Korea Trip 2nd to 12th Aug - Day 1

It's been a year since my disappointing trip to Taiwan and so I did not blog much about it.
This year's destination is South Korea! A destination that wasn't in my wish list at all.
But I needed a female companion, and the only one who wanted a holiday wanted to go there.
I realized it is the peak of summer in Korea in Aug, but I was desperate for holiday and so I agreed.
So here my female friend O asked her male friend A to come along and I asked my friend B along.
We bought Asiana air tickets for an exorbitant $1000 due to the late booking.
Then we went on to start planning for our trip!

There were many conflicts along the way and needless to say one of them was on accommodation.
My background for being skeptical about where to stay is due to my bad experience staying in hostel in Taiwan. From that, I swore never to stay in a hostel anymore!
I made it perfectly clear from the beginning and my friends agreed. But while I was searching for good hotel with affordable price, my female friend O made noise that it was too expensive and she wanted to stay in a guesthouse. Well, I have searched for guesthouses as well and there were some very cheap ones. But the location of these cheap guesthouses are often remote, with shared bathroom and bunk bed type of room. It is not very wise to choose this and if we want a good guesthouse, the price will be similar to the hotels I saw. Yet O insisted even though she have never stayed in a hostel ever. Well, if she want to experience, do not ask me to do that. Plus, she don't bother to find a good guesthouse and show it to me. That is the one thing I found out about her, she's so bossy. She will appear in our group chat in FB and say "budget USD$30" and then left. 3 of us continue with our discussion and the next day she did not read our previous messages and wanted us to explain to her personally. From here, I can already tell that I and her have differing views, plus I can't stand her attitude. Nevertheless, we pushed on.

Then there was the problem of the male friend A, whom I suspect conspire with O to cheat me and my friend B. See, I don't mind going alone with O but she wanted a guy along as it is not safe (and guesthouse with 8people in a room is safe?). So I asked B along and we need another guy, so O asked A along.
Reason for us to suspect him was for the following reasons:
1. our airline Asiana recently has a plane crash in SF and with this reason, A said his mom bought him Korean Air and need to cancel the Asiana ticket.
2. A went to say he cannot apply for visa because his EP is not 6 months. But we all ask him to try, and when we ask him he gave a thumbs up.
3. A went MIA 1 month before trip, we were unable to get a response from him and he did not pay for his share of hotel.
4. 6 hours before departure he messaged O and said his boss cancelled his leave due to a major problem in the manufacturing line.

I guess his lies are filled with so many loopholes that I am speechless. My suspicion is that he already made up his mind not to go as early as the time he asked for ticket refund and that he did not even apply for visa. My friend said that O and A conspire to do this just so that he will go along, which is in my opinion is wicked.
With so many conflicts though, I am proud to say I have learned from my previous mistake and try to ignore these people and just try to have fun with B. I mean, we spent so much money, time, and we have been looking forward to this holiday that A and O should not ruin this for us.

And so here we gooooooooo...
I am going to tell you my adventure to S.Korea!
So excited.

Let's start from the plane ride!
It was Friday and we were taking the midnight flight with Asiana which got delayed for 2 hours!
I was disappointed that they only serve one meal which does not taste good. The seats were cramped and it was crowded. I think for an airline that claim to be equal or better rating than Korean Air, it is a huge scam. I prefer to spend my money flying Cathay from now on if given the choice.
Needless to say, I couldn't sleep in the plane and I watched The Big Wedding while the rest of the people are sleeping.

Day 1 (3rd Aug) - Namsangol Hanok Village, N. Seoul Tower, Teddy Bear Museum, Myeong Dong Cathedral

We reached Incheon Airport at ~11am, picked up our luggage smoothly and we head over to Olleh counter. My resourceful friend B already placed an order for a portable Egg wifi for 8,000won/day. It is not cheap but it is convenient compared to renting a phone (we can share the wifi and use our whatsapp, facebook etc).
Afterwards we went to buy our bus ticket to the city (~17,000won) and the bus was very comfortable! It has a huge plush seat which was much more comfortable than our plane! It was an hour plus ride to the city as Incheon Airport lies in an island by itself, separated by a long bridge. We admired the new surrounding and we felt more and more excited to explore this foreign land.

