Monday 31 October 2016

Summer Trip To Seoul Day 2

ASSALAMUALAIKUM


Annyeong yeorobun~

The Oppa's Syndrome is still here I guess hahaha. We started our 2nd day with bloated faces (bukan selalu belanja muka macam donut kembang kan?) plus I couldn't even open my eyes aaahh~ Dah macam penduduk tetap pulak sepet hahaha. We didn't get enough sleep as we off to sleep very late and had to get up early. So this was at Apgujeong subway station. Pagi pagi lagi Ajumma Ahjushi dah keluar pergi jalan jalan tau haha. 

We went to the west part of Seoul for our 2nd day mission!!~~ Be ready for a bit long post today 가자 ! (read: Ka-ja / Let's go!). Bianhe, I did speak korean a bit in Seoul.




Hongdae!



I didn't remember how many stations we took to Hongdae but I'm pretty sure that we stopped at Hongik Univ Station hahaha. The subway is very neat and clean as you can see. Well, we were really took our time here taking some pictures for memories.. and guys we couldn't start our day without a bottle of uyu right? (read: milk). So I bought strawberry flavour on our way out to the exit but banana flavour is still on my bae list. When you had a chance, don't waste them. Try 'em all >_<


anddddd they also have a coffee flavour and I don't really like it. hahahaha. In Hongdae, we just walked around the street. We tried to find some restaurant here but end up walking to the next subway station. Couldn't even imagine how far have we walked hahaha plus it's summer guys. The heat is no joke I tell you. 


Luckily I'd some pit stops to share with you guys. Here we go, the randomly taken pictures and the pictures from EXO die hard fans hahaha. Mana je nampak muka EXO mesti snap. 









Ewha Woman University

Then we took another subway to Ewha. This picture below was taken right after we exit the subway. You just have to walk down the road and that is Ewha Woman University. There are a lot of cosmetic and apparel shops along the road. It's quite similar to Myeongdong but not very crowded as it only served the small portion of population around Ehwa. I really like the environment here. Swear. 







If you guys had watched Korean variety show 2 days 1 night you might know this staircase. They called it The Surplus Staircase where Taehyun and a guest (/) slash a foreign exchange student from France ate their lunch. You guys might be wondering how come a male student could study in Ewha (which is 'only' woman univ) and he is foreigner hahaha. But they said the university had some courses that only available in Ewha. So that's why they accept a male exchange students from time to time. 



This is a wall protest for the students or (an expression wall). They put a lot of art works here and there. But basically on the right side when I walked down toward The Surplus Staircase was all about protesting and on the left side as shown in the picture was all about art works from the student or outsiders I don't really know BUT seems like from the university students. I did some video recording when I was at Ehwa and posted it on Instagram. I wish I could upload the video here but the internet connection is not much of help hahaha. (I'm sorry)


After a bit of walking around Ewha we actually want to go straight to Bukchon Hanok Village. But ended up eating bingsu (read: ice shaved) at Coffe Bene due to sudden heavy rain. We stayed a bit long enough for us to edit and update our pictures on Instagram and cleaned up our memory card hehehe..





anddd I bought a melon bingsu at 14,000 won. This is big enough for you to eat alone HAHA. (sudden brain-freeze) lol. 


Bukchon Hanok Village

How do we get here? We used a lot of public transports as we were on backpackers and if you want to use subway, you have two options which are you can exit from Anguk Station or Gyeongbokgung Palace Station. Then you have to walk a bit and taddaaaa Bukchon Hanok Village. Hahaha. 


Actually I don't really know how to start my story about this Hanok Village. But considering that we put a lot of effort to come here (we actually lost our way to the village, crazy experience I tell you haha). But all the effort was worth it. So basically there are over 600 Korean traditional houses or they called it Hanok are situated between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung Palace. 


Fyi, people are still living here and we had to stay quiet while walking around the neighborhood. One of the reason why I like to travel is that I get to learn and understand other's culture. Because I believe that when you do good, the good comes back to you. It's like give and take :)







They also sell a lot of cute stuffs. Even the socks pun comel haih. I did bought one and I regret not having bought as many as I could. Ruginyaaa T_T 


Itaewon

After exploring Bukchon Hanok Village, we went to Itaewon for our dinner as it's famous for Muslim restaurant plus the Seoul Mosque is also located in Itaewon. 



