Vacation in Seoul, Korea (Part 1/3)

WARNING: THIS POST IS LONG AND FULL OF PHOTOS. BUT PROMISE, IT’S NOT BORING!!!

There are many words that I can use to define what my trip to Seoul, Korea was like – AWESOME, INCREDIBLE, ITPWNSURFEZBITCH, MEMORABLE… But really, the most apt would be “FUCKIN’ CRAZY” because lolz, it truly was. Now, if you’re not interested to read about my misadventures or what my thoughts are of Seoul, then it’s time to leave and go watch your Pokemon hentai. Anyway, long post is long because my solo vacation was made of epic. In fact, it’s so epic, I’ll divide it into three parts. Btw, all the photos/videos were taken with my handy Nokia N8. You should be paying me, Nokia!!!

I wasn’t supposed to go on my own. Actually, the change of plans was so last minute, I only booked my hostel the day before my flight. Also, let it be known that two days prior to the trip, NoKor bombed SoKor and two soldiers died so the situation was tense. But I had been planning my trip for months, maybe even years! Even Kim Jong-Il and his nuclear weapons couldn’t stop me.

DAY 1. Nov 25, Thurs

Seriously. My exposure to Kpop and having a Korean boyfriend helped me survive this trip. I wouldn’t know what would’ve happened to me if I didn’t know how to speak A LITTLE Korean (which sounds cute, I was told), especially since I was alone and was “interviewed” at the airport immigration. The woman asked me what I do for a living. I said I’m a director. AND AN ACTRESS/HOST. I mean, you’ll be pwned, too if a blonde Filipina girl who kept on batting her fake lashes said that to your face, right? Needless to say, I was allowed to go after a few minutes.

Anyway, a nice newlywed Korean couple whom I met in the plane helped me get an airport limousine, which is really just a bus. If I knew why they call it a limousine, I’ll give you an explanation but I don’t. Because of the couple’s kindness, I gave them dried mangoes and a bag of chocnut. Hehehe.

6011 limousine to Sungkyungkwan. Why does the Philippine public transport system suck hairy balls?

I stayed at Backpackers Inside (love love love that place!) at the 대학로 Daehangno area, which is just walking distance from 혜화역 Hyehwa Station and 성균관대학교 SungKyungKwan University. No, DBSK fangirls, there were no scandals at the place whatsoever. I didn’t see a Micky Yoochun there either. -___-

I did see a lot of university students but none wearing those funny clothes.

Let it be known that I have never been outside of Southeast Asia prior to this trip so yes, winter waved its middle finger at me that night and made me wish I was in Ilocos Norte or something.

I was super tired and hungry from the trip and from adjusting to the temperature that I just opted to stay home and chat with my bebe because I R LOSER like that.

DAY 2. November 26, Friday

The 2nd day was my “I’m-a-solo-tourist-watch-me-as-I-get-lost-and-kill-my-legs-from-walking” day. If there’s anything that I learned from my experience, it’s that one must have a mother fuckin’ itinerary and a plan on how to go to his/her desired destination if he/she doesn’t want to waste time asking help from locals, who can’t speak Englsh. >___<

Because I’m ‘a artist’, my first stop was the center of traditional Korean arts and culture, 인사동 Insadong, which was like 5 minutes away from my hostel.

This place is so Korean, even the aircon is from Samsung.

Problem is, I got so lost going there from the bus stop, it took me about 20 minutes to find the damned place. And so by the time I saw the Insadong signage, I was already so hungry and went directly to the where the food is.

잔치집 Jan-chi-jib! The waiters were good looking.

Please do not judge my character based on my appetite. I hadn’t eaten yet since lunch the day before. I was dizzy already. Those are bibimbap, some random seafood soup and a whole lotta banchan!

Kring booboo # 1: In Korea, when you order food in restos, the servers would leave the bill on your table right after you order, and you’d have to bring it to the cashier after your meal, where you’d pay. Of course, NOBODY GAVE ME A HEADS UP ABOUT THAT. And so I rang the bell to call the waiter and attached my money, like how we’d usually do it here. He did look baffled but didn’t complain. I was a tourist, afterall.

After I had eaten and recharged, I went around to check out the stores. OMG I LOVE INSADONG!!! I knew it was pricey because it’s a tourist destination but I did feel like I was in Korea, especially with all the flags hanging around!

I seriously was compelled to buy the boyfriend a shirt with the Korean flag printed on it as pasalubong.

