KOREA: DAY 2: Gangnam/ Coex Mall/ Myeongdong

Ok! On to day 2!!

So after we got back to our guesthouse last night, we spent about 5 hours researching (about subways, T money cards, good restaurants to go to, planning the rest of the 18 days, organizing our stuff, recounting our money, ETC)

AND we found out that....a boyband is doing a fansigning at COEX mall the next day at 7pm (which is our day 2) AND SO, with that in mind we decided to explore Gangnam!

COEX mall is the largest underground mall..in...Seoul, I THINK. Soooo, we were excited to shop :D AND for the fansigning :D

(We got up at 8 am~ Slept only a few hours T-T So we were still pretty dead, but still super excited !!!!)

BUT FIRST, we had to figure out the subway system. 

 *pokerface*

Looks....easy....heh...NOT!

Since the fansigning was at 7pm, we decided to go to a different area of Gangnam first~

Subway was so confusing @.@ So many transfers and exits and etc (getting out at the right exit is important!!).

Thank goodness Lillian is good with these things...'cuz I'd get myself lost within the first 5 minutes. o.o

Hehehehe, we were so excited to use our T Money Card (you can buy it at any convenience store), in which you load money into and beep everytime you take the subway/bus/etc and beep again when you get off~ It deducts how much you've traveled in terms of fare from your account, and you can always redeem the leftover amount (if you decide you don't need it anymore) at convenience stores :)

(OH OH and it comes in the form of rilakumma/hello kitty/ ETC phone charms but we aren't staying long and our iphones don't really have a place to hang the charm so we just opted for a plain card).

BUT STILL, ARGH KOREA YOU AND YOUR CUTE STUFFS <3

OK. 

So after we (Lillian) navigated through the subway stations and transferred to all the right transfers,  we finally got to Gangnam!! (took about an hour)

^So after exploring a bit of the area (AND MELTING FROM THE HEAT), we found a small kimbap store and decided to eat breakfast there~

 

 

^ ajummas making our kimbaps :D

They were so sweet and nice :DDD

^ We ordered Wonro Kimbap (regular) and Modeum Kimbap (total cost was 5,000 won) 

They were so good!!!!!

We were full and satisfied and it cost us only 2,500 won each!

Only thing was...the restaurant had no air-con...and we were dying.

SO, OFF TO A CAFE to kill some time before we head over to COEX.

^So we just ordered some cold drinks (prices were similar to an average Starbucks drink's overpriced price~ but whatever, we really just wanted to use the wifi :3)

And so we sat there for about an hour and a half, skyping and oovoo-ing our family and friends :D

And then back to the subway station we go!!! 

 ^Took us about 20 minutes to get from this part of Gangnam to COEX mall area~ 3 transfers @.@

AND WE ARRIVE!!

^After noob-ishly walking around the stores, we discovered very sadly that the stores were, indeed like any other large and well-established mall, expensive and beyond our budget T^T

But we did manage to buy some schtuff likeeeeeee

ALBUMS!!! (We bought it from Evan's Records inside COEX, which is next to the bookstore that Exo had their fan-signing at last week I believe.) SAO SAD...IF only I came a week earlier...if only...T^T

(Exo albums cost 13,000 won each [although we later saw them selling for 9,700 won at a different place =___=], BAP cost 8,700won, Nu'est cost 5,500 won)

And I also boughttttt

skycare schtuffs ^^ Total cost came out to be 40,000 won~

But even though we were inside the mall, it was STILL hot as heck!

So we had to take a breather and sit in the food court (after getting lost countless times inside the mall) with our lovely banana milk <3

^STILL my favourite drink (aside from maybe Shikhae)

It was about 5:10 ish now, and though it was hecka early, we decided to head back towards Evan's Records area where the fan-signing will take place!

