Seoul part i

by - 11/25/2014 06:30:00 AM

Assalamualaikum!

Hye. Hello. We meet again !  [lap debu habuk sawang kt blog].

this is all about my 2012 trip. Guess what trip?  
A trip to Seoul, South Korea!!!

FYI, entry akan ada part by part… so will update often saaaaampai la habis semua cerita yg nak diceritakan. So..bear with it. I just miss Seoul very much right now. [now listening to S.E.O.U.L song]

-random bahasakan diri. Saya, aku, I semua ada. And mix languages. BEWARE-

So….. mula-mulaaaa sekali, macam mana trip ni boleh terjadi? 

Ok..trip ni mcm dipersetujui secara tiba-tiba ye oleh ibu. Oh..i went there with my family.
 Last july 2011, ye..setaun yang lepas. ada offer from AA.. kl-incheon-kl is like MYR5++ per person. So that that time I just told ibu yg AA buat offer g korea. Tu je pn. Sbb before that, ibu ade ckp yg kalo ade offer gitau.. masa tu, ibu cakap the trip for both of us je. Sekali, ibu suruh ajak ayah sekali, supposed for 3 of us only.. but then, adik2 merajuk.. then tadaaa.. 6 person for july 2012 trip already booked. After flight tix already booked, cam buat bodo je lah. Yelah, one year lagi.. relax ah dulu.. tapi bila dah masuk may 2012, accommodation tak cari lagi, itinerary tak plan lagi.. aku kelam kabut. 
Yela, ibu ayah cakap, “k.long plan everything. Cari semua accommodation and all.” Then, memang may, june 2012 adalah bulan yang paling aku rajin search segala hotel yang ada kt Seoul. Tiap hari aku pelawat wajib dekat website KTO.

Few weeks before depart, we booked this one house yang owner dia Malaysian. At first, I don’t feel like I like it.. sebab the place dekat Gangnam-gu.. Gangnam is totally like.. JAUH la jugak dari tempat tourist attractions ni. Tapi redha je time tu and told myself, “takpe..maybe kat situ ada something yang menarik.” And guess? Memang ada. What? I’ll tell u later. maybe?=P

6th July 2012… 

d-day!! Jujur aku cakap.. I’m not sleeping at all that night. Ok la.. maybe a lil bit sleep.. but just tidur-tidur ayam camtu je. Then at 4am, I woke my parents up, we do last check-up on our luggage, then off to LCCT! 8.50am, the plane left LCCT.. so, “goodbye Malaysia, hello Korea!” .. that time.. I totally have this mix feelings.. scared, worried, excited, happy all in one. 6 hrs + after that.. 4.30pm sharp.. we landed. “hello Incheon!!”

Ok this one fact for a ‘jakun’ people like me… flight to Korea from KL, the announcement been made in 3 languages – Malay, English and Korean. Then flight from Korea to KL, the announcement been made in 2 languages.. eh ke still 3 languages? Not paying attention though. Lol. But Korean is a must. The flight attendants too! There will be few Koreans FA in flight and comel2~ lalala


Back to story.. so, 4.30pm we arrived..masa sampai tu, still mix feelings. Tapi bila berjalan ke immigresen..tengok signboard all in Hangul… rasa macam balik ke tanah air. Eh, ini serius. Aku memang serius rasa macam kembali ke tanah air bila tengok segala tulisan hangul dekat signboard. Belajar hangul banyak sangat kot? Masa sampai ke immigration tu, pakcik immigration muka masam je.. alah, usual face untuk orang yang kerja macam tu lah.. then bila sampai turn aku, terus aku cakap, “안녕하새요” , muka dia lit up sikit.. then bila dah abis, ku cakap, “감사합니다”, dia senyum..
ARRIIIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
One thing about Koreans, tahap hospitality dorang akan meningkat bila kita boleh cakap in their language. Even a simple sentences or words, dorang akan treat kita much better. Been there, experience that.

Done with immigration.. once dekat departure hall, first thing yang memang WAJIB beli adalah T-money. Hah.. nk beli T-money ni pun.. perghhh. Cashier dia tau simple English yang SANGAT simple. But, with a few Korean words + LOTS of English words, I manage to buy the T-money with top-up 20,000KRW [back when 2012]. Then we head to find prayer room since we arrive during Asar already.

