Our next stop, SEOUL! The heart of Korea. ❤ ❤ ❤
As usual, for breakfast we headed down to the ultra mini cafeteria and grabbed breakfast and then went back up to the motel room to rest and do some last minute packing before we check out. I sat on the bed and watched some TV while my sister did some packing, I guess. Our room have 2 doors at the entrance, meaning that there is a main door which you open to get inside and then there's a second door between the main door and the room, perhaps a 1 meter hallway where you leave your shoes before entering the room. Odd thing was, while we were inside our room "SOMEBODY" opened our main door and then proceeded to open the second door leading to the room. I caught a glimpse of the middle aged lady as she opened the door and saw us inside and then left and started talking to somebody outside. It was so weird. No apologies or anything. Just walked away like nothing happened. ( º言º) We thought we left the door open, but that can't be the case. It wasn't even checkout time yet too. And we did hear the lady talking in Korean to another lady outside, we did not chase after her to see what the commotion was about since there's a language barrier.
Anyways, we promptly packed up and left after that odd occurrence. The check out was smooth as we just left the key with the front reception. It's great that Haeundae station is close to the motel, perhaps 3 minutes walk away. We had to head over to Busan Station which was quite a long ride, ~ 45 mins, and from Busan Station we can take the KTX to Seoul.
Busan Station. The inside is very large. You have to buy tickets at the counter in order to ride the KTX. My sister and I bought a one way ticket to Seoul for 53300₩ each (this is the price for students or people under 25). As we were purchasing the tickets, the teller asked us what departure time we would like and told us there is a train leaving in less than 10 minutes. My sister made the decision and said we will take the tickets for the train that's leaving soon (BTW, if you buy the tickets now and you missed your train, there's no refund). It was such a hassle and we almost missed the train too. First, the train is leaving in less than 10 minutes; second, the Busan Station is huge; third, we are unfamiliar with the station; forth, we needed to go to the washroom and finally we have our heavy luggage. Well, my sister and I had to RUN all the way to the other side of the ticket booth and up the escalator and then take the elevator down to the platform and then search for our platform and cart number. We made it, perhaps 2 minutes before the doors closed. I NEVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN. (`^´o)=3
The interior of the KTX train have seats are two by twos but the leg room is very small, so if you have luggage like us then you have to put it near the exiting doors at the front or the back of the cart. We kept our eyes out every time people got off the train in case somebody decides to take our luggage with them. I AM PARANOID. The fact that the ride is 2.5 hours long and we kept on nodding off, it was exhausting. (´△｀)Zzzz・・・｡o○ There were quite a lot of stops along the way. The KTX isn't really what I expected, no room for luggage unlike the bullet trains in Japan and also it's not as fast as the bullet trains in Japan.
Once we arrived at Seoul station, we had to navigate to the outside and take the subway. I got to say, Seoul Station is gigantic! When we arrived at Seoul station, it was around noon time and we also needed to go to the washroom so we searched for the elevator to go down. When we reached the bottom floor, two middle-aged males, perhaps janitors, asked if we were from the Philippines?? Awkward. First time we ever gotten that comment. Once we got to the washroom, there was a line up that stretched out the door...（；¬＿¬)
My impression of Seoul Station is that it is very busy with people walking in all directions. The interior is very polish and clean with plenty of stores inside. Also you get to see many military personnel walking by. We wanted to utilize our time wisely and explore Myeongdong so we quickly hurried out of Seoul Station and to the subway to take the transfer train. Apparently, there were construction on the escalators and there were NO elevators too. Our suitcase are very heavy to carry down, 2 flights of long stairs? combined with the sheer amount of people using the stairs too. I searched for a transit employee and asked him if there is a escalator nearby and he asked "why?" I said, we need to bring our luggage down and to which he attempted to try and lift my suitcase, but is unable to lift it much. He chuckled, and randomly grabbed a military personnel that coincidentally walked by, just at the right time, and told him to carry our luggage down, he didn't ask rather "demanded" him to do it. That young military guy was strong enough to carry our luggage, one in each hand, down the stairs. We thanked him, but he just walked away without acknowledging us. It might be just me, but I feel that people in Seoul are much colder than in Busan, no offense.
Anyways, we had to stand the whole way from Seoul Station to Jongro 3 ga Station (Line 6), 7 minutes ride, but it was awkward and a hassle as we have to move our luggage every time somebody gets off or got on since nobody offered a seat to us, but that's okay I guess. Once we got off the train, we took the wrong exit, as there are many exits to choose from, and we ended up taking the long route to the guesthouse. My initial impression of the streets was that it was mighty similar to China, the area was full of old shops and there were many middle-aged men sitting out in the streets. But once you enter the downtown area of Seoul, it's very different.
My impression of Seoul Station is that it is very busy with people walking in all directions. The interior is very polish and clean with plenty of stores inside. Also you get to see many military personnel walking by. We wanted to utilize our time wisely and explore Myeongdong so we quickly hurried out of Seoul Station and to the subway to take the transfer train. Apparently, there were construction on the escalators and there were NO elevators too. Our suitcase are very heavy to carry down, 2 flights of long stairs? combined with the sheer amount of people using the stairs too. I searched for a transit employee and asked him if there is a escalator nearby and he asked "why?" I said, we need to bring our luggage down and to which he attempted to try and lift my suitcase, but is unable to lift it much. He chuckled, and randomly grabbed a military personnel that coincidentally walked by, just at the right time, and told him to carry our luggage down, he didn't ask rather "demanded" him to do it. That young military guy was strong enough to carry our luggage, one in each hand, down the stairs. We thanked him, but he just walked away without acknowledging us. It might be just me, but I feel that people in Seoul are much colder than in Busan, no offense.
