Today was basically the day that we said that we would do things that we didn't get a chance to do. Originally, this day was suppose to be either the "Carribean Bay & Everland" Day or DMZ Day but due to the constant raining in Seoul, these events were unfortunately canceled. So today we woke up and decided to try out this restaurant that SL from home kept telling me to try. She said it was one of her most favourite noodle places so it was a MUST TRY before we left Seoul. So we headed to Myeongdong station again. When we exited, it was raining a bit so we were wondering if it was worth trying to find this restaurant. The instructions on Lonely Planet books are seriously not that great to be honest so half the time we're trying to find locations to places on our own. We decided to ask this lady working at the money exchange booth on the street for help and she pointed us to the right direction. The only instructions we had were "Myeongdong Gyoza" but there weren't any restaurants called that and even if it did, it would be in Korean. So we looked at every restaurant possible and then we walked by one that seemed like it would be it but I couldn't tell. Then we walked by a second restaurant that seemed really busy inside, I saw people eating noodles and I also saw that the restaurant hours were the same as the one in the book. So we asked the waitress if it was the right place and she said yeah.
We ordered our food and we decided to get these steamed dumplings that kind of reminded us of Siu Long Bao but Korean version haha. We also ordered this soybean noodle thing that was cold, which we weren't a fan of but we also ordered the famous dumpling noodle which tasted pretty good. Ray didn't think it was that great but I think it's because he ate majority of the soybean noodle haha. So after we finished eating we went to develop some photos for CK to give to her before we left. We walked around Myeongdong and since it was raining it kind of sucked so we decided to go into the Lotte Malls.
There were about three malls all owned by "Lotte." One was Lotte World which was like a department store like all department stores and then there was another more high class store selling all your high end name brands and then one that was for a younger and more hip generation. So all malls were pretty much the same but one of the highlights of the mall was how good the Lotte Duty Free Shop was. Like most duty free shops (minus the ones at airports) the prices didn't seem all good but this one was amazing. It had really good priced sunglasses as well as cosmetics. We end up getting a pair of sunglasses which were for Ray and I bought a few cosmetics and makeup tools which were all awesome prices! I believe we spent a good amount of time here just browsing everything in the duty free shop since we didn't want to miss out on all the good stuff.
When the rain stopped, it was around 9pm and we already browsed all the malls so we decided to head to Dongdaemun again. Since we didn't get a chance to check out the night market the day before we headed there and the typical malls were still opened. Apparently Doota and Migliore are both opened til like 4am in the morning which is insane but it makes sense if it gets lively at night. So it was pretty live when we got there. Live as in busy for the vendors. It seemed as though people were mainly just setting up their shops to prepare for the night. It was pretty cool walking into the other malls because it was like Doota selling the typical clothes and they had like wholesale amounts in their little section. They all sold a bunch of jeans, shirts just everything you could imagine. So if anyone ever gets a chance to check this night market out. It's really worth it especially if you love shopping. We didn't buy a lot of clothes because everything was similar to other things we've already gotten. So we just walked around and checked out the place a little more and headed back to our hotel :)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Day 13 - Dongdaemun & N Seoul Tower
So today we decided to finally check out the Dongdaemun Market since this is one of the more popular touristy attractions. What we heard ahead of time is that they had a lot of cheap clothing, bags, shoes, etc. Anything you could imagine would be here. They also had a lot of wholesale things as well. So we left the hotel, went into the Metro and made our way to Dongdaemun Station. We were hungry of course so we decided to walk around and check out what restaurants they had to offer in the area. We decided to go to some random restaurant that seemed pretty popular. This restaurant didn't have a lot of items you could share with the entire table but more like your individual dishes. I decided to have cold buckwheat noodles with the hard boiled egg on top and Ray had some sort of spicy rice dish in a hot stone pot kind of like bibimbap but more so it was fried rice in the stone bowl.
When we left the restaurant we stopped into a bunch of beauty stores on the way to pick up some gifts for friends back home. Honestly Seoul has sooo many of these beauty shops which I'm sure I've mentioned in previous blog posts. One of my favourite stores were Skin Food. I liked this store because it had a lot of cheap skin care items like facial cleansers and random things to the more expensive priced items like scrubs. Anything ranged from 8,000 -20,000KRW there. I heard a lot of good things about this store as well so I picked up some facial scrubs. Another thing I like about these stores is that they give you a lot of mini samples from some of their various products which comes in handy when you want to see what products are good or not.
After that we went to watch this show/ride thing happening on this stage in the middle of this area (kind of like Dundas Square). Basically it was like one of those rides you see at CNE or WL where its like a circle and you sit and it spins around and around as well as moves up and down at the same time it spins so you get knocked out pretty badly. The funny thing about this ride is that it was just a circle and around the edges were seats and then a big center in the middle with nothing. So when people who tested out this ride were being spun around, their shoes were coming off, they were knocked off their seats cause there weren't any seat belts and it was just a really funny site to see. All you could do was hold onto the rails on the sides of the chairs to hold you up but even then it wouldn't help because it is also extremely painful to have to use both your hands and arms to hold you from being knocked off your seat. It also didn't help that the ride operator was purposely knocking people and making it spin extremely fast. It was also cool because the guys who worked there were doing flips as this thing was spinning which was really impressive.
Now we talk about the shopping! We've been told that there was a lot of malls in this area that had a lot of cheap clothing and accessories. The most popular being APM, Doota and Migliore. We decided to check out each of these malls and what they had to offer. Basically, APM and Migliore were pretty much the same. When you walk in there's a bunch of mini shops selling women's clothing and the next floor they sold boots and on and on. It's basically a bunch of mini vendors all on one floor which was pretty interesting to see cause each place had something unique or nice. It all becomes a bit overwhelming because they all offer the same clothing and some of them try to call you over to sell things. They have all their prices on the items but you can always bargain with them. ie. lowering the price for two items. We did that a lot at some stores. I must say that these malls have a lot of nice accessories so if anyone likes these types of things should definitely go there to check it out. We went to Doota after, and this was a very nice mall as well. Same concept, many different vendors in one mall but this was way more classier. It had the higher brand clothing, cosmetics and accessories. But the prices were so high it was ridiculous. We went to a souvenir shop to buy some shirts which we thought were "cheap" but then we went outside and walked a bit and saw the same shirt for half the price! So when you go shopping in these types of places and night markets, definitely check out everywhere before you make a heavy purchase.
