Korea Trippin' PT. 1

Helloooo, so here's a more DETAILED narrative of our trip to Korea and how it all started.

 My bro actually got A REALLY cheap ticket one night which was priced at around 2k I think (I SHIT U NOT THAT WAS HIS TICKET PRICE). But since he got it during the wee hours of the night, he got a solo ticket which means duh, he gon' fly solo if ever. And he was looking for someone who would go with him on the dates that he took but no one was available. So I told him I'd go with him buuttt I can't afford the ticket prices so he should pay for it. He suggested that if he was going to pay for it, yun na daw ung grad gift nila for me. I contemplated on that offer A LOT. Loooool.

Around that time tho, I have started becoming a fan of Kpop because my very awesome friend introduced me to some kpop shiz that made me REALLY want to go to Korea. So HE needed some company and since I wanted to go to the land of Kpop... why not? (kill two birds with one stone?)

Anyways, I kept thinking if I should push through with this idea of going to Korea even though I was still studying in school. I also tried to invite my friend who introduced me to kpop to go along with me but she had a bit of dilemma with her parents probably not allowing her to go. I then asked my other friend if she wanted to go with me and take a LEAP OF FAITH but her dad said no and booked her a flight to Dubai instead (I don't know why. Hahaha. Probably because he misses his daughter). 

Since it was a promo fare from Cebu Pacific, the ticket seats sell out really fast. So one night, now this was around 3am at that time, I was really stressed out about my OJT class that only lasts for 2 to 3 weeks back then so you could only imagine the pressure of completing 30,000+ points. I was thinking that I haven't done anything really crazy in my College life so I decided to go and take that LEAP OF FAITH. Hahaha. (Yes, booking a flight at 3AM was crazy for me na. I'm a loser. Deal with it pls ahhaha).  I booked a flight that was a promo from Cebu Pacific so our flight times are kind of screwed up and not perfect for a usual trip BUT you really can't say no to very affordable price tickets. Mine was around 11,000.00 (from Manila to Incheon and back).

So much stress happened to me because I was the one who fixed our visas for Korea and our itinerary and I was also working my OJT at that time. I know what I wanted to look for and do in Seoul but I have no idea where my brother wanted to go. Since he was too busy because of work, he entrusted me with everything from researching the different tourist places to go to, to the hotel area where we were going to stay, and even the tiniest details of how to get from Incheon airport to our hotel and all that stuff.

I was stressing out on the Visa part because I was still a student and we needed to get some accounts from my mom. The thing is my mom only found out about my trip a few DAYS before the flight. LOLOLOL. I was scared to tell her because she might say NO so we only informed her then. HAHAHA. Not right, I know I know but we had our reasons. Anyways, since my bro is taking care of our company, he got all the papers for me anyways which was really awesome. Everything went smoothly and REALLY fast when we got to the Korean Embassy in Fort (like 15mins tops, guys. NO SHIT. HAHAHA mas matagal pa ung biyahe namin kas SOBRANG traffic). It also only took us 4 days to get the Visas too which was awesome.

Fast forward to the day of our flight, tadaaaaa. The plane we gon' use, guiseeee~

It was the new plane of Cebu Pacific and I really liked it.

Sooo much better and BIGGER compared to their old ones. This was also my first flight without the parents/really old adults. I was with my bro lang and we had different seats pa but since the flight was kind of empty, he stayed next to me once we were already up in the air.

This experience also gave me the idea that flying without a lot of folks in the plane is comfier really.

In the next flights, if possible, I hope that our plane won't be as jam-packed as it usually is. Lol, but that is inevitable I knoooow I knoowww.

Lol, my bro won some game sa Cebu Pac games they hold during flights but we couldn't use the free-internet prize because we couldn't make it work. Hahaha saaaadd. 

Bye-byeeeee....next up. Landing in Incheon!

We landed really late like around 8pm but since the travel time from Incheon Airport to our hotel in Myeungdong was really far we got to the hotel around 11pm. We were so hungry and tired and it was drizzling but we were happy that we arrived safely. Since we were so hungry, we roamed around Myeungdong area and found this 24 hours resto. We ate there and ordered bibimbap and some soup that WAS REALLY GOOD AND YUMMY.

GUYS, IT WAS PERFECT. With the drizzling rain and the yummy bibimbap and the refreshing soup and kimchi plssssss...everything was perfect that night in the restaurant. huhuhuhuuhu

Sadly, I'm really bad at memorizing names so I forgot the name of that delicious SOUP! :( I will try finding it again in the restaurants here in Manila.

 Plus, the resto got featured in a tv show so they must really be good.

On to the next day!

We were really tired but we slept REALLY well because our hotel room was really big and comfy so we decided to have brunch so we can roam around Seoul ASAP.

This was actually a very unique meal that we had. It's a set. We had this pot of random things from Ramyun noodles to cheese to spicy paste and hams and sausage BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY GOOD....and kind of spicy. It kind of tasted like sopas HAHHAHA but ya know, with dumplings too and tofu. It was actually a good experience. We had no idea what to do with it so we were clueless on how to eat it but then the waitress told us to wait for it and that (in sign language because they're not very good in English) that she'd do the cooking.

Here it is cooked! And there's the beef set that comes with it :D THAT MEAT WAS BERRYYY GEWWDD.

Drop by the restaurant in Myeungdong if you ever decide to eat lunch/dinner there :D

The plan was supposed to be roaming around Myeungdong but since it started to rain really hard, plans quickly changed.

We also had to buy those clear umbrellas that were being sold in the streets of Myeungdong for around 100 pesos which I thought were not bad. It was cute and came really handy for us while roaming around.

