My Trip to Seoul Part 1

안녕하세유 여러분!! 오랜만이다. Hi everyone..it has been awhile since my last post. Im soo soo very sorry for not being able to update this blog for you all…정말 죄송합니다.

Im not gonna say its because im busy with work (although its true) excuse, ive used that excuse too much lately huhu. But anyway, Ive got sooo much to tell…내가 서울왔어요!!.. 언제가? You asked.. 5월 29일.  3일 4밤…

I bought the flight ticket around November last year. I didn’t plan to actually, I just did it!.. after I bought the ticket then I plan the whole visit haha.. typical me. 

INCHEON AIRPORT..

So how was Seoul? You asked.. 대박!!!!.. awesome… incredible…. Sweet…. Just cant describe it with a word.  If you plan on backpacking to seoul, not going with tour package or anything, I encourage you to DO IT!!!!... not to worry you wont get lost… me and my friends did it without getting lost, so can you.. the transportation there is sooo much easy… especially subways… I love the subways… it is much more easier than the lrt/subways in Kuala Lumpur I can tell you that!.. all you need is just a T-money card 7 a Seoul city/subway map and you can travel anywhere everywhere..

Me & my friends fly to Incheon via Airasia flight.. the to & fro ticket cost me about RM1300 .  We took off from KL around 2.40pm (Malaysian time) and arrived at incheon around 8 pm (Seoul time, +1hour for Malaysian time). It was a nice 6 hours flight journey. I sat next to an Indonesian couple whom were on their honeymoon trip. I spent most of the time during the flight journey just studying the Seoul map that my friend brought along with us. I went with 2 friends of mine. 

When we arrived at Incheon, we plan on to stay at the airport for the night since we thought it would be best that we’d get some rest there rather than going to our hotel at Sinchon. ( I booked us a room at Sinchon, Backpackers Hotel. Great hospitality there I must say). Considering we still didn’t know anything on how to use the subway/bus/any other transportation at the time, so we thought it was best for us just to spend the night at the airport. The airport is actually a nice place to spend the night. Many long seats without the armrest where you can just sleep comfortably. Don’t forget to bring along a travel blanket. There is also a찜질방(sauna room) where you can spend the night. We went there on out 4^th night and I tell you, it will be the last night I spent at a sauna room (or a bath house they call it there) .

But I like the shirt that they lend it to you there, like in the k-dramas, it was actually really comfortable, if only they would let me buy it haha. There are many 24hours  (7eleven like) store at the airport, so don’t worry about getting hungry. For muslim, you can find something like tuna kimbap. Remember this word ‘참치김밥’… almost all the 24/7 stores in seoul have em’. It only cost around 700원 (triangle kimbap). And if you swallow 2 of those you wont be hungry for another 5 hours (if you have an appetite of a fish..like me… I eat less and drink a lot of plane water). There is also a prayer room at the airport. Just find the airport map and you’ll be able to locate the place. But anyway, so we slept there for the night and at 7am we took off to Sinchon via railway/subway. Don’t worry about where to stop or exchange trains, you can check it on any touch screen map kiosk. You can find the kiosk at almost all the subway/railways station in Seoul. If you have t-money (you can buy it ant those 24/7 store) you just have to swipe it at the subway entrance, no need to bother buying tickets.

tuna kimbap & coffee for breakfast

T-money card. You can ride any public transport (subways/railways/bus etc) using this card.

From Incheon to sinchon via railway/subway cost us only around 2,000원 (이천원… or maybe less I don’t remember) per person. That’s quite cheap considering the alternatives (bus 10,000 원 per person, taxi 60,000 원).

 
You can find many side stall selling toast in Seoul. Dont worry about starving.

We arrived at our hotel at around 8.45 am. Our hotel was quite near to the sinchon subway station, 5-10 minutes walk. I booked us a double room with 1 extra bed. Cost us about 70,000원 per night. We didn’t get to rest in the hotel yet as the checkin time was on 2pm sharp but Eric (the hotel owner) let us put our belongings there so that we can explore some more of seoul until the checkin time.  So without wasting anymore of our precious time there, we decided to go to our 1^st destination tour, the 63 BUILDING!!!. Remember?? If you’re a k-drama fan like me, u must’ve seen/known this place. Remember, My Girl??? Rings a bell???... well hehe I’ll tell you more about it in my next entry… till then : )

at incheon airport

Happy Eid-Mubarak to all the muslims…

Tips for traveling to korea : for malaysian who's planning on travelling to korea. If you want to convert malaysian ringgit to korean won, i suggest not to convert at the airport. You'll get less. If you want to get the best exchange rate, stop by at KL Sentral and you can convert your money there at any currency exchange booth (cimb/maybank etc). You'll get more!