Then it was a bus ride down to Jungmun area, where our accommodation, White Scenery, is. After alighting, we took quite a while to find its location cos the map was printed in Korean and we obviously couldn’t read it. Plus, the tourist information center which was located near the accommodation was temporarily closed for renovations (great timing huh) so we were quite stuck. Ended up asking 2 passers-by before getting the right directions.
White Scenery is a quaint house with the owners residing in the first level and the 2nd and 3rd levels available for rent. Was originally assigned to a room on level 3 but tobsy decided tt getting a bigger bed would do me good and a room on level 2 would be better cos my knees were giving me hell (again). Thank you dear!
After settling down and all, it was time to search for food. Long walk down to the Teddy Bear Museum area where we spotted GS25, a convenience store and after walking around abit more without finding any viable lunch alternative, we settled for GS25 packed food. Realised tt there were quite a bit of promotions going on like buy a rice ball for 700W and get a Sunkist lemonade drink worth 800W free. Or buy a sandwich and get a can of coffee free. Or buy a bento set and get a bottle of green tea free. We were quite wowed cos our simple buys got us a grand total of 3 free drinks and costs only 9,600W!
Then it was touring the Teddy Bear Museum. 7,000W admission was steep. And honestly, I didn’t think it was worth it. 3,000W is probably the max im willing to pay? It was just teddy bears, learning about how they came about, how they evolved and the different exhibits of the different bears. Of course my favourite were the Goong ones. I am so going to re-watch the drama. Just need to borrow the dvds from yang again. I love Korean drama!
Went around Lotte Hotel too, where All In was filmed. Another one of my favourites. Actually, I only watched a few Korean dramas and I pretty much liked most of them. I loved All In because of Song Hye Gyo. If I were a guy, I would have a humongous crush on her. Loved the windmills and wanted to stay for the volcano show at 8.30pm but wondered if that was possible since we weren’t Lotte Hotel guests. Took 2 different routes to reach sightseeing spots too but all the walking and climbing finally killed my knees and on the way back, we agreed tt we totally need a car to tour Jeju.
Settled dinner at GS25 again and bought some groceries back to keep in our fridge. We have a mini kitchen area here too but alas, as tobsy was trying to boil water, we realised there was no gas supply. Quite lazy and embarrassed to go bug the owner again (we previously asked for LAN cable, transformer and aircon controller. On separate occasions) so we just survived on drinks purchased from GS25.
DAY 6 – SEOUL, MYEONG DONG
(this is the 2nd time im doing this post cos tobsy’s laptop shut itself down just now and I didn’t save my post. Boo)
The original plan was to go out to the post office to post the shopping back first before returning to Casaville to pack our belongings and moving down to Myeong Dong area to check into PJ Hotel. Casaville was fully booked for Saturday and thank God we managed to get a room at PJ in the nick of time. Internet booking rates 66,600W for a star rated hotel was really a steal. When we got there, we found out tt walk-in rates were 144,000W.
It was raining and we lugged bags of shopping out. I decided to stop by skinfood for last minute shopping for yt. And since I was in the area, I decided to grab a Laneige moisturiser but did not give further thought to the day eye cream with sunblock cos the poor bf was standing around waiting. Also bought a bust serum from Innisfree which I should have bought on the 30% off day (yes I feel like smacking myself).
So with 4 full bags of shopping (which we later found out was about 15kg), we found the post office with the help of a kind lady who was fluent in English. Unfortunately for us, it was CLOSED. But we decided to try the other post office in the area, the one nearer to Ewha, thinking that since it was a bigger branch, there was some chance it would be open. But after a long walk there in the rain with 4 heavy bags of shopping, we found it CLOSED. So yes, if there’s anything we’ve learnt, Korean post offices do not operate on Saturdays. This is including the one at their domestic airport. Appalling, really.
So back we went to Casaville. On top of packing our belongings, we had to try to stuff all the shopping into the luggages which was very worrying cos I’m afraid the handles would not hold (think: last year Japan trip) but thank God it did, all the way to PJ Hotel. The room was fantastic. Twin bed, big toilet, large dresser and even an area likened to a walk-in wardrobe. I could even do shuttle runs from the door to the balcony. It was so comfy we almost wanted to stay in instead of going out to face the gloomy weather.
But of course we went out. Did not fly all the way to seoul to stay in the hotel room. Got recommendations from the friendly and helpful counter staff for a restaurant nearby. At first, we were uncertain whether tt place would even be within our budget but it turned out to be really affordable. Kimchi dumplings, black bean paste noodles and kimchi pork stew for 16,500W only!
