Hey SEOUL Sisters! (Day 6...The Last!)

It's our Day 6 (Nov. 20), and officially our last day in South Korea. It's really hard to leave this place because I've fallen in love with every little thing about this place. But yeah, I had to face the reality that I couldn't stay there for long, so we just made the most of our last day in Seoul.

I will miss this place (Pastel's Apartment at 9th flr, Prugio Apartment, Hongdae)

I'll miss our room (There are photos of those who have already stayed here)

our photo upon arrival (stressed much haha)

For our last day, Thina and I just walked around the are (Hongdae) for some last-minute shopping. In a park near Hongik University, a concert was about to happen. But despite having a lot of girls waiting for the concert to start, the place was kinda quiet, which we found weird. Anyway, we also went to the 1st shop of Coffee Prince, the original filming location of one of my favorite Korean dramas, The Coffee Prince. Unfortunately, the place was under renovation. Tsk, that wasn't my lucky day. We also dropped by the Hello Kitty Cafe to buy tumblers. Then we headed back to the apartment, had some snacks, and headed to Incheon Airport. We took the subway 'coz that's cheaper and faster. The subway fare was around 3,850 won from Hongik University station to Incheon International Airport.

Hello Kitty tumblers

K-pop concert?

1st Shop of Coffee Prince

Yeah, it's Coffee Prince's actual shooting place!

I wanted to cry tears of joy! haha

so sad :(

for me, it's so "magical" haha, I have to enter this place next time!

Hongik University :)

I just love Hongdae!

goodbye Hongdae...goodbye Seoul :(

ready to go

Before checking in, we filed for tax redemption at the Customs desk. So everytime you shop, remember to tell the cashier that you'll go tax-free so they'll give you a receipt for tax redemption. The customs officer just stamped our receipts then we headed to the check-in counter to check-in our luggage. Cebu Pacific is very strict when it comes to check-in time so better be there early. Also, make sure that you do not exceed your baggage allowance if you don't wanna repack all of your stuff in front of a lot of people at the check-in counters. It's advisable that you bring an extra bag (folded in your luggage) so in case you shop in excess, you can still have extra space either for check in or carry-on.  In my case, I brought my Giordano pouch that turns into a backpack. It's where I put some of the goodies I shopped wrapped with my jackets. I also brought an extra lock so I was able to check-in my backpack with my luggage so I didn't have a carry-on anymore. I'm quite good in packing because I always wanted to walk freely, without carrying heavy bags. Anyway, after entering the immigration gates, you can find the Duty Free shops. That's the world's best Duty Free, according to the banner I saw in the airport. Thina was able to buy a Long Champ bag for around Php 4,000 only. Anyway, it's also where you can find the tax redemption booths. The amount I was able to redeem was quite good so I just saved it to have it changed into Php when I get back in the P.I. And since I was so hungry by then, I just purchased a burger set meal for around 6,000 won. Then it's boarding time!

Total spending for the day for 1 pax:

1. Transportation - 3,850 won

2. Meal - 6,000 won

TOTAL: 6,850 won = Php 265

I can say that this has been my best travel with friends so far. Seoul is a happy place, that if only it would be cheaper, then I'll fly there spontaneously instead of Hongkong. It has exceeded my expectations. It made me love Korean dramas even more. It made me want to shift from my Apple iPhone 4S to Samsung Galaxy Note 2. It got me addicted to BB cream and other Korean beauty products.  It introduced me to a lot of new friends. You know, I just loved everything about this place and I really wanted to go back the soonest!

I just want to share some of my good finds:

This one's yummy!:)

the sleeping mask was effective for me, but the eye cream wasn't much

The BB cream is only 8000 won (Php300) and the Finish Powder is only 9,000 won (Php 345) in Korea but they're priced this much in Skinfood in Trinoma (Manila, PHL)....that's more than 3 times the price! Although I love these products that much, I'd rather go back to Korea to shop haha! There, you get a lot for less. All worth it!:)

If you're into cosmetics and beauty products, try these brands: Dr. Jart, Skin79 (You can find them in Olive Young), IPKN (from Watson's), Too Cool for School, Tony Molly, Missha, Skinfood, Etude House, Nature Republic, and Face Shop. I got at least one product from almost every brand and I never shopped that much beauty products in my life!:))

