Travel – writing space for now

Buckle up because this will be a long blog post about my trip last month to Seoul, South Korea.

My friends and I wanted to go to South Korea for Hallyu reasons, so we requested the trip as a graduation gift from our parents. We planned this since late 2017, and eventually we left on July 3, 2019. We came back on the early morning of July 12 via AirAsia.

I worked a whole month prior to the trip, while my dad gave me Php 20,000 as a gift. My sister gave me Php 6,000 for her shopping expenses. I also worked as a student assistant in Ateneo de Manila’s Rizal Library for like two years, so I had roughly a total of Php 66,000 for this trip – and I brought home Php 16,000.

Important side-note: I am a huge cheapo. I scrimped and saved for this trip so I can live in considerable luxury, so imagine how much of a cheapo I am that I still brought home money.

Anyway, we paid ahead for some expenses prior to the trip. We spent around Php 11,000 for roundtrip airfare with additional 20kg. baggage, approximately Php 10,000 for our KLOOK bookings and tickets, and roughly Php 5,000 – Php 6,000 per person on an AirBnB.

That link leads to the AirBnB listing of our host, WT – 10/10 would recommend.

We also paid Php 700 for visa fees to Reli Tours in Lucky Chinatown Mall. Before processing your visa, make sure to consult so you can bring the correct and complete documents to spare yourself from the hassle of making trips to the printing shop next door. We applied as fresh grads from a top university, so it was fairly easy for the visas to be approved.

My general impression of Seoul is that it’s like the Capitol in the Hunger Games trilogy.

It’s a lovely city that is richly embroidered in a hybrid culture between the old and the new, the artificial and the natural. The skyline is filled with skyscrapers, while the streets are lined with flowers. Pigeons fearlessly roam the streets, and the fast train system snakes its way around and over the Han river.

The WiFi is superfast and everything is so high tech, that country-bumpkin Katniss Everdeen was really relatable for the first time. The automatic controls using buttons were a little shocking to me, so if you were inconvenienced by a locked women’s bathroom on the second floor of Dongdaemun Design Plaza, well…

City people live fast lives. Their days begin late at around 10 or 11 am, and end late – the sun doesn’t set until 7 pm. Their fashion, their physical features – all of it is designed to convey a sense of aesthetic – be it streetwear or business. The most THG thing is how the new trend for women there is to have jewel nail art on their fingers.

Of course, it would be a waste of a trip to Seoul if you don’t enjoy K-Pop because the merchandise is everywhere. Also, it’s a pain to shop there as a girl, since there are so many cute (and expensive) trinkets, but you can’t try on the clothes. Men have the opposite of a problem there, because there is 1 male clothing store for every 30 female clothing and accessory stores.

Letting you know that we loaded 50,000 won in our T-Money cards for the whole trip and it was enough for the itinerary below:

Day 1: Flight + Hongdae

Landed in Seoul at around noon after a four-hour flight.
Tried the bulgogi burger at Lotteria, then took Bus 6002 to get to Hongdae.
Unpacked and inspected the well-furnished AirBnB, then left to explore Hongdae.
Found one too many pretty trinkets, but had to pause because it’s Day 1 and I can’t spend my money on that just yet.
Picked up a fried chicken platter (original, sweet and mildly spicy, spicy) at a pub-looking place, then had Oreo-churros and ice cream for dessert.
Bought bottled water and breakfast items (noodles, instant rice – the works) at a convenience store.

Day 2: Gyeongbokgung + Bukchon Hanok Village + Itaewon

Had a fair bit of sleep and departed for Gyeongbokgung late.
Tried to rent a hanbok at a nice place across the palace grounds, but they were serving 30 or so mainland Chinese, so we had to find another rental shop.
Entered the palace and took pics for a full two hours, lost a paper fan from the rental place in the process.
Lined up to eat at a 200-seating samgyetang (ginseng chicken) restaurant.
Dipped the falls-off-the-bone chicken into salt and pepper, then took ginseng liquor shots for 18,000 won.
Took the train to Bukchon Hanok Village. More or less got sidetracked by the pretty, tourist-priced trinkets again.
Hiked – and I mean HIKED – up the village.
Gave up because it was so steep and climbed down for mango bingsuu at a cafe, but was disappointed as a Filipino when they put fake mango syrup on it.
Travelled to Itaewon to visit the BT21 LINE Friends store: saw hologram cartoons, spilled water (discreetly), lost a tripod and a water bottle in the process.
Visited a cheap-ish dumpling place to try cold buckwheat noodles and cheese gimbap – heartily recommend both.

