Posted by Day 5. If I’m being totally honest I have to say that I didn’t find anything particularly compelling in Gangnam, or to be fair, maybe just in the places that we went to.
Every ‘To Do in Gangnam’ list says to visit Starfield COEX Mall to checkout Starfield Library and Psy’s Statue of Gangnam Style (from Psy’s 2012 megahit song) and so we did. But it was the cold noodles that I had for lunch from a small local restaurant at the mall basement that made an impression in COEX. Maybe we should have visited COEX Aquarium instead.
From the mall we took a short cab ride to Garosu-gil, a shopping street that is also known for the ginkgo trees that lined the street. We bought souvenirs, mostly BTS items. I regretted not getting Korean-designed fashion earrings.
Lotte Hotel Seoul
In the afternoon, we headed back to Myeongdong and the central business district where our accommodation, Lotte Hotel Seoul, was located. It’s a typical luxury business hotel and we chose it for its proximity to most of the places that we wanted to visit in Seoul. The hotel is connected to Lotte Department Store which added to our restaurant options. There is a metro station just opposite the hotel, but taxi is cheap in Korea and so we never got to use to the trains. This hotel is big and quite busy in the lobby but they had sufficient staff to accommodate the guests. The food in the lobby was good too and available late in the night.
Korean BBQ
The highlight of the day for us was probably our sumptuous dinner at Twoppul, a Korean BBQ restaurant that specialises in aged beef sirloin. The restaurant is located in Seoul Finance Centre but it has branches in other parts of Seoul.
#WhereHasWinterTakenYou – South Korea 2022
Other posts on this series:
South Korean Winter: Trip Overview
Snowboarding in South Korea: Our Experience
Snowy Land: Winter Playground in Vivaldi Park Ski Resort
Light Display: Enchanting Garden of Morning Calm
We Travel Happy 
That Korean bbq looks amazing!
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This was probably just my 2nd time eating aged beef and I must say I’m liking it. 🙂 Happy New Year Miriam!
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I can see why dinner was the highlight of your day. Looks delicious!
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Hi there Linda, yes it was delicious! I hope you’re doing and feeling great, and loving the winter. Back here in Singapore, it’s been raining (almost everyday). Oh happy New Year! 🙂
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Your post reminds me that I haven’t gone back to Seoul in a long time. I remember COEX as some exhibition center with a mall attached to it, something like Suntec City. And a place where the airport express bus stops.
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Yes like Suntec, you’re right! Did you like it though? I didn’t find anything particularly interesting there. The library looks good but that was it. When you do go back to Seoul, make time for their National Museum, it’s amazing!
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I thought it was meh seriously. Back then there wasn’t any library which looks really cool. It was very business like.
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The BBQ looks fantastic, and as a former librarian I’m rather taken with the Starfield Library too 🙂
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Oh Sarah happy New Year! We’ve just arrived from our year end holiday and I haven’t visited your site yet to continue reading your DPKR blogs. Wow that was an awesome job! I used to work as a library volunteer, too, a few years back, and I loved it. I especially liked it when the kids would ask for recommendations. That library in Starfield is nice to look at in pictures but it’s crowded with tourists (I think) and since it is in a mall, there’s a lot of people walking about and no place to really read or relax. We ended up just having cake and tea in the cafe inside the library.
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Happy new year! No hurry to read those posts, they’re not going anywhere 😆 But it is interesting to make the comparison between the two countries, with their shared history and past culture but very different present-days!
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The library looks wonderful, I love visiting library buildings when I travel. One of the London train stations has a Christmas tree made of books last year; wouldn’t that have looked great in there!
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Oh my gosh, I googled it just now. It was in St Pancras, 12 meters, 3800 book, winding staircase! Spectacular! Did you get to see it?
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I did and it was fabulous. The perfect tree for a book lover😊
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The Starfield Library looks very interesting (and your food, too). I’ll be totally lost with the food because it’s dishes I don’t know at all!
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Oh Korean dishes are really good! I also don’t know their names (except the kimchi) but I eat all of them hahaha. They usually come with lots of side dishes even if you order just one mains. Like their neighbour Japan, Korea’s BBQ is really good too 🙂
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I only had less than an hour in Gangnam when we last visited Seoul, and I’m keen on going back to get to know it more. Curious to see Starfield Library as I always see it on socmed.
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You know when we went to Starfield Lib, we ended up just having merienda. It’s right inside the mall, open and all, with lots of tourists, there’s no way one can read anything there heheh. We only snapped a few photos there and left to find more interesting things to see and do. To be honest, if one only has a few days to spend in Seoul, it would be alright to miss Gangnam. The other places are far more interesting. 🙂
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I am in awe of Starfield Library ( could this be one of the best places to visit in Seoul?) I would like to visit one day to take pictures and then sit somewhere and read a book. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day. I hope all is well with you and your family 🙂 Aiva xx
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