9 Days in Seoul with le bestfriend!

Hi readers, its been so long right! ^__^

I'm not sure who else is still reading my blog. 

Because I've not been updating much. So sorry for the lack of update.

I'm back in my hometown and I'm very lazy to turn on my laptop.

Anyway, I'm here to revive my blog.

Just in case if you don't know, I was in Korea for 40 days. 31 days for International Summer School in Gwangju and 9 days in Seoul with my best friend!  

This is my first time travelling oversea with just ONE friend. And the most exciting part was, I'm departing from Gwangju to Seoul while she is departing from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul and we will meet up at our guesthouse. 

Frankly, the journey alone is quite terrifying. Thank god I can speak some basic korean so communicating/asking around for direction was possible. The moment when I reach guesthouse and met Suey Erz, the joy was simply unexplainable! Thankful that both of us made it there without getting lost.

Our itinerary was really simple. And I was a little sorry for Byy because I've already visited certain places with the Summer School gang and she didn't get to visit the places. :(

Day 1 : We met each other in the afternoon. Brought Byy for her first korean meal, naengmyeon, in Myeongdong. Spent the rest of the day shopping there.

Day 2 : It was NamiSeom day! Travelled all the way to Chuncheon to go NamiSeom. Weather was really bad that day. Raining cats and dogs halfway through our visit in NamiSeom. Didn't get to finish the whole island. Went back to hostel to clean up ourselves and spent the rest of the day in Insadong!

Day 3 : YG Day! Both of us are big fans of Big Bang! Call us crazy but we went all the way to YG Entertainment in Hapjeong! So thankful for those helpful blogs that gave exact directions and landmarks to get there. Spent 3 hours there looking at the building can you believe it? -.- Luckily we get to see G-Dragon and Minzy coming to work, Hwangssabu, Deuk and Jonghyun walking out from the building! Since it was YG Day, we had dinner in Yeolbong Jjimddak in Hongdae, owned by Se7en! Then, desserts in Twosome+ Studio owned by Teddy!

Day 4 : Boryeong Day! Just in case if you don't know, Korea has a festival called Boryeong Mud Festival that will be held one week during the summer every year. It takes place in Daecheon Beach, Boryeong, Chungcheongnam-do. The mud is really good for your skin ladies. ;) Spent the whole day here playing mud. Experienced my first public bath here as well. Had a shock when I first walk in to the public bathroom. Its not something common in my country okay. Well, since its a culture in Korea, I'm glad I get to experience it!

Day 5 : Seoul sight-see day! Met up with Atiqah, a best friend from International Summer School also from Malaysia, and spent the day with her. Managed to see the guard change ceremony outside Gyeongbokgung, Bukcheon Hanok Village, Dongdaemun Market, Cheongyecheon stream and Gwangjang Market. Surprised at how friendly koreans are. A pair of korean couple offered us a cup of makgeolli to try in Gwangjang Market. Souvenirs checked!

Day 6 : Everland Day! Travelled all the way to Gangnam just to realised alot more people are queuing for bus to Everland in Yongin. We ended up taking cab with another two korean girls we met in the queue. Everland was fun, but it was too big to finish T.T And the hilly surface made it really tiring to walk around. 

Day 7 : Back to Myeongdong for more shopping. You'll be surprised by how multilingual all the salespersons in Myeongdong are! They even had country flags on their name tags indicating what language they can speak. 

Day 8 : Best day for Byy I guess! Went back to Gwangjang Market for drug kimbap! Then strolled around and we were so happy to find G-Creator (vitamin water endorsed by G-Dragon! This flavor was created by him too!) Spent the evening with Edan bringing us for dinner, patbingsu and Han River walk. End the night with chicken and beer in the guesthouse! ;)

Day 9 : Last day of our trip! T.T As much as I can't wait to come home, blogging this right now puts me into withdrawal syndrome all over again! :((

Meeting her for the first time in months!

Cycled in NamiSeom before the weather went cuckoo!

