[Korea] Day 1: Arriving in Seoul, Trick Art Hongdae, Jeju

I was hoping to publish this quite a while back, but life happens and only finally got around to doing it now. ^^ I took so many photos that it really took me a long long time for me to select photos (read: editing) that would best reflect my journey.

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I have sincerely not travelled via plane for a long time and so I made the 'mistake' of not pre-booking our seat 48-hours prior. Thus although we checked in 3 hours earlier at the kiosk we ended up with this. O_O|||

At the very least we weren't seated near the toilet. We slept or at least tried to sleep as we had a long day ahead after arriving in the morning. After arriving at Incheon, our first priority was to find a place to store our luggage.

There were lockers at subways but we weren't sure if it would fit our luggage so we opt for the storage facilities available at Gimpo Airport. However just for the record, we've seen the lockers and its definitely large enough and if I'm not mistaken much cheaper too.

We visited the Trick Art Museum in Hongdae (Hongik St.) because Hongdae is 30 mins from Gimpo and also because it opens early ^^ Yay~ We actually walked pass the building 3 times looking for it. O__O

This photo was actually taken when we exited and is probably the proper entrance compared  to the entrance we took earlier that looked like someone's back stairway. T^T

Luckily I remembered to print discount coupons. XD With the coupons, our entry costs us 12000won which includes entry to the adjourning Ice Museum. A pretty good deal right?

What are YOU looking at>?

We spent a surprisingly long time at this location. I didn't expect it to be so enjoyable. Some of the pose looks and feels awkward but turns out quite nicely on photos. There were even floor markers at each exhibit to help us get the best angle.

At one point, there was a group of loud, obnoxious and rude tourist barging their way through. I won't say where they're from but thank god they quickly went their way. I believe Hongdae's Trick Art is smaller than Jeju's but its just as enjoyable all the same.

Ice Museum = Walk-in Freezer

Our next location was the The Ice Museum. I especially liked the house made entirely from ice...even the toilets!! However the best is still the ice slide. It looked steep but it wasn't really that scary. At one point I couldn't feel my nose so we decided to leave.

While exiting we realised that there was an 18+ only Love Museum upstairs. This place didn't even came up when I was doing my research. My guess was it would be a really amusing place but we didn't have time as we're running late.

The most chewy noodles~

We ordered a bowl of Spicy Ice Noodles to share for lunch and was bewildered when we were given a large pair of kitchen scissors. Then we knew why. The noodles was chewy....to the point that even using teeth to chew through was exhausting.

After lunch we hurried back to Gimpo to catch our flight to Jeju. We flew with EastarJet as their webpage is the easiest to navigate and if you booked early enough, there are special rates although you'll have to register as a member first.


As soon as we arrived, we opt to take the taxi as we didn't want to get lost....again However the funny thing is we still got lost anyway. We were searching for a 'supermarket' as our landmark when we realised that it must be that convenience store. On hindsight the location was rather obvious - we just needed to walk a little ahead and look up. =.=|||

Greenday Guesthouse

We choose Greenday Backpacker Hostel because it was recommended by my uncle. The price is really reasonable -  20,000won per person/night inclusive of breakfast. So with the two of us we could practically get a private room for the price of a dorm!!

Pretty cosy right?

We've really had enough of getting lost for the first day so we decided just get dinner and get some rest. Eating is really challenging. Unlike Seoul with their english menu, everything is in hangul!!

We would look at the price before entering a restaurant because we were afraid of accidentally ordering something too expensive.

We choose a small cosy restaurant and ordered seafood stew, kimbab and tteokboki. We felt slightly bad as we realised the some shops at Jeju closes early - the owner must have been waiting for us to leave...

The restaurant menu which we couldn't read. >.<

We wandered around after dinner but it was just too cold. We stopped by G25  for some snacks and decided to rest as we had lots of exploring to to tomorrow.

Pre-Trip | Day 1| Day 2| Day 3| Day 4| Day 5| Day 6| Day 7| Day 8| Day 9| Day 10| 

Pre-Trip Travelogue

Having travelled to both Seoul and Jeju for 10-days I could say that I barely skimmed the surface. Frankly it wasn't even enough since there was just so much to see and do. But given the limited time and budget, I think I've managed squeeze in some of the recommended and must-see places and activities and create an itinerary that me and my friend will enjoy.

