Say Zay: First Time to South Korea: Day 1

Saturday, December 1, 2012

First Time to South Korea: Day 1

At Nami Island

We safely arrived to Seoul Airport around 4:00 KST. Thanks to Jeju Air. We had to walk for 5 minutes to the Immigration after riding a subway/train(had to walk for few minutes to go here). Seoul Airport is really big. Stamping passport is one by one. It is different in Philippines because it could be by group. Then, we went to get our luggage. I'm so strong that I can carry my heavy luggage. Of course, I helped my mom to get hers. Thanks to my extra weight that I become stronger. After that, we went to exit. While going out, I said in my mind that "Wow! This is the exit where Korean actors go out. I watched it in some Korean Dramas. I'm so happy." We had to wait for other travelers of "Hallyu Korea", our tour package. I quite wondered why it is called Hallyu Korea. I realized it later on. The reason is that we would go to MBC Dramia, a shooting location of historical dramas in South Korea, and Star World on the 2nd day and 3rd day, respectively.

T-Money

While waiting for others, I and my sister looked for a store where we could buy a T-money. We tried the 7-eleven at the right side, but none of us asked the cashier. Then, we went to another way and look for another 7-eleven. My sister seemed to be shy, so I was the one who asked the Korean cashier. He understood what I was saying and explained to me that it costs 2,500 won each. He was saying something, but it is hard to understand what it is. We almost walked out from the store, but I realized how come it was so cheap. We went back in to ask if it is loaded already. He told me the denominations. We chose 5,000 won each. In total we spent 7,500 won each. T-money is a card where you can use for riding subways and buses in Seoul. It is like a stored value in Philippines, but with other feature which can be used for buses.

The sad part is that we were not able to use it because our schedule was fully tight. We thought we would arrive in Ramada Seoul, our hotel, around 7 in the evening that's why we bought T-money. Actually, we arrived around 10:30 in the evening for the two nights we stayed in Seoul. Too bad, we were not able to go to Yoo Chun's Timeout Gelato and Jae Joong's Coffee Cojjee. We also planned to go to Hello Kitty Cafe and Trick Eye Museum. We will definitely use our T-money next year.

After gathering all members of Hallyu Korea, the tourist guide, named Brian, checked our attendance to know if we were complete. Then, we walked near the exit and waited for the arrival of our bus. When we went out from airport, all of us were freezing. There was no snow, but the temperature was negative 0 Celsius degrees.

Our breakfast, Udong Noodle Soup. This photo was taken by my sister.

no left over for the exciting 1st day

Our itinerary starts with breakfast. Our bus stopped for a while for this. Then, we traveled for about 2 hours to go to Nami Island also known as Naminara Republic. We had also stopover for nature calls.

We stayed in Nami Island for about two hours. We spent our time walking, taking photos and eating some corns and hotdog. I would like to try their bicycle, but I had to leave my passport, so I did not continue to rent.

Our Lunch: Unlimited Chicken BBQ + rice

We traveled for about two hours to Mt. Seorak. Again, we had stopover. I bought walnut cake. It costs 3,000won.

We had to visit first the Shinheungsa Temple because our time to ride cable car would be the next hour.

Our Cable Car Ride

Mt. Seorak is really beautiful. Unfortunately, we couldn't visit further part of the mountain because it's almost 6PM. The views are really fantastic. The lane going back was kinda long, so we went to line at the outside of the building.

Our last itinerary was the Teddy Bear Farm. It's quite near from Mt. Seorak, but it's already evening when we arrived there. I fell in love to the bears. They look awesome.