If you want to find a "halal" korean guy. Datang sini hohohoho noooo I'm kidding. This is a restaurant but I'm not sure what kind of restaurant. I guess they sell Pakistani foods since this is Itaewon plus there were a lot of Halal street foods. Halal Kebab is everywhere in Itaewon hahaha. 


So we made our decision and went to Eid Restaurant in Itaewon after a long walk around Hanok Village. It is a Halal Korean Restaurant owned by Korean Muslim. They also had one branch in Malaysia. The restaurant is located near the Mosque but a bit far from the subway station which we had to walk again. hahaha. But still worth every sweat as we ordered a big portions. We ate samgyetang (read: Ginseng Chicken Soup) and Dak Bulgogi (read: Korean Spicy Chicken). Sekejap je habis tau sebab lapar sangat. Hahahhahaha. 

After that we went straight to Line Friends Shop at the junction that we actually noticed on our way to the restaurant but we had no choice. We need to eat first because we were too hungry to walk T_T


So here we were at the Line Friends in Itaewon. Thank God the shop was still open when we came back. But still we didn't buy anything here. The price was quite expensive and we were just taking some pictures around the photo spot haha. Pusing pusing pastu keluar >.<.



They also had another Line Shop in Myeongdong and the same Mr. Brown bear. But in Itaewon, I didn't have to wait for a long queue to snap a picture with this Mr. Brown compared in Myeongdong. Bless me hahaha. 



Dongdaemun Design Plaza

One selca won't hurt right?  




It also called the DDP and designed by Zaha Hadid and Samoo. DDP was selected as one of the Top 52 places to visit in 2015 by the New York Times (it's okay pergi 2016 pun boleh >.<) plus it is a major urban development landmark in Seoul.

This is when I'd still couldn't believe that I was in Seoul and I sent the picture of South Korea flags to my mom (little girl sent some updates to her mom) lol.




Close-up LED Rose Garden at DDP

Thank God we had the chance to take a look at these 22,550 electronic roses as the operation is only available until 31st October 2016 based on what I read. But I don't know if the exhibition will be extended to another few years due to impressive responses. That will be great right? Hmm. 



Ada orang tengah shooting pula. Patutlah ramai je orang tepek kat tepi. Tapi tak nampak siapa >.<


Our 2nd day trip was the most productive day ever. We even took a taxi for the first time to the guesthouse as it was already after midnight and the subway ended their operation at 1am. Thus, we didn't have any other choice. Eventho it was a bit expensive compared to subway but we had an experience of night view on Seoul's roadway.  

p/s: We had to cover a lot of activities in our 2nd day slot. A bit tired but still survived. ^^ 

안녕
annyeong

Thursday 20 October 2016

Summer Trip To Seoul Day 1

ASSALAMUALAIKUM.

Annyeong yeorobun (acah kpop cikit). Finally I had a time to write about my not so called travel journey. Haha. But at least what I am about to write in here could give you some picture on how the journey of travelling together. So here we go, four people with one stand tripod went to Seoul for five days! 



First let me introduce this girl with green shawl plus her sunburned face. That's me. Excuse my not so called tanned skin haha cause I'd a trip to Tadom Hill a few days before. Next to me is my cousin. She's one year older than me. You can call her Syira. What makes me so happy with this trip is that every each of us got sunburned due to our outdoor activities before we went to Seoul hahaha and hell yeah we rock the Seoul (read: soul). lol. 

6 Hours on flight 

We took 1 am flight on 22nd Aug expecting that we could sleep for the whole journey on flight but we don't even get any power nap at all. So nervous sebab nak jumpa oppa kot?! >.< (read: bogummy) hikhik 

Arrived at Incheon Airport at 8:52 am. 

The Airport is very nice. So clean and big I must say. Next, we went for baggage claim area.. nak kutip bag pun kena naik train alahai..A very long way to go..