YG baby!

Sorwen was here :))

Yeolbong jjimddak!

On our way to Boryeong!

Their bus got different quality one : general, excellent, very excellent!

Ours was Excellent!

Mud body painting during Boryeong Mud Festival!

Face painting too! I had a rose while Suez had a dolphin!

Tired but fun! On the way back  to Seoul!

Cheongyecheon stream! The water is so clean and clear its impossible to find in Malaysia!

Everland for YG Hologram Concert!

Psy was so good in hologram! 

Can't imagine if its live!

Hot weather for Everland Day! Queuing for roller coaster!

My long lost sister, Gloriaaaaa!

A random day wearing caps from Big Bang kaki - Suzanne! :))

Han River night walk with Edan!

Han River, Yeouido Park! 

Random taekwondo performance in Gwanghwamun!

This performer is so cute when he talks! So typical korean boy! Kkk

Strong lady! I want to be able to do handstand like her!

Came back feeling so good to be back. But now all I want is to be there again! Like my coursemate said, there goes my kimchi life! I had so much rice and kimchi in these 40 days I lost all my body definitions. But no regrets baby! Go visit Korea if you have a chance! We will be back for Jeju, Busan and (more Edan for Suez kkk) winter hopefully!

On a random note, thank you Atul for the Hari Raya open house invite! Feels so good to meet all most of my excos again!

Kuma-kuma and Mouse!

- 끝-

Thanks for reading! I love you all :))

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Foods in Korea!

Hello readers!
Like the title reads, this post is gonna be about foods I had so far in Korea!
Foods here are not cheap when you convert them to MYR. But in KRW, they are just fine.
In Korea, a lot of shops sell the same foods, with different price.
Some might be good, some might be so so only. This is when Korean friends play an important role!
They know just the right shop to go, for the best taste with the best price :))

I gotta admit the number one food/snack that I had the most has to be patbingsu! It's not that I like it, but my korean friends tend to bring me for patbingsu. Oh well, its summer after all :)

Patbingsu (small) from Cafe Elf, 4,000￦

Tastes okay only.

Cookie bingsu from Cafe Elf, 8,900￦

Similar to the one above, just with extra whipped cream and cookie crumbs.

Not really worth the price.

Green tea bingsu from Seattle Expresso, 7,900￦

The best I had so far! 

Coffee bingsu from Caffe Orga, 9,500￦

Good but not as good as Seattle Expresso's.

Berry bingsu from Angel-in-Us Cafe, 11,800￦

Just meh.

Seems like korean love to have patbingsu with honey bread. I don't like it. Eventhough it looks yum, its just fattening with all the creams. 

Cafe Elf's.

Angel-in-Us Cafe's

...

Second food that I had the most is none other than... ICE-CREAM! Yeah, it's summer right! Seriously, all the ice-creams I had taste so so so good! Even the cheap 500￦ ice-cream bar tastes like heaven!

My favorite so far! Available in most convenience stores but they sell it for different price.

Cheapest I bought was 900￦, most expensive was 1,100￦.

Melona bar! 500￦

Bamboo ice-creams. 3,000￦

Taste like green tea only, nothing special.

Melon flavored ice-cream cone. 

Free dessert after Dak Galbi lunch.

Coffee ice-cream.

A treat from my K-Mom. Haha

...

Snacks aside, now to the Korean meals that I had. I'm amazed by the unlimited free flow side dishes. EVERY restaurant do that but of course, not every restaurant's side dishes are good.

Naengmyeon. 4,000￦

This is something you can't get in Malaysia. I was pretty shocked at the first look because it was literally filled with ice! Malaysians used to have their meals hot. But it was not that bad. Haha.

This is Korean's favorite food during the summer.

Makguksu, 4,500￦

Another bowl of noodles served cold with the whole bowl filled with ice.

This is slightly more flavorful than naengmyeon because of the gochujang paste.

Something guksu. 

This comes in a set with dak galbi (to appear below).