More shopping in the area. Thank God we managed to find a money changer with good rates cos we were down to our last few thousands. And there was also this little snack shop near the train station selling little custard-filled puffs. Wonderful those things! 2000W only. Also bought serums from It’s Skin. They look very much like those in Skin Inc but the latter sells their serums for like S$198 or sth? It’s Skin’s serums are only 980W each! Highly tempted to buy more more but I already have wayyy too much skincare from the other brands so I had to hold back and be contented with 2 bottles.
Went to the Laneige flagship store and finally decided to get the day eye cream cos it was only 25,000W. When I asked the salesgirl for the tax-refund cheque, she told me tt it was only applicable for purchases above 30,000W. this was when I felt like smacking myself cos if only I had bought this in the morning together with my moisturiser (50,000W), i would have easily been entitled to tax refund for BOTH. Oh wells.
It was also with God’s blessing tt I found my perfect pair of booties. Was initially a little disappointed tt I couldn’t find nice ones in Ewha area and wasn’t too optimistic about even getting a pair after we left Sinchon. Those there either had wayyy too high heels or did not come in my size. Tobsy urged me to go take a look at one of the shoe shops in Myeong Dong and I found THE ONE! In black, without the punched-out holes at the sides and it fits nicely! Was quoted 35,000W but with a little persuasion and eyelid-batting, the guy lowered it down to 33,000W. happy!
Dinner was at a place recommended by forumers. But in my opinion, it wasn’t tt fantastic. I had their spicy squid bibimbak and he had seaweed oyster porridge. Quite an unhappening end to the Seoul segment huh. But you cannot expect much cos all the good food and shopping is in Sinchon area. I think this experience has made Seoul a very very good shopping and eating destination. If the yen remains strong, I’ll go to Seoul instead!
DAY 5 - SEOUL, EWHA
the trend on this segment of the trip is vastly different from all previous trips. we dont sleep until past 12 midnight and as a result, wake up around 8ish (which is still considered quite a feat!) and have to rush around getting washed up cos breakfast ends at 9.
there was a mad rush in the morning cos tobs was trying hard to get accomodation for an extra night. we have spontaneously decided tt perhaps instead of spending more time in hakata japan, we would spend one more day in seoul. this is an obvious choice due to the strong yen and relatively weaker won. plus, tobs thinks tt i can always use more shopping (quite true!). plus plus (more importantly), the food here is good and to my liking.
more more shopping at the ewha area, this time venturing into the lanes in between and covering more ground. there were many shops selling 5000W tops but the quality wasnt fantastic. since they use these tops mainly for layering, i guess there isnt much point in making it thicker. in fact, thinner fabric would be the way to go else it would get too warm in summer. i bought an interesting green batwing top upon tobs' encouragement. he's a fantastic person to shop with when he offers his valuable opinion.
but i wasnt able to do the same for him unfortunately. i think im a bad person cos i'd get irritated and impatient when im in the guys department with him. naughty girl i am. made him quite angry today.
but we made up and it was all ok. then we had to find a place for lunch. ewha didnt look too optimistic and even the shopowners (frm whom i bought high waisted shorts!) said good food is to be found in sinchon (where we hail!) but it was too far away and we wanted to continue shopping at ewha so we had to settle for sth.
in the most needed moments, God answered our prayers. we found this quaint shop and discovered it was quite packed with ppl even at 2pm so we decided to go in and order their Tomboki set. we got:
- sweet potato coated with ginger sugar
- fried yam dumpling
- hot pot of tomboki mixed with other veg ingredients and egg
- a whole set of tempura consisting of mixed veg tempura, squid tempura , cucumber seaweed and tempura and sweet potato tempura
and all these for just 10,000W for TWO! gosh. i was bursting after the meal. did more more shopping. tobs bought 2 more cans of his hair spray. how dare they sell hair spray for 10 bucks in sg when it costs barely S$3.50 here! he also got a fake 2-piece top after some bargaining.
i bought more laneige (water pack mask!) and skinfood. was so full we didnt need dinner so just grabbed a buncha miscellaneous stuff frm the supermarket. was moving out frm Casaville so needed to pack all the shopping properly for it to be posted. BUT we didnt realise (until too late at least) tt all post offices in Korea DO NOT OPEN on saturdays. more on tt in another post.
No comments:
Post a Comment