ANDDDDD

after waiting diligently for almost 2 hours~

:DDDDDD

:DDDDDDD

 

^manager (?) setting up area~

TADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

DORADORA

<3

:DDD

U-KISSS (minus Dongho and Soohyun due to busy schedules T-T)

^ HEEHEEEE

Although we personally did not get into the fan-sign (first of all, we weren't really sure how..., second, we were too tired to really try, and third, we just sorta were satisfied watching them :D)

A few things:

-Kiseop is def the winner in terms of fanservice LMAO

-Hoon interacted the least with the fans, but maybe it was because he was just always busy while others had some time in between signings

-Kevin is cute :D

-Eli is velly goofy

-AJ was similar to Hoon (ish)

-They all had perfect skin, were taller than imagined

-person that left deepest impression is Kiseop, which surprised me 'cuz I never really paid attention to him before, but I sure as heck will now! :)

LKAJSNFD:KAJSFNSKJDFNSKDJFNSKJFKSdf

OK.

Oh, turns out IU had a fan-signing at the same time as U-Kiss, but at a different place~ :\

AHH MY FANGIRL HEART CANNOT TAKE THIS xD

I would spaz more, but atm it's nearing 4:30 am and we have a long day ahead of us so...I shall move on!

Anyways, back to subway station to get home!! (1 transfer)

^Heh, I was bored waiting for our train to come so...

So we got back to our guesthouse first to drop off some stuff. On the way, however, we stopped by some small stores located in the subway station and bought a few more stuff!

I bought:

^Infinite iphone case (12,000 won)

^ Infinite and Exo phone charms (5000won each)

 

^a bag~~ (38,000 won)

So after we got back to the guesthouse, we organized our stuff once again (gotta prepare to move out of Crib 49 and into Seoul Backpackers tmw!!! Argh, still sorta confused how we'll do it. I guess we'll need to call a taxi....def not willing to lug our suitcases through Myeongdong again x.x)

Then we went outside, once again, to explore night life and to eat! (mainly to eat, we were too tired to explore the nightlife for today xD)

 So after walking (and being incredibly indecisive), we finally settled on eating at

this restaurant~~

^ we ordered this~~

^and tadaaaa!!!

It was SAOOO GOOD T^T

Total came to 17,500 won ~

Before heading back to the guesthouse, we stopped by Tous Les Jours and picked up some bread~

(three of these only for 4000 won!!!) The top one is Melon (:O I have no idea how it'll taste, but I'll be brave), the bottom is black sesame (I think), and the one on the right ....I totally forgot...but just some sort of sweet pastry :P)

And we also stopped by family mart to buy some water andddd

 

^Bakha mints! If you watch Rooftop Prince, you will understand their significance :DDD HEHEHEH, very crunchy candy indeed~

And back to guesthouse we go!!!

Here's how our place looks like!

^This place is on the first floor and is shared. It is open 24/7. The water and ramen are free~ Computer usage is also free~ Washer and dryer use is also free~ ^^ Since we're not allowed to eat up in our rooms, we have to come down here to eat~

^And our room~~ Because we opted for our own private bathroom, the fee was a bit more expensive~ 

I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the amazing rooftop, but trust me, it is amazing~ There's a few tables and chairs located up there and it's very close to the Namsan tower so the view is amazinggg!!! And coupled with the amazing weather and slight breezez on a warm night, it's perfect for just chilling out and chatting~

But yah. Sorry for the lack of personality in this post~ I'm totally about to pass out~ T^T Long day ahead! 

Tmw shall also be dedicated to Gangnam (last day for Gangnam)! And more of Myeongdong (actual shopping, we hope).

Cy'all soon!!!

KOREA: DAY 1: Home/YVR Airport/ Seattle Airport/ Incheon Airport/ Myeongdong/ STRESSFUL DAY

HARRO!! :D Yes, I am one day late on writing this post, BUTTTTTT will be immediately blogging about day 2 right after I finish ranting about day 1 so that I still rmb everything clearly!!!

Please excuse me ahead of time for any improper grammar, etc, due to my deliriousness from EVARRRRRYTHANGGGG :)

 Ok ok, so lemme start at the beginning ^^ 

So our flight is supposed to be at 11:05am, BUT I was being stupid and stayed up the whole night before just wasting time on tumblr and etc hehe. And the airport is like only about 10-15 minutes away so I could've totally slept, but hey, my sleep pattern was already extremely messed up so...I like to call it adjusting for jetlag ahead of time :D

Here's a shameless photo of me right before leaving for airport~

And here's a picture of everythang I'm bringing :D

And ma ticket info :D Transfer flight from Vancouver to Seattle to Seoul~

And yes, now you know my Chinese name =___=

At YVR airport just before boarding~~ LOL I couldn't stop abusing my 3g power to the max 'cause I won't be able to use it for the next 18 days. And and and, carrying our luggage and stuff and doing all the check-in stuff by ourselves made me feel like such an adult :D HEEEEEEE :) (although we were very rushed for some reason D: But the rushed-ness and the stress (?) made it a lot more exciting and fun (?)....LOL

Sorry, I am weird.