We left Doota and decided to walk down more to the market area. We stopped at a food vendor and got some fried chicken on a stick :) and when we walked into the huge buildings, we realized it was all wholesale items selling fabrics and such. It was kind of boring walking through this so we tried to go on the other side of the street. It looked like a dead town so we asked for some info from a tourist booth and they said that this place is most live at night time starting 9pm. By this time it was already 6pm so we didn't bother to stay there so we decided to head to the N Seoul Tower because it was night time and we heard it was really nice to go at night.
We exited the station and followed the directions on the pamphlet on how to get there. It was kind of sketchy because it told us to walk pass this hotel and it was basically a small side road. It looked like an alley to me and it was dark and empty with not a lot of people. The pamphlet said it was a 10 minute walk but it felt like a 20 minute uphill walk. Seriously by the time we got there, we saw a set of stairs and ran up. We felt like we did a work out doing that uphill walking haha. So we bought the tickets to take the cable car up which is super high and scary. However, it's a really nice to check out the scenery and all over Seoul. By the time we got up there it was dark and we didn't realize that going up the tower would cost us more money so we decided to just check out the view from the cable car platform area. What was cool about this is that couples come up here and put their locks on the wires/railings. Pretty romantic.
So after taking our photos and stuff we saw a caricature artist doing a couple's portrait that looked really cool. Her name was like Connie Woo or something. But I know I totally got the name wrong. Anyways, we decided to get our caricature done because she did a pretty accurate job with everyone else and they were funny. She honestly didn't look older than maybe 20 years old and she was so talented. This is what she did for us:
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| Famous Cold Noodle Dish |
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| Sliced Pork Belly to accompany the Cold Noodle |
After that we went to watch this show/ride thing happening on this stage in the middle of this area (kind of like Dundas Square). Basically it was like one of those rides you see at CNE or WL where its like a circle and you sit and it spins around and around as well as moves up and down at the same time it spins so you get knocked out pretty badly. The funny thing about this ride is that it was just a circle and around the edges were seats and then a big center in the middle with nothing. So when people who tested out this ride were being spun around, their shoes were coming off, they were knocked off their seats cause there weren't any seat belts and it was just a really funny site to see. All you could do was hold onto the rails on the sides of the chairs to hold you up but even then it wouldn't help because it is also extremely painful to have to use both your hands and arms to hold you from being knocked off your seat. It also didn't help that the ride operator was purposely knocking people and making it spin extremely fast. It was also cool because the guys who worked there were doing flips as this thing was spinning which was really impressive.
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| Disco Ride |
Now we talk about the shopping! We've been told that there was a lot of malls in this area that had a lot of cheap clothing and accessories. The most popular being APM, Doota and Migliore. We decided to check out each of these malls and what they had to offer. Basically, APM and Migliore were pretty much the same. When you walk in there's a bunch of mini shops selling women's clothing and the next floor they sold boots and on and on. It's basically a bunch of mini vendors all on one floor which was pretty interesting to see cause each place had something unique or nice. It all becomes a bit overwhelming because they all offer the same clothing and some of them try to call you over to sell things. They have all their prices on the items but you can always bargain with them. ie. lowering the price for two items. We did that a lot at some stores. I must say that these malls have a lot of nice accessories so if anyone likes these types of things should definitely go there to check it out. We went to Doota after, and this was a very nice mall as well. Same concept, many different vendors in one mall but this was way more classier. It had the higher brand clothing, cosmetics and accessories. But the prices were so high it was ridiculous. We went to a souvenir shop to buy some shirts which we thought were "cheap" but then we went outside and walked a bit and saw the same shirt for half the price! So when you go shopping in these types of places and night markets, definitely check out everywhere before you make a heavy purchase.
We left Doota and decided to walk down more to the market area. We stopped at a food vendor and got some fried chicken on a stick :) and when we walked into the huge buildings, we realized it was all wholesale items selling fabrics and such. It was kind of boring walking through this so we tried to go on the other side of the street. It looked like a dead town so we asked for some info from a tourist booth and they said that this place is most live at night time starting 9pm. By this time it was already 6pm so we didn't bother to stay there so we decided to head to the N Seoul Tower because it was night time and we heard it was really nice to go at night.
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| N Seoul Tower |
We exited the station and followed the directions on the pamphlet on how to get there. It was kind of sketchy because it told us to walk pass this hotel and it was basically a small side road. It looked like an alley to me and it was dark and empty with not a lot of people. The pamphlet said it was a 10 minute walk but it felt like a 20 minute uphill walk. Seriously by the time we got there, we saw a set of stairs and ran up. We felt like we did a work out doing that uphill walking haha. So we bought the tickets to take the cable car up which is super high and scary. However, it's a really nice to check out the scenery and all over Seoul. By the time we got up there it was dark and we didn't realize that going up the tower would cost us more money so we decided to just check out the view from the cable car platform area. What was cool about this is that couples come up here and put their locks on the wires/railings. Pretty romantic.
So after taking our photos and stuff we saw a caricature artist doing a couple's portrait that looked really cool. Her name was like Connie Woo or something. But I know I totally got the name wrong. Anyways, we decided to get our caricature done because she did a pretty accurate job with everyone else and they were funny. She honestly didn't look older than maybe 20 years old and she was so talented. This is what she did for us:
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| The artist who drew our portrait! |
This girl is so talented, we loved her photo of us! Ray doesn't like his bushy eyebrows though ;)
After we checked out around the tower we decided to head back into town and we took the cable car back. Since we were in the Myeongdong area, we decided to stick around and grab some food that was around. We noticed that were were 4 huge Lotte stores that we vowed to check out before we left here. We walked through the mini streets of Myeongdong and we found a nice restaurant that consisted of the same type of food, basically dak-galbi. This time we had something with seafood in it as well. The food was okay but we both agreed that the first time we every had this dish, it was honestly the best place we tried. This one we gave it 3 out of 5 stars
After dinner, since everything was closing up we were pretty tired to go back to Dongdaemun to check out the night market, so we decided to just head back to our comfy hotel.
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| Popular Dak Galbi Restaurant |
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| Dak Galbi |
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| Dak Galbi |
After dinner, since everything was closing up we were pretty tired to go back to Dongdaemun to check out the night market, so we decided to just head back to our comfy hotel.
Next Day 14 - Lotte Department Stores & Myeongdong pt. 2 & Dongdaemun pt. 2
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Day 12
Day 12 - Hongdae & Ilsandong
So when we woke up, it was raining yet again. We were kind of sick of this crappy weather because it was really limiting us from doing certain things and we were hoping it would stop raining for the next few days we were here (but we were wrong). But we're lucky and fortunate that we were in Hong Kong when the typhoon happened in Seoul or else that would've been pretty bad. We decided this day to check out Hongdae area. We woke up kind of late so we only had a few hours to check out anything before meeting up with CK so we decided on going somewhere close.
