South Korea 2017: My First Winter Experience

Itchy feet? No, actually. My life is just house-school-church-office--repeat thing. Though this sounds boring to others, this is where I'm happy. Honestly, I just realized that I didn't travel much this year. But at some point in my life, I got tired. Adulting is hard. From what I've seen around, we're all tired. I’ve got a full schedule, long office hours, lot of things to do, seven days a week. For all the flexibility I have with how I spend my time, I wind up using it all. And while normally I'd try to give some sort of insight into a problem or offer up some semblance of a solution, I don't know what to do here.

I read some articles that in order to ease physical and mental fatigue, we should take a break and temporarily disconnect from our normal routine. Traveling, as I read, is one way of doing so . This year, I decided to use my vacation leaves and spare a portion of my savings to rewarding myself an international trip.

So there, after some sort of preparations, thank God because I was able to pull a off a trip to South Korea (SK). Yasssss!! Why did I choose SK?

1.   If has four seasons. One of my dreams and lifelong prayers is to step my feet in a four-season country. I used to watch Kdramas before and aside from the unique stories, I also love how their seasons change and see the surroundings turn from white to pink to green to brown-red-orange, and to white again. Hong Kong, China, Tri-City (Thailand-Cambodia, Vietnam), and South Korea are among my options. The next numbers will explain more why I chose the latter.

2.   The Visa is free and fast! I remember when I went to the embassy to submit my requirements for visa, it only took me 15 seconds! Then I claimed it after 5 days. If you're going to stay there for 60 days or more, that's the only time that you have to pay for the visa fee.

3.   Cost of living in SK is low. Prices of commodities are cheap. 1KRW is only 0.05PHP. Though airfare to SK is much pricey, I assessed that I might spend less in other expenses.

4.   I was with Joyce, one of my college friends. She's been to SK twice and it's a relief to have her as a travel buddy since she kinda knows the subway stations and ideal mode of transportation to some tourist spots.

Our original plan was to visit SK in the last week of October, my birth month. Autumn! It's the month, they say, that Seoul (the city capital of SK) is filled with splendid palette of rich brown, blazing reds, oranges, and yellows dressing up the pavement. But due to busy schedule at work and unavailable flights, we ended up visiting SK in the week first week of December. Pa-winter na! It's kinda cold, having a temperature not hotter than 5°C, and gets lower and lower each day.

Upon arrival at Incheon Airport, we bought our T-Money! Parang beep card lang ng Pilipinas yan. It is a loadable card that you can use to pay in subway, bus, cab, malls, and convenient stores. I used mine solely for transportation fees. 20,000KRW would be enough for four days given that the mode would be bus and subway only. Don't worry because you can still refund the remaining amount, if there's any, in the airport if you wish to. In my case, I still have 3,000KRW in my T-Money but I did not ask for refund and just kept the card for remembrance. Haha. Tourist spots are accessible through subway. Unless you're gonna ride a cab or on a tour package, don't forget to wear comfy shoes coz you're gonna do a lot of subway transfers and walks here. We did a DIY-trip. So I decided to write this travel guide for the readers to have the idea of which line, station, or exit they're gonna go. Medyo nakakalito din kasi dahil 20 ang lines ng subway diteyyyy!

KRW plus the T-Money!

Maru Guesthouse

43 Chungpa-dong, Yongsan-Gu, 100-080 Seoul, South Korea

Taken outside the guesthouse where we stayed.

We booked our hostel at booking.com and we were able to score an affordable room with two single beds, own CR with heater, towel and toiletries, slippers, hair dyer, iron, refrigerator, and free wifi. There's also a common area where you can cook, eat, and even wash clothes. Our guesthouse is only five minutes-walk away from Subway Seoul Station and Lotte Mart. Very accessible and convenient! It has 7-Eleven in front and you can see the beautiful Namsan Tower from the outside. If I'm going back to Seoul, I'll surely choose this guesthouse again to stay.

Enough for lengthy introduction. SK! Here we go!

It's colder than I ever imagined. As much as we wanted na magmaganda, kailangan namin magdamit ng makapal at patung-patong para mabuhay. Lols.

Namsan Tower
105 Namsangongwon-gil, Yongsan 2(i)ga-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea

So foggy! Di makita si Namsan. Huhu

How to go? There are two ways to go to N Seoul Tower: thru cable car and thru bus. To get to the Cable car, take the subway line 4 (light blue) to the Myeongdong station, take exit 7 or 8 and you will be in front of an office building/bank. Wait here for the free shuttle that will take you to the cable car station. Another option is to ride the Namsan Circular Shuttle Bus No. 05 from the closest subway station, Myeong-dong Station (Seoul Subway Line 4), Exit 3. We choose the latter.

These baby pandas are so cute.

