It was a really long trip spanning 2 weeks so I'll probably take a few posts to record it completely. I kept a record of everything I did and spent on during the trip so it's still quite fresh in my mind.
In February, we booked tickets to Seoul on SQ at a discounted price of around $800. And a return ticket from Seoul to Tokyo from Eastar Jet, a budget airline from Korea. So our holiday was 2 days in Seoul -> 5 days in Tokyo -> 7 days in Seoul. It is quite a waste of time travelling back and forth, but it was the cheapest option since the discounted SQ tickets were only for return tickets for the same destination.
We booked our hotels in March and many were already sold out due to the peak season so we paid quite a bit...so book early! (Unfortunately the schedules of myself and my family are very unfixed so we always end up booking really last minute, which means a waste of money!)
Before the trip, I was working in a really awful place while waiting for university and I was so traumatised working there. Was so grateful to board the plane and escape everything here.
Day 1. 28May2014.
Reached the airport at 6.20am to catch our early morning flight bound for Incheon, Seoul!
I have rather severe motion sickness so I took medication, which works wonders since it knocks me out for 2hours. The plane ride was around 6h. SQ so the service and all were impeccable.
It's not my first time to either country, but I was in primary school when I last visited so my memory was really fuzzy.
The Incheon airport was HUGE. We had to take a train to get from where we disembarked to the immigrations place. Once past the customs and with our luggage, we bought airport limousine tickets to Yeoksam station. It took more than an hour to reach but it was a comfortable ride and we were both really excited.
We stayed at Mercure Seoul Ambassador Gangnam, which is a very convenient 2 minutes walk away from the station. We ran into a little trouble while checking in because we were apparently underaged. But it was fine and we checked into this pretty hotel room:
I really like the sliding door concept. A little like those olden korean houses.
It was already the afternoon so we quickly headed out and headed for COEX mall, supposedly the largest underground mall in korea.
But first we had to buy their subway pass called T-money. We had some difficulty even finding the machine but with some sign language we managed to get help and buy them. But we ended up on the wrong platform at first so we wasted money going back up, tapping out and tapping in again!
Unfortunately, COEX was under renovation when we were there. So we spent ages walking around to no avail. A few shops, as well as Megabox the cinema, were open.
Our first dinner:
And spotted a couple of standees here:
Headed back to our hotel area for dessert at caffe benne, a cafe chain that is EVERYWHERE in Seoul.
Day 2. 29May2014.
Woke up early and headed for Gangnam station, which is just 1 stop away from Yeoksam station. As expected of Gangnam, the upscale area of Seoul, it was full of skyscrapers.
Had breakfast at Angel-in-us Coffee, which I recall seeing in some dramas.
Headed to a busstop in the middle of the road to board bus 5002 to Everland! Note that Bus 5002 and 500-2 are different! We were so confused.
It was a long 2 hour ride to an interchange where there were shuttle buses to the theme park. And we finally reached!
We managed to get discounted tickets as we were foreigners. It was surprisingly empty so we managed to take almost all the rides. The adrenaline junkie in me was very happy because the rides looked unscary but were actually pretty exhilarating.
And the scariest, T-Express:
We had lunch at a korean restaurant in the theme park. The kimchi jjigae was so spicy my friend and I were crying. But it was good :)
The park had a flower exhibit, which was pretty but something I'm not really interested in.
The fountains were gorgeous though.
We also went to a 'zoo' within the park called Lost Valley, where you sit on a bus cum boat that brings you around. The tours are in korean, but the guide we had was really nice and tried his best to speak English when he realised we were foreigners.
The giraffe was SO CLOSE.
We took Bus 5002 back, but accidentally got off one stop earlier. The place turned out to be really lively and we tried some street food while busting out some korean phrases XD This place was really like the typical street you see in korean dramas - full of korean bbq places where koreans eat and drink after work.
We then headed to Gangnam station for some insane shopping! The stuff there is really really cheap. I bought a pair of shorts for 10,000 krw and a skirt for 5,000 krw, among other things.
And that is the end of part 1 in Seoul.