We heard that the Hondae / Hongik University area was a very lively area at night time. This is the area / subway station you head to if you want to go clubbing or check out the night life. We wanted to see what this place was like ensuring that we didn't miss any hot spots while we were here (even though daytime is not the time to go haha). So when we arrived, our first intention was to find a place to eat. Any first impressions? The fact that it was raining and there were many students (obviously at a University area station) and lots of coffee shops, restaurants, little stores and bars. I believe there are plenty of night clubs in this area too that were closed because it was a weekday afternoon.
So we walked around the area which seemed like an alleyway and road with shops and restaurants. We were extremely hungry so we were searching for a good place to eat. We saw many places that had the same table top cooking we always ate but we wanted to try something new. So we spotted a restaurant that had a really good deal for cold noodles. We went to the restaurant and ordered two bowls of this cold buckwheat noodle, one spicy and one regular. They both came with the cold noodles, broth, half of a boiled egg and some raddish. Also they give you a small plate to share amongst two people, grilled pork belly (yum). This was so good, it was different from other cold noodles we've had in Toronto. What was even better, the bill came to 9,800KRW, less than 10 bucks Canadian!
So after walking around a bit and checking the place out we made our way back to the hotel to drop off some things and make our way to Ilsandong. There was a bus stop in front of our hotel that went straight there so we hopped on the bus. The bus driver was pretty rude, I was trying to tell him to let me know when to get off because we never took the bus before and had no idea where the place to meet CK was and he just brushed us off. So we sat there not knowing when to get off but remembering that CK said that it took about an hour to get there. So we asked this man beside us (I showed him a paper that CK wrote in Korean that said "Please let me know when we arrive at Ilsandong") and luckily the man said he was getting off at the same stop so we were relieved.
CK was there to meet us when we got off and she took us to this big outdoor mall complex with a bunch of stores inside. We never really found anything worth buying (in our opinion) but it was still nice to check out all the deals and the prices on numerous clothing items. We were waiting for her friends until 7pm to eat dinner so we continued walking around. We went into this 3D movie simulation thing where you sit into the chair and it's like a rollar coaster simulation that moves. It was fun and felt pretty real and it was just 2,000KRW a person so it didn't really cost us much. We decided to take a little break and go for frozen yogurt at A Twosome Place. We ordered red bean bing sa with frozen yogurt to share which of course was delicious once again. It was getting late and time for dinner and we were wondering what we should eat even though there were tons of places around. CK asked us if we ever had Sam Gyup Sal. We said no, we didn't even know what that was. So she said dinner was decided then because she wanted us to try. It is basically pork belly that is cooked on a table top eaten with lettuce, rice cakes and accompanied by soju.
We met up with her friends who thought we were Korean but to their surprise we weren't. We had to force them to speak their English which I might add was pretty good! We went to the restaurant and decided on a traditional table where we had to remove our shoes and sit cross legged. This was slightly uncomfortable but was still good. They started grilling the pork belly and when it was close to being cooked, they cut them into the smaller pieces. This was eaten with either rice, wrapped in a piece of lettuce, or with a thin piece of rice cake and some sauces. This was an extremely delicious meal and having it with soju was even better! We had tons of soju and then when we were done with the meat we left half a bottle of soju. I asked why we left it empty, and Rob (one of CK's friends) said because there wasn't any food left. In Toronto, people would still drink up the soju whether there was food or not. Only because soju in Korea is inexpensive compared to Toronto.
So we decided to walk off the dinner and take a stroll in the park where CK and friends shared their stories with us about Korea, the military, their experiences etc. It was a really nice conversation learning about their lives here in Seoul compared to ours in Toronto. We came to this musical fountain which pretty much reminded us of the Bellgaio fountain in Las Vegas that moved to the music. It started to rain and was getting late so we decided to head back to the hotel. CK brought us to our bus stop and wanted to tell the driver to let us know where to get off but like I said, the drivers are mean and rude. He forced her to get on the bus with us and so she rode the bus with us for an hour until we got back which we were so grateful for but felt guilty. We got off the bus and waited with her for a different bus and we end up making plans to meet at Lotte World tomorrow (an indoor amusement park).
We slept and were looking forward to Day 13!
So when we woke up, it was raining yet again. We were kind of sick of this crappy weather because it was really limiting us from doing certain things and we were hoping it would stop raining for the next few days we were here (but we were wrong). But we're lucky and fortunate that we were in Hong Kong when the typhoon happened in Seoul or else that would've been pretty bad. We decided this day to check out Hongdae area. We woke up kind of late so we only had a few hours to check out anything before meeting up with CK so we decided on going somewhere close.
We heard that the Hondae / Hongik University area was a very lively area at night time. This is the area / subway station you head to if you want to go clubbing or check out the night life. We wanted to see what this place was like ensuring that we didn't miss any hot spots while we were here (even though daytime is not the time to go haha). So when we arrived, our first intention was to find a place to eat. Any first impressions? The fact that it was raining and there were many students (obviously at a University area station) and lots of coffee shops, restaurants, little stores and bars. I believe there are plenty of night clubs in this area too that were closed because it was a weekday afternoon.
So we walked around the area which seemed like an alleyway and road with shops and restaurants. We were extremely hungry so we were searching for a good place to eat. We saw many places that had the same table top cooking we always ate but we wanted to try something new. So we spotted a restaurant that had a really good deal for cold noodles. We went to the restaurant and ordered two bowls of this cold buckwheat noodle, one spicy and one regular. They both came with the cold noodles, broth, half of a boiled egg and some raddish. Also they give you a small plate to share amongst two people, grilled pork belly (yum). This was so good, it was different from other cold noodles we've had in Toronto. What was even better, the bill came to 9,800KRW, less than 10 bucks Canadian!
So after walking around a bit and checking the place out we made our way back to the hotel to drop off some things and make our way to Ilsandong. There was a bus stop in front of our hotel that went straight there so we hopped on the bus. The bus driver was pretty rude, I was trying to tell him to let me know when to get off because we never took the bus before and had no idea where the place to meet CK was and he just brushed us off. So we sat there not knowing when to get off but remembering that CK said that it took about an hour to get there. So we asked this man beside us (I showed him a paper that CK wrote in Korean that said "Please let me know when we arrive at Ilsandong") and luckily the man said he was getting off at the same stop so we were relieved.