So here's my estimated total spending for the trip in Php:

1. Airfare (via Cebu Pacific's promo fare) - 6,000

2. Accommodation - 6,000

3. Travel Tax and Terminal Fee - 2,170

4. Transportation upon arrival in Seoul - 424

5. Day 1 - 1,217

6. Day 2 - 1,580

7. Day 3 - 1,368

8. Day 4 - 3,635

9. Day 5 - 650

10. Day 6 - 265

11. shopping - 5,000 (amazing! haha)

TOTAL: Php 28,309 (Less the Airfare & Accommodation, it is safe to bring at least Php 17,000-worth of Pocket Money)

So those of you who think that travelling is expensive, keep reading my blog 'coz it shows that travel can be fun without splurging. I hope my Korea trip inspired you to travel more!:)

Hey SEOUL Sisters! (Day 5)

We've been travelling hardcore for the past days so we decided to go a bit slow on our 5th day (Nov. 19). Two of us were about to fly back to Manila at 7am from Incheon Airport in the 20th; and since there's no subway, nor airport bus at 3am yet and the cab fare would be very expensive, they just decided to go to the airport on the night of the 19th. With this, we made our last day/night together in Seoul to be more laid back.

We woke up late this day. We were very happy about that because we've been waking up at 6 or 7am for the past days because of our tight itineraries. This day we woke up at 10am because our only schedule for the day was to have lunch with our new Korean friends (Pam's colleagues from the Korean branch of the multinational company she's working for in the Philippines). After taking a few photos in the apartment with our new Malaysian friends (housemates), we headed to the IDC office at the Trade Tower in Samseong, then we had Italian lunch at a restaurant in CoEx Mall, the mall connected to their building and to the subway station. We were treated to lunch by their office hunk whom we called "Piolo", but his real name was Pyongjik (whatever spelling haha). It's so funny 'coz we've been calling him Piolo and everytime we did, all of them (Koreans) were laughing. When the boys went back to the office, the girls admitted to us that they've been laughing because "Piolo" in Korean means "so-so" hahaha! Okay, so we never had a chance to apologize to Pyongjik for calling him "so-so" LOL! We super enjoyed the company of our new Korean girl friends. They have almost the same personality as ours, so we really got along well. They love shopping, they shared us some Korean beauty secrets, they told us which Korean beauty product brands were really good, they said the girls of  Girls' Generation are their enemies because every guy wants them, they also like my Korean crushes e.g. Coffee Prince, and more! Yeah they're the nicest and funniest too!:)

housemates

group pic inside the apartment :)

lunch with IDC Korea :)

the guy we called Piolo haha

After lunch, we headed to Myeongdong for shopping. Gosh, it's heaven! Imagine, in one street there were more than one store of every brand! We've gone hoarding lots of BB creams, nail polishes, makeups, sleeping masks, collagen creams, and more! And we got lots of freebies!:) We didn't have much time to shop so we're not able to go to H&M anymore. While some of my friends were shopping at Forever21, I was taking photos of their Hello Kitty collection display, until a guard dressed in a trench coat, called my attention. Apparently, taking of photos wasn't allowed. He even asked me to delete the photo and I showed him that I did. But he didn't know that I've taken a lot of photos already before he caught me hihi! Anyway, Myeongdong reminded me of Harajuku, a shopping strip in Tokyo. Plus, I was amazed that salesladies in Myeongdong also speak good Japanese so I asked why, they said 60% of their customers were Japanese. Then I realized that yeah, if I was that near to Seoul, I would travel every now and then to shop for beauty products because it's way way cheaper there than in Japan. Anyway, my most favorite purchase there was Nature Republic's Snail Therapy Sleeping Mask, which I bought for 28,000 won! So cheap for something that gives visible results.:)

Myeongdong

inside Forever 21

I'm a fan!

