World cup Market (Mangwon Market) and Han River, a slice of culture and local living.

One of my favourite districts in Seoul is Mangwon. It's located just next to Hongdae, but because it's mainly a housing area it allows you to experience a part of the local's daily lives. To get there you can either walk from Hongdae,which is what i like to do since it requires a change of lines to get there by train. Or you could take the bus no 9 from Hongdae.

The red line is the route you want to take. The long silver line is Mangwon market.

Exit at exit 2 even if you take the wrong exit, it's alright, just cross the road and you'll be back on track. Turn right and go through the alley, you will see lots of shops and restaurants. On a hot day you can get a drink from Juicee, one of my favourite juice franchises as they are really affordable and yummy.

This restaurant sells pretty good Haejangguk, 해장국. Although it says it's a 24 hour shop, the last time i tried to have a meal at about 10 am, i was told that the rice was not done. Therefore i would suggest visiting only for lunch or dinner. In fact most of the restaurants in Korean seem to only open after 11 am. Of course you can find small noodle houses that open before that.

This restaurant's specialty is Soondae which is korean blood sausage. But they also have a variety of other disses. The Haejangguk is pretty good.

This is Haejangguk 해장국, which is what they call hangover soup. It's made from pork bones and served with rice and kimchi. The meat is soft and tender, the soup really fragrant. A warning though, like most korean dishes, it's spicy.

This is Kimchi with internal organs, 김치내장국밥.Won't really recommend it as it has a pig stomach taste and although it doesn't taste bad i kinda covers he kimchi flavour. S if you primarily wanted kimchi chigae 김치치게this is not for you.

A cute cafe that serves cute cakes and drinks. The door actually looks like a vending machine. And it's a popular instagram spot

In the day time there will be numerous fruit and vegetable sellers displaying their wares by the side of the road. Fruits here are pretty cheap, especially since there are fruits like peach, blueberries, nectarines, strawberries and grapes, which are pretty costly in Malaysia. I would suggest looking around before buying as all the stalls sell their wares at various prices and carry different varieties of fruits. Also since these are on the way to the train station it would be more practical to just get them on the way back.

Once you walk further down the road, you will find an alley on your right that says World cup market. There will be various country flags hung above the whole alley. This market spans 2 blocks, you'll have to cross the road to get to the 2nd part. Here you can enjoy numerous authentic traditional street food, enjoy hand made noodles, snacks, household items, seafood, meat and there is even a Daiso and Face shop there. The store keepers are generally very nice, however most of them have limited to no understanding of english. But if all else fails, sign language is a good medium.

The best time to visit the market would be after 10.30 am. As that is when they start opening and cooking the food.

* if you continue on past the market there are also lots of other restaurants and cafe's.

The entrance to the second half of the market

Banchan Shop. Banchan are korean side dishes commonly eaten together with a meal.

This shop is selling a variety of things, there is bean paste 된장, acorn jelly 도토리묵, eggs and SikHye 식헤 (Sweet rice drink)

Seafood shop

Traditional Bread/pastry shop

Yummy Ddeok. Plsnote that Ddeok should be eaten on the same day as it doesn't taste as good the next day and tend to harden. Also do not put them in the fridge as it turns into a rock. So buy what you can eat for that day. However those meant for soup r cooking are exceptional.

Dried seafood shop

Once you've had your fill you can take a walk at the Han river. Just back track to the road where you crossed to the 2nd part of the market. Walk downwards away from the train station. Go all the way straight till you reach a mini roundabout and tunnel. Go through the tunnel and cross the road. You'll see a convenience shop, you can get ramen, drinks and snacks here. If you walk further down you will see the river. There are bicycle and jogging tracks there and a playground. Occasionally you may find people fishing as well.

Sometimes on the way there will be an old man with a truck that sells traditional korean snacks like sweet potatoe chips and rice crackers.

On the way there are shops renting out camping/picnic equipment.

There are many packages to choose from. You can get ones with a tent or without or even just the basic mat.They are usually rented out by the day.

Pretty wall on the way to the Han river

The wall you will see at the roundabout

Go through the bridge and you'll see the convenience store and the Han river

Instant noodle stove/cooking area. You can take you food and enjoy it at the tables outside or by the river.

Playground by the Han river

Camping/picnic ground next to the play ground

The view of the Han river and Seongsang bridge

The red line is the route you should take to get to the Han river. as you can see along the Han river there are many activities that can be done. The bridge next to Mangwon park is Seongsan Bridge.

On the left side of the round about you will find Seoul Battleship park. Which is sorta like a museum for battleships.

When my sister and i stayed i this area our host recommend this restaurant to us. It's pretty easy to find as it's on the way to the Han river, on the left before the roundabout. The best thing about this restaurant is that it caters to the locals. We were told that usually taxi drivers eat here, hence the 24h service. Although if you can't speak korean it might a bit hard to dine here. There a 2 ways you can order, either you see something you like someone is having and just point at it or you can try my recommendations :)

The first time we dine there we asked what she would recommend and she recommended a spicy stir fry pork. We were really surprised with the taste, It's nothing i've ever tried before in seoul. The meat was so fragrant and not too spicy, paired with rice it was a great meal. The second time we went we decided to try Budaechigae (Army Stew), this one we were a bit dissapointed, there was nothing special about it and the ingredients used are really basic as it's suppose to be an army meal.

Spicy Stir fry pork 돼지불백. It costs *8,000 won a portion. If you order 2 portions, the will put it all into one pan.

Army Stew 부대찌개. It contains korean bean sprout, ham, sausage, ramen and some veg.

***Went there again in 2019, the price has gone up to 8,000 won. tried the grilled mackerel and it was sooo yummy.

I've translated the menu, so if you can try other dishes. Let me know what you've tried and if it's good. :)

돼지불백 - Spicy BBQ pork (Dweji Bul Bek)

고추장불백-Chilli paste BBQ pork (GochujangBulBek)

부대찌개 - Army Stew (Budae Chigae)

두루치기 - Stir Fry Pork

'낙지볶음 - Spicy octopus (Nakji Bokem)

김치찌개 - Kimchi Stew (Kimchi Chigae)

우렁된장 - Sea slug/snail bean paste soup (Urong Dwenjang)

청국장 - Bean paste soup (jong guk jang)

고등어조림 - Braised Mackerel (Godengojorim)

갈치조림- Braised Cutlass fish (Galchijorim)

조기매운탕 - Spicy Yellow croaker fish soup (JogiMehunTang)

동태찌개 - Pollack Fish Stew (Dong Tae Chigae)

생선구이 - Grilled Spanish mackerel (Seng soen gu e)

대구탕 - Cod Fish soup (Daegu Tang)

불낙 - Bulgogi/beef and Octopus (BulNak)

삼겹살 - 3 layer pork (Samgyupsal)

Restaurant Location depending which direction your coming from

So far what we have covered is just the west side of Mangwon. On the east there is no river or market, however there are tons of cafes, restaurants and boutique shops. It makes a nice area to stroll if you just want to see how korea's housing area looks like and try out the different cuisines available.

These are the 2 buses that service the hongdae / mangwon area

These 2 buses service the Namdaemun to Mangwon area. So if your staying at Seoul station or Myeongdong these buses will bring you to Mangwon.

Hope you enjoy Mangwon as much as i did.