I didn't really plan to go during spring when we booked our flight, it just happened, which was perfect as besides being a great weather to travel, we get to escape from our hot and humid weather here. One of the reason we moved our trip to mid-April from our original late-March was due to the difference in ticket prices (I can't remember how much but it was a pretty sum).

My trip to Seoul was honestly rather...sudden - for the lack of better words. No doubt that I've wanted to travel but it had been a rough idea, a general plan of sorts which I'm sure most people have at the back of their minds. The thought of travelling to Korea hasn't even occurred to me (on my own) - not even after watching gazillions of Korean drama. Unbelievable right?! 

I had the assumptions that Korea would be a challenging destination due to the language barrier, expensive and that I would need to follow a travel agency which would complicate things. I mean travelling to a foreign country where you can't speak the language can be rather intimidating don't you think? However, my uncle who is well-travelled, regaled us with how amazing and tourist friendly it was there. The plus point was the fact that travelling within Seoul was surprisingly safe and convenient. You could reach most places by subway and everything was pretty much interconnected.

HOW WE GOT THERE 

Being from Malaysia, we decided to fly with Malaysia Airlines. Contrary to popular believe, Air Asia wasn't the most affordable as no doubt it was slightly cheaper but after the extras it would be nearly the same. I would rather pay slightly extra to ensure my peace of mind to not be caught unaware of unexpected expenses. It doesn't help that my previous experiences with Air Asia = delays.

ITINERARY

Making our own itinerary was really easy thanks to numerous bloggers who have blogged about their trip. VisitKorea website was also very helpful as it contains detailed information. In preparation for my trip, I've read countless websites and blogs to compile some of the places I think we would both enjoy. However despite my planning, its really impossible to predict what was going to happen and all we could do was to adjust and make the best out of it. 

TIPS

I believe that my trip would be much more enjoyable if I were to be able to converse in korean or at least read some hangul. The people that I've met there were so friendly though much was lost in translation and I think that I could have gained much more insight if I could converse more with them.

Right now, I'm still having a 'hangover' from my trip as it was really that epic and although school begins tomorrow, I would look forward to blogging each and every one of my misadventure and probably some of my hauls too since I did quite a bit of shopping ^^ Ciao~

Back to Reality

Seoul was absolutely amazing :D It felt unreal now that I'm back but It was definitely an experience to remember. I realised was that choosing your travel partner is very important. A heads up to future travel mates, I am the type to burn myself out during a holiday. I came to experience the locality. I'm not paying a bomb to sleep in. But for all its worth, I'm glad that I went with a close friend ^^ We didn't really match well habit wise but well enough to make considerations for each other.

This is just a quickie since I'm busy. There is just so much to tell that I can't possibly blog about in a single post. One of my highlights was shopping - clothes, shoes, cosmetics, accessories and even their local supermarket~!! I thought I went trigger happy but after unpacking I realised I hadn't bought that much. Actually I did since I returned home with 24.3kg (which is amazing since I can't even carry my own bag). Once home I felt I should have bought more stuff. But then again its not physically possible for me...You can't imagine how it was like trying to get to the airport.

I'm especially crazy CRAZY about skincare and lip cosmetics. I had always had a weak spot for lipsticks and glosses since I could never have enough of them. This is especially if I see a pretty colour or a colour that I don't have yet. I have tons lying around and I have recently bought three new colours to add to my collection. Of course I justify my purchases by convincing myself that I use more lip products since I really do favour them. 

I get more eccentric since I feel like I'm thrown into a whirlwind of hustle and bustle. Right now, I'm in the midst of college entrance. There is so little time as classes begin this Monday but I can't get any of the paperwork completed without an offer letter. What's most important is the dateline for the ptptn and my offer letter is still 'under consideration' due to me being a credit transfer student.

I've called them a few times and I was told that I have been accepted for my 4th choice (BA Hospitality Management) but the delay is due to them needing to work out my exemptions. For all this delays, I'd better be able to skip all practical since they have made me miss my orientation. I hope I didn't miss too much. I'm really excited to begin classes.