2017년 마자막날 아침, 박여사님께서 1박 2일로 고향에 내려가신다고 하셔서 버스터미널에 모셔다 드렸다. 일 년에 며칠 없는 혼자 지내는 휴일이라 오전엔 일단 낙원상가 옆 유진식당에 가 보기로 했다. 한 도시에 가면 그 곳의 대표 음식을 소개하신다는 황교익 선생님께서 알쓸신잡 종로편에서 점심메뉴로 고르신 곳이니 믿음이 가긴 하지만, 내가 아는 낙원동의 특성상 박여사님이 드시기엔 살짝 사나운(?) 음식일 수도 있기에 내가 먼저 검증을 해보기로.

을지로3가로 나와 수표교를 건너다가 청계천을 가까이 보고 싶어져 아래로 내려갔다. 강물이 어~엄청 맑은 것을 보니 역시 서울의 수돗물 아리수다. 종각 쪽으로 잠깐 올라가다 삼일교 밑을 지나는데 새끼 고양이의 야옹거리는 소리가 다리 안쪽에 계속 울린다. ‘가방에 고양이 사료 통조림이 하나 남았는데...’ 징검다리를 건너다니며 다리 주위를 두 바퀴를 돌았지만 소리만 울릴 뿐 고양이는 보이지 않는다. ‘다리 구조물 안쪽에서 엄마를 기다리고 있는 거겠지...’ 라고 생각하며 다시 낙원상가쪽으로 향했다.

유진식당은 내가 300번은 스쳐지나갔을 골목 입구에 떡하니 있었다. 아침부터 노숙자님들이 서로 주고받는 욕설이 우렁차다. 오전 10시 10분. 식당 앞에서 무를 다듬고 계시는 아주머니께 언제 문을 여냐고 물어봤더니 10시 반부터라 하신다. 익선동 골몰을 한 바퀴 돌고 나서 식당 앞으로 가보니 안쪽에 식사중인 손님 한 명이 보인다. 나도 안으로 들어가 냉면을 시키니 돌아온 말: 냉면은 11시부터 되는데.

국밥은 10시 반부터 가능하지만 냉면은 11시가 되어야 먹을 수 있단다. 알고 보니 정식 오픈시간이 11시. 매스컴 탄 집 좌석을 홀로 차지하고 앉아 30분을 기다릴 자신이 없어 다시 밖으로 나와 인사동 골목을 왕복하며 나머지 30분을 채운 뒤 냉면을 먹을 수 있었다.

가게 안의 첫 인상은 콧속을 가득 채우는 돼지 머리고기 냄새. ‘아.. 여긴 박여사님은 힘들 수도 있겠네’ 라고 생각하며 주위를 둘러보니 다들 소주에 국밥뿐, 아무도 냉면을 먹고 있지 않다. ‘나만 시킨 것일까?’ 라고 생각하며 15분쯤 기다리니 냉면이 나왔지만 내 순서는 아니다. 다 국밥을 먹고 있던 다른 사람들이 시켜놓은 것. 냉면은 11시에 담당자가 자리를 잡고 오더가 시작된 후 만드는 데 15분쯤 걸리는 시스템이네.

국물의 첫 모금은 심심하다. 평양냉면을 좋아하는 편인 내 입에도 좀 심심. 대신 메밀 향이 솔솔 올라온다. 마지막 면발을 빨아들일 때엔 ‘이 집은 향이 맛있는 집이구나’라는 깨달음이 왔다. 심심한 평양냉면 집은 집에 돌아와 한참은 지나야 다시 생각이 나는데 이 집은 식당을 나서자마자 다시 먹고픈 마음이 생긴다. 이미 뱃속으로 들어가 버린 냉면에서마저 고소한 메밀향이 계속 올라오기 때문에.