But since it was my first day, I really didn’t buy anything yet as I was saving it for the latter part of my trip. I realized, too that many of the shop keepers speak in Japanese, maybe because there are a many Jap tourists in the area. Speaking of Japanese… I got mistaken a lot for a Japanese while I was there. In fact, when I went to 쌈지길 Ssamziegil, a group of high school students came up to me and greeted me “Konnichiwa!” and asked if we could all take a photo together. I was like “Holy shit! I’m famous in Korea?!?!” but then I asked them what it was for and apparently, it’s for a “mission” in school. You know, befriend tourists and such and get good grades. LOLZ. I told them I’m Filipino and they were like spazzing, it was funny! We took a photo with the standard Korean “peace sign” and so I taught them the Pinoy way of posing, which is basically putting your L-shaped fingers under your chin and smiling like Wowie de Guzman. They were amazed by our coolness.

Ssamziegil. Because tourists like cute, artsy stuff, too!

My mom would loooovvveeee Insa-dong, I swear!

The only place in the world where you could find Starbucks written in Hangul.

I told myself I was gonna go back to Insadong in a couple more days. So after that, I decided to go to 명동 Meyongdong, except that I didn’t know how and ended up WALKING. You see, it really was not my fault. I asked the girl at the information booth and she said it only takes about 15-20 minutes of suffering walking. Taking a bus would be too complicated for my 3rd-world country brain and the subway was far, too! -_- If it was in Manila, I would’ve taken a cab but there, it was a little expensive.

No choice, I walked. And walked. I bought a City Pass card and peed in a non-stinky high-tech public toilet on my way there but I walked a lot. And then finally, Myeongdong!

I was welcomed by the giant faces of JYJ. Bow. If I were a fan, I would’ve frothed my mouth on the spot because wtf they were all over the place. Unfortunately…

Myeong-dong reminded me of Siam. I haven’t been to Japan so Idk if you can consider it Shibuya-ish but it sure was a busy, colorful and hip area. LIKES! Unfortunately, I was really just there to go to the Namsam Tower. I was trying to look for ways on how to get to the mountain top but instead, all the sales ladies ended up talking to me in Japanese, handling me baskets and dragging me into their cosmetics shops! Did I look like someone in desperate need of make-up!??!?!

Anyway, I gave up on pretending to understand Hangul and asked two random girls if they could help me. It was a true test of sign language skills, I tell yah! After more than 15 minutes of looking for an information booth, I was finally told that I could take an expensive cab or WALK to the Namsan cable car building. TANGINA WALK NA NAMAN?!? No way! I instead just asked the girls if they just wanted to have coffee/tea and for that, I won instant Koryan friends!

Please excuse my Alzheimer’s but… if I remember correctly, their names are An-eum and Soo-jin, respectively. Then again, my neurons had died from the cold.

We just ended up chatting over coffee, if chatting is even an appropriate term. One of the girls could speak a little English while the other one couldn’t, at all. I, on the other hand, only knew how to curse in Korean and say that I’m a hot chic. I have no idea how we managed.

Doesn’t matter, they were very helpful, really! I had to buy gloves, a bonnet and boots and they helped me shop around (and even haggled in my behalf)! Thanks so much, girls!!!

Obnoxious Garfield, harrassing me.

STREET FOOD FTMFW!!!! I’m not fond of spicy food so I was super >__<;;;.

They had to leave at 6pm and I’ve had enough of Myeong-dong, too at that time. We all parted ways and I went to my next destination for the day – 동대문시장 Dongdaemun Market.

I’d heard a lot about this market – that it’s cheap, Divisoria-like and sells a variety of… fabrics lolz. But I was there not to buy clothes or bargain my way to the top. I was there to EAT. Eat those famous Koryan street food of win. And to go all-out touristy, I just had to eat it by the 청계천 Cheonggye stream. Huzzah!

Obligatory street dinner – ddeokbokki, water, banana milk, hot dog covered with potato cubes, garbage bag

My miserable shot of the Cheonggye stream. It’s normally a lot more romantic, with love-struck couple walking around.

I REALLY wished that my bebe was there with me that night. Nay, I wished he was with me during that trip. I had been only there for two days and so many things had happened already! In fact, I got home at like 7:30pm and I was soooo spent!!!

The next entry should be more exciting because I’ll tell you about my FANGIRL LOL ENCOUNTERS and my JEWEL IN THE PALACE moments. ‘Til next time, babes! One videoblog coming soon!