CK was there to meet us when we got off and she took us to this big outdoor mall complex with a bunch of stores inside. We never really found anything worth buying (in our opinion) but it was still nice to check out all the deals and the prices on numerous clothing items. We were waiting for her friends until 7pm to eat dinner so we continued walking around. We went into this 3D movie simulation thing where you sit into the chair and it's like a rollar coaster simulation that moves. It was fun and felt pretty real and it was just 2,000KRW a person so it didn't really cost us much. We decided to take a little break and go for frozen yogurt at A Twosome Place. We ordered red bean bing sa with frozen yogurt to share which of course was delicious once again. It was getting late and time for dinner and we were wondering what we should eat even though there were tons of places around. CK asked us if we ever had Sam Gyup Sal. We said no, we didn't even know what that was. So she said dinner was decided then because she wanted us to try. It is basically pork belly that is cooked on a table top eaten with lettuce, rice cakes and accompanied by soju.
We met up with her friends who thought we were Korean but to their surprise we weren't. We had to force them to speak their English which I might add was pretty good! We went to the restaurant and decided on a traditional table where we had to remove our shoes and sit cross legged. This was slightly uncomfortable but was still good. They started grilling the pork belly and when it was close to being cooked, they cut them into the smaller pieces. This was eaten with either rice, wrapped in a piece of lettuce, or with a thin piece of rice cake and some sauces. This was an extremely delicious meal and having it with soju was even better! We had tons of soju and then when we were done with the meat we left half a bottle of soju. I asked why we left it empty, and Rob (one of CK's friends) said because there wasn't any food left. In Toronto, people would still drink up the soju whether there was food or not. Only because soju in Korea is inexpensive compared to Toronto.
So we decided to walk off the dinner and take a stroll in the park where CK and friends shared their stories with us about Korea, the military, their experiences etc. It was a really nice conversation learning about their lives here in Seoul compared to ours in Toronto. We came to this musical fountain which pretty much reminded us of the Bellgaio fountain in Las Vegas that moved to the music. It started to rain and was getting late so we decided to head back to the hotel. CK brought us to our bus stop and wanted to tell the driver to let us know where to get off but like I said, the drivers are mean and rude. He forced her to get on the bus with us and so she rode the bus with us for an hour until we got back which we were so grateful for but felt guilty. We got off the bus and waited with her for a different bus and we end up making plans to meet at Lotte World tomorrow (an indoor amusement park).
We slept and were looking forward to Day 13!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Day 11
So today we weren't sure what we were doing. This is because we didn't
exactly follow the pre-made itinerary exactly in order, we did random
things that would come up. We also weren't able to do some attractions
that we really wanted to do during our stay here. This is because it
was either inconveniently far, raining, or we simply had no time. Some
things we wish we went to were a spa / sauna since we hear Korea is
known for these, Carribean Bay / Everland (aka. Korea Wonderland) due
to the last couple days raining like crazy, Busan Beach because it was
extremely far and finally the DMZ tour to check out the border of N
and S Korea because we didn't book it on time or reserve seats (but we
hear that we didn't really miss out on much because its "boring"
haha).
So we've been pretty lazy since we got to Seoul. In Tokyo, we would
always wake up early like 7am or 8am and leave our hotel but here in
Seoul we weren't waking up until 11am sometimes later and leaving our
hotel by 1pm. I blame this on how comfy our hotel room was. Anyways we
woke up to either the cleaning lady buzzing our room, or it was
someone back home calling our room. It was one or the other. It was
12pm and we were surprised how late we woke up. We quickly got ready
and made our way out the door and deciding as we walked to the subway
we would check out the Gangnam and Apujeong area.
So we decided to go to Apujeong first because we hear this is also an
extremely trendy area for young people. When we arrived there was
nothing around us that would lead us to the right direction just a
bunch of buildings and a huge bridge. We also came to this area to
check out the Hyundai Mall and its famous Meal Top restaurant that
sold red bean bing sa that SL told us to check out. We couldn't find
it and didn't want to bother asking so we randomly started walking
around. It was kind of frustrating because we were walking for such a
long time and we couldn't find anything and we were so hungry. So we
made a left because we saw this alleyway across the street that a lot
of people were going into. We walked around and realized this was
Rodeo St. The Seoul version pretty much, but not with all the fancy
brand names. Just lots of trendy stores, nail spas and restaurants /
bars. We were starved so we went to this place called Best Chicken. We
assumed that this place knew a bit of English cause of the restaurant
name but unfortunately the menu was pure Korean. The lady taking our
order didn't know a word either so she just pretty much used her
fingers and wrote "2" and then that was it. We were kind of nervous
cause we didn't know what the heck we ordered. But it was a table top
thing again. She then brought out and tossed in our pan cabbage,
onions, mushrooms, rice cake and raw chicken legs/thighs with the bone
attached (which she later cut off obviously). We realized this was
"Dak-Galbi" that a friend back home kept telling us we had to try. It
was pretty good despite how spicy it was with the mixture of
everything. Also, we ordered the rice and seaweed they cook on the pan
afterwards, also very delicious. I think anyone who would try this for
the first time would really enjoy it. They also give you aprons so
that while its cooking it won't splash on you or make your clothes
stink.
After brunch, we walked around this Rodeo area and walked into Coffee
Bean which is like everywhere in Seoul. Its like Starbucks basically,
a gourmet coffee shop. We asked the barista there where Hyundai Mall
was and he said by the station. At this point we had no idea which
direction the subway was but we were certain we didn't see a mall
anywhere. So we just kept walking when we saw the Galleria Dept Store.
This is pretty much Holt Renfrew but in a mall with all the luxury
brands and labels in different floors of the department store. We had
nothing to buy here so we just continued walking down the street
looking at signs that pointed to Apujeong Station.
When we got to the station we really laughed at ourselves because we
found the mall. It was truly beside the subway but we didn't see it
because it was covered by the massive bridge! Like all department
stores, we didn't find anything special. All we wanted was to try this
shaved ice that SL says is "famous." It did not disappoint as I feel
like it was the best red bean I ever had. We were like wow, they must
add drugs in this because its THAT GOOD. The restaurant is also packed
(all they sell are desserts), that you have to take a number from the
machine and when your number flashes, you get seated. Pretty good
system!
We left the Apujeong area and decided to venture out to the Gangnam
area where they are famous for the Coex Mall and Aquarium as well as
Lotte World (indoor amusement park). It was already the evening so all
we wanted to do was go to the aquarium and walk around Coex Mall but I
guess we were too late because although the mall was still open, the
aquarium closed at 7pm so we were at a loss. I blame this partially on
myself because when we arrived at Coex Mall, I was dying to get my
nails done and did this as Ray waited 45mins. So when I was done, we
walked around Coex and decided to check out the not famous but well
known Lucky Seven Casino. It wasn't anything worth mentioning but it
pretty much had your typical roulette, blackjack, spanish 21,
caribbean stud, 3 card, some slots and also baccarat. It had
everything except poker basically. We put 12,000krw into the slot
machine and came out empty unfortunately but better that we left than
to play.
