![On Oct 23, we departed from Gwangju back to Seoul for a 4 hours bus ride after the Gwangju Kimchi Festival. The bus ride was quite interesting because it was baseball game day and almost everybody was glued to the tv in the bus and even if you looked outside of the bus, you could see most Koreans were catching the baseball games on tv everywhere. In the news they aired the interview with David Choi who was in Seoul at the beginning of Oct to promote his album- I still wish I could have attend his concert but oh well with Bi and Dream Concerts, there was no competition right? xD
There were so many memorable things about being in Seoul itself that I can’t possibly fit into this one entry. For one moment I felt so comfortable being among the Korean crowds that I almost feel like it’s home to me except all the signages tell you that you are not ^^; I hope the pictures and some highlights will justify my 12 days stay in Seoul itself even though I didn’t get to do that many activities that I wanted [frolicking at Hangang, visit KBS Sukira, watch a movie, eat patbingsu (팥빙수), etc] or go to places [due to the cold freezing weather trip to one of the northest part of South Korea, Odulsan Unification Observatory (오두산통일 정망대) was cancelled, Namsan Tower, 1st Shop of Coffee Prince Cafe (커피프린스 1호점) at Hongik (홍익), etc]
Part 6: Seoul Part2 200910123 - 20091104
Accommodation: Travellers A Hostel - reservation from Innostel during Seoul Grand Sale with 20%
Highlights:
+ I wasn’t very keen on our final place to stay. And the fact that we arrived in Seoul late evening at Dongdaemun with the place hard to find at a secluded corned (luckily the Koreans we asked were kind enough to call Travellers A to ask for direction and even walked with us to the place) just turned me off on top of the inconvenient key-slot lighting system in the room. But the location is really strategic if you want to take a walk at the nearby Cheonggyecheon Stream or to the Dongdaemun Shopping Heaven xD [Read my review on TripAdvisor][Photos]
+ Dongdaemun (동대문) is where you shop for decent clothings, accesories, bags, shoes, etc until the dawn. There are also lots of old bookstalls where you can find gems of old books/mags (though mostly fashion mags) if you have the patient to look through everything one by one. For e.g., I bought a good children Korean-English books ala dictionary which original price is 10K won but I got it at 2K won ;)) To be honest I don’t think I have finished exploring the entire Dongdaemun and its vicinnity including the big markets (like Chungbu or Bangsan Markets) around the area even though I stayed there :”) [Photos]
+ Mey with my Korean friend, Sera who brought us to Samcheondong-gil (삼청동 길) for a walk and samgyeopsal for dinner. The place was a beauty during night time and we had the most expensive choco drinks at 10,000won O.o We also stopped by Gwanghamun (광하문) and from this moment onwards I have lost the number of times I have been to Gwanghamun within these 12 days of time. [Photos]
+ Ilsan (일산)..oh Ilsan…I like it because it’s the first area with the finest autumn leaves I have seen so far throughout this trip *haha* The weather is chilly though it can be hot if you walk a lot. The MBC recording studio is located here and believe it or not we actually went to Ilsan like 3 times while in Seoul: (1) Misarang Imsil Cheese Pizza (임실치즈피자) for Papa Su’s pizza parlor and the pizzas were really smacking delicious that I think it could be the corn that blended together with cheese or something that made the taste so nicely different *^* [Photos], (2) MBC Show! Music Core (쇼! 음악중심) live recording session- well can’t really go to Korea without participating in the music shows I always enjoy watching right? ;p And also for Crebeau Belle [Photos], (3) Lyne won herself a spot to get SHINee’s autograph at La Fiesta so I accompanied her there and spent good amount time at Hanyang Bookstore ;p *prior to (3) we were at Kangnam-gu (강남구) area stopping by at Crebeau KISS [Photos]
+ Apgujeong (압구정) is where we met another mutual Korean friend where we ate quite a fulfilling lunch served with so many banchan (side dishes) and you can even ask for refill- only 6,500won/person *^* Lyne also treated us to gelato at TVXQ Micky Yucheon’s TimeOut Gelato. It’s 4,500won for two scoops and varieties flavour for you to choose from- quite delicious ^o^ We also tracked down SM’s Everysing (as well as e-table) because I have to help friends to buy stuff. And also SME building just for the satisfaction of locating it! We were at Apgujeong for 3 times and yet we totally missed out on Shinhwa Eric’s franchise of Market-O and we didn’t go to the posh-looking Galleria. Basically everything here in Apgujeong is P.O.S.H. [Photos1][Photos2]