On transfer flight to Seattle!!

 Yes, I take random and pointless pictures.

And....we've arrived at Seattle-Tacoma Airport!! Flight only took about 30-40 min~ The plane was velly small and looked somewhat unsafe and old, but it was still a good flight (thought I don't rmb much since I was passed out from my allnighter). There was only one flight attendant (that we saw, anyways), and it was a very brief ride. (Yes, I am probably writing redundant sentences, but I'm sao tired atm. It's currently 2am here in Korea and we've just spent our whole entire day outside traveling to areas of Gangnam and Myeongdong, which will be in the next post about day 2).

^This is the airport trains we had to take to get to our transfer terminal. LOL, we were so fed up 'cause we had to transfer trains twice. It really just seemed as if we would keep on getting off and getting on different trains xD

But we got excited once we transferred onto the third train and suddenly the Japanese translation of the English announcements turned into Korean :D

^Just a view from the first train~ It seemed very much like a ground-level version of Vancouver's skytrain ^-^ Except, with wider space for luggage, ofc.

^And so we finally find our transfer terminal. Now, for our first meal outside of Canada~~

Anddddd....

It was horrid.

=___=

No offense, but the udon tasted like rubber, the tofu like sponge, and the soup was like water with salt.

o______o

So, if you ever decide to eat at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, don't get the udon....Pay a little extra for some nicer food....

(It cost over 8 bucks too~!! Ugh, only an hour away from home but I missed good ol' Richmond's amazing asian foods and restaurants already :'(

So after two hours of wasting time at the airport whose wifi we couldn't even connect onto (=___=), and the almost crisis of Lillian losing her wallet (D:), we finally boarded :)

ANDDDD the 12 hour flight begins!

We had two meals on the flight, and I gotta say, Asiana airline has amazing airplane food :D

First meal:

^Bibimbap!! We actually had a choice between bibimbap and steak, but neither of us were feeling like steak, so bibimbap it was!! (Velly spicy T-T I put too much gochujang)

^ Second meal was chicken!! We had the choice of some sort of fish, but we liked chicken better :3 I scarfed this one down in like...less than 5 minutes? This was when we had only about 2-3 hours left in the flight~

Overall, the flight was pretty good (aside from the kid that sat in front of us that occasionally bothered us). The first 3 hours passed by VERY slowly. 

But then we had a LOT of entertainment available. The monitors in front of each seat had games, music, movies (Korean, American, etc), etc. I watched Breaking Dawn (hey, why not right?), and half of this Korean movie whose name I forgot...before I passed out cold.

ANDDDD, we arrive at Incheon International Airport :') *almost cries* LMAO

At this point, both Lillian and I were EXHAUSTED (despite having slept some on the flights over). And the weather was VERY warm inside as we waited in line to get to baggage claim. I seriously was about to melt....esp. with a heavy backpack on my back and lugging another carry-on.

After we FINALLY got through, and after we picked up our checked baggage, we had a VERY rushed and confused time trying to find the right bus terminal that would take us to Myeongdong. VERY rushed.

We had told Eco-guesthouse that we would check in by 8:30 latest, but it was already 7:20 ish and the bus ride takes an hour.

^After finding the right bus (and JUST missing it as we arrived ==), we had to wait an extra 20 ish minutes for the next one to come. Yeap, we were going to be late.

^ Our wonderful luggage...

^Andddd the bus came!! Heehee cute kid is cute :D Ok his backpack is cute. Ok I'm sure he is cute too. 

This is sounding weird.

^On the bus we go! It cost 10,000 won and our stop was the very last one~

^ Here's a view of Han river from the window of the bus, passing by~ We WILL come by the banks one day to chill...later in the week, after we are completely wiped out.

AND OK, WHAT HAPPENED NEXT IS A SERIES OF COMPLETE AND UTTERLY EMBARRASSING AND HORRIFYING FAILS.

