Soulful Seoul- Day 2

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was really lazy to blog because I have to make sure all my info are correct haha

so this day was gangnam day~ 

our first stop was garosugil @ shinsadong

 selfie in the hotel room before heading out

sinsa station ( Line 3) Exit 8

just walk straight after exiting the station until you see SK telecom on your right then turn left after that shop and you're on garosugil 

if you're looking for Line friends shop, just keep walking straight and it's just a few shop after hollister

 along garosugil and it reminded a lot of ginza

the quaint and obviously the more "expensive" place compared to hongdae or myeongdong

 it's like the Bangsar in Seoul 

 tadaaa..line store

 typical picture with huge brown

 so cute laaaa the whole store was filled with line merchandises but very pricey though

 line macarons

brown brownie~! so cute! 

I only bought a brown cookie because everything in there was so expensive but i wanted to get something to prove that I came hahaha 

*excuse to spend money*

 random 3D picture along the street

 looking for lunch but everything here is expensive so we wandered into the back alley and found a small local shop that serves sam gye tang =D 

 my cutie <3 and we were the only foreigners there but luckily I could read korean so it's all good 

 so many ban chan! and the sam gye tang was awesome! 

reminded me why I liked it so much when I last went to seoul 10 years ago 

 went into A land to buy my bro's snapback 

 just strolling along the streets and we stumbled upon

 jeng jeng~ o'sulloc! one place that I really wanted to try 

 just day dreaming and the toilet there was very clean 

tried their greentea swissroll and ice cream

wanted to try their softserve but this branch doesn't hv it =( 

But I love the cream inside the swiss roll so creamy <3 

me and my brother always joke that we should bring in o'sulloc because we love it so much hahaha 

but who can afford ? == 

 Coex atrium was our next stop just right next to coex mall which is the largest underground mall in Asia

Samseong station ( Line 2) exit 5 or 6 depending whether you want to enter coex mall or coex atrium 

this is for all the fangirls and boys out there

I was an ELF but i outgrew the whole star chasing phase but still I wanted to go take a look since I was their fan what 

but to my disappointment, I feel like it caters more to EXO-L rather than other fan bases

 large posters everywhere

 you can even go for tours and classes or make overs but it's not cheap TBH 

 they even have a cafe and the queue was horrendous

everyone are obviously there for their idol only 

 food and drinks with their face or song names on it 

 bum in front of a large screen showing shinee's MV 

 i think we left the building after an hour or so then headed to coex mall

 so cute

 we went to the hyundai department store 

so many interesting pastries and fooodddddd 

I love browsing at beautiful looking food and desserts *drools* 

 so many cakessss 

 then we happened to pass by a hyundai shop that showcases their new car models and we got to experience their car simulator which was quite fun and it's free hahahaha *cheap thrills* 

 Lotte world! no laa...we just went there for lotte mart

Jamsil Station ( Line 2, 8 ) Exit 4

and I'm amazed by how big lotte is in Korea

literally all the buildings around there are owned by Lotte =O 

Lotte mart! 

didn't buy much but bought mandu and taco bells for our impromptu "picnic" at yeouido park 

Yeouido station (Line 5 ) exit 3

just exit the station and walk straight until you see the sign below, you'll have to cross a huge main road

 reached there but it's already dark =( and we witnessed a car accident

apparently in Korea, you're not supposed to move your car until the police come for proof sake even when you're causing traffic congestions 

 our "picnic" 

if only we were a bit earlier it would be much much better but it gets dark really early here since it was already autumn 

 a huge plane in the middle of the park 

people watching while eating

after finishing our "snacks" we walked around and guess what?

we found two two chicken while talking about two two chicken hahahaha

so we had our "chimek" moment

 the boss was very friendly and this bum was practicing how to say bill please in korean to show off hahaha 

 our fried chicken and cass beer

not bad but i feel like kyochon does it better 

went back to our hotel area and we found a hidden gem

streets full of restaurants and noraebang (karaoke) 

we were so stoked and excited and vowed to come back here for dinner the next day

that's the ending of day 2 and we were knackered! almost 20km of walking =O 

Soulful Seoul- Day 1

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prologue: 

just came back from seoul a few days ago and before my short term memory kicks in,

I better start jotting down everything in my blog

It's a good thing that both of us are planners when it comes to traveling

we're definitely not the kind that can just go somewhere without a clue and be carefree about everything

our itinerary is horrendously long hahaha

and it looks like some kind of business plan 

it was me and bum's first overseas trip together and tbh I was quite anxious because i've heard a lot of stories about couples breaking up after a trip together but maybe because we've always been very true to ourselves in front of each other ( ie. disgusting habits) 

so it was all good.

