Well hello, readers!
I'm so sorry I have been busy with my new chapter as a graduate student in KOREATECH. I have many things to settle starting with moving from Busan to Cheonan, adapt to the new environment, make new friends, attend all the classes and not to forget searching for my supervisor; the one that will mentor me throughout my master program.
Let's continue with the main topics which are "Seoul Trips, Tips, and Trick". I helped a lot of my friend with their itinerary, so I guessed why not share it in my blog to help others who are still confused on how to plan their trip to Seoul. Like my previous post about beautiful Jeju, the first thing that you need to do after you landed here in South Korea is to get your T-Money or Cash Bee. This card can be used for all public transportation.
You can purchase it at all the convenience store such as 7-Eleven, GS25, and CU. It will cost you around 4000won for the card only and you need to recharge it before you use it. You can recharge your card at a convenience store or at the subway station. Don't worry they have an English option for the language.
You are good to go after you have purchased it. So after you get the T-money at Incheon Airport you can make your way to Seoul. There's a lot of option on traveling to Seoul from Incheon Airport. You can by Express Bus that will bring you straight to the main place such as Seoul station, Myeongdong and etc. but bare in mind it will costs you around 10,000- 15,000won one way. If you wanted to save your money you can just go to the airport railroad to take the train.
There are two types of Airport railroad:
- All stop Train
- Express Train (AREX)
So for "All Stop Train" it will be cheaper than "Express Train" but it will take a longer time to arrive at your destination. You can always compare the fees, the time and the ETA for every public transport by using Naver Map before you start your journey.
In case you are wondering how to get to the airport railroad; after you purchase your T-money make your way to another building in front of the airport. The tips for this is you need to read all the signboard because the signboard will make your life easier.
This is the layout for the airport, but if you are lost; don't be afraid to ask the information counter, they will help you to get there.
The "All Stop Train" and "Express Train" are located opposite to each other. So don't forget to read the signboard guys!
Traveling to a country that has a language barrier sometimes can be difficult for us, but don't worry there's a lot of Apps that you can download such as Google Maps, KakaoMetro and NaverMaps. These apps will help you a lot (trust me).
For KakaoMap and NaverMap they are really friendly user apps. They make it your journey easier by giving you a lot of information and you can plan ahead everything. They will estimate the time, fees and the best route to take to make your journey more silky smooth.
Gyeongbokgung Palace
I love to bring all my friend here because the palace is so nice. You can see the Palace located in the middle of the city. This is a great place for those who love to capture a good photo and there's a lot of shops that rent a really good quality of Hanbok for only 15,000won (+5hour) and you can wear it and walk around feeling like a Joseon Dynasty Princess by the way you will free entrance to Gyeongbokgung if you wear the Hanbok. If I'm not mistaken the entrance fees is 4000won. Don't miss a chance to watch the Changing Guard Ceremony and after the ceremony finish, there will be small old Korean houses that will open for all the tourist that interested to wear the Guard costume and you don't need to pay for the entrance fee to watch the changing guard ceremony because the ceremony is held outside the Palace compound. (Gyeongbokgung Exit 5).
Truth to be told I already try out all the Guard Costume since I came here often.
Gyeongbokgung Info
From Gyeongbokgung you guys can explore other places such as Buckhon Hanok Village
King Sejong statues are located in front of the Palace, under this statues there's a mini-museum that you can go. There's a lot of activity that you can do there. You can learn the history of King Sejong the Great the creator of Hangeul and General Yi Soon Shin the famous general that fight against the enemy during a war by using the Turtle-Ship.
you can learn how to write your name in Korean using Korean calligraphy brush and you can keep it as a souvenir for yourself. From this places, you can just walk to Cheonggyecheon Stream.
The next places that you can go are to my beloved friend Josephine and Zatil University which is Ewha Woman University. You can enjoy the University environment and the scenery because Ewha has a lot of beautiful building. My most favourite spot in Ewha is their library.
Around their campus there a lot of cafe and restaurant as well and if you watch the most popular K-Drama "Goblin" the famous tunnel scene is located at the back entrance of Ewha University near Sinchon. From Ewha you guys can go to Sinchon and Hongdae (Hongik University Station), there's a lot of busking, street dancing and Black Pink house are located at Hongdae as well, so don't miss a chance to take a photo there.
If you like Korean Skincare Myeongdong is the best place to go. There's a lot of Korean Beauty Brand sell there at good prices. At the Myeongdong subway station, you can purchase a lot of cute sock with a good quality and good value. There's a lot of street food here in Myeongdong and if you are Muslim there's a Malaysian Restaurant nearby and a Halal Korean Restaurant as well. To get to "Kampungku" you can just go to Exit 3 and you will see Robocar Poli statues, and from the statues you can see the Pacific Hotel and then go to the left side of the Pacific Hotel and just walk straight about 400m. The restaurant offers you with a variety Malaysian Menu and Korean Menu as well. Please try their Korean Fried Chicken and Korean Marinated Chicken.
and for BusanJib you can go to Myeongdong Exit 7, go straight until you see apple store or frisbee store and turn right.
and there's another Halal restaurant at Exit 9 Myeongdong; Nasi Lemak D'Seoul.
Everyone wanted to buy some souvenir for family and friend. My tips are just bought everything in Namdaemun and the buy it from my Korean uncle shop. This is not a paid review but this Ahjussi shop is really cheap, and just show my picture to him if you went there maybe you can get an extra discount; because that is my charm. LOL.
Trust me this is the cheapest among other shop that I go. So if you go to Namdaemun, feel free to come to this Ahjussi. I think I will continue this blog post next time. I hope this blog post will help you to plan ahead your trip to South Korea. Till next post~!!!!
Sincerely,
Nabeela