+ If Myeondong doesn’t kill you with its available choices of shopping, then the shopping streets around Ehwa University certainly will *headdesk* We were too busy going into shops, browsing items, haggling prices, etc we didn’t even bother doing anything tourist like taking pics after the initial breakfast pics ;p Also stumbled upon 2nd hand bookstore, Book-Off that sells manhwa and CDs at the lowest 1,000won *^* [Photos]
+ Ittaewon (이태원) is er boring….I couldn’t locate where they filmed the Full House for Super Junior (슈퍼주니어), which was the main pt of going there for me after watching the TVShow because in the show the place looked epic. Other than antiques and if you are interested in buying more fashion items then you probably wouldn’t want to go there :”) [Photos]
+ The Cheonggyecheon Stream (청계천) [runs through the Dongdaemun as well] has many parts that are worth visiting and they are separated by bridges with different names, e.g. Laundry Site. In the guide book it said you need at least 3 hours to go from one end of the stream to another but I just cut to parts of it and walked from Dongdaemun Stadium all the way to Gwanghamun nearby Kyobo Building (in which the largest bookstore, Kyobo Book Centre, 교보문고 is located) and it took me 1 hour or so..uhm because I walked fast though I did sit and rest to check out certain bridges with themes. Overall this is my most fave part of Seoul, you can get to anywhere just walking safely without needing to bother on the traffics and you are not walking under the sun on most parts- IT’S REALLY GOOD~~~~~~~~ ^^b [Photos]
+ Tried locating the Baskin Robins where they filmed the You’re Beautiful drama coz I remember seeing the Gwanghamun Station entrance/exit but couldn’t find it T_T Gwanghamun is like the connecting point where you can decide to walk to Namdaemun Market (남대문) (aka ala Dongdaemun 2), Myeongdong (aka ala Dongdaemun 3) or Jongno (중로) (where huge Youngpoong bookstore is located and they have huge sections of stationaries as well as collection of books *~*)
+ Namsan (남산)..oh you just need to go up the hill (the Namsan Guesthouse is up the hill and you wouldn’t want to stay there, trust me..you wouldn’t want to go out everyday because it just takes too much of your power calf up the hill O_o) for the Namsan Tower. It’s expensive though for us Malaysians- 7,500 won for the cable car and then another 7-8K won for the tower admission. We skipped this because Lyne didn’t want to go and instead we back down to Myeongdong for more shopping and food!
+ Myeongdong (명동) is where you can go broke if you have no self control! You can buy almost anything and everything that your lil heart desire from fashion to books to music stuff to fangirling stuff and food and gadgets and so much more- IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO THERE IF YOU ARE UNPREPARED!!! D: Everything is like affordable and before you realised it you ended up with random things that you may not neessarily need and adds to your baggage limit O.o Don’t forget to visit Kwon Sangwoo’s Tea’US (more info)for the delicious hot chocolate! :)) [Photos]
+ There was one day and that is on Nov 2nd that the temperature dropped to 0 celcius and it was so freaking freezing cold that it was crazy to even walk around anywhere but I still did my best trying out the weather since it’s not always you get a chance like this. My plan on going to Odulsan as well as Seodaemun (for Shinhwa Dongwan) had to be cancelled and instead I walked around from Gwanghamun to Namdaemun and all the way to Myeondong with the crazy wind blowing non-stop ;; Also took the subway to go to Yeouido Park but it was freezing and I walked like half way towards KBS Building for Sukira before giving up \cries [Photos]
+ Well it wouldn’t be complete without visiting COEX Mall right? It was really huge and you could definitely get lost in it. I was there for the Piano Fountain although too bad no water *~* And prior to that we were at Crebeau Jeff whereby we had one of the bizzare experience ever LOL! On that day I also had my first pork cutlet burger from Lotteria LMAO! [Photos]
+ Few notes on the Koreans I have met in general along the way…
» Seem to really like to dump their belongings (and it doesn’t matter what it is) onto the floor just like that if they don’t want to carry them or are waiting for someone. E.g., A girl dumped her pizza on the floor instead of putting it down. A guy dumped his bag while another group of people dumped the umbrellas and so on.