Before that, we need T-Money to travel around Seoul and you can use it either for subway or bus or even taxi. Very easy and I love it. Luckily you can purchase the T-Money at all subway ticket booths or even some convenience stores at the Airport, 7Eleven or GS25.

But for us, we already got the T-Money for free from Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) in Malaysia and we just re-filled them for 30,000 Won each. You can always check the balance beforehand at the ticket booths. So don't worry.

We took another one and half hours more to reach to our guesthouse in Apgujeong. Some might be wondering why we chose to stay in Apgujeong. For us, we didn't care about the accommodation cost even it's a bit expensive compared to the backpackers hostel. The reason why we stayed in Apgujeong is because it's our first time in Seoul and the guesthouse is owned by Malay and it's easy for us to communicate and everything. No other reason than that. 

But still, you can walk around Apgujeong and could catch a glimpse of Kpop artists. If bertuah nampak, congratulation in advance. But all I can say is even the workers in convenience stores looks like idols. So tangkap gambar dengan diorang jela. haha. And we walked in front of Kim Tae Woo office building everyday to Apgujeong subway station. Yang dalam Oh my baby tu..saja nak bagitahu huhu. But all we can see is his cars and pak guard. Lol. Susah boleh nak nampak?!

We arrived at the guesthouse around 11.30 am. So we put our bags and rented one WiFi Egg at the guesthouse and then went out for our brunch. Suddenly, this one Ajumma pop out of nowhere said "yeogi yeogi". Hahah and we called her "Ajumma Yeogi" every time we saw her. Bianhe Ajumma >.<

The restaurant is located beside our guesthouse and the owner also recommend to eat here as they already know what we can eat and everything. This is my first food in Seoul..the grilled fish was very delicious. Can't find any yang rasa sama kat malaysia. ikan dia time ni tak sampai lagi haha.




Banana uyu. I love this flavor out of all. A must try if you're in Korea.


Myeongdong

Our first hot spot is Myeongdong. We were on our foods hunting or you can read it as cosmetics hunting hahahaha. I don't want to write much about Myeongdong because every picture tells a story. Only by looking at the pictures you'll know how does it feels.











Hello young lady, excuse my face >.<




Not really into make-up and everything but still I bought something lels. COULD'NT RESIST NOT TO BUY THEM plus it's cheaper here >-< and basically we went to Myeongdong everyday until midnight. Can't even recall why we went there everyday. lol. 

Here goes the nightlife in Myeongdong. So much cosmetic shops plus foods!! hahaha. However, you need to be careful about what you eat for Muslim people as it may not be halal. So for me, I don't buy anything that is cooked with meat or hot dog. Even if they sell vegetable flavor on the same menu with meat flavor. I still don't buy them because I don't know how they made it. So you need to control yourself. If you really want to try them, then ask about the ingredients. Don't worry they don't bite you :)









The girl with soft purple shawl is my cousin's friend and her sister (Grey Shawl). She's really into EXO. I was like her before I know Bogummy. Sorry lah aku cepat move on.



We went for some food hunting to end our night. Then, I saw this one halmeoni making some korean old-fashioned sugar candy and I bought one. I don't remember how much it was..maybe about 1,000- 2,000 Won..


Then suddenly a group of white-collar workers came near us and start a conversation. Baru balik kerja lah tu haha. They were really nice and tall ofcause. They also taught us how to actually eat the sugar candy and we played some game with the candy together. Tak takut pulak orang korea ni dengan kitorang kan? What you need to do is you have to try not to break the shape on the sugar candy while eating them and the one who still have the shape wins.



This guy here is really famous. He can talk Malay duh. He talks a lot until at one point when he starts talking about our Prime Minister's name and his wife.. I felt like what the.. Haha stop it. Kat youtube bersepah muka dia ni. 


Actually we have to go to Namsan Tower after Myeongdong. But it turns out that the time dragged as we walked around Myeongdong street. Can't help to not consider others' desires. Sum up of my first day in Seoul.


p/s: My first day was great.  


안녕
annyeong