I haven't move on with South Korea just yet that I have been boasting around telling people how good the trip was and how badly I wanted to come again to fulfill all the things we did not do. I need more time for that purpose obviously! I watched Joan Kim/Joanday Vlog a lot. The excitement sparked and yes people, second vacation is totally a must.
I have a weird habit of keeping things close to me if I feel like I need to achieve something from it. Just like how this trip goes, I have been telling a lot of people and I even wrote a post on how I really want to experience South Korea myself. Well, Korean wave blows hard. Even my dad won't hesitate to come there for the second time. Many people around me have been to South Korea and came back with souvenir in hands since I was at my teens. I used to gather them around and brought them to whenever I go or keep them in the visible area so that I can keep on telling myself, I would be there someday and I just did. It was refreshing and amazing indeed :)
I consider this as my post-thesis submission celebration because I flew right away after submitted them hehehehheh
Anyway, I feel like I should be there for two weeks or more so that I can really satisfied with my trip. But yeah, it is never easy to gain money people... marilah ukur baju di badan sendiri haha
So it took around 6 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul, Incheon International Airport. I feel like my half day was wasted just for being on the flight. *Sigh* Flight from KL would be departing for 3x times a day I guess, so I highly recommend you to take the night flight. Hence, you'll be reaching Seoul in the morning and right away explore the city. Since we took the morning flight, we reached our hotel late evening. Incheon-Dongdaemun took around 1 hour and 30 mins which did not include our buffer time of purchasing T-money card for the subway and our portable wifi.
I choose to stay around Dongdaemun since it is only a few stops away from Myeondong and Namdaemun market considering that we need to catch our flight to Jeju after 3 days in Seoul. The first night we reached Seoul, it was pouring the whole night and the next morning too. My original plan was to take a subway to Gangnam to have dinner but it was quite late, plus we had troubles to find our hostel coz we chose the wrong exit out of ! The Korean subway line was totally big and every station they have tons of exits, and if you chose the wrong one, you'll definitely end up at a different place.
First lesson learnt: Read how to go a particular place carefully and choose the right exit!
If you are interested to stay at our place, it was Sunrise Dongdaemun Inn. This place is one of the cheapest place in Seoul as far as I searched through booking.com and I think the rate for an average price for dormitory (1) person is similar or I could say slightly cheaper if you compared to the (1) person rate of living in the three-bed room in this place for 1 night . Since we lived in a private room, so I think that's the added point of this place. I was pretty excited because our room was located at the attic. If you watched Korean dramas, you'll see so much scene on how people living at the attics. And they also provide space for you to chill outside. Perhaps it is where people often drinks and eat fried chickens. Pretty much, it really gives you the similar vibe hahaha. Not to mention it also has mini kitchen for you to keep your food in refrigerator or heat your food in the microwave. Fret not, they also provided you with all sort of utensils you can use to cook.
The attic where we can access from our room!
Cool kannn
Anyway, that night my dad dozed off early because we had so much walking from the airport to our rented place. I was long for the Korean Barbecue in Gangnam since it was the only halal barbecue place you can find in Seoul but yeah we didn't make it T.T I need more time pleaseee. Kak yang and I didn't want to waste our time so we went to walk around Dongdaemun. Well, I read that Dongdaemun market should be visited in night time because the night market would be so alive during midnight time but unfortunately, we didn't even catch a glimpse of it. I walked for about 3 KM that night but yeah still nothing. I am not sure is it because of the rain or is it us that did not find the right market. So we went to shop for umbrellas and stocked up our rice to be eaten the next morning. Thought of buying some veges but they were really really expensive. The price was so much different from the veges we had in Japan. We still can have veges soup in the morning in Tokyo, but we couldn't do it in Seoul haha.
The next day, we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace and we also visited Bukchon Hanok Village. Actually, in this area you can also visit Insadong because they are located close to each other. But we didn't make it to Insadong though, the palace tour was massive enough. The palace was big and we weren't able to walk freely since it still rained that morning. But it was still okay. We had a free tour offered by a school student named Da Hun and I applauded her for doing such a great job in giving us the explanation. I think it was a very good alternative to develop someone's soft skill and Malaysia needs to do that too! It rained all the morning so we missed the show in the palace. But we took some pictures of the people. My sister began to doubt whether were they real people or not as they keep on maintained straight face even though we took pictures together. That was quite hilarious to be honest hahaha
Da Hun and us!