By the time we left the casino it was 9ish and I saw that there was a
Lotte Duty Free shop which unfortunately was closed already. So after
we checked out the whole mall, we just called it a night because all
the walking and shopping we were pooped out. I think we had dinner
before we went back to the hotel but my memory is groggy at the
moment. But we had something to look forward to on Tuesday aka Day 12:
Itaewon and Ilsandong aka where CK lives!
exactly follow the pre-made itinerary exactly in order, we did random
things that would come up. We also weren't able to do some attractions
that we really wanted to do during our stay here. This is because it
was either inconveniently far, raining, or we simply had no time. Some
things we wish we went to were a spa / sauna since we hear Korea is
known for these, Carribean Bay / Everland (aka. Korea Wonderland) due
to the last couple days raining like crazy, Busan Beach because it was
extremely far and finally the DMZ tour to check out the border of N
and S Korea because we didn't book it on time or reserve seats (but we
hear that we didn't really miss out on much because its "boring"
haha).
So we've been pretty lazy since we got to Seoul. In Tokyo, we would
always wake up early like 7am or 8am and leave our hotel but here in
Seoul we weren't waking up until 11am sometimes later and leaving our
hotel by 1pm. I blame this on how comfy our hotel room was. Anyways we
woke up to either the cleaning lady buzzing our room, or it was
someone back home calling our room. It was one or the other. It was
12pm and we were surprised how late we woke up. We quickly got ready
and made our way out the door and deciding as we walked to the subway
we would check out the Gangnam and Apujeong area.
So we decided to go to Apujeong first because we hear this is also an
extremely trendy area for young people. When we arrived there was
nothing around us that would lead us to the right direction just a
bunch of buildings and a huge bridge. We also came to this area to
check out the Hyundai Mall and its famous Meal Top restaurant that
sold red bean bing sa that SL told us to check out. We couldn't find
it and didn't want to bother asking so we randomly started walking
around. It was kind of frustrating because we were walking for such a
long time and we couldn't find anything and we were so hungry. So we
made a left because we saw this alleyway across the street that a lot
of people were going into. We walked around and realized this was
Rodeo St. The Seoul version pretty much, but not with all the fancy
brand names. Just lots of trendy stores, nail spas and restaurants /
bars. We were starved so we went to this place called Best Chicken. We
assumed that this place knew a bit of English cause of the restaurant
name but unfortunately the menu was pure Korean. The lady taking our
order didn't know a word either so she just pretty much used her
fingers and wrote "2" and then that was it. We were kind of nervous
cause we didn't know what the heck we ordered. But it was a table top
thing again. She then brought out and tossed in our pan cabbage,
onions, mushrooms, rice cake and raw chicken legs/thighs with the bone
attached (which she later cut off obviously). We realized this was
"Dak-Galbi" that a friend back home kept telling us we had to try. It
was pretty good despite how spicy it was with the mixture of
everything. Also, we ordered the rice and seaweed they cook on the pan
afterwards, also very delicious. I think anyone who would try this for
the first time would really enjoy it. They also give you aprons so
that while its cooking it won't splash on you or make your clothes
stink.
After brunch, we walked around this Rodeo area and walked into Coffee
Bean which is like everywhere in Seoul. Its like Starbucks basically,
a gourmet coffee shop. We asked the barista there where Hyundai Mall
was and he said by the station. At this point we had no idea which
direction the subway was but we were certain we didn't see a mall
anywhere. So we just kept walking when we saw the Galleria Dept Store.
This is pretty much Holt Renfrew but in a mall with all the luxury
brands and labels in different floors of the department store. We had
nothing to buy here so we just continued walking down the street
looking at signs that pointed to Apujeong Station.
When we got to the station we really laughed at ourselves because we
found the mall. It was truly beside the subway but we didn't see it
because it was covered by the massive bridge! Like all department
stores, we didn't find anything special. All we wanted was to try this
shaved ice that SL says is "famous." It did not disappoint as I feel
like it was the best red bean I ever had. We were like wow, they must
add drugs in this because its THAT GOOD. The restaurant is also packed
(all they sell are desserts), that you have to take a number from the
machine and when your number flashes, you get seated. Pretty good
system!
We left the Apujeong area and decided to venture out to the Gangnam
area where they are famous for the Coex Mall and Aquarium as well as
Lotte World (indoor amusement park). It was already the evening so all
we wanted to do was go to the aquarium and walk around Coex Mall but I
guess we were too late because although the mall was still open, the
aquarium closed at 7pm so we were at a loss. I blame this partially on
myself because when we arrived at Coex Mall, I was dying to get my
nails done and did this as Ray waited 45mins. So when I was done, we
walked around Coex and decided to check out the not famous but well
known Lucky Seven Casino. It wasn't anything worth mentioning but it
pretty much had your typical roulette, blackjack, spanish 21,
caribbean stud, 3 card, some slots and also baccarat. It had
everything except poker basically. We put 12,000krw into the slot
machine and came out empty unfortunately but better that we left than
to play.
By the time we left the casino it was 9ish and I saw that there was a
Lotte Duty Free shop which unfortunately was closed already. So after
we checked out the whole mall, we just called it a night because all
the walking and shopping we were pooped out. I think we had dinner
before we went back to the hotel but my memory is groggy at the
moment. But we had something to look forward to on Tuesday aka Day 12:
Itaewon and Ilsandong aka where CK lives!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Day 10 - Myeongdong and Insadong
First off I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates. We're actually in Hong Kong right now and we're not exactly living like how we were in Seoul. No laptop, no rented cell phone and no wifi access in our hotel room. Only certain times i can catch a signal so I'm taking the advantage right now to blog. Also, blogging with this iPhone is slightly difficult.
So I'm trying to remember day 10 since it was pretty much more than a week ago but I pretty much remember because we experienced some interesting things that day. This day I woke up and checked my email and received an email from my friend CK who lives in Seoul. She knew I was coming and wanted to meet up. I gave her a call and she said she was free so we decided to meet up. She lived an hour away from us so it took a bit of time but I was glad to see her. She was kind enough to take us around town, lend us her laptop and rent us a cellphone to use while we were here.
