Fall for fall

As I am watching Korean dramas, I can’t take my eyes off how beautiful the background is! The landscape that comprises of yellow, orange, crimson, brown and green trees that reminds me of how wonderful and great God is.  And I can’t wait to see it for myself. I just hope I’ll be not lazy in taking pictures because I am most of the time and I usually regret it when I will write a blog and not to have a picture. Hehe!

Having been born in a country where there are only 2 seasons, my fascination over snow and the changing colors of the leaves during fall is always there in fact, experiencing the two other seasons are on my bucket list. The only thing that I can relate with countries having 4 seasons is summer so I’ll skip that. Summer is more fun in the Philippines!

Last 2013, I’ve experienced spring and sakura, though not in Japan but in Seoul.  The cherry blossoms are lovely. I really like that its not that hot and not that cold. Although some trees are still yet to show some life (leaves). And so as we board the plane to Manila, we vowed to comeback. I can’t remember if we talk about going back during fall, but I guess we did! In Dubai, I’m not quite sure why they coined the colder months as winter. But I guess relatively to the months where the temperature gets as high as 50 degrees Celsius, I’ll take it. I’m grinning right now because I realized that there are hundreds of stores here in Dubai selling mink coats that I’m dying to have one and yes with especially the one with a fox’s tail ok, I actually want the one with the head! Thanks to SHINee’s “Dazzling Girl” promo pics! But of course it will be downright silly because it doesn’t snow to where I live.

image credits: dramabeans.com, kjtamusings.wordpress.com and seoulbeats.com

Day 7 - Goodbye Seoul!

Bye Jeju.. later Seoul

Touchdown Gimpo! I can't believe that we've been to several airports in Korea. Incheon, Gimpo, Gimhae and Jeju yay! I can't also believe that this is our last day in Korea. I thought we will be late for our 1:35 pm flight but thank goodness we were not! From the airport we get a glimpse of Mt. Hallasan. Our itinerary for the day is to 1) get our luggage from our hostel 2) go to Myeongdong and have lunch 3) head to Incheon. Until now I am so happy that we get a cheap flight to Jeju. Its just 65.8 USD for our Busan(PUS)-Jeju (CJU)-Seoul (GMP) via Jeju Air.

clearer view of Mt. Hallasan

We went back to our hostel to get our luggage. Mr. Young is so nice that he let us leave our luggage. It rained that day but that didn't stop us from going to Myeongdong and made last minute shopping. Our flight is at 10pm so we still have time. I bought socks, those kpop socks! I completed all SHINee members. Too bad that only Yonghwa is available for CNBLUE and Hongki for FT Island. Actually the choices were limited and its kinda sad. Those idol printed yangmal are so comfy and sturdy. We shopped at SPAO. I bought a belt and guess what? socks! hahaha! I like how big posters of SM Entertainment artists in SPAO. Honestly we went there simply because of its association with SM, but my friend bought a pair of pastel colored pants and swears that its super comfy and now its her favorite pants.

Rain will not stop us from coming to Myeongdong!	SM Entertainment artists! Siwon!
Yonghwa socks!	Taemina!

I wish train stations here in Dubai would house lockers too! It is so convenient to leave your things or luggage to easily roam around the city. But that time it was difficult to get a big locker for our luggage but we still manage to get one otherwise our Myeongdong shopping will be impossible.

I remember having just a street food for lunch. I was about to stop ajumma in pouring a ketchup like thingy (I am not a fan of ketchup) on my sausage but its too late, but when I tasted it, it was super and I want to go back to her and ask for more! Well I actually glad I didn't because the sauce landed on my wallet, bag and shoes! 

Then we head to the airport. I thought we will be running late for our flight so to save time, we opted for the Airport Railroad Express (AREX). Its super comfy and non stop. There were attendees which is super cool. Not to mentioned that 2PM are on the magazine of Lotte Duty Free which we took it with us. What I didn't know about AREX is that it has timings. I thought its like the one in Hong Kong that doesn't have timings meaning you just hop on to the next train that will arrive. After purchasing our tickets, just then we realized that its for 7:30pm , our flight is 10pm-ish so given the 45-minute journey, we will be at Incheon passed 8pm. Still I think we will arrive at Incheon International Airport earlier if we took the regular train that goes to the airport too plus I know its cheaper. 

And so as usual, Cebu Pacific is late. After check-in we still managed to see duty free and buy bread and coffee at Paris Baguette. Our feet are heavy as we walk towards the plane. We already promised to be back. At that time we don't know exactly, but now we will comeback this autumn! YAY!

Our Seoul-Busan-Jeju trip is awesome! Nothing beats being in a place for the first time. I thank God for the letting me go to places that I just see on the countless drama that I've watched and been watching. Reading my posts, I wonder where I got all the energy to roam around Korea in 7 days. 

King Sejong, Yi Sun-sin and Jokbal - Seoul Day 3!

It is my utmost goal to post about my Korea trip at least before its anniversary or my next (hopefully) trip to Seoul.  I don’t know how much I can recall about my trip and a good thing about posting about it so late is that I get to reminisce the times that me and my friend had in Korea.

Day 3 is yet another palace (Changdeokgung), a museum this time (King Sejong Story), a mall (COEX Mall), a pharmacy (sadly I got sick) and KTX (to Busan)! And 3 days is not enough for Seoul. For us its crunch time because we have catch the last train to Busan. Equipped with our newly found favorite -- banana uyu (milk), we head first to a very familiar place Gwanghwamun Square where you can find King Sejong's and Admiral Yi Sun-sin's statues. I remember one of the episode of Queen In-Hyun’s Man when Kim Boong-do emerged riding a horse from Gwanghwamun Gate!

