Day 2: Mira Ke Korea (SEOUL)

We arrived at Seoul Station around 4.30am but since subway only start operate from 5am, we gotta wait for a while before we can proceed the journey to our guest house. Rumah tumpangan yang kitorang pilih dekat area Gajwa, jauh sikit dari bandar Seoul. Untuk yang nak merasa stay jauh dari kesibukan bandar boleh cari guest house area sini tapi kebanyakan tourist akan stay area Myeongdong sebab lagi senang nak shopping :D

From Seoul Station, take train to Gajwa Station. Travel duration around 25 minutes.

Jenuh jugak nak mencari guest house ni sebenarnya. Dahla dari Gajwa Station tu pun 10 minit perjalanan and ada kena hiking jugak! *nangis*

It was a real struggle nak cari guest house tu dengan takde internet so nak guna google map pun tak boleh. Tapi nasib baik la penduduk area tu helpful sangat. Even orang yang nak pergi kerja pun sempat berhenti untuk tolong kitorang. Nak sejam jugak cari guest house tu akhirnya dah nak dekat pukul 8 baru jumpa. Nasib baikla rumah cantik & bersih. Memang puas hati! Will definitely make a special post for the guest house :)

Masuk je bilik terus cepat cepat bersihkan diri then tidur. Walaupun dah tidur dalam train tapi manakan sama tidur duduk dengan tidur baring. Letak je kepala terus lena.

Pukul 11.00 kitorang bangun, breakfast cum lunch dan prepare for our next adventure.

Destinasi pertama di Seoul, Changdeokgung Palace.

From Gajwa Station, take train 3 to Anguk Station Line 3. Take Exit 3, then walk straight about 5 minutes to the palace.

Istana ni terkenal dengan its natural beauty in the Secret Garden. Kalau pergi waktu spring memang cantik sangat tapi kitorang pergi end summer so tak terserlah sangat kecantikan tu. Sue dah senyap je masa tour Secret Garden tu sebab banyak hiking cum history, both she not delighted with hehe.

Entrance ke Changdeokgung Palace

You can rent hanbok here too. If I'm not mistaken, the rate is ₩10 000 for an hour.

One of the palace in the area.

Anyway boleh je kalau tak nak masuk Secret Garden ni sebab tak included dalam entrance ticket. Entrance fee to the palace is ₩3000 and for the Secret Garden is ₩5000.

The gate to the Secret Garden.

Untuk area luar Secret Garden korang boleh roam around without tour tapi kalau nak masuk Secret Garden tu mesti kena ada tour and tour ni berjadual. Korang boleh pilih pukul 11.30am/1.30pm/2.30pm/3.30pm. For further info, do refer to eng.cdg.go.kr

Other tourist that joined the tour with us.

Our tour guide. Her English is really good. (& I still wonder how did she walk, hike, climb the stairs while wearing a hanbok)

It was like jungle trekking, in a palace.

Inside the Secret Garden.

That's paddy.

Habis tour tu, kitorang pun bergerak ke next destination, Namsangol Hanok Village.

From Anguk Station, take train to Chungmuro Station Line 3 & 4. Take Exit 3.

Entrance of Namsangol Hanok Village.

Hanok, or traditional Korean houses are well preserved at the villages in the country. Namsangol Village ni menempatkan 5 jenis hanoks yang dibina semula di sini. Dekat Namsangol Village ni ada exhibition, artwork and tea courses & many other activities. Kitorang tak join any courses pun sebab berbayar, plus did I mentioned we are not really into the history and cultural part. Must have doze off a lot during history classes! So all we did dekat sini cuma duduk outside a cafe yang ada kat situ. By this time, we already missing Busan a lot because we had a lot of fun there.

Next place in the itinerary was Namsan Park sebab nak naik Namsan Oreumi (inclined escalator) before reach counter for cable car kat Seoul Tower. But then, we accidentally ride a bus terus sampai puncak Namsan Park tu. God, the view.....cantik sangat! We can see almost the entire city of Seoul from up there.

Seoul from the top of Namsan Park

                            

From Namsangol Hanok Village, take bus No. 2 (from bus stop in front of 12F bank). Stop at Namsan Cable Car.

Lepas pusing pusing dekat area Seoul Tower tu (memang sama dengan Bukit Bendera, Penang), kitorang naik cable car untuk turun bawah. As planned, kitorang nak naik cable car masa senja sebab nak tengok langit merah oren tu dari atas. Alhamdulillah walaupun siang tu macam hambar sikit tapi trip ke Seoul Tower tu really made our day. Harga cable car one way ₩6000. Kalau return ₩8500.

The infamous bangku patah and love padlock at the back.

From dusk to dawn with this girl. The best cable car ride ever.

Turun dari cable car kitorang cari tempat nak solat sebab dari tadi memang tak jumpa mana mana area yang sesuai untuk solat. Alhamdulillah ada nursing room kat situ. Korea memang promote breastfeeding so banyak public places diorang ada nursing room. Sebab kitorang solat jamak zuhur-asar pun dah lewat gila so I suggest untuk solat je maghrib-isyak sekali sebab dah masuk waktu. Tapi bila dah siap, menyesal pulak sebab dah gelap :(

Dengan taktau jalan nak balik, memang dah rasa tak sedap hati. Nasib baiklah Sue jenis tenang je. She figured out untuk patah balik masuk area Seoul Tower & turun bawah guna Namsan Oreumi. Namsan Oreumi ni sebenarnya macam lif, tapi instead of menegak, dia mencondong. Oh btw, naik Namsan Oreumi ni free je :)

Lepas tu jalan sikit jumpa underground mall. Biasanya kalau ada underground mall ni memang akan ada subway station kat situ & luckily memang ada. So dari situ kitorang terus ke Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Aku pergi sini semata mata nak tengok LED white rose tu je haha. Tapi bentuk bangunan ni memang unik & menarik. But since Sue pun dah lepak so kitorang tak explore pun the whole DDP ni.

Unique Digital Design Plaza

Travel 6 hours in flight just for this and turned out LED rose ni dah ada dekat Serdang. 

Dari Digital Design Plaza, kitorang ke Myeongdong pulak. Hangin aku dengan Sue time ni sebab dekat DDP tadi kemain melepet nak jalan pun macam tak larat muka sememeh je tapi bila dah sampai Myeongdong tetibe jadi bersemangat. Dasar hantu shopping ni la..

Selain shopping, Myeongdong ni best sebab street food jugak. Antara yang must try ialah kebab ayam (depan Zara). Btw brother jual kebab tu bapak handsome rasa nak beli kebab banyak kali sebab nak tengok dia je hahah. 

That's all for day 2. Memang puas shopping dan makan malam tu kat Myeongdong. Hari ketiga kami ke Pulau Nami. Jangan lupa baca next post!