Spicy enough to suit Malaysian's taste. Haha

Bibimbap!

Vegetarian bibimbap served in temple.

Tuna bibimbap from Hansot. 3,200￦

So much rice, I can't finish. But having leftover is rude. :/

Hansik. ?,000￦ 

Homecooked samgyeopsal by K-Mom! Homemade kimchi is the bomb!

Kimchi served in restaurants cannot compare at all!

Her chapchae is super delicious too! :))

BBQ chicken. 4,500￦ per person.

Nothing special but it was delicious. Haha.

Gukbap. 6,000￦

The first korean food that I dislike. 

This dish gives me a feeling of bah kut teh, the only difference is that the soup base is spicy while bah kut teh is not. But since it gave me the feeling of bah kut teh, I can't help but to compare. And of course, bah kut teh is unbeatable! LOL

Dak galbi from Yoogane, 20,000￦

It was a set with the guksu above and the bbokeumbap below.

My favorite korean dish besides samgyeopsal.

Bbokeumbap (fried rice)

Flavorful enough, but the amount was crazy much.

Make sure u go with few people with big appetite because the minimum order is 2 person but the portions can fill 4 person in my opinion.

...

Street foods are so common you can see few ahjummas with a cart selling street foods by the same street. It's hard to tell which is the best because they all look pretty much the same. Unless you have a korean friend to tell you. (This is gonna be a challenge in Seoul later)

Tteokbokki from a random stall by the street, 3,000￦

Sauce is good, but the fish cake is abit tasteless.

I believe there are better ones.

Hotdog with bread from a different random stall by the roadside, 1,000￦

Bread was too thick.

Kimbap, 1,500￦

The best food/snack that can fill you up when you're on tight budget. LOL

Plain udon, 1,900￦

Best kind of food that keeps you warm during a rainy day!

...

I don't understand how koreans can have dinner, then chicken and beer for snacks after on. Their tummy is amazing! I can never do it the korean way. :/

Fried chicken from Dasarang.

Tastes like normal fried chicken lor. 

BBQ chicken from Dasarang.

People that love spicy foods will love this.

Fried chicken from some chicken shop in Chonnam backgate, 6,000￦

Again, tastes like normal fried chicken. I can't really tell the difference.

Chicken in spicy BBQ sauce.

I don't like it. The chicken's texture feels very raw. 

...

Next up is korean fused chinese meal, 16,000￦.

Jajangmyun, fried chicken and fried mandu. 

The taste is simply Asian. Haha.

Jajangmyun.

Feels like I'm eating hokkien mee though. Haha

Fried chicken with vegetables.

I don't like the touch of honey on the chickens.

Fried mandu.

...

When I get sick of all the rice and kimchis, these are the solution! :) 

Turkey ham sandwich, served by GIC.

I almost cried tears of joy when we were not served rice! T.T

Walnut and Rye bread loaf from Paris Baguette, 2,000￦

My breakfast every morning! Life's good :')

Korean brand fast foods, Lotteria.

I had squid burger for 4,400￦

The fries are major disappointment :(

Yet to try McDonalds. Haha

Pizza from Papa John, 17,000￦

Eventhough its a western food, but they served it with side dishes as well.

So korean. Lol

Cheese pizza from Dasarang.

The ugliest pizza I've ever seen.

Chickens (above) plus pizza was for 27,000￦

Expensive and so so :( 

Ramyun, 650￦

Best eaten in days where you're lazy to go out for meals or when you're on tight budget.

Delicious and economic. Haha.

Btw, convenience store is so common here that it is also common for people to buy and eat ramyun in convenience store itself. If you happen to be in Korea, try it! :)

The only korean food I'm yet and excited to try is none other than : SAMGYETANG! Waiting for Byy for this! :))

Next post, I'm gonna blog about my homestay experience! :)
It's been 18 days since I'm in Korea, I'm loving it so far. But at the same time, I'm starting to miss home and my family :/
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