Things I Learned from Korea

1. There's always some absurd use of english for cafe/ restaurant names. I saw a coffee shop named "Standing Coffee" and a restaurant named "Slow Garden". What was that supposed to mean?

2. Korean people (both men and women) are so stylish, their skin are flawless and skinny, like no joke! This explains why there's tons of skin care shops in Korea.

3. Based on what i see, when it's working time, there's almost no one outside the building. Nothing like Jakarta where random people are hanging out around the streets.

4. I don't know what happened between Koreans and Chinese in the past, but every time i ask for bargain, they always said "This is made in Korea, NOT China!" and they can't give any discount.

5. Korea should be nominated as the capital of Romance City! people are like literally dating and being lovey- dovey with their bf/ gf everywhere.  For those who are single, close your eyes, you'll probably getting a heartache. 

6. I don't know much why Koreans are not ashamed to fight in public. I've seen couples are getting into a fight, like literally.. i was like shocked when i saw it. But apparently people around me wasn't. I also seen ahjummas are fighting (not physically) but they screams at each other. When i asked my friend about it, she said it's a common thing. They even sometimes kissing in public.

Fly to Seoul D4

Day 4! the last day :(

Sadly, my trip ends, since tomorrow morning we should be at Incheon Airport at 9. Sucks.

We didn't have early schedule today (which i really regret) we start off around 11. The first stop is the Korean National Museum. It is located between Gyeongbokgung Palace, and the "Blue House" which is the president house.

Accidentally met these kindergarten or (elementary?) kids in front of the museum. They are cute and adorable!! 

These are pretty much inside of the museum. Korean do love their country I guess because I've seen a lot about political history in here. Meet Lee Myung- Bak. Korea's 17th president. I heard he'll be off- duty soon since the new president was elected. and yes, for the first time in history, it's a woman!

Why was Princess Hours or Full House picture didn't make it in here??!! 7 out of 10 people told me their first Korean drama was one of those.

This is located in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace. I didn't get any chance to visit this place since it's freezing outside. It's around -12C that day. There is "King Seojong" statue at the back. He is the one who created 'Hangeul' (Korean script). After we're done with the museum, we're going for lunch. Yay! we went to this samgyetang restaurant again, but this time, it was a specialty restaurant. Rumor has it this was one of former Korean President's favorite place!. And indeed! this is the best! that samgyetang with pumpkin seeds gave special crunch to it.  

With warm tummy, we continue our journey to Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was the first time my ear hurts while i was outside. It was extreme weather and i don't have anything to cover my ear, so I just running from one place to another and trying to find a building. My body doesn't feel cold at all, it's just my ears that hurts and annoyed my trip. It was freaking freezing and i found that Gyeongbokgung was an open space! great! The thing i learned about "old korea" was... beautiful. especially their traditional clothes, hanbok. Everything has it's meaning and korean government take tourism seriously.

So after we're done wandering around at this palace, we went to Namdaemun Market. Shopping time! woohoo!

Went to buy chocolates, cookies and other stuff for souvenirs. It was around 5pm that and it's getting freezing like... i don't even know how to say it. I have no choice but to buy an ear muff since we are going to Namsan Tower after this. There's no way i will survive without an ear muff. For those who wanted to buy traditional souvenirs, you better buy it at Namdaemun because it's a lot cheaper than Insadong. The exact same thing for less! yes, i felt guilty because of this. You can find pretty much anything in here from food, fashion, and other stuff.

And when it can't go any worse, my battery went low, so that's the reason why i can't give any picture at Namdaemun. I'm saving it for Namsan.

We should get on this cable car first to get to the tower. And i found out there's also a pedestrian (yes, you read that right) road for those who want to climb to the tower. It cost you 8000 won for round trip ticket.

I actually didn't recommend to go inside the tower because there's nothing special in it. You have to spend another 7000 won to go to the observatory for unclear sight- seeing, and you should buy another ticket if you wanted to see the Teddy Bear Museum. For more information click here.

After we're done seeing unclear things, (although it's beautiful at night seeing the entire Seoul) we had our dinner. We ate grilled bulgogi. I think it was another version of bulgogi but i can't remember what it was called. We still wanted some shopping so we went to Doota Shopping Mall at Dongdaemun. 

FYI, Doota is a 24 hours mall. There's another 24 hours mall around Dongdaemun shopping area as well. We had our late shopping at around 11pm while we have to be ready at 7am the next day. LOL!

The fun thing was some shops gave tax refund and we can get the refund at the airport. yay! but i think Myeong-dong shop prices are lower than Doota's. So... choose wisely. Oh! Doota only sells local brand and local designers clothing.

So, i guess that's it. So long Korea! i hope i can give a visit at another season to truly enjoy the country.

Fly to Seoul D3

Day 3 is here! whoop whoop!

No, we don't have tight schedule today so we start off at 11. What did i do before 11? well.. i might have a little early shopping at Zara. There's no way you are not visit the store since it's 2 buildings away from my hotel and ended up getting this. The only thing that made me a bit annoyed is the size chart in korea. WHY DO KOREANS ARE SMALL?? i'm a medium size or even small in Indonesia, but in korea i always fit to large? so unfair!

OH! i also forgot, during my visit, korea was having KOREA GREAT SALE! at literally every store.

I was visiting Dasan Company, the 2nd largest IT supplier company in Korea. I love the office area, everything looks clean, and new.

After done with the meeting, we're going back to the city. Yes, this office area wasn't at Gangnam. I was hoping we can see the Chonggyechon stream but apparently we're not. The traffic also quite bad since it's around 5 pm.

After wandering around for quite sometime, we ended up at Namsangol Hanok Village, located in Namsan. We arrived at around 6 pm and it's FREEZIING! even the stream was frozen. We can't see anything clear but overall it was traditional korean house in 1 area. Most of the houses were scattered aroud korea back then, but then it was moved into this village so it can be preserved for tourism. 

Since it's getting cold, (thank god cars have heater!) we decided to go back to Myeong-Dong to have dinner. And today we had Jjigae! i've been longing to try this dish because it looks really delicious, and indeed, they're so good especially during winter. I tried seafood jjigae. 

After we're done eating, we had free time! and of course, me and my mom decided to go shopping around Myeong-Dong! woohoo! the shopping area was really big like literally. first stop, Noon shopping mall. Went to H&M, craving for so much stuff but ended up buying nothing since I can't decide what i wanted to buy. I was thrilled when i found FUBU! and of course there's T.O.P picture in a cardboard, but i was too embarrassed to take pictures there. The absurd thing was my mom and i said we should buy some skin care product but apparently the only thing we bought was a nail clipper from ARITAUM! i didn't know what was on our mind that day and i totally regret it.

And the most stupid thing me and my mom totally regret was the fact that we didn't visit the LOTTE Department Store which located right across our hotel, which we always see everyday!

So that's the recap of Day 3! see you on D4! annyeong!