Hello Kitty and Bad Badtz Maru stuff

inside the train

From Myeongdong, we headed back to the apartment for Dianne and Pam to pack their stuff. Then we went out for late dinner with our flight attendant friends from Aseana, who were based in Seoul, and were staying at a hotel a few meters away from our place. We had Korean barbecue buffet also called "samgyeopsal" at Meating in Hongdae. It's just a couple of meters away from our place. That's actually what I really liked about our apartment, it's near everywhere! Hongdae is really a nice place to stay at because it's very cheap there and everything's just so accessible. At dinner, I also met up with new friends who were the friends of my friend who used to live there. Yeah, this trip was about making a lot of new friends and that's what I really liked best!:) Anyway, usually, a buffet dinner isn't timed, but since it's very in demand, this new place, "Meating", only allows their customers to stay for an hour and a half. So they're charging 9,000 won per pax plus additional 2,000 won for those with leftovers. Of course, we're not willing to pay 2,000 won more so we just finished everything we got.

before...

:)

the girls :)

...after haha!

After dinner, we walked around Hongdae, checked a couple of stores of beauty products (yeah we just can't enough of this!), and looked for a perfect coffee place. There's a coffee shop wherein you'll adopt a cat while you're there having coffee, another is for dogs. But we wanted to bond more so we didn't choose any of those. We went to a coffee shop with themed cubicles, one was like that of a dorm that had bunk beds, but I failed to see the other cubicles since the place was full. You know, Koreans really got this thing about coffee. There have been a lot of themed coffee shops because more than the taste of coffee, what would make people come to specific coffee shops is the ambiance and the dining experience. Anyway, after 30 minutes of walking in a 1-degree weather around Hongdae to find the perfect coffee shop, we ended up at the Hello Kitty Cafe again haha! But for me it's okay because I really love their coffee. After an hour of girl bonding over coffee, we headed back to the apartment. After some last-minute packing, we sent Dianne and Pam to the subway. Then Thina and I headed back home, and our FA friends headed back to their hotel.

at Olive Young. #1 best BB cream: Dr. Jart, #2: Skin79 (but quite expensive)

popular cosmetics brand for teens in Japan

Hello Kitty Cafe again...

so lovely :)

Hello Kitty :)

coffee!

happy girls :)

Total spending for the day for 4 pax:

1. Transportation - 13,800 won

2. Lunch - FREE

3. Dinner - 36,000 won (9,000 won each)

4. Coffee - 18,000 won (4,500 won each)

TOTAL: 67,800 won = Php 2,598 (or approx. Php 650/pax)

So it's Thina and I who were left on our last night in Seoul. See my next post for the story of our last official day in Seoul, and the summary of our trip.

Hey SEOUL Sisters! (Day 4)

For our fourth day (Nov. 18)  in South Korea, we took a day away from Seoul. We spent the day in Gyeongju City in North Gyeongsang (or Gyeongsangbuk-do). It's a city that features multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites, which show the origins of the Korean culture. Gyeongju is really far from Seoul, but it's near Busan. But because of the KTX line, featuring a bullet train, it's just fast to get there. There's actually a free tourist bus from Seoul going to Gyeongju but it had to be booked at least 10 days before the trip,and it takes 4 hours of travel time. You may check the official tourism website of Korea to book a free shuttle bus. In our case, we took the KTX because it would only take us 2 hours from Seoul Station to Singyeongju Station (near Gyeongju). A couple of days before leaving Korea, we already bought our KTX tickets online and paid using credit card. For foreigners, there's a one-day unlimited pass for 58,200 won, but for a group of 2-5 people, each pass would only cost 52,400 won so that's how much we paid for. We just submitted our passport details online, and bought e-tickets, which we had changed into actual tickets at the Seoul station. Check this link for more information. Anyway, their trains depart and arrive on time so it's best to be early always. We departed at around 7am and arrived there at 9am.

