Explore South Korea with Jordann! - Chuseok Day 2: Starfield COEX Mall + Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tombs + Banpo Han River Park (스타필드 코엑스몰 + 선릉과정릉 + 반포한강공원)

Welcome to day two (2) of my Chuseok series (Sunday, September 15, 2024)! Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after a good night’s rest from climbing up and down (and up and up…and up) those stairs in Gwangmyeong Cave, my friends and I decided to head out for day two of our Chuseok plans! First up: Starfield COEX Mall (스타필드 코엑스몰) in Gangnam (강남)!

I did not know about this coming in, but COEX is the world’s second-largest mall! Because of this, my friends and I did not get to explore even 25% of the mall, to be completely honest. But that means I’ll keep going back to explore more and more! (Stay tuned for a later blog post about further adventures in COEX!)

Before you get your hopes up, no, my friends and I did not find the Gangnam Style statue ㅠㅠ. We came to the wrong entrance of COEX to see the statue (the statue is right by the mall). But trust and believe me, I will find that statue, and I will take a picture in front of it with me doing the iconic Gangnam Style pose (PSY, thank you for your contributions to society and my childhood).

When we got to COEX, we first decided to eat because it was lunchtime, and frankly, we were starving. Most of my friends did not want to eat vegan or vegetarian food, so we had to split up because I cannot eat meat or seafood. So, me and one other friend went to a vegan restaurant called Plantude (플랜튜드). I ordered the Fried Assorted Mushroom and Tofu (Gangjeong) (모둠 버섯 두부 강정), which is actually on their side menu, but trust me, it is more than enough for one person to eat a whole meal. Y’all. This menu item. I was shocked, pleasantly surprised, enjoyably befuddled, if you will. This stuff was SO GOOD! I don’t know what they put in that sauce, but it is HEAVENLY, and the lotus root and bell peppers were the perfect touch. I’m not going to get super into the food/restaurant (as I will save that for my restaurant series!) but trust me, this place is worth returning to again and AGAIN! Ahem. I digress.

After that mouthwatering meal (I’m getting hungry just thinking about it omg), the group met back up for some light window shopping. Something else that surprised me about COEX was how not-dead mall culture was in Korea. Back in the States, especially where I’m from, malls are pretty much dead. I couldn’t tell you the last time I went to a mall in my home state to shop (and not go to Round1 or a Go Kart track). Anyways, this is to say that COEX was decidedly not dead and was actually pretty busy. We couldn’t spend much time there, though, as we had other plans.

After COEX, we went to the Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tombs site (선릉과정릉), which is a UNESCO heritage site! The tombs were near COEX, so we decided to walk to it. The site was separated into two parts: Seolleung, where King Seongjong (ninth king of the Joseon dynasty) and his wife, Queen Jeonghyeon, are buried, and Jeongneung, where Seongjong’s son, King Jungjong (eleventh king of the Joseon dynasty), is buried. King Jungjong overthrew his older half-brother, Yeonsangun (the tenth king of the Joseon dynasty), because Yeonsangun was a tyrant.

Walking around the site (which is actually pretty big– it takes about an hour to walk down the crafted trails, but even longer if you wanted to explore every crevice of the site) was almost a surreal experience. This site has a lot of rich history and religion to explore and absorb. Seeing the tomb sites (where the Kings and the Queen were buried) in person and not just through a photo online is something I can’t really describe. I urge you to visit some of these UNESCO heritage sites to experience it yourself!

Funnily enough, inside the tombkeeper’s house (in the style of a traditional Korean hanok), my friends and I were accosted by yet another person. This time, it was an older man who spoke perfect English (probably because he majored in English Language and Literature when he went to college). He talked to us for around 30 minutes before we said that we wanted to explore the rest of the site, at which point he took it upon himself to be a personal tour guide for us. He contributed to making the English translation of the site guide/map, so he knew this place (and its history) like the back of his hand. It was really cool to have an almost personal tour guide to give us “insider knowledge” about the site, though we were still confused and cautious. He ended up being harmless, but it never hurts to be cautious. We felt a little more comfortable because we were all in a group instead of alone, which helped.

After our personal guide around the site, we headed to Banpo Han River Park (반포한강공원), where the beautiful Banpo Bridge light show is! We originally wanted to participate in the tradition of eating ramen by the Han River, but by the time we got to the nearest 7-Eleven, the line of people waiting to put hot water into their ramen was way too long. Therefore, we decided to go to the nearest Mom’s Touch and get fries for dinner. Watching the light show was so cool! We weren’t extremely close, but close enough to experience the light show in its full glory. After sitting and eating for a bit, I headed home to get some much-needed rest after being on my feet all day.

Please enjoy the photos at the top of this blog! I can never fit all the pictures I took on these days, so I highly encourage you to go and explore these places for yourself to get the full experience!

See you soon in the third day of my Chuseok holiday! <3