Walking around Jong-no Gu.

Gonghuigung

Yes I look ugly. ??

The long walked to Gongbeokgung

Inside Sejeong Muzeum

Inside Gongbeokgung

Changdeokgung

King Sejeong Muzeum underneath the statue

Our 2nd day in Korea started with an early (I mean REALLY early) wake up from sleep.  We woke up around 6 am and since night is longer than day during the winter,  it was really dark outside.  Memang gelap gelita and then took our shower (it was a sharing bathroom and freezing cold even with the heater). We started our walk around 7 am.  Yes,  you can call us crazy tourist.  Mana ada orang tour pagi-pagi buta. Yelah jakun le katakan. Kalau start awal boleh tour banyak tempat kan?  Ha ha. Jong-no is kinda a part of the city centre as it has one of the biggest subway station.  I didn't  realised that we actually stayed near a lot of tourist attractions. A walk to Changdeokgung was around 7 minutes. But since it's open at 9 we walked further up following our city map and found Gongbeokgung.  Jalan lebih kurang 1/2 jam lah jugak. Gongbeokgung is the most famous palace in Seoul and Korea. Memang besar dan memang cantik.  It's really huge. The ticket cost 3,000 won.  Lebih kurang 9 ringgit. Tempat dia memang besar.  Kalau tak kuat tak boleh habis.  We walked until the end and found Cheonwadae which is actually the Presidential Office. Koreans called it the 'Blue House' as the tiles are blue. Ok back to Gongbeokgung if you want to know more about the history of Gongbeokgung you can ask for a translator.  But they will do it in a group of people so if you're alone you need to wait for others. They will have a certain time when they start the group tour in other language. Gongbeokgung also has a folk museum.  We didn't go in as we were pressed for time. Tak minat sangat folk-folk ni actually.  La la~~~~

Habis tour Gongbeokgung my sis
and I walked towards Gonghuigung- another palace and it's foc. Jauh jugalah nak jalan. Lebih kurang 45 minit ke 1 jam. Gonghuigung ni sama je macam Gongbeokgung.  Yelah istana yang takde penghuni kan? Apalah yang menarik.  The palace in Korea is practically the same.  Bezanya besar ngan kecil je. Design semua lebih kurang sama. Lepas Gonghuigung Kitaorang cari toilet and found one bawah Guanghwamun Square. Toilet di Korea memang cantik dan bersih. Untuk orang Islam saya nasihatkan sentiasa bawak botol kosong supaya boleh isi air di toilet untuk beristinjak. Yelah diaorang takde paip in each toilet macam Kat Malaysia.  Selesai 'business' kitaorang naik tangga ke Guanghwamun Square. Jumpa lak dengan Sejeong Muzeum. Pun underground and it's FREE!  Muzeum diaorang memang high class.  Memang cantik.  Lagi ada 4D show pasal history of General Lee Sun Shin.  Kerusi siap ada effect lagi. Memang  menarik. Tak jumpa Kat Malaysia. Actually hari ni kitaorang jalan sampai 14 jam non stop.  Tapi memandangkan letih balik kerja,  saya update akan datang.  Setakat ni hari ni.  Heh heh

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1st time backpacking to Korea 17 Dec 2010

Our room at Beewon Guesthouse, Jong-no gu

Vege pizza

I finally booked a ticket 2 months before departure by Airasia as it was one of the discounted sales at that time. Ticket cost around 800 plus one way including tax and seats booking. It was pretty cheap at that time cause if you booked from MAS it probably cost a couple of thousand ringgit. We arrived late at night and luckily my friend who stayed in Korea offered me and my sis a ride to the city. We were still very unfamiliar with Seoul but my trip with my team a week earlier helped a lil. Weather was cold. We wore old jackets. 3 layers of them. Buying a winter jacket would cost a fortune and the design sucks! So org-org Malaysia yg takut nak berhabis duit, pakai je a few lapisan of clothes and it will do you justice. Once you reach Seoul you can buy any pattern you like with a cheaper price. So rewind balik ke arrival saya tadi, we all bergerak ke Seoul to check in the Guesthouse. Incheon airport is quite far from Seoul City center. Maybe 45 mins by car/bus and around 1h+ by train aka subway. We all stayed at Beewon Guesthouse at Jongno-gu. Cost only 19000won for a double bunk bed with sharing bathroom. Lepas checked in my friend brought us for Pizza. Vege pizza and it was HUGE! Amazingly we ate the whole thing. (Kalau bab melantak kami mmg terer).

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My stay in Gangnam

Competition day. My team

Snow at Kukkiwon

Digital camera, maps and internet booth

Ok so here's a post about my stay in Gangnam, the most lavish part of Korea. Why Gangnam is famous? It's because here are mostly where the Korean orang kaya lives. Hotel pun 5 star, lavish apartments not to mentioned lots of plastic surgery clinics and pubs for hang outs. Kukkiwon is also in Gangnam so if you love Taekwondo you can drop by at Gangnam to visit Kukkiwon. You might bump into some events if your timing is good. As you can see here are a peek of Provista Hotel where my team stayed. Fully furnished. Two floor with beds in one room. If you have children they would be super excited to sleep on the 2nd floor. Not recommended for adults as the top floor space is quite crampy. Kalau nak tinggal kat sini sedia duit dalam 2-300USD semalam. It cost around this much. But since we all were sponsored by Kukkiwon all I can say is   았사!

Our next day was also great since again the snow falls again, this time in the morning......during our competition day. Haks! Mmg susah nak warm up. Badan tak panas-panas, tapi kaki dah naik kejung buat stretching. Apapun the experience to take part in a world level championship is awesome although we didn't win anything.

We wrap up our journey with some sightseeing in Gangnam and saw quite a few digital monitor internet booth on the street fully equipped with internet and camera and also a map provider. Just take a picture and send to your email address. They have instructions in English so you would not have any problems using it.

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1st time experience the falling snow

Jakun. Jakun. Jakun. This is all I can say about my experience with snow. It wasn't the snow on the ground, it's the real snow falling from the sky. Ha ha. Memang jakun. Sebelum snow that day (I think it was 9th Dec 2010) the wind was quite strong. It was cloudy jugak. Balik dari Kukkiwon dinner and just after we got off from the bus, strong wind came and tada.......snow falls. Lightly at first but after that mcm gila. Coming from a hot country Malaysia, yelah mana ada winter kan? Was so super excited cause the snow is super light and soft. When you touch it, it melts. Memang tak rasa beratnya langsung. Apa lagi terkinja-kinja kat depan hotel macam beruk kena belacan. Snow I still miss you. Dah masuk 4 kali ke Korea, inilah satu kalinya dapat feel snow fall. Nampaknya lain kali kena tinggal setahun baru awesome kan?

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My first travel to Korea

My first travel to South Korea goes way back in 2010. It was because of Taekwondo, a martial art that I'm deeply in love with since I was a kid, I set foot on Korean soil on 7th December 2010 (kalau tak salah. Hu huk). It was winter season. Tapi belum snow gila. Everything from transportation to lodging was organized by Kukkiwon, HQ for Taekwondo. Incheon airport is really spectacular. And the customs checks are super fast. Counters are aplenty and they supervised all lines. Tak mcm Malaysia. Berdiri lah korang sepanjang-panjang tidak. We were greeted by the Kukkiwon officials and took their rented bus and to my surprised, the seats are all accompanied with seat belts. And it's compulsory to wear it ok. Bukan untuk perhiasan. The bus is also equipped with water dispenser and cup holder on each seat. Takkan jumpa kt sini ler.

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