The train ride was so comfy. There's also an attendant inside each cart who serve food (for sale) and assists the passengers. We just took a nap during the ride. So after 2 hrs of travel, we finally arrived to Singyeongju Station. We headed to the tourism office to claim our reserved tour tickets but apparently, we we're not booked. Before leaving Manila, we already booked the Gyeongju City Tour Course 3 online through this link, but when we got there, they said they didn't receive our reservation. Anyway, the tourism officer called up the tour guides and finally, they were able to give us slots in the tour. Since we're a bit early for the tour, we waited for almost an hour for the bus to arrive. The bus was full and most of the tourists were Koreans, that's why the tour guide only spoke Korean; then we realized later that she can't speak much in English. We really felt that what she's saying about every attraction was really interesting, it's just that everything's told in Korean so we were not able to understand. Anyway, when the tour guide collected our payments while inside the bus, we paid 60,000 won (15,000 won each)  for the tour plus additional 48,000 won (12,000 won each) for the admission fees. So here's how our tour went:

1. Singyeongju Station - We left the station at 10am for the tour.

Welcome to Gyeongju!

tourist information

outside Singyeongju station

2. Gyeongju Poseokjeongji - It used to be a small palace.

the only part of the palace that's left

autumn :)

Pam

Pam, Dianne, Thina

3. Cheonmachong (Heavenly Horse Tomb) - Lots of ancient tombs that looked like Bohol's Chocolate Hills. The tombs were huge because the Korean ancestors were buried with their properties like jewelries and armors.

i love the colors!

Pam

Korean drama? LOL!

HDR effect via Camera360 app

We just can't get enough of the background...

ancient tomb

scary...

i like!

4. Geyongjucheomseongdae (Cheomsongdae Observatory in Gyeongju) - It used to be an observatory of Silla. For us, it looked like a Rook in the Chess board game haha!

yikes!

Chocolate Hills? haha nope, they're ancient tombs :)

I don't know what this is called but it's yummy!

5. Lunch (at a Korean restaurant in one of the buildings nearby) - We were only given less than 30mins to eat. We ordered bulgogi and pork cutlet. The food was quickly served. However, we were too hungry to take photos of our food haha.

6. Gyeongju Donggung Wolji (Imhaejeonji, Anapji) - Another royal Silla heritage site with large temples. But again, not everything got preserved. But, there's a diorama there that showed how this palace used to look like.

the lake

how it used to look like

7. Seokguram Grotto - We walked too far and climbed so high just to see the giant Buddha, but when we got there, no photo taking was allowed so we're not able to take a photo of the giant Buddha.

bell tower

just like Baguio haha

the giant Buddha is inside (it's like a cave inside)

small Buddha

8. Gyeongjubulguksagyeongnae (Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju) - It's a really huge and nice place. We explored the palace and the beautiful scenery around.

at the entrance

autumn colors...again!:)

eeewwwy but pretty pond :))

so nice!:)

photo bomber alert! tsk!

We left at 5pm from our last stop and we're back to Singyeongju Station before 6pm. Since all the trains going back to Seoul were fully booked, we were allowed to take any train we wanted (no need for reservation). However, we were just seated on the floor in between carts, since we didn't have seats.

We headed back to Hongdae. We decided to find the Hello Kitty Cafe first before heading back to the apartment. I found a map posted by a blogger, which she got from the cafe's official website. In my attempt to follow what's on the map, we lost our way! haha! Good thing there's this random Korean guy whom we asked for directions, and he can speak in English! he actually didn't know where the Hello Kitty Cafe was, which I was glad about 'coz if he knew, we might have thought his gay LOL! But he actually helped us by using maps from his smartphone. Good thing he was headed that way too so we walked with him. That's like the most awkward 500 meter-walk of my life haha! Anyway, when we got there, we realized that it was just less than 150 meters away from our apartment. I loved the place (being that Hello Kitty fan since childhood haha). Even their drinks were good too. We tried Cafe Mocha, Green Tea Latte (Matcha), and Cafe Latte. After finishing our coffee, we bought some streetfood, which we brought back to the apartment for our super late dinner. Our Malaysian housemates also shared their take away food with us. We really had a great night hanging at the apartment.

Total spending for the day for 4pax:

1. KTX Train from Seoul to Gyeongju - 209,600 won (52,400 won each)

2. Transportation (subway only) - 8,400 won

3. Gyeongju City Tour - 60,000 won (15,000 won each)

4. Admission Fees - 48,000 won (12,000 won each)

5. Lunch - 30,000 won

6. Coffee - 13,500 (ave. of 4,500 won for each coffee, total of 3 cups)
7. Dinner (street food & soft drinks) - 10,000 won

TOTAL: 379,500 won = Php 14,539 (or approx. Php 3,635/pax)

Two days left...yay!