» Perhaps walking too fast tend to bump onto your shoulders a lot and they never stop to apologise O.o Even when I avoid them they still knocked onto me *sighs*
» Seem to be very suprised if you can speak even just very minor Korean to them and in return if you speak English to them, most of them tend to shy away D:
» Very eager to help you when you approach them if you are lost or need to find something
+ What I will miss the most: kimbap, seeing signages in Hangul, almost all the places are connected by subways (although within seoul itself I seriously suggest walking because the amount of time spent and headaches in figuring which stations, lines, exits during transitions just urgh!), Cheonggyecheon stream, street food, Korean entertainment and stationaries 8Db](http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kvrftgsjin1qavzsco1_500.jpg)
On Oct 23, we departed from Gwangju back to Seoul for a 4 hours bus ride after the Gwangju Kimchi Festival. The bus ride was quite interesting because it was baseball game day and almost everybody was glued to the tv in the bus and even if you looked outside of the bus, you could see most Koreans were catching the baseball games on tv everywhere. In the news they aired the interview with David Choi who was in Seoul at the beginning of Oct to promote his album- I still wish I could have attend his concert but oh well with Bi and Dream Concerts, there was no competition right? xD
There were so many memorable things about being in Seoul itself that I can’t possibly fit into this one entry. For one moment I felt so comfortable being among the Korean crowds that I almost feel like it’s home to me except all the signages tell you that you are not ^^; I hope the pictures and some highlights will justify my 12 days stay in Seoul itself even though I didn’t get to do that many activities that I wanted [frolicking at Hangang, visit KBS Sukira, watch a movie, eat patbingsu (팥빙수), etc] or go to places [due to the cold freezing weather trip to one of the northest part of South Korea, Odulsan Unification Observatory (오두산통일 정망대) was cancelled, Namsan Tower, 1st Shop of Coffee Prince Cafe (커피프린스 1호점) at Hongik (홍익), etc]
Part 6: Seoul Part2 200910123 - 20091104
Accommodation: Travellers A Hostel - reservation from Innostel during Seoul Grand Sale with 20%
Highlights:
+ I wasn’t very keen on our final place to stay. And the fact that we arrived in Seoul late evening at Dongdaemun with the place hard to find at a secluded corned (luckily the Koreans we asked were kind enough to call Travellers A to ask for direction and even walked with us to the place) just turned me off on top of the inconvenient key-slot lighting system in the room. But the location is really strategic if you want to take a walk at the nearby Cheonggyecheon Stream or to the Dongdaemun Shopping Heaven xD [Read my review on TripAdvisor][Photos]
+ Dongdaemun (동대문) is where you shop for decent clothings, accesories, bags, shoes, etc until the dawn. There are also lots of old bookstalls where you can find gems of old books/mags (though mostly fashion mags) if you have the patient to look through everything one by one. For e.g., I bought a good children Korean-English books ala dictionary which original price is 10K won but I got it at 2K won ;)) To be honest I don’t think I have finished exploring the entire Dongdaemun and its vicinnity including the big markets (like Chungbu or Bangsan Markets) around the area even though I stayed there :”) [Photos]
+ Mey with my Korean friend, Sera who brought us to Samcheondong-gil (삼청동 길) for a walk and samgyeopsal for dinner. The place was a beauty during night time and we had the most expensive choco drinks at 10,000won O.o We also stopped by Gwanghamun (광하문) and from this moment onwards I have lost the number of times I have been to Gwanghamun within these 12 days of time. [Photos]
+ Ilsan (일산)..oh Ilsan…I like it because it’s the first area with the finest autumn leaves I have seen so far throughout this trip *haha* The weather is chilly though it can be hot if you walk a lot. The MBC recording studio is located here and believe it or not we actually went to Ilsan like 3 times while in Seoul: (1) Misarang Imsil Cheese Pizza (임실치즈피자) for Papa Su’s pizza parlor and the pizzas were really smacking delicious that I think it could be the corn that blended together with cheese or something that made the taste so nicely different *^* [Photos], (2) MBC Show! Music Core (쇼! 음악중심) live recording session- well can’t really go to Korea without participating in the music shows I always enjoy watching right? ;p And also for Crebeau Belle [Photos], (3) Lyne won herself a spot to get SHINee’s autograph at La Fiesta so I accompanied her there and spent good amount time at Hanyang Bookstore ;p *prior to (3) we were at Kangnam-gu (강남구) area stopping by at Crebeau KISS [Photos]
+ Apgujeong (압구정) is where we met another mutual Korean friend where we ate quite a fulfilling lunch served with so many banchan (side dishes) and you can even ask for refill- only 6,500won/person *^* Lyne also treated us to gelato at TVXQ Micky Yucheon’s TimeOut Gelato. It’s 4,500won for two scoops and varieties flavour for you to choose from- quite delicious ^o^ We also tracked down SM’s Everysing (as well as e-table) because I have to help friends to buy stuff. And also SME building just for the satisfaction of locating it! We were at Apgujeong for 3 times and yet we totally missed out on Shinhwa Eric’s franchise of Market-O and we didn’t go to the posh-looking Galleria. Basically everything here in Apgujeong is P.O.S.H. [Photos1][Photos2]
