The first time I was in Seoul was when I had a layover from Houston to Kuala Lumpur. It was a short 24 hour trip that made me want to get back to Seoul for a proper trip.
Finally, the chance came. Me and M always wanted to go for snowboarding so we were looking for nearby places and cheapest option. It was Dec so this was last minute decision. Flight to Japan was too expensive. We saw that ticket to Xi'an was pretty cheap, costs less than RM1000 for return flight but we have to apply for visa and it's almost Xmas and New Year which means China Embassy has less working days so we never know when we will get the visa. Next best available option was Seoul. So we bought the flight ticket which costs us bit less than RM1000 including meals and luggages.
I rarely flew international with Air Asia. This actually my second time since the first time and last time was back in 2012 from Tokyo to KL (the ticket was super cheap at that time). Since this is my first time, I can't wait to try the infamous Nasi Lemak Pak Nasser which was one of my sister favorite flight meal. I pre-booked the meal online.
The nasi lemak was good! I didn't take any pictures but below was from the website. The fried anchovies was provided separately to keep its crispiness. By booking online, the meal also came with free mineral water drink.
It took us about 6 hours flight and we arrived at 3:30pm-ish. The immigration and waiting for our luggage took awhile. By the time was out it was almost 5pm. We bought the airport bus ticket to Seoul City Hall at the counter for 15,000 won then waited for the bus outside. Since it will take more than 1 hour journey, we knew that we had no option but to pray Zuhr and Asr here. We found small spaces between the benches at the bus stop and prayed there. Surprisingly no one cared about us since everyone was rushing to get to their destination, plus, it was really cold too.
I felt pang of hungriness. We still had about 15 mins before our bus depart, so I got into the airport and bought couple of cream bun at the bakery.
The bus was not full and no one sat behind us so I got to recline my seat all the way down and had a good nap along the way.
We arrived at Seoul City Hall bus stop around 6:30pm-ish. It was night already and it's freezing cold outside! We wrapped our scarf to protect our face from the freezing wind. Using the offline gps maps I installed in my phone, we walked towards our hotel for the night.
24 Guesthouse was situated right beside Deoksugung. I chose the guesthouse since it will be convenient for us to visit the palace on the next day.
We couldn't find the entrance at first. We went up the stairs beside one of the restaurant but it was wrong entrance. Then we walked further down the road, turn to left and saw an elevator written 24 Guesthouse on it. We immediately took the elevator and arrived at the guesthouse. The receptionist, Paul was nowhere in sight so we waited at the lobby / kitchen.
He came back from his smoking break after 10 mins. I guess he's from somewhere in Europe, but he's not Asian for sure. He was polite and helpful. He checked us in and showed us the room. It was smaller than I imagined, but very comfortable and all the furnishings were new. We showered and changed then went out for dinner.
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| Double decker bed in room |
Our destination for dinner was Yoogane Dakgalbi in Myeong Dong. As expected, Myeong Dong was bustling with both locals and tourists. There were many Malaysian as well! Korea has been one of Malaysian most favorite destinations since Air Asia started to fly to Seoul. It's not too far, less expensive than Japan and of course, the K-pop fever contributes a lot.
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| Yoogane Dakgalbi in Myeong Dong |
We found Yoogane and hurriedly went inside. The restaurant was packed but we got a seat. There was huge grill in the middle of the table. We ordered Seafood fried rice, as recommended in many blogs. Then the waitress fried the rice for us while we sat, drooling and waiting for it to be done.
As most restaurants in Korea, water was complimentary and of course banchan which includes kimchi, pickles and cabbage salad. Here you can go get your own banchan at the self service area.
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| The simple menu |
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| Ready to fry |
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| Finishing everything |
After dinner, we continued walking along Myeong Dong, making mental notes of prices for few facial masks and cosmetics I had been eyeing for. Adding to the rows of shops in Myeong Dong, there were also hawkers selling clothes and street foods. I decided to try egg custard. The guy was in the midst of wrapping up his stall for the day, so he gave us another one for free.
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| Egg custard. Crispy on top, soft in the inside |
Christmas and new year decorations were still hanging around the city so the city looked very colorful and vibrant even at night.
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| Cartier big ring with 9:19 written on it's back. Any idea what the number means? |
K-pop Idols stuff at Myeong Dong Lotte Department Store
We walked along Chonggyecheon stream that was brightly decorated with Christmas ornaments and lightings. Some people bought floating hope lanterns to flow at the stream, wishing something good for the year. It seems that you can buy the lantern online for cheaper price.
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| Decorations at Chonggyecheon |
Saw outdoor ice skating arena on our way back to the guesthouse. There was also interesting Christmas tree which connected to a couple of electric bicycle. We cycled it until enough kinetic energy generated to light the christmas tree all the way to the top.
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| Kinetic energy power. |
We were exhausted by the time we arrived at our room and didn't take long to fall into deep sleep.
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