We are all familiar with the Love Locks Bridge in Paris where couples declare their love for each other by writing their names and messages on the padlock and locking it in the bridge. They then throw the keys in the river so that no one can unlock (break) their love. This tradition, however, is currently being cut down because the bridge cannot carry the weight of the padlocks anymore. Contrast to this, in N Seoul Tower, people are encouraged to put more locks at the place and fill the base of the tower. The keys are then dropped at the "postbox of love" after locking up and part of the revenue from these keys are donated to unprivileged children in South Korea. So here I am, locking my love for myself (for myself muna, for now haha) to participate in this tradition.

"12.03.2017 LOU WAS HERE"

Gyeongbokgung Palace

161 Sajik-ro, Sejongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

How to go? Easy. Just take the Subway Line 3 to Gyeongbokgung Station (Exit 5).

If you’re going to try Hanbok, it’s 10,000KRW, your admission is free. But if you’re going  to just tour around, you’ll only pay 3,000KRW.

Honestly, we don't know any history behind the Gyeongbokgung palace, if there's any, but we still went to this place because this is known tourist spot. One thing I only know is that Gyeongbokgung palace is the oldest palace in Seoul and it literally means "wish for your blessing and prosperity". If you're going to look closer and notice the details of the structure, you'll be pretty amazed. I wore "hanbok", the national costume of Korea and suddenly feel like the bride of the water god (oops only Kfans know hehe). Medyo hindi advisable mag-try ng hanbok pag winter, kasi sobrang lamig. E makulit ako. Lakas ng loob kong magcostume, ang ginaw besh! 30mins ko lang sinuot, sumuko na ako. I kenaaaaat.

Go there on or before 1PM to witness the changing of guards.

Si baby boy, ayun sa tuktok! Hart hart!

Namsangol Hanok Village

28 Toegye-ro 34-gil, Pildong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

How to go? From Anguk Station (Seoul Subway Line No. 3), get off at Chungmuro Station, Exit 4, then walk 2 minutes to reach it.

Namsangol Hanok Village consists of traditional Korean houses. It also has beautiful garden with ponds and pavilions. It’s a big place to walk around and a good place to learn about Korean culture. There is no admission fee. So enjoy the long walk! You can see the Namsan Tower from here. You can also try the hanbok here, same rate.

Unhyeongung Royal Residences

464 Samil-daero, Unni-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

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How to go? Just take the Exit 4 of Anguk Station. Unhyeongung is another hanok village and a museum in Seoul, open to the public free of charge. Anyway, this is so not part of the itinerary. Nag-explore lang kami bago kumain kasi may araw pa naman.

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See the white house behind the hanoks? It's the Goblin's house! OMG! Little did I know that it is an exterior of a woman's university. We went there on a Sunday. So sadly, it is close and we can't take a good picture in front of it. Medyo nafrustrate ako dun. Lol. Hanggang dito lang tuloy yung kaya kong i-share sa pictures.

There's another hanok village in Seoul, which is the Bukchon. This one is residential, and more classy than Namsangol and Unhyeongung. You can reach this by taking the Exit 2 of Anguk station, and walking for about 10minutes. We did not go here because we thought that Namsangol and Bukchon are the same. Haha!

 

Dongdaemun District

Euljiro 6(yuk)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

How to go? Take the Seoul subway to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (Lines 2, 4 and 5). Walk through Exit 11 or 12, and continue walk to the connected passage to reach Lotte Fitin.

During our trip, kumain lang kami dito. Haha. Samgyupsal ftw! Imagine a place where you can buy everything you need at a reasonable price, in one convenient location, and at any time of the day. This is the right place for you! This is a smaller version of Myeongdong, actually. The best!

Nami Island

1 Namisum-gil, Namsan-myeon, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, South Korea

How to go? Just take the train to Gapyeong Station. If you're not coming from Seoul, you may want to download the Seoul Subway App for guide. You may want to consider the following options we had, given that we came from Seoul:

1. Take the Metro to Yongsan Station on Line 1. From Yongsan Station, take the ITX Train to Gapyeong Station. This way is faster because of the express train that stops only in four stations, but costs higher.
2. Seoul Line 1 → Hoegi Line 1→ Sangbong (Jungung) → Gapyeong. We chose this way. Nami is 2 hours away from Seoul so depart early and prepare for a long sit in the train.

From Gapyeong Station, take the Gapyeong Tour Bus to Nami Island Station. (You have to pay cash in this bus, 6,000KRW per person. Don’t worry, you can ride the Tour Bus again to Petite France, Garden of the Morning Calm, and back to Gapyeong station, without additional fee. Just keep the ticket and take note of the time of arrival of the bus. On time sila lagi!) From Nami Island Station, walk to Gapyeong Wharf to buy your round-trip ferry ticket. Ticket originally costs 10,000KRW. Don’t forget to bring your passport since they have 20% discount for the tourists.