Anyway, 

It was my first time taking garuda and I was a bit skeptical mainly because It's not as well known at least to people around me but after countless of reviews, i gave it a try and it was the cheapest option at that point of time

we'd booked our flights before MERS happened so it was really expensive

airasia was more expensive than garuda at around rm1400 (including baggage)

after the trip, I'm glad to say that I would definitely book garuda again! service was good, seats were okay (economy standard) , in-flight entertainment system was quite good, food was good ( plane standard) 

the con is the traveling time is really long because we had to transit at jakarta before heading to seoul

so including transit time, our average traveling time was 12 hrs as opposed to air asia's ~= 7 hrs 

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Travel:

our flight was on a friday evening and we landed in seoul the next morning at around 8-ish am

went to the conveyer to grab our luggage and contemplating whether to get a sim card 

we've finally settled with a wifi dongle from SK telecom with a rental of 5000won per day which works up to be cheaper than getting a simcard that has a 1gb limit but the dongle has unlimited internet 

Day 1:

After sorting out our internet, we took the subway from incheon international airport to yeongdeungpo station where courtyard marriot seoul is located at

took us around 1hr and 17 mins

The subway app that we used was " seoul subway" which is in english which calculates the stations that you have to take after entering the departing and arriving stations

after getting off at yeongdeungpo station, it took us awhile to roam to our hotel which is located inside times square

 not big but i think it's a very pretty room

 the toilet

 a full view of our room and i like the hugeass window 

our view from the window, it's very pretty at night

 how can we not selfie when there's good lighting

times square and shinsegae is connected to each other

First stop: Hongik University

I wanted to have Noh Chef and Pane Chicken for lunch so there we went! 

subway station: Hongik Univ (Line 2) station exit 8

It's really hard for me to give directions for this place because we ourselves got lost and it took us longer than it should be to get to the restaurant

but once you get the hang of hongdae, you'll mobile fine=) 

 the exterior of the shop

 this is the one that everyone orders when they're here

our beautiful cheesy chicken! 

I love the bread so much! very crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside

the chicken is really fragrant too thanks to the cheese! 

if you're a cheesy person, you have to try this

definitely not a traditional korean meal but definitely recommend this! 

after lunch, we were absolutely famished

what to do? shopping! 

 stylenanda was really one place that i wanted to visit 

just a few rows away from pane chicken 

google map from hongik univ to stylenanda

 the shop is huge! and there's a free photobooth there so boyfriends that accompanies their gf get to have a bit of fun 

random street at hongdae

we went to hongdae a totalled of 2 times during our trip because the clothes there are relatively cheap and there's always promotions 

cosmetics shops are everywhere

heaps of clothes that costs from 5000won to 10000 won ( rm37) can be found 

it really is a student town! 

after walking around hongdae

we then headed back up to ehwa university

subway station: Ehwa university (line 2 ) exit 2&3 that shows ehwa university

after exiting, you'll see streets full of shops, just walk straight for about 5-10 mins then you'll see the university itself

you'll definitely wont miss it

 this would be the direction to head to ehwa uni

 the campus is really quaint and beautiful

 so pretty! no wonder people wants to study here

 how to not take a picture on this beautiful campus

 i have steepness fright, this is definitely a nono for me to walk down 

after a stroll around the campus, me being a glutton wants dessert! and what's popular at ehwa and what's korea's most popular dessert? Bingsu! and where? Ho Mil pat! 

directions, from walk down from ehwa univ and when you reach the main road, turn right 

you'll see megabox on your right, keep walking until you pass the building itself

then cross to the opposite side of the road, keep going until you see gongcha and ho mil pat is just a few shops away from it ! 

 tadaa~~~ 

 our Milk bingsu with redbean and rice cakes! 

the ice is awesome!!! it's not normal shaved ice but shaved milk! so milky and really thirst quenching *yums*

even bum that doesnt like dessert likes the shaved ice! 

one dessert is never enough! 

I happened to stumble upon a stall selling churros just next to ho mil pat and I want!!! 

churros with milky soft serve

I tell you! best churros i've ever had! 

so crispy yet chewy ahhhh heaven omggg

but if you don't like cinnamon then this wouldnt be for you because it's overwhelmed by powdered cinnamon 

but for people that likes cinnamon like me! go for it! no regrets! 

After dessert, we wanted to catch the light show at Banpo Bridge,

so we took the subway from ehwa station to 

station: Dongjak Exit 1,2 (Line 4)

there're other stations which i think would be a better choice because the view from this place is kinda far 

and we didnt actually catch the water fountain show because we didn't know that on this particular day 

it was their annual autumn fireworks show

and there were so many people camping there to watch the fireworks

so i would say lucky and unlucky? 

got to watch something that only happens once a year with all the local koreans

and after observing I feel like seoul is a place that's filled with places and activities for couples

couples everywhere! 

 just me and my boo 

 not bothering to post more fireworks pictures because my camera doesn't come with a zoom and I'm a cheapskate for not getting one for it = bad firework pics

but it's freaking rm700 for a zoom lens leh 

but I assure you that it's really pretty in person but the crowd was horrendous

we felt really peculiar at first thinking why is the crowd so massive for something that goes on everyday? the koreans so happening one ah then only later i knew that it was an annual thing

 look at the crowd! 

 ended our night with food and drinks from the convenient store 

and we tried the infamous spicy noodle huahuahua! that's my banana milk and bum's soju 

i managed to finish half only because it's not worth the calories and it's torture for my lips

i rather not risk having a sore anus the next day but the taste is really nice just too spicy for a normal meal 

so yea! end of Day 1! will continue with day 2 soon =)