View from our bus on the bridge connecting Incheon Airport and Seoul

We alighted at Plaza hotel and I look to B for directions to our hotel. I am kinda blind in reading maps and my style of finding directions are looking for landmarks, signs and asking around. The trouble with my method is that in Korea the signs are mostly in Koreans and the people are mostly unable to speak English. Hence, I look at B and he helped us find our way from the Google Map that I printed out earlier. It wasn't long before we found our first hotel; Aropa Hotel. The lobby was impressive for a small hotel, in fact this hotel is my favourite out of the 3 hotels that we stayed in because it was new and well furnished. Forgot to take the picture of the room! Definitely want to stay there again as it is near my favourite place in Seoul as well!

After dropping of our luggage, we went to search for lunch, and once we step out, we felt the summer heat piercing through our skin! yikes!
For lunch we went to this place called Go-Gung, just a short distance away from our hotel.
The ambience of the restaurant is nice, traditional yet modern.
I ordered Bibimbap ~11,000won, while my friend ordered Bulgogi ~17,000won.
They serve many small dishes as well for free. So excited to eat kimchi in korea!

Namsangol Hanok Village
We had an enjoyable lunch and after lunch we planned to go to Seoul tower and Namsangol Hanok Village. However, when we step outside, it was cloudy and it was pouring within seconds!
So we went to Caffe Bene to drink a cup of coffee and chill while waiting for the rain to stop.
When we entered the cafe, it was stuffy and hot! That's when I realise that Korea's aircon is not cold!
When the rain subside, we proceed to search for Namsangol HanokVillage.

Namsangol Hanok Village, at one of the doors

Me, with Seoul Tower far behind

To me, the village wasn't very special. I am not really a fan of Korean tradition and am more interested in their modern culture. Though I like their Hanbok actually, some of them are really cute! Not long after we walked around, we decided to head to our next destination, which was the Seoul Tower!

Seoul Tower and Teddy Bear Museum
We got lost a few times trying to walk to Seoul Tower based on the fact we were able to see the tower. We assume we could just walk towards it and got there, but sadly it wasn't the case. We ended up asking around and found out we need to take bus there.
It was crowded as well and we saw a long queue that we thought was the ticket for Seoul Tower and Teddy bear museum. Luckily we asked to confirm and not just join the queue like in Singapore. We went down to the ticket booth inside the building and it was not that long of a queue.
We went to Teddy Bear Museum Part 1. The teddy bears are cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. So happy to be there,
The Teddy explains the history of the Korean dynasty in a cute miniature portions. Some of the teddys are even animated.
I got a little bored as I don't intend to read the historical notes, and I was really tired from the lack of sleep.
We then went to the Teddy Bear Museum Part 2 which was mostly modern settings already.

Myeong Dong Cathedral
After we went to the not-so-wow-Seoul-Tower, I was very tired and was worried of the long climb down to the next destination. Luckily, there was a cable car facility to bring us down, and afterwards there's a slanted lift to carry us from the cable car base to the ground. Then we went on to walk again, towards the last visit of the day, which was the Myeong Dong Cathedral. It was very near our hotel, so it is the same direction back. The Cathedral is pretty!! I prefer this compared to the traditional village earlier. It is built with red bricks! My favourite. We took photos outside and apparently there was a mass going on inside. Then we hurry away to find our dinner! We ate at a nearby place called Sinseon Seolnongtang which serves yummy oxbone soup. We also ordered the dumplings which goes very well with the soup. We all ordered the large bowl as we were all very hungry! Then we went to walk on the Myeong Dong Street which was filled with shops and also stands selling snacks! We shared a stick of those long potatoes that's fried and then flavoured. This made my throat hurts the next day >_<. Luckily it is not that severe. And so with that we walked back to our hotel, checked-in and I was so happy that the room is so nice. Small, but new, and clean! So comfortable. Finally can rest well on vacation! =)

That's it for Day 1.. Stay tuned for the next post, it's gonna get more fun! =D