My trip to Korea-Soul of Asia (Day 1-Seoul)

Annyeonghaseyo from Korea. It has been a wonderful week for me because I just came back from Korea, a place which I always dreamt of going.Well, my dream has came true thanks to my parents. I really don’t know how to repay them with enough love and dedication. It was cute how they tried to hide it from me in case I got too excited that I can’t fall asleep. They are right, I did stay wide awake. Who wouldn’t? It’s like accepting an award for an outstanding performance, although I have no idea as to what I did to accept it. Okay, I do. It’s sort of like a present for my sister’s graduation and I was just happen to be there. It was an amazing experience for me and I enjoyed every minute of my 9 days stay in Seoul and Jeju Island. We took a tour package of course, since it was my first time there. We were suppose to meet another group in Seoul and we will go on this tour together. But until then, it is just me, my sis and my lonely tour guide. She’s a lovely lady.

I remember taking the 6 hours trip to Incheon Airport and boy was it torturing. I can’t sleep at all. I saw how some people can just sleep in any position in that hard seat, I envy them-A Lot. It was night time when I board the train, so I had a supper of croissant with wine, in hope that the alcohol and help me sleep. But NO, I still can’t sleep. I can’t exactly roll in the seat so I flipped here and there the whole trip. I hadn’t even managed to catch a wink when breakfast is served, at 4AM mind you! Then I gave up on the prospect of ever getting sleep. So yeah, I stayed awake for more than 12 hours if you count in the hours after my last sleep.

Day 1

I arrived at Incheon Airport around 7am. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of any Korean celebrities but meh, I didn’t see any. My sister for some reason was really grumpy, complaining about everything I do. I let my tour guide do her stuff- getting us transport and figuring out what and how to get to the city. The air was cool and I couldn’t be more grateful after being cramped in the airplane for such a long time. If my memory serves me correctly, it was 16˚C. Just good enough. At first we had problems finding the right airport bus to get to the city but after asking around we managed to get the right one. The staff’s managing the buses are kind enough to point out which place are we suppose to stop and haul our bags into the bus. I was pretty much knocked out for the entire journey in the bus. The journey to the city takes nearly an hour I guess. It was much more comfortable than the plane-smooth running engine so there’s not much noise, spacious seat and not bumpy road. It’s a haven for someone who’s deprived of sleep like me. The public transportation in Korea is so convenient and I find it impressive. The shuttle bus reports every station that they are approaching in 4 different languages- Korean, Japanese, English and Mandarin. The bus stops are build in the middle of the road and they have an entire map or route (in English) that each bus would take. So you can pretty much go anywhere easily. Unfortunately for us, we missed our stop but the kind driver made a round turn after dropping the last of the passengers. We still got off the wrong stop anyway. I was already so dead tired and I had to pull my luggage bags around streets to find the hotel. In the end, we took the taxi.

Under the maple tree~

Just one of the many coffee shops in the area.

I thought we could check into the hotel right away and I can finally catch some sleep but the hotel was full until after noon. I almost burst into tears. Reluctantly, we kept our bags in the storage area and went out for lunch. We didn’t know where to go since we’re all new (including my tour guide). It was pretty busy during afternoons, we sat under maple trees and just enjoy the breeze. It is just the beginning of Autumn, the tree’s were just turning a little red. I was a little disappointed actually because I was hoping to see the leaves fall in flames of red like in the Korean dramas. Then I can pretend to run along the trees playing peekaboo with God knows who. First thing I noticed about Korea? There’s a lot of Hyundai Sonata. Since Hyundai is their major automobile contributor so I don’t find it that astonishing, it just surprising how it’s all Sonata model. Moving on, I like their attitude towards others. I remembered a shop keeper bowing to me. It feels awkward but then again, it is their culture, so I bowed back. Then there’s a lot of small café’s and coffee shop. Looks like Korean’s can do without coffee. They like to just sit of the tables outside, sipping coffee and watching the world go by.

Feeling a little hungry later on, we went into a cozy little café named “Café Mum and Brunch”. The chef/owner is a really cute American raised Korean guy, I don’t know his name but he was lovely towards us. Of course I can’t miss this chance to promote to us his all organic and healthy cakes, pies, jam and juices. He’s a friendly guy, kept us occupied while he prepared the meal. I had pancakes and a blueberry smoothie; he even gave us banana jam on bread on the house. It was a lovely meal, until I paid the bills. Let’s just say I didn’t expect that amount but then again, he loves to emphasize on how it’s organic and free from magic powders (you get what I mean). Anyway, I promised him I’ll promote his shop.

 After lunch, I could finally check into the hotel. FINALLY! I can hear my head screaming for a good rest. But first thing to do when entering a hotel room is to of course, check out the room. It’s not exactly a hotel, the name is QV residence and the setting of the room is really like an apartment equipped fully with washing machine, stove, dresser and huge fridge. It even has a second floor for such a tiny apartment. The second floor is probably where some people lay out the futon and sleep on the floor, since the floor is installed with a heater. No cold feet! Yay. I love the automatic locks on the door, it’s so convenient for lazy people like me who leaves the door open after I enter. It also has intercom systems just like a modern higher end apartment. Apparently a lot of the apartments in Korea are like this. I’m loving it even more. A quick shower and then I went to take a long nap. In the evening, we met up with the main group for dinner. First dinner in Seoul was some barbecued pork belly and squid in some broth-I have no idea what it’s called. It was delicious plus you get unlimited refill for the side dishes. Yay for more Kimchi!! Oh by the way, their bean sprout is huge.

First activity after dinner was sightseeing in Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon stream next to Dongdaemun. It is a stream in the city itself, the water is clear and even walking along it feels really fresh. There are many people sitting near the stream just talking after a hard day’s work. At night, it is illuminated by lights. A nice place to take a break with nature while in the city.

Dongdaemun is one of the tourist areas, it is the biggest fashion town in Jung Gu. The roads are just filled with tourist buses and cars stuck in the after work traffic. Instead buying clothes and shoes, I indulged in buying beauty product from Korea. It is dirt cheap compared to the price I get in my country. Tony Moly, Etude House, Skin food, Face shop, Nature Republic, Missha etc you name it. All the beauty product are offered at a cheap price and they give freebies after purchase. Double hooray…. After buying all the stuff, I took to the streets which are also filled with tourist, mainly from China. I can see some street food that I was dying to try but then my dinner still wouldn’t digest so I just watched. How sad~~~

Since it was getting late and there is nowhere left to go, we went back to the hotel. On the way, we saw Namdaemun (aka Great Southern Gates), which is one of the fortress walls that protected the city during the Joseon Dynasty. A nasty fire set by a crazy man 5 years ago razed the building and it took the government $23 million to rebuild their precious national treasure. Now, you can see the walls, restored to its former glory. It’s even more beautiful during the night. It’s a shame we didn’t stop by to take a good picture.

Back to the hotel, splayed out my goodies and marvel at it. Lol~  just kidding, I slept like the dead but not before browsing through the numerous channels they have. I don’t understand what they are talking about but I can still watch.