JUST A WARNING.

After we got off at our stop with our four suitcases and two backpacks, we basically had to trudge amongst the crowd to find Eco-guesthouse. It was very confusing...:\ 

We spent about 10 minutes just trying to find out how to cross the darn street! Turns out we have to go underneath to where the subway stations are, and come out a different entrance to cross.

And ofc, lugging the suitcases up and down the stairs...was no joke. 

I was beyond tired already, but this was....horrifyingly difficult LOL, for lack of a better word.

OK, so we find out guesthouse.

Now, if you read the previous post, you'd know that we made this reservation literally the night we before flying out (due to...well...procrastination). We needed a place to stay for the first two nights because Seoul Backpackers (the other guesthouse we booked a long time ago) is able to accommodate us for all of our stay EXCEPT the first two days.

So we ring the doorbell three times, no one answers.

Uh-oh.

We stand there. We ring again.

Finally after a while, someone comes out and starts speaking to us in Japanese.

o.o

We were too taken aback to correct him, so we just follow him down into the office-like place to check in and what not. But uhh....once we tell him we're not Japanese, he gets confused, 'cuz he was expecting Japanese guests who had booked the place.

And we get confused.

He says there's no more rooms available (in Korean and broken English).

We told him we made a reservation.

Apparently it didn't go through.

Ugh.

Great.

We legit thought we might have to sleep at a jimjilbang for two nights, with our luggage and everything xDDDD

BUT BUT, the man was SUPER nice. He knew that we had no where to stay for the two nights so he called around nearby guesthouses to check to see if they had room. Finally, he found one. It was called Crib 49~

At first, we worried about how we'd get to that guesthouse 'cuz it would mean we'd need to lug all of our suitcases and wander around trying to find the place. NOT a pleasant thought when it's already really dark at night and we were both half dead.

 But the man said that he was calling a car over. Both of us had thought that he probably just helped call a taxi for us or something and that we'd ofc had to pay for it. 

But actually, he called the owner of Crib 49 over with his car! We were really surprised, hehe. This owner's English was pretty good so we communicated a lot easier. He, and a kind ajumma and ajusshi, helped us move our luggage up to our rooms and showed us around the place~

The fee was slightly more expensive that we had anticipated to spend (180,000 won in total for the both of us for two nights, so 90,000 each), but at that point, all we really cared about was having a place to stay ^^

Ah, thank goodness for kind people :)

^Our guesthouse! Will post more pics of inside in day 2 post~~ (it's located RLY close to Namsan tower ^^)

So after we spend about 30 min organizing our stuff, it was about 10:00pm. Time to explore some of Myeongdong's night life!!!

Each street had literally hundreds of small shops, cute cafes, snack bars, ETC. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to be bored.

After roaming a bit, we were both hungry, so we find a random place for dinner.

AND LOL, it was more of a soju/alcohol place than anything. The drinks were cheap but the foods expensive. Exactly NOT what we were looking for.

But being the self-aware and courteous people that we were (AHAHAHAHA), we didn't walk out and decided to just order something.

Although the service wasn't exactly...all that great...

The table they sat us down in was extremely dirty and uncleaned.

There were barely any customers (well it was late, but still).

Most of the customers were drunk...

Yeap, lol, we had the worst luck and common sense.

So whatever, we ordered two cokes (LOL at a place designated for alcohol, we order cokes, I KNOW LMAO)

And we order Jajang Deokbeokki

^ Of which was both expensive and not filling...and hecka spicy LOL 

Total cost was 23,000 won :\

Ugh. Bad first experience. Out of the gazillions of food places available, we chose the one that was the least compatible with us. Great. LOL.

Being half dead and all, we decided to head back to the guesthouse. We shall shop here another day :D (We might need a year to explore everything here though o.o LMAO)

^On our way back to the guesthouse. Yay, view of Namsam tower ^^ Although the view is so much more clearer, nearer, and prettier from the rooftop of our guesthouse :D 

Now, I shall go and write about day 2. :D DAY 2 IS VELLY INTERESTING I ASSURE YOU :D

SOWWIE IF I HAVE BORED YOU WITH DAY 1, BUT DAY 2 IS FREAKING AMAZING.

Bai~