Step by step covering Seoul (1)

If you've read the last few posts before this you will know that I had quite a lot going on. In some instances, I felt almost like I had no time to really stop and breath. But this trip to Seoul to meet up with Eve, my roommate from 4th year uni, was something that I could look forward to, a kind of reward for finishing all the weddings and working hard in the office. Not only that, but as we had done a ton of planning ahead of time in the summer, all I had to do was just pack up my suitcase the morning of my flight and get to the airport.

Day 1: Arrive in Seoul

My flight arrived in Seoul at around 6:30pm and it was nice and cool, definitely a nice change to the hot and wet weather of Hong Kong. From the airport to the hostel (yes, we decided to stay in a hostel as it was much more cost saving than living in a hotel - I wanted to travel on a budget, if you want more info, email me) it began to rain. I got dropped off, and asked a hotel concierge where the hostel was, and was told to go down into the subway and exit at another exit to street level. Unfortunately, I was tired and forgot about how confusing subway exits in Seoul can be for those unaware... so I ended up going out the WRONG exit!
below: photo of the hostel, next morning (day 2) - photos by eve wu

I was also told to look for a Hana Bank and that the hostel is located behind the bank... however, they forgot to mention that Hana Banks can be found on almost every block....lol.... a kind gentleman stopped me and asked me where I was going and tried to help me to look for my hostel. His English was not the best, but at least we could kind of understand each other. And then he kept telling me I must learn Korean for the next time I come to Korea... hahahaha... it's like he knew I would be back even though I can't find my hostel....

For some reason, we retraced our steps and just realized that it was across the road.... hahaha... I was relieved cuz I was almost ready to just drop my luggage and myself on the street and kick and cry! lol.....

He left me his name card when he dropped me off at the hostel (Seoul Backpacker - Myeongdong location), but it was all in Korean... hahaha... I had to stop him and ask him his name.... now I've forgotten how to pronounce his name, but I'll learn, just so that I can send him an email to thank him.

Checked into the hostel, and went up to our room - Eve was visiting with friends a few days before I arrived and so she would arrive at the hostel later that night, around midnight. I was surprised by how BIG our room was! We actually got 2 beds and a huge bathroom! The seat was all high-tech, it heated up, so every time we sat down, our bums were nice and warm.... hahaha...

Ok, back to the bedroom, we had booked a double room, and from the photo we saw online, we thought we would have to share a bed, and although we don't mind sharing a big bed, but this was a bonus - we both got our own big bed!

Only two things were not really up to par, the fact that only ONE socket worked meant that we had to rotate the things we needed to re-charge, and our bathroom door was badly in need of some oil! We actually went two or three nights without asking the management to oil the door.

So later that night, Eve finally arrived! We gave each other a big hug, and quickly got her settled in. We caught up for a bit and then went right to sleep.

Total steps walked: doesn't matter - I made it to Seoul!


Day 2: Meet up with Korean Dad >>> Lotte World >>> Lotte Mart

The next morning, we got up bright and early and went out to explore our neighbourhood and find a coffee shop for breakfast. Seoul, can't speak for the rest of Korea, is FULL of coffee shops, you don't EVER have to worry about your next cup of coffee. We walked around for a bit and decided to try a place called Coffine Gurunaru... don't worry, we just called it Coffee Guru... ;D

You can choose different toppings, we chose Chocolate, but there's also apple & cinnamon, sweet potato, cheese, peanut butter, caramel etc.
photos by eve wu

Eve and I ordered Americanos and shared this Chocolate bread thing and a cream cheese bagel. The coffee was perrrrrfect! Black coffee with the chocolate bread was absolute heaven. It looks really heavy for breakfast, but so what?! We're on holiday! The toast was warm and crispy and THICK! and the chocolate sauce absolutely drenched the toast, YUM! The cream cheese bagel was good too, but definitely could not compete with the chocolate bread.

Oh, must mention the coffee, cuz although we're both not coffee addicts, we both really enjoyed the coffee, it was full bodied and had no bitter or acidic after taste. You may think we might have just been too happy with the chocolate bread to care, but we returned the next day and some other days for breakfast and coffee and it was just as good.