+ If Myeondong doesn’t kill you with its available choices of shopping, then the shopping streets around Ehwa University certainly will *headdesk* We were too busy going into shops, browsing items, haggling prices, etc we didn’t even bother doing anything tourist like taking pics after the initial breakfast pics ;p Also stumbled upon 2nd hand bookstore, Book-Off that sells manhwa and CDs at the lowest 1,000won *^* [Photos]
+ Ittaewon (이태원) is er boring….I couldn’t locate where they filmed the Full House for Super Junior (슈퍼주니어), which was the main pt of going there for me after watching the TVShow because in the show the place looked epic. Other than antiques and if you are interested in buying more fashion items then you probably wouldn’t want to go there :”) [Photos]
+ The Cheonggyecheon Stream (청계천) [runs through the Dongdaemun as well] has many parts that are worth visiting and they are separated by bridges with different names, e.g. Laundry Site. In the guide book it said you need at least 3 hours to go from one end of the stream to another but I just cut to parts of it and walked from Dongdaemun Stadium all the way to Gwanghamun nearby Kyobo Building (in which the largest bookstore, Kyobo Book Centre, 교보문고 is located) and it took me 1 hour or so..uhm because I walked fast though I did sit and rest to check out certain bridges with themes. Overall this is my most fave part of Seoul, you can get to anywhere just walking safely without needing to bother on the traffics and you are not walking under the sun on most parts- IT’S REALLY GOOD~~~~~~~~ ^^b [Photos]
+ Tried locating the Baskin Robins where they filmed the You’re Beautiful drama coz I remember seeing the Gwanghamun Station entrance/exit but couldn’t find it T_T Gwanghamun is like the connecting point where you can decide to walk to Namdaemun Market (남대문) (aka ala Dongdaemun 2), Myeongdong (aka ala Dongdaemun 3) or Jongno (중로) (where huge Youngpoong bookstore is located and they have huge sections of stationaries as well as collection of books *~*)
+ Namsan (남산)..oh you just need to go up the hill (the Namsan Guesthouse is up the hill and you wouldn’t want to stay there, trust me..you wouldn’t want to go out everyday because it just takes too much of your power calf up the hill O_o) for the Namsan Tower. It’s expensive though for us Malaysians- 7,500 won for the cable car and then another 7-8K won for the tower admission. We skipped this because Lyne didn’t want to go and instead we back down to Myeongdong for more shopping and food!
+ Myeongdong (명동) is where you can go broke if you have no self control! You can buy almost anything and everything that your lil heart desire from fashion to books to music stuff to fangirling stuff and food and gadgets and so much more- IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO THERE IF YOU ARE UNPREPARED!!! D: Everything is like affordable and before you realised it you ended up with random things that you may not neessarily need and adds to your baggage limit O.o Don’t forget to visit Kwon Sangwoo’s Tea’US (more info)for the delicious hot chocolate! :)) [Photos]
+ There was one day and that is on Nov 2nd that the temperature dropped to 0 celcius and it was so freaking freezing cold that it was crazy to even walk around anywhere but I still did my best trying out the weather since it’s not always you get a chance like this. My plan on going to Odulsan as well as Seodaemun (for Shinhwa Dongwan) had to be cancelled and instead I walked around from Gwanghamun to Namdaemun and all the way to Myeondong with the crazy wind blowing non-stop ;; Also took the subway to go to Yeouido Park but it was freezing and I walked like half way towards KBS Building for Sukira before giving up \cries [Photos]
+ Well it wouldn’t be complete without visiting COEX Mall right? It was really huge and you could definitely get lost in it. I was there for the Piano Fountain although too bad no water *~* And prior to that we were at Crebeau Jeff whereby we had one of the bizzare experience ever LOL! On that day I also had my first pork cutlet burger from Lotteria LMAO! [Photos]
+ Few notes on the Koreans I have met in general along the way…
» Seem to really like to dump their belongings (and it doesn’t matter what it is) onto the floor just like that if they don’t want to carry them or are waiting for someone. E.g., A girl dumped her pizza on the floor instead of putting it down. A guy dumped his bag while another group of people dumped the umbrellas and so on.
» Perhaps walking too fast tend to bump onto your shoulders a lot and they never stop to apologise O.o Even when I avoid them they still knocked onto me *sighs*
» Seem to be very suprised if you can speak even just very minor Korean to them and in return if you speak English to them, most of them tend to shy away D:
» Very eager to help you when you approach them if you are lost or need to find something
+ What I will miss the most: kimbap, seeing signages in Hangul, almost all the places are connected by subways (although within seoul itself I seriously suggest walking because the amount of time spent and headaches in figuring which stations, lines, exits during transitions just urgh!), Cheonggyecheon stream, street food, Korean entertainment and stationaries 8Db
더이상 무섭지 않다...