Day 3: Tour: Garden of Morning Calm + Nami Island + Petit France

Went with a tour bus to the Garden of Morning Calm, Nami Island, and Petit France.
Shared meaningful English and Mandarin-speaking looks with our tour guide. Took a hundred photos among flowers and bought a lavender lip balm at the Garden.
Took a ferry to Nami Island, attempted to take photos with the iconic trees (but kept on getting derailed by the other tourists), and began an intense love affair with hotteok and ice cream.
Visited Petit France and its creepy marionette dolls, examined artefacts that featured love and roosters, paid tribute to every vending machine that doled out cool drinks.
Got caught in Seoul traffic (which was still more manageable than Manila traffic), and had Hongdae street food: mouth-burning tteobokki, salty-sweet rice cakes and sausages on a stick, fish cake in soup, and a chocolate waffle.

Day 4: Myeongdong + N-Seoul Tower

Ate near our AirBnB at a local, home-cooked style restaurant – had meatless bibimbap for breakfast.
Wandered around Myeongdong in near tears due to the different shopping demands of each family we represented.
Paid a visit to every make-up shop possible (more than once for some – looking at you, Missha and Etude) because there were great summer sales.
Had egg bread and unsweetened grapefruit juice for a snack, then took a van to N Seoul Tower.
Hiked up Mt. Namsan, chickened at the height, drooled over gummy candies, and took photos with the love locks.
Took a cable car and a diagonal elevator to descend the mountain, then walked back to Myeongdong.
Ate our way through the street: grilled lobster tail, roasted lamb cubes, roasted sweet potato, dragon floss candy, honeycomb ice cream in a fish pastry, sugar-syrup strawberries, sweet-and-spicy shrimp, takoyaki, frozen s’mores, another fake mango shake, and everything else in between that I cannot recall right now.
Raided a snack shop and the almond store for pasalubong to bring home.

Day 5: Gwangjang Market + Cheonggyecheon Stream + Dongdaemun + Ewha

Had brunch at the Netflix lady’s stall in Gwangjang Market: noodle soup and a shared plate of half plain, half kimchi dumplings.
Also tried a burnt rice drink and fish-shaped pastries filled with red bean and cream.
Wandered around and found Cheonggyecheon Stream.
Visited an outlet mall accidentally and shopped a bit, had some spicy (but delicious) fried chicken along the street.
Wandered around some more to Dongdaemun Plaza then ran over to Ewha University – which has a campus that defeats most (if not all) the top unis of the Philippines.
Waited and successfully saw the vans of girl group TWICE (only glimpsed Jihyo and Tzuyu though).
Had dinner at a Chinese restaurant: sweet and sour pork cutlets sans the violent orange sauce I am accustomed to, plus fried rice.

Day 6: Everland

Took the four-hour commute to Everland theme park, then decided to eat way through it, since I am a chicken at rides.
Rode a VR ride, picked up some churros, ice-cream, and a sausage-chicken-French fry platter while waiting for friends to get off the crazy rollercoaster.
Made our way to the small train that circled around the park grounds, then rode a skylift to get to a different area.
Ran into Shawol friends from home and chatted for more than half an hour as other friends went on a ride.
Ate at a diner-style KFC, went to a haunted house shooting game, lost badly.
Took two safari tours to see animals I’ve never seen before, sadly missed the pandas.
Froze for an hour on a park bench while watching over the others’ stuff since they went on a splash-mountain ride.
Had intense feelings of regret due to a very, very spicy order of Chinese noodles for dinner.
Rushed back in order to take the four-hour commute to Hongdae, but took the cable car up which gave us an amazing view of the Everland lights parade.