This was only the second day that we were here so she asked me what I wanted to do. Looking at our itinerary we decided to go to the Myeongdong area which according to our guide book, it is similar to Tokyo's Shinjuku. This area did not disappoint as it had many department stores/shopping options such as Migliore, Lotte Dept Store, Lotte Duty Free etc. As well, there were many shops and restaurants in the side streets / alleyways. It really reminded us of Tokyo Shinjuku Red District that's for sure. We walked around and decided to grab some food. CK and her cousin SK who joined us afterwards, decided to take us to eat shabu-shabu which is hot pot that came with beef, veggies, dumplings, fish balls etc. After we were done with those items, they brought us noodles which we boiled in the broth. If you think that was a lot of food then we must be pigs because after the noodles they tossed in rice and seaweed to make a dish kind of like congee using the leftover broth and rice. It simmered in the pot and made a nice flavorful congee. It was a huge and really tasty meal.
After lunch we decided to walk to Insadong near anguk station. This area is a very traditional place, meaning it had a lot of traditional food, stores and traditional gifts/souvenirs. It was an interesting site and had such a different atmosphere. We also encountered these guys who on the street, made this korean dessert using honey and a sweet peanut filling. They put on a performance for us which we have on the camcorder and will upload as soon as we get home! We decided after the long walk to check out this traditional Korean teashop. We didn't have any traditional tea but we did have red bean shaved ice with ice-cream and this 5 flavour tea that was sweet and sour. We didn't really enjoy the tea but the ice-cream and bing sa was good. CK and SK had to leave because they had other plans so we decided to stay in the Insadong area after they left for a bit.
We were planning to go to the Seoul N tower because we heard the view at night was beautiful but it started to lightly rain so we just walked around where there was shelter a little more. By then it was time for dinner so we walked down the streets kind of in between insadong and myeongdong area trying to find a good restaurant. We were enticed by an Italian restaurant so we decided to try it. Dinner was slightly expensive, well more like moderately priced, but it was really good. We had the best lobster spaghetti, caprese salad and pizza. So it was definitely a hit this night picking this place for dinner. I know you're all probably thinking we should be eating Korean food in Seoul but sometimes it's good to switch it up a bit.
Unfortunately for us, after dinner we caught some heavy rain so we ran to the nearest metro station and made our way back to the hotel to sleep and be ready for Itaewon the next day.
I don't know if I mentioned this in the last blog, but we saw a free concert at City Hall the other night and this dude named To Yun Yuen (sounds like toe yun yoon) performed. I think he sounds good but I guess he's not at international stardom yet cause no one seems to know who he is back home! If anyone knows him leave us a comment haha.
So I'm trying to remember day 10 since it was pretty much more than a week ago but I pretty much remember because we experienced some interesting things that day. This day I woke up and checked my email and received an email from my friend CK who lives in Seoul. She knew I was coming and wanted to meet up. I gave her a call and she said she was free so we decided to meet up. She lived an hour away from us so it took a bit of time but I was glad to see her. She was kind enough to take us around town, lend us her laptop and rent us a cellphone to use while we were here.
This was only the second day that we were here so she asked me what I wanted to do. Looking at our itinerary we decided to go to the Myeongdong area which according to our guide book, it is similar to Tokyo's Shinjuku. This area did not disappoint as it had many department stores/shopping options such as Migliore, Lotte Dept Store, Lotte Duty Free etc. As well, there were many shops and restaurants in the side streets / alleyways. It really reminded us of Tokyo Shinjuku Red District that's for sure. We walked around and decided to grab some food. CK and her cousin SK who joined us afterwards, decided to take us to eat shabu-shabu which is hot pot that came with beef, veggies, dumplings, fish balls etc. After we were done with those items, they brought us noodles which we boiled in the broth. If you think that was a lot of food then we must be pigs because after the noodles they tossed in rice and seaweed to make a dish kind of like congee using the leftover broth and rice. It simmered in the pot and made a nice flavorful congee. It was a huge and really tasty meal.
After lunch we decided to walk to Insadong near anguk station. This area is a very traditional place, meaning it had a lot of traditional food, stores and traditional gifts/souvenirs. It was an interesting site and had such a different atmosphere. We also encountered these guys who on the street, made this korean dessert using honey and a sweet peanut filling. They put on a performance for us which we have on the camcorder and will upload as soon as we get home! We decided after the long walk to check out this traditional Korean teashop. We didn't have any traditional tea but we did have red bean shaved ice with ice-cream and this 5 flavour tea that was sweet and sour. We didn't really enjoy the tea but the ice-cream and bing sa was good. CK and SK had to leave because they had other plans so we decided to stay in the Insadong area after they left for a bit.
We were planning to go to the Seoul N tower because we heard the view at night was beautiful but it started to lightly rain so we just walked around where there was shelter a little more. By then it was time for dinner so we walked down the streets kind of in between insadong and myeongdong area trying to find a good restaurant. We were enticed by an Italian restaurant so we decided to try it. Dinner was slightly expensive, well more like moderately priced, but it was really good. We had the best lobster spaghetti, caprese salad and pizza. So it was definitely a hit this night picking this place for dinner. I know you're all probably thinking we should be eating Korean food in Seoul but sometimes it's good to switch it up a bit.
Unfortunately for us, after dinner we caught some heavy rain so we ran to the nearest metro station and made our way back to the hotel to sleep and be ready for Itaewon the next day.
I don't know if I mentioned this in the last blog, but we saw a free concert at City Hall the other night and this dude named To Yun Yuen (sounds like toe yun yoon) performed. I think he sounds good but I guess he's not at international stardom yet cause no one seems to know who he is back home! If anyone knows him leave us a comment haha.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Day 9
I apologize for not being able to post any pictures of our tour only because we did forget to bring the usb cable for the camera. In addition, some places which we will be going to does not allow us to insert the SD card into the PC. Therefore, the trip pictures will available as soon as we arrive back in Toronto. So please bare with me = ) We were fortunate however, that a good friend in Korea has lent her laptop to us so that we could bring you these blogs and update you guys as quickly as possible.
Before I start mentioning anything about our trip I would like to give you some quick tips about the country so that if you ever plan on going to Seoul, Korea after reading our blog you would have some better knowledge to prepare you.
Quick Tips
1. 1 CDN dollar is equivalent to approximately 1000 Korean Won (1,130KRW to be exact). Although shopping in Korea does give you some benefits and deals on certain items and products, don't expect to always find a bargain. If anyone is familiar with the term "the law of one price," they should know that the prices of any good and service in whatever country should be somewhat similiar regardless of a different foreign exchange rate. This has been proven true while we were in Korea, HOWEVER there are definitely some places which have bargain steals which we will mention later in the blog so just continue reading and we will tell you all the juicy spots on where to shop.
