Bismillah,
So yup last december I spent my holiday in Korea >,< my forever and always dreamland. Though i don't really have holiday during my almost study week~ But i decided to take my own holiday while my course mates having fun on their petroleum refinery trip~ Anyway, since few of my course mates decided to go Korea for our semester break, I would like to share some tips (fancy word for helping) since of course we all don't want to miss anything cool when we get there, i suppose~
So here you go, I wrote a journal ^^ yeah! dream comes true~ *well not a big prob*
By the time, I arrived Incheon Airport it was morning, so we were hungry +.+ breakfast please. So they have dunlin donut and McD there.. <familiar brand> anyway, we decided to go McD and ordered Pancake, just pancake since we didn't want to take risk having "dwaeji" there.. urmm ba-alif-ba-ya... So yupp, and as time passed by, we arrived at Kukdo Hotel (Best Western) franchise.. A famous hotel company of US i supposed. So the trip from airport took us about 1 hour and more to arrive, so quite a long journey to take a public transport if you have a big luggage la.
Fortunately, our hotel is very strategic! like yeah.. Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, City Hall, Lotte Department, Changyecheon stream +.+ gosh! everything so near!! During our trip, most of the time we use the subway "jihacheol"--if you lost, you can ask the citizens "eodi jihacheol?"--*cincai saja korean ku, asal faham*.. Since i have my friends studying there, they recommended me to buy this T-money card at convenient store (such as GC, 7eleven etc).. it costs you 2k won as i remembered and pls go to the nearest subway station, they gonna have this topup machine.. me, spend about 20k each person to top up for our 5 days trip.
T-money card~ they pronounce carde~
The kebab shop near Nandaemun.
The next day, we went Gyeongbokgung Palace yeah! Its easy to go there. Just hop on to line 5 and exit at the Gyeongbokgung station. Keluar2 je, dh palace entrance. The palace area is so huge.. i didn't have time to tour all of it.. Anyway by the time i arrived there, it was sunday, and they have the guard show.. like the marching part, with the traditional clothes, queen, stuff in winter +.+ wow! must be cold. Its cool to go around the palace when its snowing.. cause you end up playing snowball just like us~ lolz.
snowball fight~ agak susah nak buat snowball nye*
Then we decided to go to the Traditional Village (aka Bukchon Hanok Village) so yup, you can read on the net that, that its very historic, the house is made up from clay, wood stone and ondol floor. So do hop on the line and go to Anguk station and use exit 2. So just walk straight until you find traditional village. They have a Tour House for that. Just one house you can get in for free to look around, others,, you have to book to stay there <no look3>, at the bukchon cultural centre you can have traditional photoshoot, wearing the traditional clothes (also available for men also) costs around 8k won ^^ i made it. Its very fascinating i can say about Bukchon, not only they having this traditional houses, but also because the shops are very +.+ nice, cute and cozy. There are abundant of cafes, just name it haegan dazs, coffee bean, starbucks, even swarovski, along the road.. Just walk along the road to Samcheong (i went there to go to Hello Kitty cafe +.+ desperately but the cafe just closed :( ) A lots, a lots, a lots of interesting things here, many museum of art, culture centre, etc and my favourite thing >,< shopping, the shop is sooooooo nice, boots, anything girls and classic things~ loike it very much... you can find antiques shop here, western meal. Many. <ala2 damansara gitu> sebab shop die mostly de valet parking, and yang parking tu bukan hyundai, but beetle vw, bmw, audi, ferrari semua.
at the Bukchon Cultural Centre~
map of bukchon~
At night, we went to Itaewon to have our dinner. There are so many halal restaurants there, so don't worry, just get ready for the money~ The famous Itaewon is placed up on the hill, so need stamina to walk up there. Good luck! Moreover, they have also souvenirs shops around there, very2 cheap than the market.. you can find korea shirt that only costs 5k won! serious, its nice to walk at night there, but be careful, they have drunk people at night. *girls take care*
Next day, skiing! Woah! sounds exciting at first, but totally tiring! Cause the gear so heavy~ So we went there with a tour guide aka skii coach. So first he dropped us at the rent shop. We need to rent the outfit cause its quite dangerous and not suitable jeans and stuff. You gonna wear proper skii outfit, cause you may get wet if you sit on the snow.. It costs around 30k won per person for the renting outfit, goggle and glove. Then the coach brought us to the Jisan Ski Resort, where the lesson started with how to wear the gear, to walk, to carry it. (better to have coach kot if first timer). Well, to sum up it was heavy, bit hard but much effort will make you fine then. Our tiring day ends with a visit to ginseng museum. A government building, showing types of ginseng. Very precious item for Korea. We bought two boxes i think, and it is no cheap i say. It costs you about 300 USD per boxes minimum.
jisan ski resort. the pro yo~
The next day we had breakfast around the City Hall (it looks like Tokyo street), had Dunkin Donut sandwich, actually most of the menu have that meat, but you can ask them not to put them :p so yup, had cheese egg bagel. ^^ *happy* I feel it cheap because it costs me around 10k won but still if converted to RM ahhaha. its RM 30 per head. haha. Then, due to my heart wish, I really wanted to go to Changyecheon stream~ Go to station Euljiro-il-ga and exit 2, walk straight there you find it. Its a very famous stream in K-Drama hokhok. *office drama-lunch time at that stream* So i ask an old man to show us the way, very kind old man, with the help of my not-so-pro korean language we managed to arrive at that stream, just 10 minutes walking distance from the City Hall. The old man was so happy to make us follow behind him >,< Tq ahjushi. Very2 beautiful scenery, honestly~ You'll find a big blue shell there as the landmark.
changyecheon stream
Then we went to the famous Electronic Market at Yongsan, quite far, took about 30 minutes from the hotel, (exit at the Yongsan station). *one thing, you know right how to change the lane? need to walk a bit in the station to change the line-depends on your destination*. So basically what do they have here? one level sell computers and the gadgets, one level sell household electronic stuffs and the list go on. They also have ice rink here, and cinema. So we tried out the ice skate since, its very very cheap not like in Malaysia. Only 2k won. So it was scary at first, cause I'm not familiar with roller skate, so step by step, time by time, i know how a bit and a bit. A korean student taught me somehow~ hahaha.. A guy ^^ *dont be jelly*..
ice skate >,<
So at night we had Kebab again, at the famous Mr. Pasha Kebab located at Itaewon. Honestly you have to try it, its very very delicious even korean line up for it~ Its a small restaurant but they have the seats la. Its a turkish restaurant i suppose. But its lil expansive la, worth it. The other night I tried a korean dishes, halal one, if you guys wondered. The name is Muree Restaurant. Managed by korean muslim i think. The service is tip top ^^ She's friendly and we can add some more >,< my bro asked extra seaweed :D I tried the ......sumthing... bulgogi. Looks like mihun sup for me. I think i like Malay vr. lagi rasa sup die. hihi. *actually I'm not a korean food fan from the very start, i like pasta better*
aka Muree Restaurant.
Just to inform the mall here closed at 8 pm, since the night is longer here unlike Malaysia. So yup, enjoyed last minute shopping at the duty free shop at the Incheon Airport. ^^
Btw, cer la try banana uyu ;p very famous banana milk. *byk sgt tgk ads korea ni*
SOOOOOOO
Happy holiday guys!! ENJOY IT~ HAVE FUN COURSEMATES sekalian.
P/s: penat type memlm buta ni~ ole2 mesti k.
0 warm concern