SEOUL Searching in Autumn

..I'm too lazy to blog nowadays  but every time I travel, I feel obligated to record it thru writing . So, before I'll forget the details of my South Korea trip, and despite of having just two or three avid readers,  I'm going to do this.. This is kinda lenghty, you can quit reading now. haha

Last November 1, I went to South Korea.  It was a trip I almost missed due to some personal reasons. And because I thought of the possibility of cancelling it, I didn't really prepare for it, I didn't have list of specific places that I wanted to visit... if I gave my 100% preparation in my Japan trip, here I gave my 30% only haha..  maybe I'm also confident that if I can go unprepared, I'll be okay coz I am traveling with some friends, they can surely take care of the itinerary. Alhamdulillah, I made it, that's why I'm here writing it. :) 

After office work last Oct 31, I flew to Cebu alone and stayed overnight in Cozy Inn. The next day, I departed from Cebu International Airport  and had arrived at Incheon around 9pm (korean time). After the immigration procedure, I rushed to find the AREX train. I opted for this transportation mode since the direction of going to our accommodation is by taking the AREX train (na pwede naman kahit ano basta makarating sa Seoul Station). I purchased my ticket voucher thru klook, i got a discount, from php300plus to Php50 only.. I still need to exchange that voucher into a physical ticket. Then I must catch the last trip train coz I got no idea how to reach Seoul during late night if I won't make it. I freaked out a bit coz I had hard time locating the AREX train, I think some of their information centers are closing after 10pm or maybe I couldn't find them too coz I'm rattling to beat the time.  But  when I finally found it, I  ended up too early for the last trip that it's kinda creepy going to the train tracks coz no one's around yet (Train to Busan the movie ang feels haha).

It was almost  midnight when I arrived at Seoul Station. Good thing , I was able to connect to Airport free Wifi, so I can communicate with my friends who were already waiting for me in our accommodation. I didn't purchase a Sim Card coz my friends have rented a wifi device.

In order to get to our AirBnB, I followed the instruction they sent me like take Exit 15 , cross here, turn there, go straight and blah blah. Geared with that information,  I went out of the Seoul Station Exit 15, I wore another coat on top of my denim jacket coz the temperature was about 7degrees. 

Walking into the streets of Seoul for the first time, at midnight, alone, with that temperature, with my luggage, my bagpack, a sling bag, and that direction I'm holding on my phone--- it could be scary but I wasn't, it was exciting, chos!  At the last stage of my searching, I came across an intersection, which way???? .. I just followed the one at the right side, and I was right. The next thing was I'm reunited with my college friends.

Day 1 (sorry ang haba ng  intro ko bago mag Day1 haha, lazy pa ako nito)

Our itinerary was like -- ( o san tayo ngayon? sa ganto ba ---?, or dun na lang kaya sa--, mas maganda siguro kung mauna tayo sa ----) -- that kind of easy going, bahala na itinerary. For this trip, we have list of places we want to go, but were'nt arranged accordingly, (actually sila lang yung may list, ako Nami Island lang ata ang alam ko. haha).

While walking and  thinking where to go first, and which mode of  transport to take, we passed by into this place just fronting the Seoul Station. I forgot what it's called. Just had a quick photoshoot..

Meet my friends.. Dinah and Sherry Ann, my college schoolmates, we graduated and reviewed the Civil Engineering Board Exam together... sabay kaming nagnosebleed noong unang panahon at mukhang sabay ring maliligaw dito sa Sokor.haha I haven't seen Sherry Ann for about a decade while Dinah, the last time we've seen each other, more or less 5years ago. And it's so nice to feel that for the longest time, parang walang nagbago (aside sa ang taba ko na raw akala nila imposibleng mangyari at andami ko na ring pimples haha). These two are both working in Singapore. Last April I travelled to Japan and I invited them to accompany me  , but because  my invitation was a short a notice, they didn't make it, so instead we planned for this SoKor trip... that's how this materialized.

EHWA Womans University

Had our  satisfying lunch nearby EWHA University... 

Ang sarap nito! promise! dahil dito ang taas na ng expectation ko sa mga susunod na  meals namin dun. hehe  I never thought that adding some kind of cheese in this chicken recipe can be a perfect ulam. I forgot its name and I'm hungry now. I miss this.

Then we went to Gyeongbukgong.  Rented Hanbuk and roamed around the Palace. Entrance fee will be free as long you're wearing their traditional dress.

Anyway,  I forgot to return the headband I wore,  we were a bit far when I realized that I'm still wearing it,  so I brought it home na lang.

We're supposed to end the day at Dongdaemon but because we're too impatient for the bus to arrive (dahil may rally kaya siguro natagalan) ,  we decided to do it the next day..  We started walking home dahil wala pa ring bus. About 30mins of walking when we reached another bus stop.  We hurriedly hopped into a bus which happens to be a wrong one, in short nalost kami.  The driver dropped us in another bus stop to take the right bus number..

Day 2

Our first stop  was in Bukchon  Hanok Village. O by the way, in this day I was wearing Dinah's Coat (thanks unDinah), I told you I wasn't prepared for this trip, haha.. didn't bring so many jackets & thick coats believing baka kayanin ko rin ang lamig and just want to pack light too.

 

 

Just adjacent to Hanok Village is this Palace. We went in and we couldn't find our way out. It took time before we figured out where to exit, actually di pala talaga namin nafigured out, sumuko at bumalik na lang kami sa kung san kami nanggaling, para safe, baka sa North Korea pa labas namin. (oo ang corny! )

Dongdaemon

Yung kuha mo sa kanya  vs yung kuha nya sayo. Sorry Din, I missed the letter "I" and  forgot to remind you to take off your face mask... haha

COEX Starfield Library. We had coffee break here at Holly's Coffee and reminisced our old days.

