I sat there waiting, and the fear crept in as I realized that I will be there alone, in a place that most of them do not understand English and I do not speak Korean.
The flight took 6.5 hours and I stepped out onto Korean soil, out of Incheon International Airport, looking at the morning skies of Seoul Korea and... it was raining...
The place that I will stay is Gangnam Best Western Hotel in Gangnam. It's approximately 70 minutes from the airport.
Arriving tired and exhausted at 9am, I thought that I can check-in and rest a bit but to my horror, I can only check-in at 2pm. So, I lay down my luggages, went to wash up in the rest room and began my journey. First stop, was Myeongdong. The cosmetics heaven for ladies. The first horror, 15 minutes walk to Gangnam Subway Station. The journey there already started the woes for my entire day with a sore feet and this was what greeted me in the station. :)
This place reminds me of Tokyo Harajuku. Shops are everywhere and mostly cosmetics. In the same square, you can see at least 5 shops of the same cosmetics brand scattered at every corner of Myeongdong.
There is also loads of things to see other than cosmetics. For example, if you do not believe in Jesus, you are doomed to eternity in HELL... damn it... i think im going to HELL... :(
The place that I will stay is Gangnam Best Western Hotel in Gangnam. It's approximately 70 minutes from the airport.
Arriving tired and exhausted at 9am, I thought that I can check-in and rest a bit but to my horror, I can only check-in at 2pm. So, I lay down my luggages, went to wash up in the rest room and began my journey. First stop, was Myeongdong. The cosmetics heaven for ladies. The first horror, 15 minutes walk to Gangnam Subway Station. The journey there already started the woes for my entire day with a sore feet and this was what greeted me in the station. :)
This place reminds me of Tokyo Harajuku. Shops are everywhere and mostly cosmetics. In the same square, you can see at least 5 shops of the same cosmetics brand scattered at every corner of Myeongdong.
The Twin Mushrooms
The Garfield wannabe
The "I-Dunno-What-You-Are"
After hours in Myeongdong, I realized that I am not able to spend the whole day there so, I became adventurous and toured this area by foot, taking me to Deoksugung-gil, the 2nd palace in Seoul Korea. It is the second palace of the King. Or, it is the palace where the King's brother stayed.
There are chinese wordings because Korea was actually ruled by China back then and thus, the language. At that time, Korea did not have their own alphabets. In 1910, Korea was ruled by Japan and actually, Korea was spelt as Corea at that time but the kiasu Japanese back then said that the letter C came before the letter J for Japan so they changed it to K that makes it now KOREA... lol ...
The dressing of a traditional Korean Imperial Guard... better known as the Bangladesh or Nepalese JAGA that we have now at our housing area...
Inside the palace compound...
I was also fortunate to be there at the right time as it was the last performance for the day. THe changing of imperial JAGAs in the palace.
They even have this, all clad in bright yellow, they are the musicians playing the musics during the changing of the JAGAs... cool right... our JAGAs just walk off and change shift... no music... only sometimes their radio... hmmm hmmm
See.... new JAGA... so different from the first one above... this one face black like my shoe... the earlier one smiled for me...
To end everything, the Korean Orchestra came out to strut their stuff one more time.
No where else to go, I headed back to Myeongdong and got myself this... super long ice-cream... costing me KRW1,500, coming up to RM4.50...
Finally, around 7pm, I got back to Gangnam, checked-in and got this nice view from my room. Rest a bit and then it was off again to the streets. Legs hurt like hell but I still got to eat.
Again, walked 15 minutes the the subway station and lingered around that area looking for food. So, my first Korean meal. Korean BBQ. I didnt know what to order so I just poked at anything and this came to me.
Hot plate BBQed internal organs... BLUEKSSSS....
DAY 2
Started off early, today being very adventurous, I did not ask for directions. Got onto the web last night, searched for places to go, marked them in my book and off I went. First stop, was to a place called Yongsan, to visit their HUGE Yongsan Electronics Market. The journey there requires me to change subway lines. See, so adventurous. I thought it was safe reaching there at 10am as everything will already be open. I was there, walking, looking at a few shops selling camera lenses... the prices are really attractive... unfortunately, I did not have enough cash on hand and I did not want to swipe my card and also, only that few shops was opened. The others were just preparing to start business when the time is already 10.45am. I left empty handed, crutching my *ahem* knowing that I let go a good deal.
Off to the train station again, taking a brand new line towards Itaewon. This place, shown below, is very westernized because the US military base is here. Loads of international eateries here.
I indulged myself with some well known food... Starbucks...
After that, from Itaewon, I sat at the bus stop, looking at the many buses that stopped and finally boarded bus no.3 headed for Namsan. My destination, Namsam Seoul Tower.
The bus traveled slowly up hill, the view became misty, it was drizzling, and the bus finally came to a halt. I got down, looking all around me and I see no tower. Then, I realized, I had to hike uphill. No vehicles allowed.
The place was cold. Definitely not prepared for it.
I indulged myself with some well known food... Starbucks...
After that, from Itaewon, I sat at the bus stop, looking at the many buses that stopped and finally boarded bus no.3 headed for Namsan. My destination, Namsam Seoul Tower.