Prior to take this picture, there were bunch of good looking men around.
So I've seen another beauty of Seoul ehehhehe
Besar dan tinggi sangat mamat ni!
Power boleh maintain muka straight 24 jam agaknya
Simply love this photo because it was well captured! :)
After we finished our tour with Da Hun, there is a free museum admission just next to the palace: National Folk Museum Tour. I think the appropriate time to finish the tour around the palace would be around half day I reckon? I still think there were more things I haven't discovered though because there were too much things to see huhu. As soon as we set off our feet from the museum, the sun begun to rise. If you're looking for a place to eat halal authentic Korean food in this area, please find Halal Kitchen that is run by a Korean Muslim man named Mr. Hassan. From the palace you need to walk a little but it was a walking distance and possible for you to reach by walking. The restaurant is situated a little bit of uphill so you need to look at up right and use the stairs to go to the restaurant. Actually, by the time we got there, the restaurant was still under construction but then Mr. Hassan was kind enough to offer us Bulgogi set and cooked for us. There was also prayer space so while I waited for my sister and my dad to finish their zohor prayer, I was given Banana uyu for free. How nice! I was thankful enough that he allowed us to dine at his place, but then he gave me the milk so I could feel that Muslims are connected through some kind of special ways hehe.
You'll see the sign board.
Mr. Hassan Lee who was kind enough to cook us this hearty bulgogi hotpot.
The delicious banana uyu gaiss!
It became tastier because it is for free hehehhe
Then, we made our way to the area of Bukchon Hanok Village which is not far from the restaurant. You'll see some volunteers who wore red vest holding the map of the area. They are very helpful and friendly! So please do not hesitate to ask them. I've got so clear information from them because most of them can speak English and eventually found Hanboknam Hanbok rental place! There are two type of hanbok you can rent. The premium one where you can choose characters with more diligent design and the ordinary hanbok which is more cheaper than the premium hanbok. We chose the normal design and it costs us around 20000 won per person for 1.5 hours. You can choose to wear the hanbok for all day and wandering the area. I forgot to tell you that you can get free admission to Gyeongbokgung palace if you dressed up in Hanbok. What a catch kan? hehe
I was actually laughing so hard seeing my dad with this attire!
He was so determined to wear the hat everyoneeee lol
Family potrait
If we were born in the Joseon dynasty
The village itself has so many intsagram-able spot.
So many spots to make you feel like you live in that area and the ancient time
If you were to visit this village, you need to try the tea shops in the area so that you can feel the vibe of going through the time machine, enjoying your Joseon era at its finest!
Welcome to Tsukushi-Lee clan house!
We ordered berry tea, sikhye and rice cake.
I always wanted to try sikhye after watching Minguk in TROS spilled the sikhye by accident
in the sauna. The scene was too funnyyy hahaha
For the rice cake, I don't really favour that kind of sauce.
Sweet sauce which fits sweet tooth people.
We ended our tour at 6 pm I guess, and began to make our way back to Dongdaemun. We thought of tracing back the market but unfortunately we didn't make it again. I actually did not know what went wrong because I was usually a quick witted person with directions and places. I adapt to new place really easy but this Dongdaemun market, I failed to find it huhu. Nevertheless, that was one of the craziest walking we experienced after the one we had in Tokyo. But we were very happy with wearing hanbok since it has been in my wish list for a long time! I can't remember what we had for dinner but I guess it was the rice we heated in the microwave and rendang tok abah brought from Malaysia. We were too tired to look for halal food and I pitied Abah who can't walk anymoree hahaha. What an experience!
I guess, I'll stop for now and would update another entry for my 3rd and 4th day in Seoul.
For a travelling like this, it always makes me feel refresh and alive again.
I always look into Korea through the screen but now, I have set my foot on it.
I thanked Allah for always listening to my prayers.
