*LCCT, Sepang before boarding*Who doesn't love holidays?
Even a short one.
I had the opportunity to visit Seoul on the 27th June - 4th July as my dad was invited to visit a tansformers manufacturing factory in an area 2 hours drive away from Seoul.
The company that invited my dad decided to stay in Artnouveau City, Gangnam which according to my dear friend, Ruhil Nadiah, is like the Upper East Side of New York.
In other words, the place where only rich people can afford to live.
Well, I've to agree with that part.
The hotel that we stayed at was magnificent!
There's a huge dressroom, a stove, microwave, plasma TV and even a washing machine!
A washing machine in a hotel room!
That was definitely a first for me and so me and my sisters went very 'jakun'.
We didn't use it, by the way, because we simply didn't understand the Korean instructions. Plus, detergent wasn't provided.
*spotted at the airport. mommy&daugther wearing the same boots. super cute!*
*in front of the hotel*
*super comfy hotel beds*
*huge sofa*
*washing machine, microwave, rice cooker- in a hotel room!*
*the biggest shower head i've ever seen!*We arrived at Incheon International Airport at around 10pm. Seoul is only an hour ahead of Malaysia. The we ate Korean vegetarian dinner and our guide from the factory, Max, met us there. Such a really nice guy, can speak English quite fluent.
It took us at least an hour to the hotel from airport. It was quite cold, probably because it rained all day before we arrived, according to Max.
The second day started with a tour around Seoul. The factory hired us a tour guide, Sophie, whom can really speak fluent English. She sounded almost American to me.
The first stop was at Seoul Namsan Traditional Centre where various traditional performances are held on weekends. They have a huge stage and tourists can also participate in tea ceremony as well as wearing 'Hanbok', which is the Korean traditional costumes.
As we're with a tour package, we didn't really have time to participate or watch any activities.
Then we headed to a huge temple,
the centre of Zen Buddhism in Korea. When I said it's huge, I really meant that. The Buddhist statues are humongous and probably covered with gold!
The third place visited was the
Cheongwadae Sarangchae, a history centre nearby the official Korean Presidential site or The Blue House as Korean calls it. Here tourists can learn a lot about the history of South Korea- the emperors, idealists, technologies, arts, sports, Han River, festivals, traditional food & costumes and everything Korean! Every description is also written in English so no worries about language barriers.
Next in plan was a Ginseng Center where we learnt a lot about Korean ginseng, which is claimed to be the best among Chinese and American ginseng. The assistant explained to us about the types of ginseng, how and where it's grown and how to consume it. It was very informative and interesting that my dad ended up buying 2 boxes of ginseng!
At this point we were all already very very hungry and needed to recharge our energy. Sophie bought us to Korean Restaurant (yes, that's actually the name of the restaurant!) and treated us to a vegetarian dish called 'Hansik', a Korean traditional food. The rice is cooked in a hot pot and covered with various vegetables and an egg. As usual, it is served with kimchi, pickled radish and soybean paste.
I'm already hooked with kimchi!
Now that lunch's over, we hopped onto the tour bus and Sophie told us a brief history of the next destinations-
The Changdeok Palace or Changdeokgung. And it really proves its name, the palace is SUPER huge! If you've watched Korean dramas about the old kings then you'll be able to imagine the whole palace. It is massive!
There are at least 5 different palaces in Seoul but according to Sophie, they are all almost the same so it's already sufficient for tourists to visit one of them. However, Gyeongbukgung is the main palace and provides more cultural activities to tourists. Unfortunately, it is closed every Tuesday, thus, the reason we went to Changdeokgung instead of Gyeongbukgung.
The last places were among the shopping heavens! We first visited
Insa-dong where tourists can look up for souvenirs like keychains, bookmarks, T-shirts and even socks of your favourite Korean artists! As usual, there's a need to bargain and you do have to walk around first to get lower price. Don't worry about language barriers, they can speak fair English.
Then we went to Namdaemun, the largest market with everything- clothes, food, fruits, shoes, handbags, hair accessories..almost anything you can imagine! It is really huge, too huge in fact, and crowded as well. We didn't have much time, given only 40mins (girls can NEVER shop in just 40mins!) before the tour ended and the tour bus dropped us back at the hotel at around 7pm.
*Enjoy the pictures!*
*the settlements in Seoul*
*The Great King Sejong statue*
*Seoul Namsan Traditional Centre*
*Buddhist Temple*
*Cheongwadae Sarangchae*
*Ginseng Center. Photos are not allowed inside the centre*
*each box consists six bottles of this*
*our tour guide, Sophie*
*Seoul City Hall*
*Hansik for lunch. before and after. haha!*
*Changdeok Palace*The most interesting fact about Seoul to me would be the location of the tourist attractions. The old palace and the temple are located right in the middle of the busy city! For example, next to the temple is a huge tall modern building and the reason behind this is to simply preserve the original site.
Now I truly understand what the commotion was about when our authority wanted to demolish Penjara Pudu a couple of years ago.
=(
Anyway, I've to admit that tour package is really helpful when you're in a country where English is only one of the foreign languages they learn. Nevertheless, the downside of taking tour package is that everything has to be in a rush and there's a limit to the places.
And it's expensive! Around 80,000Won or RM240 per head for 1 day tour.
Hence, do learn more about the subway system before coming to Seoul as it's cheaper, super easy and convenient.
And don't forget to get yourself Seoul tourist maps and you can go anywhere in Seoul without the needs to hire a tour guide.
*Details on Day 3 coming up!*