The bus traveled slowly up hill, the view became misty, it was drizzling, and the bus finally came to a halt. I got down, looking all around me and I see no tower. Then, I realized, I had to hike uphill. No vehicles allowed.
View from Tower.
A little cam-whoring. Since I was there alone, I need to position my camera far far, set everything and the timer then ran for this shot. Malaysia, 4,595.33km away... hmmm... no wonder I cant find it...
Below the tower, was this. Millions of locks placed by couples in Seoul and perhaps even tourists. They write their names, wishes of love and then lock it here.
This fella must have loved his/her partner like hell. Or maybe he/she is there just to show how much he/she loved his/her partner.
Of cause I left my mark there too... No marker pen so this was it. It says "Reagan Love Suet Leng" :)
From the Tower, I took another bus to Namdaemoon market. It's just an ordinary market for tourists.
This fella's potato balls was a blast...damn YUMMY... 
Dinner for tonight.... Cup Noodles... didnt wanna spend another night eating alone looking at families and couples... loads of fun today tho... venturing around and going everywhere not being afraid of getting lost...Day 3
Today is my final day alone is Seoul. Partner will reach tonight and work starts from then on. So, upon my arrival, I arranged for a day tour, to places I did not visit... not cheap tho... KRW76,000... mahalnya... RM228
Seoul Buddhist Temple.... according to the tour guide, 70% of Koreans are buddhist...
Main Palace of Seoul Korea. The place where the King stayed. It was destroyed when the Japanese invaded Korea in 1910 and then restored when the Japanese left. To me, this place was HUGE but according to the tour guide, what we see is only 10% of what there was before the invasion. In the background, the white line on the mountain is actually their boarder, the original boarder erected to keep enemies out of the kingdom.
Finally, a shot of myself in Korea. Taken by tour members. A family of 5 from Phillipine that took me into their group throughout the tour because I was alone... hehehe...
Main entrance of the palace...
A longkang in the palace, used to be a river... we cross it to cleans all evil before entering the palace... i went in a sinner, came out holy... how cool is that... then again i sinned... hmmm
Below is the official meeting room for their important country issues...
Below is the study place where the 4th king of Korea invented their Korean alphabets...
This is the entertainment hall. If you noticed, there are many small creature statues on the roof of each building in the palace. The more number of statues on it symbolizes the importance of that place in the palace. So, I noticed that the main meeting hall, where the most important political issues are discussed, has less statues than this entertainment hall. I asked the tour guide, he said that the last king, like entertainment more than work... MUAAHHAHAHAHA
This is the King's mom's home in the palace...
Next stop, to the Noble's houses. This is what the Noble's stayed in back in ancient Korea. Rich fellas with big houses...
Little children clad in traditional Korean costumes getting ready for performances.
That was basically it about the tour. Visited other places like Ginseng factory, some precious rock factory and another placed called Insadong. Insadong is an antique market. Nothing much to take photos of there and I was also too tired to lift my camera so thats it for my touring in Seoul Korea.
Main Palace of Seoul Korea. The place where the King stayed. It was destroyed when the Japanese invaded Korea in 1910 and then restored when the Japanese left. To me, this place was HUGE but according to the tour guide, what we see is only 10% of what there was before the invasion. In the background, the white line on the mountain is actually their boarder, the original boarder erected to keep enemies out of the kingdom.
Finally, a shot of myself in Korea. Taken by tour members. A family of 5 from Phillipine that took me into their group throughout the tour because I was alone... hehehe...
Main entrance of the palace...
A longkang in the palace, used to be a river... we cross it to cleans all evil before entering the palace... i went in a sinner, came out holy... how cool is that... then again i sinned... hmmm
Below is the official meeting room for their important country issues...
Below is the study place where the 4th king of Korea invented their Korean alphabets...
This is the entertainment hall. If you noticed, there are many small creature statues on the roof of each building in the palace. The more number of statues on it symbolizes the importance of that place in the palace. So, I noticed that the main meeting hall, where the most important political issues are discussed, has less statues than this entertainment hall. I asked the tour guide, he said that the last king, like entertainment more than work... MUAAHHAHAHAHA
This is the King's mom's home in the palace...
Next stop, to the Noble's houses. This is what the Noble's stayed in back in ancient Korea. Rich fellas with big houses...
Little children clad in traditional Korean costumes getting ready for performances.
That was basically it about the tour. Visited other places like Ginseng factory, some precious rock factory and another placed called Insadong. Insadong is an antique market. Nothing much to take photos of there and I was also too tired to lift my camera so thats it for my touring in Seoul Korea.I know there are loads more places that I should have visited but the limited funds and time that I have there prevented me from doing so. Furthermore, it is not the season that I wanted to be in Korea. Maybe in the future, I will travel here again, together with B, during WINTER and complete what was left out.
Work work work and finally its time to leave. Incheon airport surprised me with this. Fellow Malaysians, if you do not like airplane food, come, snap a few and you are ready to go... They have chili trees in the airport... :)
So, again, Korea Air KE671 departs Incheon at 4.35pm. The flight was pleasant, the weather was good, some bad turbulence and the skies turned magical to welcome me home... 
AHN-NYEONG-HAH-SEH-YO and KAMSA-HAMNIDA
3 comments:
..nice views and foods huh..
this blog best...!
lol i love really random blogs with loads of pics!
Post a Comment