Day 7: SMTOWN @ Coex Artium + Starfield Mall + Gangnam samgyeopsal

Woke up early for SMTOWN COEX, as one does when one is about to breathe in spaces previously visited by the love(s) of one’s life.
Had breakfast at McDonald’s.
Lost mind inside a mall trying to find a money changer, eventually gave up and lost mind at SMTOWN instead.
Ran around everywhere like a madman, begging people to take pictures of me, and taking over 300 selfies here and there.
Met Shawol friends again, which was appropriate, given the situation.
Printed photos from the exhibits, won a slap bracelet from those arcade machines – gamble rewarded with SHINee 1 of 1 design.
Dropped by the SUM Cafe and dropped money on the mint-and-chocolate SHINee cupcake, plus grape juice with a Red Velvet bottle.
Thought intense thoughts about watching the School Oz hologram musical but decided against it – a choice that will haunt me with regret for the rest of my life.
Left SMTOWN COEX with some struggle, and found Starfield Library.
Was pleasantly surprised to find a library within the mall – an innovation that would have made my teenage years happier.
Travelled to Gangnam for a samgyeopsal dinner – where the meat was less oily, bubbling hot soup was refilled in the middle of the grill, and we tried perilla leaves for the first time.

Day 8: Lotte World Mall + Han River Cruise + Panda Express

Brunch at Lotte Mall – one of the best meals we’ve had so far, in my opinion.
Sidenote: had a Wetzel’s Pretzel for a pre-brunch snack.
Paid 11,000 won for an order of Hawaiian Beef, which was beef chunks and shrimp on fried rice, served with fried rice, green beans, and potato salad prepared differently from what I am used to.
Also had brown sugar milk to go with that – a concoction of milk, brown sugar, and black pearls.
Again raided a grocery store for snacks to feed the Go Family with, and had a Google Translate conversation with a grocery clerk with regards to exactly how I was supposed to bring my kimchi along for the plane ride home.
Visited another high-end mall which had the Lotte Duty Free KPOP tunnel thing, which featured those brass hand imprints of EXO, BTS, TWICE, Super Junior, Lee Jong-suk – among others – and they appear on screen when you press on those things.
Tried Godiva ice-cream and wandered around the fanciest produce market/food court I’ve ever seen in my life.
Eventually made our way to the E Land River Ferry Cruise and tossed dried fish for seagulls to catch.
Rain and wind made the experience both refreshing and exhausting.
Found Panda Express at another mall, won a first place lucky scratch card that allowed me to order another meal with three viands.
Dropped by a bookstore for some tape to wrap my kimchi in, went home with a copy of Dianne Wynne Jones’ House of Many Ways: the third book of the Howl series, and the only one missing in my collection, which is why I willingly forked over 12,000 won even if I know that was severely overpriced.

Day 9: Hongdae + Flight

Woke early to finish packing and to clean up the AirBnB, bought samgak for everyone to try as a pre-breakfast.
Dropped off luggage at Yellow Luggage in Hongdae, had a bulgogi chicken sandwich with truffle fries at the local Burger King.
Bought lipstick for my mother, wandered around Hongdae to spend as much won as was reasonable.
Bought a blouse, a jade brooch, Baskin Robbins’ ice-cream, and things for friends: a Pepe phone case and two sweater crop tops with strawberry and banana milk designs.
Eventually left Hongdae to take the bus back to the airport to wander there for four hours or so.
Lost mind at baggage weigh-in
Met an airport robot.
Ate abalone and seaweed soup, gimbap at Bibigo, then bought snacks at the convenience store: chips, blueberries, water.
Nearly didn’t get past immigration for putting cosmetics in the hand-carry bag – a lesson that was hard learned.
Was told the others saw Jun from Seventeen while I held my tears at immigration.
Ran around looking for open Duty Free shops, took a train to get to the terminal, and restlessly boarded the plane.
Got hungry mid-flight and tried a Malaysian dish – the only one available in Air Asia, and perhaps the only dish I didn’t like this whole trip, save the spicy Everland noodles.
Watched (and judged) a man who whipped out a bunch of credit cards and sim cards in Manila.
Made my way home eventually.