Lol, mi bro's obligatory tourist shot at the Namdaemun gate. We wanted to taste that street food over there because it looked really yummy but the line was kind of long so we decided to pass on it. We were in a hurry to check out all of the places that we could go to. PLEASE ALSO TAKE NOTE OF THAT MAP THAT MY BRO IS HOLDING BECAUSE THAT MAP IS VALUABLE. It saved our ASS everywhere we went. It was also the MOST informative map. We got it at a tourist station in Namdaemun.

In the subwayyy. At first we thought taking the subways were very efficient just like in Hong Kong but since the places were verryyyy huge in Seoul, we recommend taking a cab instead if your destination seems pretty far from where you're at. Cab rides are affordable but kind of hard to communicate to if they can't understand English. Use cabs that have stickers that says "Free Interpreter".

I don't know why but their buildings seem to be bigger than the ones we have here in Manila. It never ceases to amaze me ok.

Doota. I LOVE U. That mall is a shopping haven. I bought a lot of stuff there (and I kind of missed a lot of stuff because I had to be patient for Hongdae) and my brother bought all his pasalubongs there too. You can also get a rebate if you shop loads in there.

Cheonggyecheon River, guise.

Heunginjimun, literally "Gate of Rising Benevolence" (lol, got that in Wikipedia) but yeah. I like how these old school buildings are greatly integrated with the modern world of Korea. You know, everything is just so techy here, soooo urban.

Tourist shots plssuuu!!

Oh dear lord, I forgot the name of this palace. If you can read korean/hangul...that's probably what it says right there. I was technically the tourist guide of my bro so I was constantly cramming on where I would take him next on the list but since the weather kind of screwed up my itinerary...I kind of panicked and was all over the place because I wanted him to enjoy looking around. I was constantly looking at the map...I felt like Lee Seo-jin in Grandpas Over Flowers now that I think about it.

I swear before all this, there was A LOT of walking involved and so I told my bro to buy drinks first. We were tired but we weren't giving up lol. Also, we were planning where to go and was kind of worried because it was already 6PM AT THAT TIME. GUYS, THE SUN SETS SO LATE THERE COMPARED TO MANILA, it kinda mindfucks you a little bit. HAHA.

Next up, we were hunting for the Bukchon Hanok Village!

We thought we were lost at first but we were actually IN the village na pala. LOL, HUGE FACE PALM MOMENT.

Bro was amazed at the University behind him~

Guys, after this photo, my bro asked this really cute chick for directions. It was so cute to watch kasi parati siyang torpe =))))) SOBRANG FUNNY TO WATCH that I let him do all the talking HAHAHAHA. I KENT. She was really cute and we found out that she was also a tourist just like us. She's an exchange student from China and studies in Busan and wanted to watch Nanta in Hongdae so she's technically new to Seoul. LOL. So she left us after asking directions from that lady that owns the place where she was staying at. She was really nice and helpful. YAY FOR MY BROOOO TOO. =))

Just roaming around classy houses~

Kewl gallery Bukchon Hanok-style~ Yeah. 

We went back to Myeungdong to rest our dead-tired legs. LOL. Sobrang wild exercise crazy walking situation every day, ok? :))) The photo was basically across the street from our hotel. We were still full from the heavy brunch that we ate that we decided to go to Hongdae for the night. We contemplated on whether we should take the train or the cab but since our legs/feet were dying...cab it is!

Hongdae/Hongik, everyone! 

The coolest place for shopping because all the kids are here too. You should also go to EHWA Women's University because that area has the exact same vibes that Hongdae has.

 Lol, that's because the place has a Uuniversity, that's why.

See that Book Mark store? If you go inside and go to their basement, you'll be in Miyazaki land because they have ALL of Hayao Miyazaki's animes and they're selling stuff toys and figurines. From Totoro to Howl's Moving Castle to Princess Mononoke, everything was there. My bro was shocked nga eh and he loved it~ YAY.

Hello Kitty Cafe right thurrr sorry blurry.

This street is my fave, all of the stores are super cool and affordable and you can haggle with them (if you pay in cash). They're actually willing to give you a lower price if you ask them. This is where I bought most of the things I brought home from Seoul really. Spent a lot here. Although, if you don't have enoughcash, they also have credit cards but there's no discount for you. So it's all up to you really and how you strategize (lol) how you spend your money.

Artbox has lots of stationery stuff and cute items from iphone cases to hair clips to pjs really. Everything random and cute can be found there. I wanted to buy some stuff there but since I was using my own money for the trip, I was penny-pinching a little bit and saving it for the good stuff.

We don't usually stop on street performances but this guy was really good at playing the guitar and singing  PLUS, he was interacting with the crowd and NOT just singing and playing songs! He even made the crowd do a wave and roamed a lot. He was entertaining and funny. 

We got hungry really late because the food that we had was really heavy, lol. We had dinner at around 11pm.

My bro wanted to drink...so he ordered the promo meal for groups that had beer. I'm not a fan of beer tho so I forced myself to finish at least one since the promo menu offered 4 drinks with the food, LOL.

GUYS. I SHIT U NOT THIS WAS THE BEST PULUTAN/SALAD I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. SO FAR, NO ONE HAS TOPPED THIS YET. And the best part is that it was a salad/ super healthy YET EXTREMELY YUMMY. OMG. THAT CHICKEN AND THE DRESSING. OMG. YES I MISS THIS SO MUCH :((( 

There was pizza too but the pizza was meh compared to this. HAHAHA.

It was really late so we took a cab ride home. This post is getting really long so I think Imma cut this and make a part 2. Soooo, catch y'all laterrr! :D