinner.

Tips in South Korea

 1. Korea is a mainly cashless country, so they take credit cards at most places except at the Metro where we have to insert cash to upload our T money card

2. You can buy the T money card which is the Transportation card at the convenience store such as 7 eleven or CU. There is a 4000 Won cost per card. And you can load the card at the Metro station.

3. Taxi or Uber here is quite reasonable and for a family of 4, it might make sense to take a taxi for short distances instead of metro as it might cost just a couple dollars cheaper to take the metro since the minimum cost per ride in Metro is 1400 Wom 

4. We just got a jumbo taxi outside Incheon airport and it was less than 100k Won. No early reservation needed.

5. Most of the shops process tax refunds when you present them with your passport during purchase. So far the tax refund I’ve been getting is around a little over 5%. Even medical or beauty treatment gets tax refund, but not for hair services like haircuts, etc.

6. We changed some cash at Myeongdong which supposedly has the best rate. On June 2,2024, it was 1381 Won to 1 USD with no extra charge. The credit card was only giving us 1376.

7. Use Naver maps here and it also shows you how to take metro. Very convenient. But sometimes, it can’t read English name, so you might have to copy Korean name. My google map doesn’t work here but my son’s google map does work, so not sure why. I found out that I needed to update my google map to use it. 

8. Beauty work cost cheaper in Korea and my boys came to Ppeum Global Gangnam for their laser work. They even have tax refund machines at the place. We just walked in but had to wait for 1 hour and 30 minutes for consultation. After 30-45 minutes of consultation, we paid for the treatment and the boys were taken to a different section of the office to wash their face and get numbing cream for Mason as he needs to also get injection to add collagen to his skin to even them out. Since it was Mason’s first time, they let him wait for 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes after applying the numbing cream before they start his laser and injection procedure for his entire face. His treatment for a bit over $400 which probably will cost over $5000 in the US. Anthony’s treatment of pico laser etc is less than $200. But these laser treatments need to be done every few months to maintain.

Day 6 — Nami Island, South Korea

6/6/2024 Thursday

Itinerary:

• Angel In Us Cafe
• Petite France
• Little Italy
• Lunch 
• Nami Island
• Gangchon Rail Bike

We have to wake up early today as I had booked a day tour to Petite France, Little Italy, Nami Island and Gamgchon Rail bike ride today. We bought some pastries at Angel In Us cafe which is next to the meeting point of Lotte City Hotel which is a 15 minutes walk from our hotel. The workers were going to warm up our pastries but since we have a tour to go, we told them to just put them in bags so that we can eat them on the bus.

The bus came on time at 7:30 am but we had to wait for a couple of minutes for a group of members. Altogether, there were 18 members today. The ride to Petite France is usually 2 hours but it took more than 3 hours today due to traffic as it’s a holiday weekend in Korea. The tour guide recommends that we try out Chuncheon Dakgalbi dish as it’s the specialty dish at Nami Island. So we decide to eat at the same restaurant that he will be eating and preordered our lunch while at the bus so that food will be ready when we arrive.

Day 5 — Seoul, South Korea

 6/5/2024 Wednesday

Itinerary:

• Issac Toast
• Hongdae 
• Gwangjang Market
• Dongdaemun Market
• Doota Mall
• Hello apM
• Hyundai City Outlet
• Seoul Station Lotte Outlets
• Lotte Mart Zettaplex

We had breakfast at Issac Toast again for the 3rd time as Korea doesn’t really have any breakfast place and most of them just buy their breakfast ar 7 eleven stores. After breakfast, we took the metro to Hongsik University to go to Hongdae. We reached there around 10am and realized that most shops were not opened yet. Most stores will open at 11;30am, so we just walked around and bought some fruits at a local store. The department stores near our hotel also sell fruits but they are so expensive. We also bought some drinks as it’s pretty hot today. We were lucky as the past few days were pretty cool in Korea.

Since most stores in Hongdae were not open, so we decided to take the metro to Gwangjang market to check out the traditional market. It was about 25 minutes subway ride. We walked around the market but it was so cramped in parts of the market, so we just bought some cold fruits to eat as it was very hot inside the market.