2. Beware of Korean food. If you are not a spicy eater make sure you have a friend who knows how to write Korean hanguel so that he or she can write you a card which says "Less spicy or no spicy." This is to save you the hardship of sweating and not enjoying your food simply because the food tends to be spicy or VERY spicy. The majority of the food we had during our stay always consisted of some hot spices. I believe this is part of the Korean culture. So I warn you, Korean food is some hot stuff. Although most of the food is hot, there are a lot of other dishes which is very delicious and not spicy at all such as cold buckwheat noodles. We will get into this later. But this is just a pre-blog warning.
3. You do not need to tip in Korea. The ldeology in the west is for people to tip the server after finishing a meal, however this is not the case here. Whatever price is listed on the menu for a particular dish, this is what you're expected to pay. Sometimes the service is so good that you just want to tip, but you should refrain from doing it. It is not part of their ideology and has been this way for decades.
4. Never pour your own drink when in a party, allow someone else to do it. Everytime you finish your drink someone will always be there to refill your glass. When you see an empty glass of another member of the party, you should always take the liberty to refill their glass.
5. Like we said from before, the transit system is extremely covenient. It takes you all over Seoul with the max cost of 1,200KRW one way. Everything is located above the subway so if you need to get anywhere, the Metro Transit is the way to go.
Without further ado here is day 9, the first full day of Korea.
So we wake up on the first day in Seoul around 10am. For breakfast we pretty much filled ourselves up with these pastries we got in Tokyo. I wouldn't call them pastries, they were those litttle red bean cakes. We had a whole schedule done up before we arrived to Seoul so we would know what we were doing for each of the days we were here (Thanks SL). Some people go on trips not planning because I guess they have a pre-planned tour already scheduling their day or they rather just wing it. However, I feel like exploring on your own is a lot better because you get to spend more time in the areas you like and planning is awesome because you keep yourself busy.
So we leave our hotel and start heading out west towards some areas close to us. For those who have been to Seoul or know Seoul really well, we are staying in the Seodaemun area which is in between a lot of tourist attractions and shopping areas. We didn't really explore our own area because from the looks of it there's nothing really around us whenever we exit our hotel but one subway station away there is always something exciting. So we took the subway and transfered to Ewha Women's University station. The area had such a different atmosphere with all the students and young adults walking around and about. There were lots of cafes, coffee shops and some clothing stores around us. We walked around and went into this store called Olive Young. This shop is super popular, almost equivalent to a Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto however their focus is mainly beauty, not really food. They had a lot of cheap make up and beauty products. In Toronto, eye contact solution is pretty expensive. Here, they had 2 bottles of contact solution and some extra things with it for about 11,000KRW which I think is a steal. You'll come across a lot of these beauty product shops such as Tony Moly, Missha, Etude House, The Skin Food, Banilla Co. etc. You get the picture.
After walking around the area, we were feeling hungry so we went into a restaurant that looked pretty good. It had photos of noodles outside so we figured that we would get some Korean noodles. When we sat down, we noticed a lot of people sharing food on a huge pan on top of the mini stove and table. Like table top cooking. We had 4 options: Spicy noodles, black bean noodles, white noodles and seafood noodles. We each decided we would get one spicy and one black bean which cost 12,000KRW each. We thought this was reasonable. However, when we ordered, the lady was confused because she said its a "set" and we only pick one. We then said, "no, no set, seperate." She still looked confused so we're like okay fine, spicy noodle set then. We came to a realization that we were suppose to only order one thing and share on the table top. This is pretty much what we ate:
After our meal, we realized we walked towards the next station aka. Sinchon station. This area is known for great food during the evenings and a lot of young adults hanging out. We were there during the day, so it was busy but it didn't live up to the reputation we keep hearing about it. We went into a mall that was there called Migliore. It seemed like a dead mall to us. It was pretty empty in certain areas and basically this mall is suppose to be a bunch of little shops in this one mall but with super cheap clothes. We later learned that there's like three of these Migliore Malls and the other two we experienced was full and packed with people. However, the one in Sinchon was dead. We went all the way upstairs and saw that there was a Megabox Cinema. Considering we are huge movie fanatics we were feeling like watching a movie since in Toronto, we go to the movies 3-4 times a month. We decided to watch The Expendables. It was good because it was in English with Korean subtitles so it was pretty worthwhile for us. It's also reserved seating when you buy the ticket. The total for two of us came to 18,000KRW. This definitely beats those $25 prices at Cineplex back home!
After the movie, we decided to check out the Gwanghwamun area which is known for having lots of history with all the palaces and well known museums. We came out from the subway and saw this background:
It's actually a really cool site you can see the Geongbukgong Palace gates (which we will talk about later) and the mountain behind it. It's a very nice site. People were really friendly here too, they helped us take photos and it's funny we actually bumped into a man from Toronto visiting Seoul.
We wanted to check out the Geongbukgong Palace because it's a really famous palace but unfortunately it was already closed because it was past 5pm (which is a super early closing time I mightt add). So we walked around the area and came across the Chung Gye Cheon River. This is also a nice place for people to take a stroll:
We went to this place called Hot Sun which is basically chicken wings and beer. We ordered probably too much for two people. Like we said, people share all their food here so we ordered two dishes: Sausage and potatoes and grilled chicken wings. The sausages were super westernized, with bbq sauce on top. The chicken however was a dangerous meal to my stomach. We ordered 3 chilli which is medium spicy. We had an option to order 1, 3 or 5 chilli. When we got the food Ray took the first bite and said "Oh man, I'm in trouble, there's no way I can eat all of this." He was refering to the fact that I can't eat too much spice and how spicy this chicken was. I wanted to try anyways because it looked so good. I took one bite and my tongue burned and the small bite I swallowed really burned/made my stomach turn. Not even a joke. Ray was even having a hard time eating it. Thank god I ate the potatoes and sausage or else I'd be starving this night. We took it to go because he couldn't handle eating 30 wings by himself. This shows that you need to be careful when picking your spice here cause it was pretty bad for me.
We decided to walk it off and head back to the hotel. Both of us complained that our stomach was hurting before we went to sleep haha.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Day 8 Part 2 - Flight to Seoul
So I figured I'd change the page a bit because technically, the Japan part is over. Now we begin Seoul, Korea.
The last day was pretty sad as we were leaving a great city but at the same time we were super excited to be heading to Seoul. We arrived at the Haneda Airport and as I've said before, we had our luggages scanned before check-in. After checking in, we made our way to the gates. What we noticed during check-in and the security scanning process is that the security personnel checking our luggages and carry-on bags were women (no older than 35 but between 25 and 28 ish). Just an observation. Anyways, we made our way to the gates and came across the Japan Duty Free. Everything was super expensive, we weren't really surprised. Anyways, we waited in the airport for our flight and it was mainly Koreans and Japanese people on this flight to Seoul.