After breakfast, we made our way for our first subway ride together, we were going to meet Eve's Korean Dad - Jody Woo. The reason why he's Eve's Korean dad is because he reminds Eve of her own dad in Canada. Eve met him in Toronto when he and a group of Korean teachers of English went to Canada for a study tour/exchange in 2008. We will meet more later on in the trip.

Jody wanted to bring us to Lotte World, an amusement park operated by one of Korea's largest conglomerate - Lotte, he was bring his two kids and wife along.

There's a skating rink in the building, and we saw kids training in speed skating and figure skating. They were so cute and serious!


Originally, we did not plan to go to any amusement parks as we thought they were a waste of time and we would rather see things than go on rides. But we ended up having a blast!

I've never been one that gets excited about going to amusement parks. To be truthful, I'm a bit scared of all the extreme rides, but I thought well since I'm here and it looks like it's suitable for kids, so it should be ok. We went on a couple of rides in the indoor building as it was raining outside.

We went on the Pirate Ship, a ride that I've never been on. I've heard a lot of people say that it's really scary but really fun. Standing on solid grounding looking at it, I wonder how it can be scary.... but I went on the Pirate Ship for the first time in my life at Lotte World and I have to say, it's definitely exhilarating! I felt both like I couldn't breath cuz I was scared as we swung downwards, but at the same time, you HAVE to lift up your arms and you can't not help but enjoy it and scream! For me, I really loved screaming on the ride - even though it caused me to lose my voice for a day or two after that... hahaha.... that ride combined with the Atlantis ride outside.

right: first time on the pirate ship - waiting for the ride to start, photo as proof... bad photo of me...

After the rain stopped, we went outside to give Atlantis a try, as it boasted to be a ride that was over 70 km/h! It's like a roller coaster, only the seats are like you're sitting on a motorcycle, so in some way, you're hunched over a bit. The structure of the ride was not very tall, but add on the speed and it's just sooooo COOL!

We were strapped in and then it just shot us right into the drops and twists and turns! The funny thing was that I forgot to take my glasses off, and so with the first drop, my glasses flew off my face into oblivion. LOL

This ride also caused me to scream at the top of my lungs, and the teen girls sitting behind us had actually recorded the whole episode... hahaha... they replayed it at the end of the ride and all they heard were my screams! LOL.... (left photo - eve wu)

Both Eve and I agreed that Atlantis was definitely worth one of our ride stamps - even at the cost of poor eyesight for the rest of the day. (Eve was my guide person from then on.)

After we finished all the rides we wanted to go on, we went through a small folk museum in the indoor amusement park. Then we had bbibimbap to fill our empty stomachs. Very big pot! But so good!

left & right: bbibimbap
middle: a chicken nugget and drink, the cool thing is that the chicken nugget tray sits in the cup, so you only have to hold the cup!
photos by eve wu

Jody and his family left after that and we made our way Lotte Mart to pick up some fruits and other things that we had forgotten to bring on the trip (like a towel! - the hostel didn't provide us with bath towels, only large face towels that Asian people think is enough to wipe your body with...)

Before going on our trip, Eve and I had made lists of things that we wanted to see/do/try/find in Seoul, and one of those for me is to find and eat the ice creams in a tube.... if you've watched Korean drama, you should have seen it at least once... if not, this is what I am talking about. On my last two trips to Seoul I never found these available in the convenience stores, so I hoped that Eve could ask her Korean dad where I might find them. Supposedly they are really easy to find, but I still had no luck at any of the convenience stores that we saw on our daily walks.

No worries! Lotte Mart has them!!!! Look at all the different flavours I found! They even have huge family packs! I thought of bringing a pack back to HK as a souvenir... but we didn't have enough time nor luggage space for that.

photos by eve wu

And then Eve told me about Tteokbokki chips! Never heard of that before! So we bought a bag to try.

Back to the hostel, we had dinner in our room as we were too tired and still quite full from the late lunch we had..... we just had some cold fried skewers, warm freshly made kimbap (rice roll - Korean sushi) and makkegoli (rice wine).

Total steps walked: 13,775 steps


I think these entries are going to be very long - I still have 10 days to go..... hope you guys enjoyed the 1st one!