Anyways, we had to stand the whole way from Seoul Station to Jongro 3 ga Station (Line 6), 7 minutes ride, but it was awkward and a hassle as we have to move our luggage every time somebody gets off or got on since nobody offered a seat to us, but that's okay I guess. Once we got off the train, we took the wrong exit, as there are many exits to choose from, and we ended up taking the long route to the guesthouse. My initial impression of the streets was that it was mighty similar to China, the area was full of old shops and there were many middle-aged men sitting out in the streets. But once you enter the downtown area of Seoul, it's very different.
Once we found the guesthouse, my sister walked up to the 3rd floor to find the manager/person in charge to help us with the luggage, but apparently he went out for lunch so we had to carry our luggage up. We had to wait approximately half an hour before he came back to check us in. It was an easy checkin process as he spoke English quite well.
The guesthouse we chose to use during our stay in Seoul was "Kimchee Myeongdong Guesthouse." We stayed here for 5 nights and it cost $60.06 CND each day for a private double bed. The Guesthouse include air conditioning, free WIFI, private washroom and bathroom and free refillable water in the lobby, BUT it does not include a fridge or toothpaste and the washroom is extremely small, but not as small as the hotel that we stayed at in Hong Kong. Another con is that the guesthouse is located on the 3rd floor which have no elevator. And mind you, the stairway is very narrow so you can imagine us dragging our luggage up the stairs in intervals. Also there is a karaoke on the second floor so it does get a bit noisy (｡◕ฺˇε ˇ◕ฺ｡）, but if you're tired you can sleep through anything.
Entrance way
Our room. One double bed and a small space at the side for you to walk and leave your luggage. Oh right, the window is right in front of the bed so in the morning the sun shines on you. We later covered the window with maps just to block the sun. It was hard work. The room is somewhat cramped, as you can tell, there's barely any room to have two luggage opened. Also having no fridge in the room is very inconvenient as we had bought a lot of chocolate from Japan.
Oh look, the bed covers is so small that my sister and I had to fight for the covers at night. At the same time we needed to maintain a distance with each other (don't want to touch each other in weird places nor have our faces close together) so you know how it goes.
And here's our tiny washroom.YUP, I can safely say I do not like washroom and the bathroom together with no separation. It's too close and there's no drape. I had to stare at the toilet every time I take a shower while standing up. And every time I take a shower, either my clothes get wet or the towel itself gets wet. There's no safe place to hang the clothes/towel.
After we settled down and dropped off our luggage, we promptly went out to explore SEOUL!! No time for rest. We started off exploring the area near our guesthouse, Myeongdong.
Here's a cathedral in Myeongdong, near the shopping area. There was construction going on today, but it was finished in the next couple of days.
The famous "Dongdaemun Gate" aka. Heunginjimun Gate located in Dongdaemun and is one of the eight gates in Seoul. This landmark is hard to miss as it is surrounded by contemporary buildings.
Random water fountain in Namdaemun? or dongdaemun? they are next to each other. We didn't take the bus or the subway to these areas as the walking distance wasn't too bad. But it did rain a bit. We went from Myeongdong to Namdaemun to Dongdaemun and back to Myeongdong.
Once we got to Lotte young plaza, we just chilled there. The mall is huge and pretty! The Lotte young plaza is aimed towards teenagers and young adults so the merchandise and clothing really suit our taste.
OHH, we saw a Starbucks inside and they have a STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE FRAPPUCCINO!
ヽ(*゜∀゜*)ノ It was on the pricey side for a talle - 6300₩ I'm used to paying $4.70 for a talle in Canada, but not $6.30.... but, whatever, YOLO. 。・:*:・゜’( ☻ ω ☻ )。・:*:・゜’YUMMY
At the top of the Lotte Young Plaza there is a park, like most malls in Korea, but these park have LIVE animals!!!Unfortunately it was raining so they had to cover the cages with plastic drapes. But at least it wasn't crowded. There were birds, rodents and cardboard celebrities to take pictures with. SNSD!
AWWW. SO CUTE!!
The inside of the mall is full of art.
The Lotte Young Plaza is in Myeongdong and across from it, as you can see from the picture, is a night market. They were still setting up, but by the time we went down and stopped raining, it was in full operation. The night market is where those trees are. There were so much stuff to eat, as well as shopping to do.
We bought one stick of meat for 3000₩. They have several sauces on the table for you to brush on yourself, we chose BBQ. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! SERIOUSLY. I WANT TO EAT IT AGAIN. There were a lot of people surrounding this stall, which is located at the corner and it was awkward just standing and eating near a building while people pass you by.
And lastly, we bought some cheap takoyaki for 3000₩.
There were a lot of stores here including department stores. There was one or several stalls that sold CHEAP yet cute earrings for 1000₩ each. You see a hoard of females surrounding the stall choosing earrings. I would grab a bunch except I have no piercings.
To end the night, we went for dinner at Mcdonalds as we were so indecisive as to what to eat. We bought one large fries and two burgers which totaled to 6500₩. Maybe it was during the summer that we went to Korea, but people seems to be night owls? and shops open till late.
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