Actually I had a long post on this hotel, which I accidentally deleted yesterday. Right now I had to rewrite this whole thing; rewriting is a chore; so...here it goes. This is my 5th time to Korea. Many of my friends thought that I had a boyfriend in Korea, as I am visiting this country rather frequently for the past 2 years. I do not know when I will get tired of visiting this lovely country; I hope that day will never come. Anyway I am visiting Seoul with my friend Wendy; despite the mountains of work to be done, we decide to chunk everything aside for this trip. The 2 of us had a little business together, which has managed to finally earn enough profit for this retreat. Both of us could not resist the charm of Kpop music and dramas, so Korea will be naturally be our first choice for this retreat.

We checked in our luggage at 17kg and 17.2kg respectively. It is considered heavy right? As we are waiting at the boarding gate, there was this lady who came over to do a survey with us about Changi Airport, after which she gave us a pen as a token of appreciation. It's a timely gift as Wendy realised the pen she brought along ran out of ink. This time around, it's a straight 6 hours flight via Singapore Airlines, and I thank Lord Jesus for it. A few times, I would want to save that few hundred bucks and choose to travel by Cathay or China Air with a transit, which will take me about 10-12 hours. Though transiting is not as tiring as many would thought, but a straight flight to Korea will always be better.

The best thing about Singapore Airlines would be the abundance of choices for the entertainment programs. I wanted to sleep through the journey, as it is a midnight flight, but the movies were too alluring. I was flipping through the pages and spotted Shinhwa Broadcast in the program list, but it's not an episode that I want to re-watch; finally I settled with "Life of Pi"; which left me with only 4 hours to rest before reaching Seoul.

We took the Incheon Airport line, did a transit to Jongno-Samga.

Address:     6F, 30-1, Ikseon-dong, Jongno-gu, Jongno-Gu Seoul, 110-340 Korea, South 서울특별시 종로구 익선동 30-1 6층 , 종로구 (서울특별시, 110-340) Phone:     +827081616441 We are staying at Lavinia Hotel this time. Although Shinchon Guesthouse is my first choice for accommodation, it's fully booked during our period of stay. Wendy did some research and settled for Lavinia Hotel, there were a lot of good reviews about it too; we can't wait to settle down.

There are several ways to get to this hotel; it is a 2-3min walk from both Anguk and Jongno-Samga station. But if you are checking in on the first day with your luggage and such, taking the airport bus #6011 will be the best choice. It will cost 10,000won and the journey takes about 1hr 10min. You can have a good nap in the bus; hassle free. The bus stop will be near the Changdeok Palace, upon arrival, you can then take a good 2-3min stroll down to the hotel as shown in the map. More information about airport bus here. We took the subway to Jongno-Samga with the intention of walking to the hotel from the station, was a huge mistake; there were no lifts or escalator up to the ground level. The sight of pulling a 17kg luggage up the stairs is not a pretty sight. Luckily, one of the staff who works at the station helped us carry the luggage up. This is the result of not doing enough research before coming; lesson learnt.

I am glad that checking in was a breeze. We arrived at about 9am at the hotel, the sweet lady in charge Vicky was kind enough to allow an early check in at no charge; other hotels will usually implement a half day charge. Our room was clean and tastefully decorated with 2 beds, a basic washroom and a balcony.

The room was near to perfect; expect later during the stay I realise the hotel do not provide/replenish towels automatically outside our room daily; if we want clean towels, we would have to ask. However we would usually go out very early in the morning, and return very late in the night, it's quite hard for us to bump into them, and I do not want to wake them up just for clean towels. There's no tissue and water heater in the room too, just one in the common rest room for all to share. If one of rooms decide to keep the water heater for themselves, the others would have to go to other floors to boil water, which was what we did. Another thing that I realise is, the floors are not heated up in the night, which Shinchon Guesthouse would practise during cold seasons. The above all is not a must, but simple touches will make the stay for tourists like us more comfortable.

The common resting room on each floor will include facilities like washing machine, PC with internet, coffee making machine and water heater. This place is overall pleasant to stay, but given a choice Shinchon Guesthouse is still my favourite; not just because of the facilities, but also for the love of Ewha Woman University shopping street. This stay in Lavinia Hotel cost us about $40SDG per head per night. Lastly, this is my bed; with a colour I'm most proud of. ^^