N-Seoul Tower.

To get to N-Seoul Tower, our Navigator map --(Naver Map app), gave us the option where we can exhaust ourselves.. haha.. we hiked up for more than 1 kilometer. While hiking, I was wondering  why there are very few people walking along with us, isn't this a tourist spot or are we lost again? (naiisip ko naman yung wrong turn movie haha). After about an hour, with our sweat all over us, we reached the vicinity of the Tower. Then we realized, there are direct buses naman pala papunta dun..  Anyway, the view overlooking the Seoul City somehow eased our exhaustion.. But because it's really getting cold, we chose not to enter the N Seoul Tower, and instead board the bus going to Myeongdong.

Here we enjoyed food tripping and free Almond tasting..  Now,  im inlove with korean foods talaga..  I usually cant find my appetite everytime I'm in a foreign country coz I'm too paranoid my tummy wont cooperate, but in Korea, I'm too excited where to eat next.

Day3

Seokraksan Day tour via Klook. We booked this 2 nights before the trip after choosing this over that one place that I forgot the name.

Our meeting place was at Myeongdong Station. While waiting for our tour operator, I had the chance to have a photo  with these two , I'm a fan!

After 3 hours drive, we've finally reached Seoraksan. 

Who won't get mesmerized with the autumn leaves???? But I still love the cherry blossoms season though.

After strolling around, we ran to our schedule for the cable car ride. Upon reaching the other side, I was stunned with the beauty of mountain views and the overlooking view of the City from far away. I wasn't expecting to see such, because as I kept on saying here, I have not read so much of our possible itinerary . The good thing about being clueless is that you'll get to be more  awed. 

Naksansa Temple

Day 4

Woke up really early for our trip to Nami Island coz according to Naver Map,  the trip one way will take about 3hours..  But unfortunately, we once again boarded the wrong train.  Don't be like us.  Haha.  We have reached the last station of the train when we found out the we were on the wrong way.. medyo, naenjoy namin yung train ride ah,  Isipin mo yun,  mga isang oras din yun,  nakuha pa namin matulog sa train na parang chill lang..  actually,  we chilled talaga coz when we went out of the train,  it was so cold there, umuusok na yung bibig namin ..  Nasaang lupalop na ba ng korea kami? haha..  one of the the railway personnel noticed us and instructed us how to get to Nami Island.

Tadan!! to cut the long story short... Here's Nami Island.

When your two friends photographed you at the same time at different perspective.

The Garden of Morning Calm

The prize we got for being lost earlier is to arrive late in Garden of the Morning Calm, which means its a little dark to see its beauty and super lamig na! We skipped also the Petite France.

Day 5

6th of November - our last day. 

We had so many unsure plans for this day.. Haneul Park was an option (but we might not have ample time), then we thought of finally getting us a lift to the Observatory deck of the iconic N Seoul Tower to witness the panoramic view of Seoul...
But you know what? none of these came to reality, drawing lang lahat haha.. We got busy packing our things the other night to wake up that early. And my other friend whom I met that day didn't arrive that early (kasalanan nya. hahaha.. are you reading this Teh?)

We left our Airbnb accommodation at around 10am (maybe later), and left our things on the storage room nearby. Still, unsure where to go, we waited at Seoul Station for my other friend.  But because she came a little late, I told Dinah and Sherry Ann to go ahead (to somewhere they want to go), that we could separate lives from there since their flight is earlier than mine. So we bid our farewell. 

I stayed in Seoul Station to wait for my  friend Sheryl (Teh). The sad part was , it took ages before she could find me (naturingan pa naman nakapag asawa ng Koreano, di ako mahanap hanap! late na nga sya, naliligaw pa.. haha sori Teh, ). 

No time to waste, the moment we found each other, we wandered around Namsan Park, just walking distance from Seoul Station (pero medyo maraming walks)..

After almost an hour of enjoying the cool breeze of Namsan Park, we walked towards the nearest bus stop and boarded one to Myengdong. Oo, suki na ako ng Myeongdong at nakakarami na ako ng free taste ng Almonds. We had our late lunch there.

I wish we had more time. Gusto ko pang kumain.. haha.. gusto ko pang magshopping (chos lang, wala pala akong pera pangshopping! at quota na akong sa bagagge allowance.. haha). There's so much to see but I ran out of time. 

At around 4pm, we went back to Seoul Station, picked up my luggage and bought the AREX train ticket for my 10pm flight to Cebu. Said goodbye to Teh with the hope that I'll be able to come back so she can make bawi of the little time she alloted for me. Maybe next time, memorize na nya ang Seoul Station, di na sya kung saang saang Exit pa pumupunta.. haha

Overall, I'm so grateful I was able to pursue this trip and experienced Seoul foliage. Traveling with your long time friends is something worth remembering, getting lost with them can be fun too. We're not really a Theme Park enthusiast, that's why we haven't gone to Everland and Lotte's World. 

And I love their food. Kanin pa lang masarap na e.. haha I love how they value the Halal Foods. Even in the street foods of Myengdong, there are lot of Halal Options. Even in Nami Island, we had variety of Muslim Friendly Resto. I don't usually feel hungry on my international trips, eating isn't my priority... but now I can conclude, SoKor is an exception.

I don't know how to make a good ending here, I'm still lazy. Kaya bye na lang. 

P.S. I'm so proud you made it here at the bottom, or nagshort cut ka lang ba? hehe.. but still thanks for reading!