My Vacation To South Korea (27th November 2019 - 3rd December 2019)
Hi, I'm back. It's been so long that i didn't update my blog here. So, as for today, I'm going to share about my last year vacation to South Korea. It was my first time travelling and having vacation overseas. I've been to other places before (Palembang, Indonesia to present my thesis) but this was my very first to travel for vacation. Ready to hear my vacation story? Let's go!
We have been planning this vacation around June or July in 2019. When we found affordable tickets, we didn't think much and bought the tickets immediately. Since we had the tickets, we planned for months on our itinerary as we heard many other people experiences of having troubles entering that country if the don't have their itinerary well prepared. Well, besides that, South Korea is a big country. We still have to plan on where to visit there right? That will help our vacation going smooth and well planned.
Let's cut it short now. We started our journey on 26th November flying from Bintulu to Kuala Lumpur and stayed a night there before our flight on the next day. We had mixed feeling like excited and also nervous as we need to memorize our itinerary just to make sure we can answer questions asked by the immigration there. The next day, we went to KLIA2 as early as we could as we knew that we have so many things to do before flying there. First, we need to take our Roamingman modem at the airport for us to use the internet when we arrive South Korea. Well, I'm sure we wanted to update our pictures everyday as well as using the internet to find ways right. (Oh, we didn't take tour guide for our trip as we like to travel ourselves and feel free to go anywhere we like. And of course, without no time restriction). And then we have to take a long walk before we reach in front of our boarding place. Its better to arrive early as you can rest a bit after a longggggggggg walk.
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| While waiting to enter the boarding gate. A picture is a must ^.^ |
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| My vacation trip members |
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| Us inside the KLIA2 terminal before our flight |
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| We took a photo with one of the cabin crew who was a Korean and she was so friendly and nice |
After we arrived, it was already around 10.30 pm there. The excitement changed to nervousness as we need to pass through the immigration first to make sure we can enter the country. As we line up, I can feel like having an interrogation with a police officer without doing anything wrong. But luckily, we were lucky enough that none of us were asked any questions and made it through the immigration. Yeay!
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| Look at our happy faces after we passed through the immigration |
We had our Airport Transfer (book earlier using Traveloka/Klook) waiting for us when we came out after taking our luggage. We didn't notice about the temperature at first when we arrived as we were inside the terminal. As soon as we stepped outside, it was freezing cold and it was only 1°C. The excitement had just begin when we can finally feel the different temperature in the country that we never experienced before. We arrived at our hotel (Vestin Residence Myeongdong, behind the Daiso building) around midnight and had our rest before our first day journey.
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| This is where we stayed for our trip (Vestin Residence Myeongdong) |
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| We got this inside our room when we arrived. The owner of the hotel surely know how to take care of their guests. Thanks Vestin Residence! 👏 |
As for the first day, we went to places near us as we can still feel the tiredness of our long journey (6 hours flight and arrived at midnight was really not a joke). We went around Buckheon Hanok Village (wearing the hanbok walking around was a really interesting memory to us as it never happen here), Changdeokgung Palace, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Halal Kitchen (for lunch), Gwanghamun Square (King Sejong Statue), Gwangjang Market, Dongdaemun Design Plaza and also Myeongdong Street (which was just in front of our hotel).
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| The five of us tried their Hanbok and walked around the hanok village taking pictures 😆 |
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| We went to have our lunch in Hanbok too as we rent the hanbok for 2 hours (we didn't want to return it earlier. It'll be a waste. Instead, trying to that in other country was quite fun right? So, why not? 😜) |
On the second day, we went out as early as we can as we were heading to places a bit far from Myeongdong. We went to Gangchon Rail Bike and also Nami Island (we had our lunch at Asian Family Restaurant, Dongmoon). I don't think i need to explain more on this as i include the pictures here for us to see these beautiful places. Enjoy!
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| We rode a bike along the way from (there were bike for 2 and 4 persons. We took the one with 4 person. My little brother didn't come with us here and he waited for us at the other station where we stop) |
It will not be call as a vacation to South Korea if you didn't go to the country's landmark, the Namsan Tower. So, on the third day, we went to Itaewon first to see the mosque, having lunch The Halal Guys, visiting the giant LINE Cafe, Insadong street (I regretted not buying the bag here) and lastly, the Namsan Tower.
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| This Manis Kitchen was just in front of the Itaewon Mosque gate. You should try the food here. It tastes really delicious! 😋 |
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| The Itaewon Mosque |
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| We have to went back down from the mosque to this LINE Cafe. It was really a large one compare to the one in Myeongdong. |
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| The LINE teddy (Brown) |
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| Along the road, you can see many halal stall and restaurant here in Itaewon. So we decided to try here. The portion of the food was large enough for us to share |
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| It taste just nice and suits our taste. Well, i mean i doesn't taste weird to us |
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| This is where we went to see the traditional performance but ended up we can't see them. This is also the place we can buy cheap bags (where i really regretted not buying one for myself) |
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| This is how Namsan Tower looks like when we arrive in te evening |
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| Personally, i think it's not necessary for us to enter the tower and go up to peak of that tower. This is because the centre of attraction here were just outside the tower. Like the padlock place, this chair, and other attractions for nice pictures. When you go up the tower, you have to line up for quite a long time but end up just to see the scenery of the city from the highest building. You can still see the city from the outside. So, as for me, it's good enough to be here and we don't have to enter the building to reach to the peak of Namsan Tower. |
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| This is how it looks like when we were going later that evening. |
When it comes near to the end of our vacation, we went to places with souvenirs to bring back for family and friends. We went to Namdaemun Market (brooch and souvenirs), Lotte Mart Seoul (foods), and having dinner at Kampungku Restaurant (owned by Malaysian).
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| This were some of the souveniors i bought for family and friend. I added more when i thought these will not be enough to distributes among them. So we add up some more buying them at Daiso (just in front of our place that we stay) |
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| The food/junk food and stuffs we bought from the Lotte Mart. There were so many foods that i regretted didn't buy as i was too scared that they will not be able to get through when we want to fly back. But lastly i knew that, it wasn't even a problem to bring those food in our luggage as long as we packed them nicely |
We went to Incheon International Airport as early as 4 am in the morning despite our delayed flight as we had already book for the airport transfer before our vacation. Our flight was delayed to 1230 pm but it was still acceptable as Incheon Airport was really large and there were lots of things to do and see there. While waiting, we were still hoping to see the snow as everyday, we checked the weather forecast hoping to experience snow in South Korea. Well, maybe it wasn't our luck that time or maybe we need to come again next time to see the snow (hahahahahaha).
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| Look at our luggage and bags. We went there a bag each and end up going back 2 or 3 bags each 😂 |
