Impromptu Trip to Seoul, Korea – Part 1

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Yes, it’s time for another series of travel chronicles, this time to Seoul, Korea! I named this series as Impromptu Trip to Seoul because this trip was really impromptu! It was supposed to be Saucer‘s company trip for a week and I was not planning to go with him. Not until about 3 days before the departure, he said that he was purchasing the flight ticket for me to go with him! Of course, everything was a chaos then, because I couldn’t get on the same flight with him (fully booked) and had to be on waiting list and so on. Thank God, in the end it all worked out well and we left together.

Say Hello to Seoul!

Seoul bus stop

We reached Seoul one day earlier than the company schedule so that we could have more time for sightseeing. For the first night, I chose to stay at Holiday Inn Seongbuk, since I have some Priority Club Rewards points to be redeemed. I must say the service at Holiday Inn was marvellous!  Being a Priority Club member, I had the privilege to request for early check-in (depending on availability), and guess what? I reached the hotel at about 9am to find that my key was already prepared for me! I just needed to hand in my passport for verification and I was shown to my room within minutes. Bravo!

Couch

You know what is impressive at the hotel? There was a PC for us to go online for free! So awesome right?

PC and free broadband connection

Comfortable bed

Washroom basin

Bathtub

Even the toilet bowl was so high-tech! So many functions available other than just the normal flushing. There was cleaning function and even massage function! *LOL*

High-tech toilet bowl

View from our room

The only gripe I had with Holiday Inn Seongbuk was the distance from the subway. It was at least 20 minutes walk away, which could be really tiring especially after a day out. After we freshened up and unloaded our luggage, we quickly proceeded to the counter to ask for some tour package. We intended to visit Nami Republic or Namiseom, from Winter Sonata fame. Unfortunately, all tours to that place started at 9am, and it was already 10am when we inquired. So the only option we had was to take public transportation on our own! *gasp* With our strong determination, we set forth with a map in hand, in a foreign country, on our first day, with no knowledge of the Korean language!

witch at the subway station

The walk to the subway station was indeed pretty long, especially in the freezing cold weather! In the subway, there was this old man trying to sell us this thing used to clean the toilet. Too bad I couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying.

Salesman in the subway

We were supposed to take the subway to the main bus station in Dongseoul first, and to take the bus from there to ChunCheon, and finally take a cab to Namiseom. Before the LONG journey, we had our lunch at the Dongseoul bus station. We went into some random shop to eat, and used sign language to order. Using English here was hopeless.

Bibimbap

Bibimbap mixed up

Beancurd soup

After the lunch, we took the 1.5hours bus to ChunCheon and reached at around 2.30pm. We then flagged for a taxi but again, language problem! We mentioned ‘Namiseom’ to him and he blabbered a string of Korean which sounded frustrated while shaking his head. Oh dear! What was he saying? We were helpless! He couldn’t speak English at all and we couldn’t understand his Korean. We managed to find a guy nearby who was also hailing for taxi who could speak English. He then explained to us that all the taxi drivers didn’t want to drive to Namiseom because of the massive traffic jam, and asked us to take the public bus instead. It looked like we didn’t have any other choice anyway, so we just waited for the bus to reach at 3pm. Can you imagine? All in all, it took us 3 hours to reach Namiseom! Some feat for first-timers, I’m telling you.

Such a long queue!

We had to take a short boat trip to cross over to Namiseom, but luckily we managed to enter without waiting for too long. The entrance fee inclusive of return boat ride was 8,000 won (RM24).

Walking towards the boat

Look, I spotted a Malaysian flag on the boat!

Upon reaching the island, we saw this ice formation at the entrance. Just goes to show how cold it was!

Entrance of Namiseom

What’s this tree called?

Oh the place was gorgeous! I was never a fan of Winter Sonata, so I did not watch any of the episodes. I only did some research on the place the day before I reached Seoul. But the place was really beautiful! And we were indeed there during winter!

witch at Namiseom

Rustic walkway at Namiseom

This pic looked like autumn

With the lake as the background

Us at the tree house

with the peace-making cat

The amphitheater

A coffee shop overlooking the lake

witch at the lakeside

One of the filming locations of Winter Sonata

Nice picnic area

Candid shot?

LOL at Saucer’s butt!

Another popular photo place

Beautiful signature shot of Namiseom

Recycled cans

Us with the Winter Sonata cast

Saucer having a good time

We spent about 3 hours there and left the place in time for dinner. We went back to ChunCheon for dinner and chose a random restaurant called Bobs. The only thing we could understand from the signboard was the 9,900 won (~RM30) words, and upon inquiry, we found out that it was the price for the BBQ buffet. So we just went ahead with it!

BBQ buffet

9,900 won buffet

We then left the restaurant and waited for the bus again to take us back to the bus station. It was one of the most torturing wait ever, with the blazing wind and cold weather and the endless wait! We managed to reach the bus station safely, then switched to another bus to Dongseoul station AND later took a subway back before walking 20 minutes to the hotel. *gasp* It was indeed a tiring day for us! Watch out for the next day’s adventure coming soon!