Oh, kebetulan..during my visit, there is 2012 Seoul Summer Sale and still on ketika entry ini dipost. So, dekat airport tu, ada lah booth dia.. if we go to the booth, we’ll get goodie bag with LOTS of sample from various cosmetic products and one booklet with discount card. Guess why I picked those things? Super Junior is their ambassador. So, the booklet, the bag, got picture of SJ. =P


About prayer room, the location, totally secluded. Near to subway station, in the corner. They provided 3 prayer rooms in one place for 3 religions. Guess? No Islam. Only got Buddha, Christian and Catholics I think? But, understandable though.. Muslims are so minority here. So, it’s ok.

Then we took train to our guesthouse. Ok, why do we take train? Not taxi or bus since we got like lots of luggage? Ayah cakap nak try naik train dia. Nak experience it.

About the train in Incheon, there are two types – commuter  and express (AREX). The commuter one will stop on each stop till reach Seoul Station, while the express one will straight to Seoul Station. Alaaa.. just like KLIA transit and ERL lah. The commuter one much cheaper than express one.

people semua dgn smartphone dorang. ~_~

view from Incheon to Seoul~
We took the commuter one. Our journey to Seoul Station took around 1 hour. Oh. Those yang plan nak stay in Hongdae, no need go to Seoul Station, and u can ride this commuter train since this train will stop at Hongik University before reach Seoul Station.
Once reach Seoul Station, this station just like.. KL Sentral? we have to take Line 4 to Chungmuro before change to Line 3 to Apgujeong.

Ok, subway in Korea, got LOTS of Line.. around 9 ? Line 1 – Line 9.. then got another Lines to outskirt Seoul. So in total around… 11~12? But I assure u, u won’t get lost. Totally reliable.

Since we arrived during weekdays, so, we have to berebut with those working Koreans. But surprisingly, they have manners. I mean, they know, they have to give way to people yang nak keluar from train first before go in and whatnot. Kalau Malaysian? Pffftttt. Renung2kan dan selamat beramal!

Arrived at Chungmuro..ok, this station like..Bandar Tasik Selatan? Another main station beside Seoul Station. I guess this is the old main station before they change to Seoul Station? This station kinda old, so.. if u guys bawak beg berat, be ready to angkat bag and turun naik tangga. Hohoho

Ok another thing, Korea got LOTS of stairs. By lots, I mean totally LOTS. SANGAT banyak. Duduk sana sebulan, kaki boleh jadi macam SNSD nye kaki. 
sila ikut arrow oren untuk ke Apgujeong. ^^
Then we took Line 3 to Apgujeong. To go to Apgujeong, the train had to cross HanGang. Nice scenery during night. Once arrive, we plan to walk to guesthouse.

Ok, this is seriously PABO me! I printed the address in hangul, but not the map of guesthouse!

We kinda lost.. but thanks to few Koreans that can speak English, we manage to find the guesthouse.

Alhamdulillah, after few minutes walk from the station, we arrived and greeted by the owner of the house, abg Fariq and k.Nasihah. Then, we rest and the journey of day first end here…

The End for Day 1.......

Lol. Kidding. Not yet. For me and my siblings la. As for my parents, already end.


Ok, once we ate dinner, pray and whatnot.. at first, abg cik wanna go to HanGang.. so I just like, “ok, asked ayah, and we go.” Since if we look on the map, the HanGang totally near. And the confident me said, “ok, we walk.” Then, after few minutes we walk, I felt, that it’s too far. So I just asked abg cik either he want to go back home or we walk around the place, then he said, walked around the place.

i just love the lightning.. Giorgio Armani if i'm not mistaken...
Based on the map we bring, we can see that LOTS of entertainment company around the place where we stay. Then, I just said to them, “jom lah kita jalan-jalan area ni, mana tau nampak company.” Dalam nada main-main je pun.. then we just strolled around 20 minutes, then when I looked on my left side, at the other side of the road, 
u saw what i saw?? SMTOWN!
I SEE SMTOWN SIGN! I was like.. oh.. my….is this true? Only 20 minutes walk? Since we arrived there already, we took a chance to take few pics in front of the company.
whose van is thaaaaaat? so dark. >.<"
 Then, we headed back to guesthouse. Too tired to do anything there, plus I know SJ wont be there that night.

anyway, this is all back when i went there in 2012. so basically this SM building didnt exit anymore, well, it is exist, but didnt act as the main one anymore. there is another building, which i didnt go yet. ^^

End of my Day 1 journey. 

soo....till we meet again insyaAllah. =)

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