Episode 1 - Queen In-hyun's Man from dramabeans.com

Sageuk, Cherry - Seoul Day 2!

We choose to visit Seoul around spring. When I first thought about visiting Seoul, I didn't think of a particular season. Maybe its because I never thought that I'll really get to go because of money constraints. Now that I have some to spare for a trip, I thought of visiting Seoul during spring and get to see Ms. Cherry! Cherry Blossoms that is! How many times do you see them as backgrounds to a lot of drama? A lot and its so pretty! Its just a pity that we didn't see them actually falling,for it could have made our trip more dramatic) but still seeing them in real life is beautiful!

Seoul Day 1.1 - 14 April 2013

This is technically our first day of our long awaited tour of Korea. What is good about arriving at night is that you've probably regain much energy needed for your tour the next day. We slept around 2 am I guess and we woke up around 8. Mr. Young knocked on our door and we thought he is inviting us for church, since its Sunday. When we are about to head out, he asked if we book for a tour. I told him that nothing was finalized. I feel bad about that because we were supposed to take DMZ Tour, but due to the news going around that time (NK threatening SK), I thought that it will not be a good idea, plus we may not be able to go to some location because MAYBE security was tightened. A lot were concerned with our safety, but the look that we have on our faces says it all, "No news will stop us from going there!" Though as a precaution, we skip the whole DMZ tour. We head out around 10 am, which became the pattern of our entire tour of Korea. Itinerary for the day: 

1. Hwaseong Fortress
2. N Seoul Tower
3. Myeong-dong 

Seoul Day 1.0

After maybe after 6 months of countdown and years of dreaming to go to the land of Koreanovela (what Pinoy refer to Korean dramas) aka KDrama and KPop, we finally landed SAFE in Korea, the South part that is! We arrived at Manila on the night of 12th of April and went to Korea the afternoon of the next day! Jet lag means nothing to two people yearning to go to South Korea!

As we reach Incheon International Airport, we were taking snaps from the plane window, even joking about requesting for the pilot to tilt the plane on the left to have a better view! Only upon landing a guy told us that we almost got into an accident if the pilot wasn't able to pull up the plane. And so that's explains the  brief roller coaster ride feel that I felt! whew!

I can't remember what time we landed, but it should be around 9pm. We got our T-money at the airport and followed the signage leading to the trains. We didn't take the airport express because our stop is Hongdae (Hongik University Station) and airport express train skips Hongdae and goes straight to Seoul Station.

at Incheon International Airport

inside train to Seoul

I knew we were at the right place when a drama is being shown on TV at the waiting area. Its Kdrama of course, though I don't know what it is, and pity that its not subbed.. hehehe of course! On board the train to Seoul, I heard one lady calling the man she's with, "oppa", boy, I can't help but smile! I said to myself, "INDEED I AM IN KOREA!" hahaha!

Train stations in Seoul is no joke. It has several lines and several exits.  We got off Hongik University station, and contemplated on which way to go. I got confused with "Bank" on the map, it says Hyundai Bank (at least to what I read) and the one at our back is Woo-something bank. And the Hyundai that I see across the street is a petrol station. A guy helped us, because we are so obviously "lost" bless him! I asked for his name but I can't remember anymore. Apparently, our guesthouse is 10 mins walk from the train station and as a treat for us, we passed by FNC! The studio where CNBLUE started and was the very street that CNBLUE most likely roamed around during their training days. Mr. Helpful guy commented on how excited we were (because we are squealing) and we can only answer "Yes!" I was about to explain why but I'm afraid it will be gibberish to him and might say to himself "Ugh! Fangirls". hehe!

We got into our guesthouse, still full of energy even if its already almost midnight. We stayed at Seoulwise Guesthouse. The owner, Mr. Young speaks English well so we don't have any problems communication wise. The room that we stayed is cozy and clean. We booked a 55,000 KRW/night room and we have our own bathroom. They clean the room everyday, free breakfast, till 10 am but we always fail to have it. After we put our things to our room, we head out to the convenient store for ramyun!

See some travel tips (from what I learned from our day 1 in Seoul) below.

Lessons learned... er...Travel tips!

1. Go for a morning flight if its your first time to visit a country. Unless a friend will pick you up or the hotel will pick you up from the airport. Although, we did not feel threatened (maybe because we are over excited), still you're a foreigner and technically know nothing about the place, except from months and months of googling and reading from different blog posts, still its different when you are already there. I think you will enjoy more scenery when you will arrive during the day. 
2. Install handy apps! Install ahead of time Seoul's or Korea's train system. As I said above, its no joke, well at least for me, who just happened to live in two countries where there are 2-3 lines of trains and just have 2-4 exits. If you don't have a smartphone, which I don't know what's stopping you to get one, have a print out of the train system and make sure its colored.
3. Know train timings. We were appreciating Incheon International Airport when we landed and even snaps pictures, taking our sweet time, without knowing that trains don't run 24/7! Good thing we did not miss the train towards Seoul.
4. Read the map thoroughly. Because in Korea, a petrol station/gasoline station is called an Oilbank! I actually learned it the next day, when everything is lit up. So the map is not wrong, I just failed to read the whole thing. Its Hyundai Oilbank, not Hyundai Bank, dummy! If only I read it well, We will not be standing there, debating or rather nearing to do a "eeny, meeny, miny, moe". Though it made us meet a kind person that made our impression of Seoul better.
5. Eat on the plane. Eat whatever they offer if you booked for a night flight. We had our lunch and snack in Manila and Incheon is 4 hr flight, 1 hr train ride. You'll be hungry and the best option is a convenient store. Cebu Pacific offers decent (rice & viand) food for 300 Php. So I guess its better to have it rather than not finding anything to eat when you land.