Next, we walked to Doota Mall to have some lunch as it was hot, so we wanted to eat somewhere with AC. We ordered some Korean dishes and they were pretty good. After lunch, we walked to Hello apM to shop for clothes. The material wasn’t great, so we didn’t buy anything and went to get some ice cream at Hyundai City Outlets.

Since Mason wants to hang out with his friends, so we divided to pack more locations to go so that he can have a free day to hang out with his Korean friends. So we took the Metro to Seoul Station to buy some snacks. 

Day 2 — Seoul, South Korea

6/2/2024 Sunday

Itinerary:

• Incheon Airport
• MOXY Myeongdong Hotel
• Olive Young
• Myeongdong Kyoja

We arrived at Incheon Airport after taking a 2 hour 30 minutes flight from Taiwan. We took the jumbo taxi from the taxi stand and it was about a hour drive to the hotel for less than 100,000 Korean Won. 

We checked in to our hotel and luckily they were able to let us into our room right away as it was only 1:30pm and their regular checkin time was 3pm. We took some rest before heading out to shop at Olive Young and some other shops around. Later, we went to Myeongdong Kyoja to try their famous dumplings and it was pretty good and cheap. 

Day 3 — Seoul, South Korea

 6/3/2024 Monday

Itinerary:

• Issac Toast
• Gyeongbokgung Palace
• National Palace Museum
• Bukchon Hanok Village
• Insadong
• Starbucks Reserve
• Cheonggyecheon Stream
• Olive Young
• Lotte Mall
• Myeongdong Night Market

We woke up early today as we were very jet lagged and slept early at 7pm last night. After getting ready, we went to Issac Toast to get our breakfast sandwiches. It was a short walk from our hotel and our first time there. They only sell 5 different kind of sandwiches and the price was pretty cheap.

We were initially planning to visit the Starfield Coex Library today but since we were still tired, we didn’t want to go too far today and were told by our hotel staff that the Gyeongbokgung palace would be closed tomorrow (Tuesday), so we decided to change our plan and go to the palace today. The hotel staff told us that the taxi would be only a bit more expensive than taking the metro, so we decided to take a taxi there. It was a short drive and we bought our tickets when we reached there. Kids under 18 are free, so we only had to pay for 2 adults. It was only 3000 Korean Won per adult and if you are dressed in traditional Korean costumes, you get in for free.

Since we reached there before 9am, it was quite empty and had only a few visitors, so we were able to take pictures without the crowd. By the time we were done, there were huge crowd as many visitors came with huge tour buses. We also saw the guard changing ceremony at 10am. Afterwards, we went to the National Palace Museum to watch the exhibition and the entrance fee was free. We stayed for a bit before heading to Bukchon Hanoi Village to check out the traditional Korean houses. It was a 20-25 minutes walk there.

We didn’t stayed too long and went to Insadong to have lunch and did some shopping there. The kids were getting tired and we decided to head back to our hotel and on the way, we saw a Starbucks Reserve and had to stopped by to have some drinks. We rested our feet and had our drinks before heading back. On the way, we passed by the Cheonggyecheon Stream and was told that it’s really nice at night. 

We finally reached our hotel and took a nap before heading out for dinner. We shopped at Olive Young again and went to the Lotte Mall near our hotel for dinner and shopped around there. Went back to our hotel for a rest before heading out again for the Myeongdong Night Market. The night market was packed for a Monday night and we just shopped around but didn’t eat any street food as we were afraid to get sick.

Day 4 — Seoul, South Korea

 6/4/2024 Tuesday

Itinerary:

• Issac Toast
• Starfield Coex Library
• Starfield Coex Mal
• Parnas Mall
• Hyundai Mall 
• Myeongdong 

We woke up early today as we were still a bit jet lagged. After getting ready, we went to Issac Toast to get our breakfast sandwiches. It was pretty delicious and I had the ham and cheese sandwich.

Then we walked to Eulijiro 1-ga Metro station which is about 5 minutes walk from our hotel to take Line 2 to Starfield Coex Library which is at Samseong Station Exit 6. 

The library was very busy and we took some pictures before getting our drinks at the Starbucks. The kids have the Peach Strawberry drink which we don’t have in the U.S. Next, we just went shopping at the different malls that are all connected together before heading back to our hotel as Maddie wasn’t feeling well. Mason then left to meet his friend Justin as he was also in Korea.