When they finally called us to the gate, we entered the plane. We were flying with Korean Air, which is suppose to be a good airline. However, the take off was quite scary as it was bumpy and very shaky. The weather in Tokyo wasn't too bad when we left so we weren't sure if it was the weather to blame or a terrible pilot which contributed to a horrible take off. In addition, the flight was really bumpy and shaky. This isn't the type of feeling you want when riding a plane cause it pretty much brings up unneccessary fear and an uneasiness in the stomach. Our flight was only 2 hours so they got right on dinner for us which consisted of stewed beef with rice, smoked salmon salad, onions and apple jelly. Interesting dinner I must say. Time went by pretty fast and we were about to land in Seoul Gimpo Airport aka. the domestic airport. The landing of the plane I would like to add was also super bumpy and not smooth so I blame it on a terrible pilot once again. Compared to the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Narita, our AC pilot was pro and this guy on Korean Air was terrible!
So we exit the plane and wait for our luggages and after picking up our luggages, we exit the airport. We were really lucky that there was a subway station at the airport or else we would probably have to waste money on a taxi which by the way, we never took one but they seem pretty cheap. What can I say about the Seoul Metro? The fact that it's amazing. We pretty much owe it all to Tokyo Metro for teaching us how to use a complicated transit system because Seoul Metro is a derivative of that.
This is pretty much the Seoul Metro System, not any different from the Tokyo one in terms of the lines. Some facts which make the Seoul metro quite superior is the fact that this subway system has huge glass barriers that cover the railway. Like there's no way you can climb over the barrier, to put it in leymans terms the tracks are completely covered with this barrier and the only time it opens is when the train is arrives (I hear HK is similar). Also, the trains are super spacious. I think the size is like 1.5x the size of TTC trains back home. Also, the transit fare here is super cheap. When we got here, we used single journey tickets which one way was about 1,200KRW which is a little less than $1.20CAD. However, the next day we both got T-Money cards. When you buy tickets at the machines they drop a card and instead of inserting it into a slot (like Tokyo), you scan the card against the T-Money surface/card reader to enter. Basically what a T-Money card is, it's a card you keep reloading money into to use for the buses and transit system. It costs 3,000KRW for the card itself and then you can reload. The perks of purchasing this card is that you make back the 3,000KRW you spend because each time you ride the transit system instead of charging you the usual 1,000-1,200KRW, it only charges you 900KRW which saves you a bit of money. I only suggest you get this card if you plan to travel A LOT during your stay here. We're here for about 9 days and we've been using the transit everyday sometimes more then 3 times a day so we're pretty glad we got the card. It's a lot easier than buying a single journey card each and every time we ride the transit system. Oh also, the subway is super clean, no garbage. The city invests a lot of money in city workers because the tracks are always clean and garbage free. There are about 3 to 4 city workers at each station doing the necessary activities that make a subway system clean such as changing the garbage, cleaning the escalators, and mopping. I wish Toronto was like that because then we would have a cleaner subway system!
So we made our way to our hotel which is close to Seodaemun Station. When looking for a hotel to book, it was more difficult to find one in Seoul because all of them were extremely expensive. This was an average priced hotel and next to the subway station so we thought it would be nice. The security here is fantastic, you need to scan your room card against the card reader in the elevator before you can enter any of the residences upstairs. The doors are steel, it's quite different from any other hotels. I think because these are also serviced apartments it comes with huge fridge, stove, microwave, washer and dryer and the other things like iron and tv. It also has like 2 huge closets to put clothes in so I think people often stay here for longer stays but we were pleasantly surprised that we paid a decent price for a great hotel. Also, when people knock on your door, they ring the bell and it's a digital command center so you can see who's outside your door via. camera.
Anyways, it was about 1am when we arrived, no time to explore cause it was late so we just went to sleep to prepare for Day 1 in Seoul!
-LD
The last day was pretty sad as we were leaving a great city but at the same time we were super excited to be heading to Seoul. We arrived at the Haneda Airport and as I've said before, we had our luggages scanned before check-in. After checking in, we made our way to the gates. What we noticed during check-in and the security scanning process is that the security personnel checking our luggages and carry-on bags were women (no older than 35 but between 25 and 28 ish). Just an observation. Anyways, we made our way to the gates and came across the Japan Duty Free. Everything was super expensive, we weren't really surprised. Anyways, we waited in the airport for our flight and it was mainly Koreans and Japanese people on this flight to Seoul.
When they finally called us to the gate, we entered the plane. We were flying with Korean Air, which is suppose to be a good airline. However, the take off was quite scary as it was bumpy and very shaky. The weather in Tokyo wasn't too bad when we left so we weren't sure if it was the weather to blame or a terrible pilot which contributed to a horrible take off. In addition, the flight was really bumpy and shaky. This isn't the type of feeling you want when riding a plane cause it pretty much brings up unneccessary fear and an uneasiness in the stomach. Our flight was only 2 hours so they got right on dinner for us which consisted of stewed beef with rice, smoked salmon salad, onions and apple jelly. Interesting dinner I must say. Time went by pretty fast and we were about to land in Seoul Gimpo Airport aka. the domestic airport. The landing of the plane I would like to add was also super bumpy and not smooth so I blame it on a terrible pilot once again. Compared to the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Narita, our AC pilot was pro and this guy on Korean Air was terrible!
So we exit the plane and wait for our luggages and after picking up our luggages, we exit the airport. We were really lucky that there was a subway station at the airport or else we would probably have to waste money on a taxi which by the way, we never took one but they seem pretty cheap. What can I say about the Seoul Metro? The fact that it's amazing. We pretty much owe it all to Tokyo Metro for teaching us how to use a complicated transit system because Seoul Metro is a derivative of that.
So we made our way to our hotel which is close to Seodaemun Station. When looking for a hotel to book, it was more difficult to find one in Seoul because all of them were extremely expensive. This was an average priced hotel and next to the subway station so we thought it would be nice. The security here is fantastic, you need to scan your room card against the card reader in the elevator before you can enter any of the residences upstairs. The doors are steel, it's quite different from any other hotels. I think because these are also serviced apartments it comes with huge fridge, stove, microwave, washer and dryer and the other things like iron and tv. It also has like 2 huge closets to put clothes in so I think people often stay here for longer stays but we were pleasantly surprised that we paid a decent price for a great hotel. Also, when people knock on your door, they ring the bell and it's a digital command center so you can see who's outside your door via. camera.
Anyways, it was about 1am when we arrived, no time to explore cause it was late so we just went to sleep to prepare for Day 1 in Seoul!
-LD
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