Nami is a half moon-shaped island, and on it is the grave of General Nami, who led a great victory against the rebels many years ago. This is all I know about the history of the island. Hehe. This is a popular filming location of some Kdramas like Winter Sonata.

We were caught between the end of autumn and start of winter. Wala ng dahon yung mga puno. Snow fell and ice is over the place. Yung mga fountain nga, yelo na yung kalahati. There were interesting creatures like squirrels, ostrich, rabbits, and different kinds of birds, that kept on running and flying around and they were not exactly wild because people are allowed to pet them lightly. The temperature hovered around -1°C. Para kaming naglalakad sa loob ng freezer. If you’re born and raised in a tropical country, seeing snow will be one of your dreams. Pero pag andito ka na, promise, you will miss the Philippine heat!

I don't know how people sort their photos for their travel posts, pero talent sya! It's so hard to pre-select, delete, select again, the best pictures, only to realize that it's only 40 photos at a time that are allowed to be uploaded in Facebook. Our day in Nami Island turns out to be one worthy of thousands of photos.

Le Petite France

1063 Hoban-ro, Oeseo-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Petite France is a small French-themed village consisting of the museum, workshops, restaurant, cafe and a guesthouse. You can find the small Tower Eiffel and lots of French style houses.  Its initial concept was to create an environment similar to The Little Prince, a book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ticket prices are 8,000KRW for adults, 6,000KRW for Teenagers, and 5,000KRW for kids.

During winter in SK, nights grow longer and days grow shorter. The sun rises at 8AM and sets as early as 5PM. Kaya lumibot kayo ng maaga. We went to Petite France at 6PM but seems 9PM na. It's already dark around. There are portions of the village that are too dark so, sadly, we did not proceed there. We just roam around and took selfies in the areas surrounded by lanterns and christmas lights.

Lotte Mart Seoul

426 Cheongpa-ro, Bongnaedong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, 서울특별시 South Korea

Sa likod lang to ng Subway Seoul Station. More pasalubong

See the Namsan Tower behind me?

Ano pang kulang sa kusina madam?

Myeongdong Shopping Street
Myeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul

How to go? Just take the train to Myeongdong Station (Seoul Subway Line 4) Take exit 6. Pag labas mo, yun na agad!

This is where I and Joyce shopped our pasalubong and eat local foods! Yap, eat local! This is one of the primary shopping districts in Seoul.

At the end of this street is the Myeongdong Cathedral. We asked a Korean girl to take a picture of us and this is what we got:

Oh diba, may talent si atih!

There are a lot of other unforgettable things that I experienced during our stay in Korea, like the following:

1. While waiting for the bus going to Namsan Tower, an old lady approached us and offer her umbrella since it's so foggy and is about to rain. Koreans are indeed sweet and kind.
2. We asked a police officer how can we get back to Seoul station from Gapyeong. Even he can't speak English very well, he speak English very well, he did his best to explain the train transfers that we have to do. And yes, we arrived at Seoul by following him.
3. In Dongdaemun, we ate at a restaurant where the staff cannot speak and understand English. So para lang kaming nag-sharades. In the end, we got our order right.
4. Naiwan kami ng bus kasi nag-upload kami ng IG stories sa ministop, free wifi eh. Ginabi tuloy kami papuntang Petite France. Filipino time is not applicable here. Pag late ka, you suffer! Time will never adjust for you.
5. Hinarang ako sa immigration dahil sa Kimchhi sa bag ko! 10 minutes before the door closes, nasa immigration pa ko huhu. Thank God coz they allowed me to just checked my backpack in. 

... and the long list goes on.


What a way to end the year!

We did it! We conquered South Korea on our own. ☃ My first ever winter and trip abroad. No more six layers of clothing and struggling with our hands getting numb with negative something degree weather plus the challenge of taking a bath in the morning and drying your hair for hours.

When traveling, you should have both the willingness and resources to do so. Prepare for it. Pray for it. I read in Proverbs 16:9 "We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps". So before everything else, ask the guidance of the Lord in every decision you have to make for a vacation to become possible. Indulge yourself on the things that you love once you truly deserve them. You'll enjoy them guilt-free. Having this trip on the last month of the year made me appreciate all the hardships that I had the past year and made me realize that I did good and I deserve this! I'm not saying that frequent traveling is bad, especially for those who can afford it. This is just my thought because for me, traveling is already a luxury and every cent that I used in this trip is hard-earned. It's ok to reward yourself from time to time (not all the time). Always remember priorities 101!

There are more places to visit in SK but out schedule does not allow us to do so. Well, at least we have reasons to come back. Hehe. This country is very beautiful. People are kind, thoughtful, and sweet, indeed.

I hope that this blog will help you in preparing your itinerary if you ever wanted trying to visit SK. Overall, my experience is quite remarkable. Time to defrost.

Kamsahamnida, South Korea! Saranghaeyo!

xoxo,

Lou  ♥